The Standard - 2016 May 25 - Wednesday

VOL. XXX NO. 102 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 WEDNESDAY : MAY 25, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Duterte may free political prisoners

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CYBERCRIME RAPS FILED VS COMELEC

By Macon Ramos-Araneta, Christine F. Herrera, Maricel V. Cruz, and Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

THE camp of vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. filed charges Tuesday against Smartmatic and Commission on Elections personnel, accusing them of violating the Cybercrime Prevention Act by illegally changing the program used by the transparency server on the night of the elections.

Charged were Smartmatic personnel Marlon Garcia, a Venezuelan national and head of the Technical Support Team; Elie Moreno, an Israeli national and project director and Neil Banigued and Mauricio Herrera, members of the Technical Support Team; and Comelec IT experts led by Rouie Peñalba, Nelson Herrera and Frances Mae Gonzalez.

The complaint was filed by Abakada Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz, Marcos’ campaign advisor.

Accompanied by lawyer Jose Amor Amorado, head of Marcos’ Quick Count Center, Dela Cruz said the group clearly violated Section 4 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act by intentionally altering computer data, without right and altering and interfering with the functioning of a computer and computer network by inputting, deleting and altering computer data and program, without right or authority.

Dela Cruz pointed out that respondents were tasked to ensure

the credibility of the elections by manning the transparency server at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center Building in Manila. No other personnel is allowed in the transparency server except the Comelec, through its IT Department.

Despite such rules, Dela Cruz said respondents entered the room with the transparency server and changed the script without authorization on the night of the elections when transmissions were in full swing.

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Uninterred. This file photo taken in July 2014 shows former first lady Imelda Marcos kissing the glass case bearing her late husband and former President Ferdinand Marcos during a visit to the mausoleum in Batac town, Ilocos Norte. A plan by President-in-waiting Rodrigo Duterte to have Marcos buried at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani is still being opposed by President Benigno Aquino III. AFP

Questions raised on who should canvass

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Aquino still against FM ‘Libingan’ burial

By Sandy Araneta and Joel E. Zurbano PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III remains opposed to the burial of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani, a Palace spokesman said Tuesday.

“Kindly review what President [Aqui-

no] has stated previously in Focap [Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines] and other public fora. I am not aware of any change in his position,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., in a statement.

In 2011, the President told the foreign press that it would be the “height of injustice” to render state honors to Mar-

cos who made the Filipino people suffer during the Martial Law period. At the time, Aquino noted that many Martial Law victims have not even been given an apology or compensation. “ I will not be sanctioning a burial for the late President Marcos… not under my watch,” Aquino said in his Focap interview.

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Archbishop defends fellow clerics vs Digong’s attacks Cruz, former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, urged Duterte to make good his threat to identify erring priests so that the Church hierarchy could also act on the supposed crimes.

“He should say who did something, what was committed and where we can get evidence. Truly, there are really church people who commit sins even during the time of Jesus,” Cruz said in an interview with GMA News.

“He really should expose those sins because the Church will not just accept it. The Church has laws against such sins along with proper punishments.

It is not new for the Church that there are really those who commit mistakes,” Cruz added.

The outspoken prelate, who also once criticized his fellow bishops for seeking donations from the government, also said that the matter of the so-called “Pajero bishops” were found not to have broken any law and even returned the second-hand vehicles that were given them.

“The seven bishops [involved in the “Pajero scandal”] only wanted to do

what the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office should have been doing.

To help people in far-flung places,” Cruz, retired archbishop of LingayenDagupan, said.

“So they asked for vehicles from the PCSO so that they can do what the PCSO should have been doing and the PCSO gave them the vehicles.

“The problem emerged when it was reported that the vehicles were Pajeros but there were really none.

That’s why they were called Pajero bishops. So when that came out in media, the bishops returned the vehicles. They went to the Senate and said ‘Here, you can have them back’,” the prelate said.

The controversy dates back to 2011 when the PCSO released an audit report of the Commission on Audit in 2009 reporting that the charity agency donated vehicles to seven prelates.

But when the matter was investigated by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee in July 2011, PCSO officials themselves admitted that the vehicles donated to the prelates were all second-hand and there was not a single

Pajero among them.

“No, we never said Pajero. We were given this finding from CoA that five vehicles costing P6.9 million granted to the Catholic Church were charged to the charity fund. The name Pajero did not come from us. It came about when somebody said it was Pajero,” then PCSO chairperson Margarita Juico told senators.

Senators then assailed the PCSO for making people believe that the prelates were given expensive high-end vehicles when they were given second-hand vehicles to do work that the charity agency should have been doing in the first place.

“Sometimes, it’s really depressing when the story that comes out is contrary to the truth,” Cruz said during his interview on Tuesday.

But Cruz said he understood why Duterte has taken a combative stance against the Catholic Church because the mayor had claimed during the campaign that he was abused by a Catholic priest. But the Church will continue to reach out for a dialogue. “Try and try until you die,” he said.

Cruz also denied violating the separation of Church and State.

“Maybe he needs to study what separation of Church and State means. According to our Constitution, it means the state should not have an official religion. Unlike in England where there is a State religion. That is forbidden here,” he said.

“On the part of the Church, there is also separation of Church and State.

Cybercrime...

authorized change was confirmed by Peñalba and Moreno in several official pronouncements.

Dela Cruz also pointed out that several Comelec commissioners also confirmed that the change was illicit and unauthorized.

“Indeed, the act of ‘tweaking’ the script of the transparency server caused widespread anxiety and concern.... The lapses in protocol have undermined the credibility and integrity of the 2016 elections including the confidentiality, integrity and availability afforded to computer data and systems,” he said.

He further stated that the defense of cosmetic change will not exculpate the respondents because of the nature and description of the offense. He said it is enough that the change was made without authority.

“From the above premises, respondents have committed a breach in the AES that violated the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the computer data and systems thereof,” he said.

Earlier, Dela Cruz also filed a criminal complaint for violation of the Automated Election Law before the Comelec.

Charged were Garcia, Moreno, Banigued and Peñalba for their authorized script change in the transparency server.

Marcos on Tuesday vowed to seek the exclusion of Certificates of Canvass in the vice presidential canvass in areas with evidence of irregularities, but called for the immediate proclamation of the winning candidate for president, Rodrigo Duterte.

Marcos said while he has “serious reservations” on the canvassing of votes for the vice presidential race, Duterte should be proclaimed immediately.

“I propose the immediate proclamation of our presumptive President

Rodrigo Duterte, being the clear and uncontested winner in the presidential elections,” Marcos said.

“Again, I offer him my sincere congratulations and my hand in partnership for the future. Mr. President, the Philippines now looks to you for your leadership and vision,” Marcos said in a privilege speech.

Marcos made the assertion even as the joint committee of the National Board of Canvassers comprised of senators and congressmen agreed to carry the provision introduced by the Senate that the NBC would “not look beyond the face of the CoC.” The joint session of Congress on Tuesday approved the rules that would govern the canvassing that begins at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Under the rules, both houses of Congress agreed that all electoral protests to be raised by presidential and vice presidential candidates would be immediately referred to the Supreme Court under the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

But Marcos asserted there were areas where electoral irregularities had transpired and that these CoCs must be examined first before they get canvassed.

“I think there were areas where we need to examine [the CC’s] first before being included in the canvassing. It depends on the area; there were places where there were no problems at all,” Marcos said.

In the official canvassing of votes for the vice presidency, several irregularities were observed, he said.

Because of this, he said his camp would move to exclude from the official canvassing of votes the CoCs of areas where there were evidence or strong indications of poll irregularities.

He said most of these areas where poll irregularities occurred were in the

By John Paolo Bencito

RETIRED archbishop Oscar Cruz defended some of his fellow bishops whom President-in-waiting Rodrigo Duterte assailed as being corrupt and urged the Davao City mayor to identify the priests whom he accused of sinning against the people.

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He said the server could not have been accessed without the consent of the Comelec IT personnel because they had the other password to open it.

Interviewed after the filing of the charges, Amorado said all the respondents were present when the script was changed by Smartmatic personnel.

He said the Comelec’s declaration that they did not authorize Smartmatic to change the script was a matter of defense because they had the other password.

“How then was Smartmatic able to open the server without getting the Comelec password? Their presence there constituted implicit consent to the change,” Amorado said.

Dela Cruz said by their act, the respondents committed a security breach in the automated election system (AES), particularly in the transparency server, thereby compromising the integrity and credibility of the 2016 elections, and the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems.

The violation is punishable by imprisonment of from six years to 12 years.

Dela Cruz added that they discovered the unauthorized intrusion exactly 24 hours later on the evening of May 10, when representatives of the United Nationalist Alliance and Nationalist People’s Coalition reported that the hash codes had been changed—which indicates that the program running on the server had been alterred.

They then went to the transparency server and after a short investigation, Mauricio Herrera told them that they had changed the script to change the “?” in some names to the “ñ” character.

Dela Cruz pointed out that the un-

For example, it is expressly forbidden for bishops and priests to become public officials. So there is separation of Church and State both on the part of the State and the Church.”

Duterte on Monday admitted that he is no longer a member of the Catholic Church as he acknowledged that his proposal for the enactment of a threechild policy was merely a “suggestion” since he “cannot force people to follow” the policy.

The incoming president, who has many disagreements with the clergy following their criticism of his actions, said that he is no longer a practicing member of the predominant religion in the country.

“I have this deep and abiding faith in God, but it does not mean you have to have religion, where you have to follow somebody. I’m already at it,” Duterte told reporters in a late night press conference in Davao City.

“I’m no longer a member of the Catholic Church,” Duterte said. “I have a new [religion]. You transfer to the Iglesia ni Duterte.”

Earlier, Duterte called bishops hypocrites after the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines released a pastoral letter days before the polls urging Catholics not to vote for him.

“The Catholic Church is so stupid.

They’re now claiming that they were not campaigning [against me.] How about those three bishops?” Duterte asked.

Duterte also called Cruz out on the “Pajero bishops.” With AFP Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Marcos also cited the reports on thousands of pre-shaded ballots in an abandoned warehouse in Pangasinan, SD cards found in a trash can in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental, as well as a video of election fraud in Datu Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

He also brought up the unauthorized introduction of a new script in the transparency server used for the unofficial tally, and how his one millionvote lead vanished within hours after the program was uploaded.

In a privilege speech on Monday, Marcos said he has “serious reservations” on the canvassing of the votes for the vice presidential race, citing reports and evidence of various irregularities that put a cloud of doubt on the integrity of the results of the polls.

He noted that Smartmatic’s Garcia had been charged with electoral sabotage for doing the very same thing during the 2013 elections.

Marcos also said that while Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista claimed this results was merely ‘cosmetic,’ this assurance should not be taken “as gospel truth.”

“We should not accept on mere blind faith the representations of the contractor and the reflected data on their machines. The burden of proof should be upon them, and Comelec as well, that the integrity of the system was not compromised. Comelec should not allow that the secrecy of the ballot be turned into the secrecy of the vote count,” he said.

He lamented that so far, the Comelec has yet to reply on his request to allow the servers to undergo audit by his own IT experts.

Quoting a computer expert, Marcos said: “Any time a computer program is changed, it can change things you don’t see.” With Joel E. Zurbano

Aquino...

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But incoming President Rodrigo Duterte said he would make good his campaign pronouncement to allow Marcos’ burial at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani.

Since his death in 1989, the dictator’s burial at the heroes’ cemetery had been met with opposition because of abuses committed during the Martial Law regime.

But Duterte, in a recent press conference, said that Marcos should be buried at the cemetery because he had served as a soldier.

“I will allow Marcos burial in Libingan Ng Mga Bayani, not because he was a hero but because he was a Filipino soldier,” said Duterte.

Asked when this would happen, he replied: “That can be arranged immediately.” He added that he had no problem with holding the burial on Marcos’ birth anniversary, Sept. 11.

Duterte said denying Marcos a place at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani has created division in the country.

“This issue has long created a division among our people. Almost all of the Ilocanos are hurting. All of them. They are angry at what has been done to him,” he said in Filipino.

“He was a soldier. He doesn’t have to be a hero.

Not everyone buried there was a hero,” he added.

Duterte said he didn’t know if the decision would unite Filipinos, but said it would “erase… one hatred.”

Asked about the reaction of Martial Law victims, Duterte said their families can claim compensation.

“The money is there,” he said.

Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to Duterte.

“We are deeply grateful for the statement of our incoming President Rodrigo Duterte favoring the burial of the late President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani. It has always been our family’s position that it is our father’s right under the law to be buried there being a soldier and a former President of this country,” the senator said in a statement.

“Our campaign has always been towards achieving unity to move the country forward. And it is this kind of pronouncement that we hope could end the decades of divisiveness that have been imposed upon us by our leaders. We would like to thank President Duterte for this kind, rightful and healing gesture,” he added.

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Rody may free political prisoners DAVAO CITY—Presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte says he will release all political prisoners if the leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front will agree to come home to talk peace.

Their coming home to negotiate will be his only condition, Duterte said Monday night.

He said the communist leaders— including CPP founding chairman Jose Maria Sison—could agree on when, where and how to come home and how to conduct the talks.

The time frame would depend on how events developed.

“All I need is yes or no,” Duterte told reporters at the Leticia Suites here.

He said the release of the prisoners would be part of the confidencebuilding measures between the two sides.

Those to be released could include the couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon, the chairman and finance head of the CPP, respectively. The couple were arrested in Cebu in 2014.

Duterte said there could be a workable plan to bring the Tiamzons back into society.

“I might even decide to free all of them before the talks [could start],” Duterte said.

He said if the leaders of the CPPNDF were confident that his government would work for everybody, especially the poor, “I can welcome them back.”

When asked about the criminal charges filed against the political detainees, Duterte said the detainees could be pardoned. “[Talking] peace must be in good faith. I do not have an agenda—just do not fool me,” Duterte said.

The formal peace negotiations with the CPP-NDF was stalled starting in 2004 after the communists withdrew from the negotiating table on account of the renewed inclusion of Sison and the CPP-NPA in the US terrorist list. Lilian C. Mellejor, PNA

Case filed. Abakada Party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz and lawyer Jose Amorado file a case against Smartmatic and Comelec IT personnel for alleged violation of the cyber crime law at the Manila City Hall on Tuesday. DANNY PATA

Questions persist on who could canvass votes ALL senators who ran for president or vice president in this year’s elections would be barred from sitting as national canvassers even if they had conceded defeat, Senate President Franklin Drilon said Tuesday.

He cited conflict of interest, but that was questioned after Senator Bam Aquino and Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez of the ruling Liberal Party were allowed to sit as canvassers.

The issue of conflict of interest was raised against Aquino for being the campaign manager of Liberal Party vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo while Gutierrez was the campaign manager and spokesman of LP standard bearer Manuel Roxas II. Drilon and Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said the conflict-of-inter-

est issue in the case of Aquino and Gutierrez was baseless since the two would just sit as “alternates.”

Drilon named the “conflicted senators” as Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor Santiago, who ran for president; Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gregorio Honasan and Antonio Trillanes IV who ran for vice president.

He said while Senator Nancy Binay did not run for any post in the recent polls, it was still “not proper” for her to sit as a canvasser because of her father, Vice President Jejomar Binay, who ran for president.

“It is not ethical and you will have a conflict of interest if you are a candidate and you sit in the canvass. That cannot be, that cannot be proper,” Drilon insisted.

“For example, Senator Alan Peter

Cayetano can’t sit in the canvass as well as Senators Grace [and] Chiz.”

The joint session of Congress convened on Tuesday and named their respective representatives to the Joint Canvassing Committee of the National Board of Canvassers.

Pimentel and House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II were elected as co-chairmen of the joint canvassing committee. They will be the presiding officers during the canvassing that will begin at 2 p.m. today.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the the NBOC House contingent were Gonzales as chairman; Dasmariñas City Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, Mindoro Occidental Rep. Rey Umali, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro and 1BAP Rep. Silvestre

Bello III as members; and Pampanga Rep. Oscar Rodriguez, Gutierrez, Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya and House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora as alternates.

The members of the Senate contingent are Pimentel as chairman; Juan Edgardo Angara, Teofisto Guingona III, Sergio Osmeña III, Ralph Recto, Juan Ponce Enrile, Vicente Sotto III as members; and Cynthia Villar, JV Ejercito and Aquino as alternates.

At least 12 trucks had brought the ballot boxes from the Senate to the House of Representatives at 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

Gonzales said the joint panel will canvass 159 CoCs from the provinces, local absentee voting and overseas absentee voting. Christine F. Herrera

Duterte discusses more plans

House-bound. A convoy of trucks from the Philippine Army carrying Certificates of Canvass traverse Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City on Tuesday on the way to the House of Representatives for the start of the bicameral vote counting today. DANNY PATA

DAVAO CITY—Incoming President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday admitted thinking twice about appointing longtime confidante Salvador Panelo as his “temporary” press secretary following the negative reactions to it.

Duterte also warned he would disband the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs and Land Transportation Office, the “most corrupt” government agencies.

He also bared his plan to place former military men in “sensitive” government agencies that are prone to corruption.

Meanwhile, Duterte has picked Army Col. Louie Dagoy, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1987, as his senior military adviser.

Dagoy told The Standard he had been informed about

his appointment.

“Higher headquarters has already informed me about it. It’s an honor to serve President-elect Duterte,” Dagoy said.

He is the chief of staff of Eastern Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero.

Duterte, who admitted he solely relies on “gut feel” in choosing Cabinet appointees, told reporters he would introduce someone who could be press secretary if the members of the media wanted him to get another.

“I’ll introduce to you one if he has the qualifications,” Duterte said in a press briefing at the Legazpi Suites here.

“I’ll introduce him to you if [Salvador] Panelo doesn’t want the position.”

The National Union of Journalists of the Philip-

pines and the National Press Club on Thursday expressed “serious misgivings” about the appointment of Panelo, the former legal counsel of the Ampatuans, the main suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre case, as Duterte’s spokesman.

Earlier, Duterte had defended Panelo because he trusted him and knew him well.

He then joked he would appoint Panelo as ambassador to the Port of St. James in England, but “Panelo is not fit to be an ambassador.”

The negative perception against Panelo began when he was counsel for the Ampatuan clan and he was quoted as saying in 2014 that the charges against his clients were “fabricated.” John Paolo Bencito and Florante S. Solmerin

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Digong: No proof vs GMA

By John Paolo Bencito and Rio N. Araja DAVAO CITY—Having served as a prosecutor in Davao City for almost 10 years, Presidentin-waiting Rodrigo Duterte said the government lawyers prosecuting former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for plunder failed to present sufficient evidence to prove her guilt.

Mindanao bloc. Fourteen congressmen show the clenched-fist campaign sign of President-apparent Rodrigo Duterte after taking their oaths as new members of the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan which is shaping up to be the ruling party during the Duterte administration. MANNY PALMERO

CHR to probe ‘Flores de Pusher’

By Sandy Araneta MALACAÑANG on Tuesday said the Commission on Human Rights will assess if the ‘‘Flores de Pusher” campaign of Tanauan, Batangas Mayor Antonio Halili is within the bounds of the law.

“We trust that the CHR will perform its duty to review if such activity is within the bounds of the law,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said even as President-apparent Rodrigo Duterte said he would be willing to provide Halili legal advise if he gets in trouble.

Duterte said he had never paraded suspected drug users around Davao City to shame them into giving up their narcotics, but he was willing to help Halili if ever he gets in legal trouble because of the “Flores de Pusher” campaign.

On Monday, agents of Halili suppos-

edly forced 11 suspected drug pushers to join the so-called “Flores de Pusher” while formal charges were being drafted against them.

Some of the suspects, who were recently arrested from three target areas, denied that they are drug pushers while others admitted to the crime due to poverty.

Halili said the suspects were given warnings to stop their illegal activities or face apprehension, but the suspects allegedly did not listen.

The warnings were also delivered via mail to the suspects’ residence.

Halili stressed the CHR cannot presume their innocence of the suspects since they were caught in the act. He said one suspect was even arrested while attempting to hide the illegal drugs in his underwear.

The Tanauan anti-crime group recovered the drug money with an unknown number of illegal drugs and

drug paraphernalia.

The anti-crime group said they have proof that the suspects were involved in the illegal drug trade, including pictures or a surveillance video footage.

It also said the arrests were properly documented.

Several relatives of the suspects witnessed the shame campaign and denied the suspect’s involvement in illegal drugs.

The report said Tanauan has earned the tag of “little Mindanao” because of the illegal drug trade there.

Halili, known for his policies resembling that of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte, vowed to curtail illegal drugs in his town and continue his shame campaign despite investigation by the CHR. Majority of residents support Halili’s campaign and called on to him to include big-time drug pushers.

“All of those charged [with Arroyo] in connection with the [Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office case] on the intelligence funds are already free. It’s only Arroyo who remains under arrest,” said Duterte who served in the Davao City Prosecutor’s Office from 1977 to 1986.

Duterte said he did not believe that Arroyo was aware of any misuse of the PCSO intelligence funds, citing his own experience as a local chief executive.

“You pay people, even those who are not your friends, especially those from the rural areas,” he said. “How can you account for those funds when they don’t even want to sign their names on any document?”

But while the case is still pending before the Sandiganbayan, Duterte said Arroyo was already a victim of injustice.

“She’s been detained for so long, the trial’s been delayed. Under the Constitution, that is grounds for dismissal. She’s been there for about four years without trial. If there is a trial every day then there would be nothing to complain about,” he said.

He said he spoke with Arroyo through telephone and he offered to grant her executive clemency, but Arroyo rejected the suggestion because that would be a tacit admission of wrongdoing.

“She rejected. I offered her. I said, ‘When I become President, I will pardon you.’ I talked to her. I said, ‘Ma’am, do you want me to pardon you not because we’re friends but because I do not think there is a good case against you as a prosecutor and as a lawyer,”’ Duterte told reporters.

But Duterte quoted Arroyo as saying: “No, thank you. I don’t want it because to be eligible for pardon, you have to admit to the crime.”

Arroyo, who recently won her third and last term as Pampanga representative, is currently detained at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center over plunder charges following her alleged involvement in the misuse of P366-million PCSO intelligence funds from 2008 to 2010.

Miriam seeks extended leave

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Tuesday sought an extension of her medical leave from the Senate, saying she is “physically and mentally weak” due to a side effect of her cancer medication.

“This signifies that I shall continue on medical leave for cancer,” Santiago said in a letter, dated May 24, 2016, to Senate President Franklin Drilon.

Copies of the letter were sent to the Senate Secretariat, Senate Journal Editor and the Senate Media.

Santiago, who ran for president in May 9 elections under her own People’s Reform Party, said one of her medications has produced a side effect of anorexia or the inability to eat and that has rendered her physically and mentally weak.

“In any event, my staff and I are ready to vacate our offices by June 30, 2016,” said Santiago, referring to the end of her term.

During the presidentiall debate last

March, Santiago, who earlier said she has licked her cancerous cells, failed to attend the event, saying she was accepted as fit to undergo a clinical trial for a new, unnamed anti-cancer pill.

Sometimes in June 2014, Santiago announced she was diagnosed with Stage Four lung cancer. She went on a medical leave from the Senate as she underwent treatment, which included the use of a “miracle drug.”

When she filed her Certificate of Candidacy for president in October last year, the senator said she had gone over the hump of the disease although admitting she still has the lingering “cancer symptoms” like her crackling and soft voice.

Santiago also said she joined the international clinical trial to gain free access to the medication, which would otherwise be too expensive.

She said the trial requires her to report for outpatient radiation treatment at the hospital daily for a short period.

Federalist push. Former Senate president Aquilino ‘Nene’ Pimentel and Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas explain how the Constitution can be amended within six months to accommodate a federal form of government during a press conference at Club Filipino in San Juan City. MANNY PALMERO

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‘Rody needs strong Senate majority to keep agenda moving’

By Macon Araneta ‘‘

Senate Majority Leader alan Peter Cayetano on tuesday said he would help President-elect Rodrigo Duterte build a “strong majority” in the Senate so he could achieve his legislative agenda.

Cayetano said he had heard the promises made by Duterte. He also got to know well the changes he wanted for the country—“Build a strong majority.”

Cayetano, the running mate of Duterte, was offered the job of a secretary of either the Department of Justice or the Department of Foreign affairs. there were also reports that DuFinal count. With soldiers keeping watch, Comelec personnel unload ballot boxes containing Certificates of Canvass at the House of terte wanted his defeated running Representatives for the final canvassing. MANNY PALMERO mate to be the Senate president. asked whether he was interested in the Senate presidency, Cayetano said he wanted to focus more on building a strong majority that will help Duterte realize his plans of creating real changes in the country.

While Duterte has not publicly announced whom he would endorse for the Senate leadership, he said the President-elect has made it clear in private discussions who he wanted for the post. underspending, violated the con- of agencies outside the department. “the president will not have an

By Rey E. Requejo stitutional doctrine of separation the Palace released some official candidate, but he favors

powers and the provision pro- P144.38 billion in DaP funds somebody. President Duterte is The incoming administration of President-elect of hibiting inter-branch transfer of from 2011 to 2013. not declaring public support beRodrigo Duterte will investigate the liabilities appropriations. apart from the corruption cas- cause he respects the independIn their separate opinions, Sen- es, drug cases would be a priority ence of the Senate,” he said. of government officials over unconstitutional ior associate Justice antonio Car- by the Department of Justice in the Cayetano said their focus right acts committed under the Disbursement Accel- pio and associate Justice arturo next administration, aguirre said. now is on creating a strong maeration Program.

Brion have pointed to President aguirre said he believes that jority that can deliver the culture Benigno aquino III and Budget there is a need for better, sys- of effectiveness and efficiency.

Incoming Justice secretary who gets hurt. there should be Secretary Florencio “Butch” abad tematic handling of evidence in “With the enormous legislative Vitaliano aguirre II on tues- no selective justice,” said aguirre, as “authors” of DaP who could be drug cases. agenda of President Duterte, he day revealed that this was the who was Duterte’s law school held liable over the illegal acts.

“Respondents in drug cases will need a majority of 15-18, [in marching order of Duterte to classmate and fraternity brother the two senior justices empha- get off the hook because of some the Senate]” he added. pursue corruption cases. in San Beda College. sized that President aquino and loopholes in the procedure of Cayetano said that he is not in“We are going to investigate the aguirre did not elaborate on abad are not covered by the doc- handling evidence,” lamented clined to help in building a majorDaP. If the evidence warrants, we who would be covered by the intrine of operative fact and cannot aguirre, who has been in law ity if the discussions will be limitare going to file cases,” aguirre vestigation, but the Supreme invoke good faith in evading liabili- practice for 44 years. ed to who will head the chamber’s said, in a television interview.

Court had already set the grounds ty for unconstitutional acts, particuaguirre also vowed to start respective committees. according to him, Duterte has when it voided the DaP with filarly the withdrawal of unobligated the anti-illegal drugs campaign “We should go beyond the cominstructed him to apply the law nality in February last year. allotments from implementing in the Bureau of Corrections, an mittees and positions and disequally and file charges no matthe SC ruled that acts and agencies and their use as savings attached agency of the DoJ su- cuss the important measures that ter who the respondents would be. practices under the DaP, an prior to end of fiscal year as well as pervising the new Bilibid Prison should be passed by the Senate “He [Duterte] told me that economic stimulus program dethe cross-border transfers of savings and other penitentiaries in the under President-elect Duterte,” he charges should be filed no matter signed to address government of the executive to augment funds country. said.

Probe of outlawed DAP to focus on liable parties

Leviste faces malverse raps

By Rio N. Araja tHe Office of the Ombudsman has indicted former governor Jose antonio Leviste of Batangas for his alleged failure to liquidate P151,385.42 he spent for his travels abroad in 2003 when he was then the Philippine Retirement authority chairman.

It ordered the filing of one count of malversation of public funds under article 271 of the Revised Penal Code against Leviste before the Sandiganbayan.

Included in the charge sheet was Philip John Moreno, then division chief II of the PRa’s financial planning and control division. “[the respondents] did then and there willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously take, misa propriate, embezzle, a propriate and convert to their personal

use and benefi public funds in their custody and control by reason of the duties of their office,” the Ombudsman’s resolution read. a P40,000 bail was recommended for Leviste’s temporary liberty. the malversation case arose from the PRa’s release of cash advances of P869,180.75 in 2003 to Leviste to fund his foreign travels.

Leviste was not able to liquidate, refund or account for P151,385.42 despite repeated demands from the Commission on audit.

In 2009, the Makati City Regional trial Court found Leviste guilty of homicide for shooting to death his former aide—Rafael de las alas—in 2007, but the national Bilibid Prisons under the Department of Justice granted parole on Leviste and released him from prison in 2013.

Price check. Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino (left) and Trade and Industry Undersecretary Victorio Mario Dimagiba inspect prices of school supplies at a bookstore in Manila on Tuesday May 24. DANNY PATA

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Belmonte opts for fiscalizer role US rates Naia on safety, security

By Joel E. Zurbano THE United States Transportation Security Administration has started inspecting the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as part of its regular security assessments of airports which host airlines with flights to the US. The inspection is in compliance with the safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, an airport official said The inspection at the Naia will take place until Thursday and will cover procedures involving perimeter and terminal access control, facility security, screening, cargo operations, and aircraft security, among others.

The US transport agency conducted last week its inspection of airlines with flights to the US operating out of the Naia.

Participating carriers include Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Cathay Pacific, Delta Airways, United Airlines, Eva Airways, Federal Express, and United Parcel Service.

Manila International Airport Authority general manager Jose Angel Honrado thanked the TSA for the continued partnership it has with the Miaa in ensuring passenger safety.

“As an authority, the Miaa is vested with powers to implement security measures and establish its own police force. Efforts are in place to monitor our own procedures. We appreciate the presence of the TSA as they keep us on our toes and encourage us to improve on our own systems,” he said.

By Maricel V. Cruz

OutgOing Speaker and reelectionist Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. will be a “responsible and lead fiscalizer” of the incoming 17th Congress as emerging House minority leader, a House official said.

Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II, a stalwart of the ruling Liberal Party, said Belmonte may not join the “super majority” soon-to-be established

by Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) to be led by Representative-elect Pantaleon Alvarez of Davao

del Norte, the incoming Speaker.

“I was told by the Speaker that he wants a legacy and will stick with the LP representing opposition bloc in the next Congress. Based on my understanding, the Speaker will be the next House Minority Leader,” Gonzales, Belmonte’s rabid ally, said.

Gonzales said he could not

tell yet if two former House minority leaders, Representatives-elect Edcel Lagman of Albay and DaniloSuarez of Quezon will also join the speakership race.

“The outgoing Speaker will be a responsible and lead fiscalizer. He will perform his job as opposition leader,” Gonzales added.

Lagman, a member of LP, remains silent on his possible speakership bid while Suarez, a member of the United Nationalist Alliance, vowed to run as Speaker with the objective of being the leader of the minority bloc.

Gonzales pointed out that the people deserve an active House minority bloc to serve and protect the interest of the people.

“The people deserve an active, vigorous, energetic and dynamic House minority bloc to serve people’s interests. A functioning and working one,” Gonzales added.

Gonzales will be a supportive opposition leader on issues and legislative agenda of the next government that will benefit the people.

“He will be supportive of the next government’s legislative agenda provided it will serve and benefit the people,” said Gonzales.

Belmonte is LP vice chair and allowed the majority of its members to support Duterte, leaving some of his loyal supporters to back him as opposition leader of the next Congress.

Following the forging of

alliance of lawmakers with PDP-Laban of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte, Belmonte vowed to relinquish the House leadership to Alvarez.

Alvarez, who claimed that the new minority would be reduced to a “bite size” of 20 members, is the personal choice of Duterte to be the Speaker of the 17 Congress.

The PDP-Laban of Duterte has coalesced with the Nacionalista Party (NP) of former Senate President Manny Villar, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) led by its president, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, PartyList Coalition (PLC), Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), and others.

Shabu destroyed. Undersecretary Arturo G. Cacdac Jr., PDEA director-general, leads the destruction of chemicals and equipment for manufacturing shabu held at the Green Planet Management compound in Valenzuela City on Tuesday. ANDREW RABULAN

Wet season sets in; El Niño persists

By Rio N. Araja THE Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said on Tuesday the rainy season has officially set in.

At a news conference, Anthony Lucero, the bureau’s Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section chief, said despite the prevailing El Niño episode, the wet season has already begun.

“The El Niño is expected to end or neutralize in July. That is the time when a La Niña phenomenon will prevail,” he told reporters.

The storm-free months of January until May was just a “clear manifestation” of the El Niño impact, he said.

“We are still feeling its impact,” he added.

“Most areas [in the country] are still receiving belownormal amount of rainfall.”

The La Niña phenomenon will follow in August, and that its full impact will be felt at the end of 2016, he said.

“We will see fewer provinces suffering from drought,” he said.

According to Lucero, the eastern part of the country, such as Isabela, Quirino, Quezon, Bicol, Samar, Leyte, Surigao, Caraga, Agusan province, Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, must brace for major landslides and floods once La Niña dampens more rains and enhances the peak of the rainy condition.

“Remember Guinsaugon [tragedy]. Expect similar situation in those places. There’ll be landslides and floods. Despite such, we can take advantage of the situation to plant

crops in the mountains that would need [much] water,” he pointed out.

In 2006, a whole section of a mountain collapsed, covered 300 hectares of a village in Guinsaugon, St. Bernard, Southern Leyte, and buried about 1,500 people due to a rain-induced landslide.

While Metro Manila is experiencing lesser amount of rainfall, heavy downpour continues to dampen several parts of the countryside, said Dr. Esperanza Cayanan, weather division officer in charge.

“We are here to announce the rainy season,” she said.

Dr. Landrico Dalida Jr., deputy administrator for operations, also warned those in the eastern part of the country to expect heavy rainfall that could cause severe floods.

Stagnant. Youngsters push a motorcycle out of stagnant floodwaters at Maysilo circle in Mandaluyong City. Heavy rains and floodings are expected in the coming months with the onset of the rainy season. EY ACASIO

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Mindoro folk wary of ‘La Niña’

By Robert A. Evora

Drill. Officers of the 8th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army in Camp Maulong, Catbalogan City, undergo a fire drill and rescue training. MEL CASPE

El Niño toll reaches P1.5B in Region 12 GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Around P1.5 billion worth of agricultural crops have been devastated due to onslaught of the long dry spell spawned by the El Niño phenomenon in parts of Region 12.

Amalia Jayag-Datukan, Department of Agriculture Region 12 director, said Tuesday such figure covers the actual production and opportunity losses sustained by the region’s farming or agriculture sector as a result of the prolonged intense dry weather.

Citing their monitoring, she said the area’s farming sector already posted around P208.98 mil-

lion in production losses, with corn absorbing the most damage with P115.102 million, palay with P69.704 million and high-value crops with P19.669 million.

The area’s livestock sector reported losses of around P4.517 million, she said.

In terms of opportunity losses, Datukan said they recorded a total of P1.309 billion for corn and

palay crops alone.

Such loss is mainly due to the area’s failure to produce around 36,483 metric tons (MT) of corn and 25,595 MT of palay due to the dry spell.

“These are projected harvests for corn and palay that were not realized because of the El Niño,” she said.

As of the third week of May, Datukan said the dry spell already affected a total of 88,126 hectares of farm lands in the region.

It covers 14,400 hectares of palay, 28,207 hectares of corn and 45,519 hectares of high-value crop production areas.

North Cotabato reported a damage area of 43,426 hectares, Sarangani with 22,085 hectares, Sultan Kudarat with 15,979 hectares and South Cotabato with 6,636 hectares.

All four provinces were earlier placed under the state of calamity due to the impact of the El Niño.

DA-12 recorded a total of 9,027 palay farmers and 23,781 corn farmers in the region that were directly affected by the calamity.

Sarangani posted the most number of affected farmers with 12,463, followed by North Cotabato with 11,250, Sultan Kudarat with 4,945 and South Cotabato with 4,421.PNA

NAUJAN, Oriental Mindoro— Island folk in this province are bracing for the coming of “La Niña” as they feared it would bring the same widespread destruction they experienced at the onslaught of Super Typhoon “Nona” in December last year.

The people’s fear stems from release this month of a controversial result of an investigation conducted by Task Force Iwas-Baha absolving the ongoing construction of a mini-hydro power project in the highlands of this municipality.

In clearing the Sta. Clara International Corp., the probe body instead blamed “climate change” and the “upstream activities” of mountain dwellers, including Mangyans, as the culprits behind the P4.5 billion worth of destruction wrought

by Super Typhoon “Nona.”

Oriental Mindoro Gov. Alfonso V. Umali Jr. formed the multipartite probe body to find out persistent allegations by “Nona” victims that the blasting activities in the construction site of the SCIC had something to do with “heavy floodings and the cascades of big boulders and rocks rolling down from the mountain tops of Catuiran River,” in Naujan town.

The SCIC is the owner of the P1.2-billion eight-megawatt Lower Catuiran Mini-Hydro Power Project in its more than 3,000-hectare project site in mountainous forest lands of sitio Arangin, Bgy. Malvar, this town.

Super Typhoon “Nona” left “enormous damage” to agriculture, infrastructures, environment and power installations with an estimated cost placed at P4.5 billion, including 13 deaths.

The task force said, in its 27page report, the upstream activities of upland dwellers, like “kaingin-making, excessive gathering of forest resources especially those with unique characteristics, timber poaching and gold panning, which are destructive activities, to some extent had aggravated the effects of Typhoon “Nona.””

Voter assails governor’s proclamation

By Dexter A. See BAUKO, Mountain Province— A registered voter of barangay Otucan Sur here filed a petition for quo warranto before the Electoral Contest Adjudication Department of the Commission on Elections seeking to prevent the assumption into office of substitute candidate lawyer Cathy Jill Mayaen as governor of the province by noon of June 30, 2016 in lieu of her late father, Gov. Leonard G. Mayaen, who died of cardiac arrest during the campaign period.

Tomas Tawagen prayed that the said department issue a preliminary injunction due to the blatant defiance by the younger Mayaen and the members of the Provincial Board of Canvassers of the standing

resolution of the Comelec en banc denying the petition for substitution filed by the substitute.

Further, the petitioner also wants to restrain the substitute candidate from assuming office by noon of June 30, 2016.

Tawagen also sought the granting of the petition due to the alleged ineligibility of the younger Mayaen to run for the position of Provincial Governor of Mountain Province as a substitute to her late father, an independent candidate, who died March 31. he had been running unopposed for his third term.

Tawagen wants the said department to cite for indirect contempt the concerned provincial election supervisor pursuant to the Comelec rules

of procedure.

Under the existing Omnibus Election Code and Comelec Resolution No. 9984, as amended by Comelec Resolution No. 9989, Tawagen cited that it is very clear that no substitution is allowed for any independent candidate and such prohibition on the substitution for an independent candidate is absolute and therefore, there is no exemption.

Despite such prohibition on the substitution for any independent candidate, the younger Mayaen, who is the daughter of the deceased unopposed candidate, filed her Certificate of Candidacy as a substitute of her late father where she allegedly clearly indicated that she is an independent candidate.

Marketplace. Strawberries remain a favorite in the Baguio and Benguet areas. DAVID CHAN

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OPINION [ EDI TORI A L ]

WALK OF SHAME

ALMOST overnight, the crazies have come out of the woodwork.

In Cebu City, the incoming mayor Tomas Osmeña says he will pay police a bounty of P50,000 for every criminal they kill, and P5,000 for every one they wound.

“If you kill a criminal in the line of duty, [you’ll be rewarded], no questions asked. I’m there to assist the police, not to prosecute them,” Osmeña said last week.

“That is my purpose: to instill fear in the criminals. If they want to commit crimes, they get into war with me. I will see to it that they will be casualties.”

Asked if such rewards might encourage vigilante killings, Osmeña said: “I’m not going to suppress vigilantes.”

The newly elected mayor has been down this road before.

During his previous stint as Cebu mayor, Osmeña told police: “Go ahead, pull the trigger. As mayor, my warning to anybody doing a crime is I will see to it that you’ll be dead on the spot. If we catch you, you will be so sorry—you won’t be around.”

Not to be outdone, Mayor Antonio Halili of Tanauan City in Batangas this week forced 11 suspected drug pushers to parade through town in a mock version of the religious “Flores de Mayo” procession wearing T-shirts saying “I’m a pusher.

Don’t be like me.”

The mayor, who calls his latest innovation the “Flores de Pusher,” has paraded rapists and thieves before in a similar fashion, saying these walks of shame will deter crime.

Both mayors seem to be attuned to the political currents that gave a landslide victory to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who ran for president on a hardline law-and-order platform to kill thousands of criminals and to eradicate crime in his first six months in office.

But even Duterte, who is a lawyer, recognizes the tiny flaw in Halili’s anti-crime campaign—it’s illegal.

Specifically, the Anti-Torture Act of 2009 states that it is a form of mental torture to inflict shame upon a person by parading him or her in public places.

“I am a lawyer, and I know that we are not supposed to do that,” said Duterte, who has been linked to the notorious Davao death squad, a vigilante group that was said to have summarily executed more than 1,000 suspected criminals between 1998 and 2008.

His advice to the Tanauan mayor: “Because I’m mad at drug dealers, maybe I won’t bother to parade you; I’ll just kill you.”

That the incoming president and the Cebu mayor offer de facto support for summary executions and that the Tanauan mayor uses mental torture on persons who have not yet even been convicted of any crime is frightening enough. What is even more frightening is that so many of their constituents are willing to overlook the blatant violation of the basic human rights to life and dignity and the presumption of innocence, forgetting that they too may forfeit these rights one day to a trigger-happy policeman—or a gun-toting mayor.

It is those among us who watch these rights being violated and say nothing who deserve to do the walk of shame.

Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City.

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LENI’S LONG WAIT LOWDOWN JOJO A. ROBLES

LENI Robredo is seeking an audience with President-in-waiting Rodrigo Duterte, whom she intends to ask a Cabinet position from. In particular, Robredo wants to become secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development—a sure sign that she covets a high-profile position that will catapult her to higher office.

Initial talks and furious text messages through intermediaries in both political camps for a face-toface meeting fell through, I’m told, because Duterte has sent word that he is swamped with meetings in Davao City and doesn’t have the time. But I think the real reason is that Duterte doesn’t want to appear like he is prejudging the hotly contested vice presidential contest, which will soon be settled by Congress sitting as a National Board of Canvassers.

Of course, Robredo cannot just hop on a plane (or a bus, her supposed favorite means of transport) to Davao like any other officeseeker. That would be unseemly for a “presumptive” vice president—and Lord knows how bad it would look if, like Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, she isn’t able to wangle an appointment with Digong.

The waiting is reportedly causing Robredo a lot of anxiety because she fears that the DSWD position may be filled soon by yet another Duterte nominee, leaving her out in the cold. Robredo is also concerned that Duterte’s pronouncement that the late President Ferdinand Marcos will be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani could mean that the incoming chief executive is leaning towards her rival, who has maintained good ties with the Davao City mayor throughout the campaign.

(The appointment of Silvestre Bello III as labor secretary only made matters worse for Leni. The labor

Robredo is caught between her need to seek the DSWD post and her desire not to appear to be prematurely claiming the vice presidency.

portfolio, like the DSWD job, after all, had originally been promised by Duterte to the Communists.)

So far, Duterte has been studiously non-committal about the VP contest. The incoming president has not even mentioned the Marcos-Robredo controversy in his nightly meetings with the members of the so-called Nocturnal Press Club, the gang of local and

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

Chairman President & Chief Executive Officer Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Director of Operations Finance Officer Edgar M. Valmorida Circulation Manager

Manila-based reporters who have camped out in his city and whom he regales with his nightly talks at his favorite hangouts.

Because he is a lot wilier than the folksy, provinciano persona that he wants to portray, Duterte understands that he cannot take a position in the electoral controversy until a clear winner emerges. And he knows that any meeting with Robredo could be misconstrued as favoring one of the two bitter rivals, so that tete-a-tete is unlikely to happen soon.

And so Robredo is caught between her need to seek a meeting with Duterte before the DSWD position is given to someone else and her desire to appear as if she is not trying too hard to claim the vice presidency, which is still not hers until she is safely proclaimed.

Of course, for Robredo to even become DSWD secretary, she has to be vice president first. And that is why she’s on pins and needles in Naga City.

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

Publisher Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor City Editor Senior Deskman Art Director Chief Photographer

Emil P. Jurado Chairman Emeritus, Editiorial Board

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OPINION

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THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WILL PREVAIL TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

IF IT is true that President-elect Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte is suffering from what is called “Buerger’s Disease,” also known as “thromboangitis obliterans”—a rather catchy affliction that inflames the arteries, and the veins in the arms and legs, we can only sympathize with him.

Most of us do not have to go through life with unbearable throbbing pain.

Somebody who suffers from that affliction wrote for a national broadsheet that she got it all from smoking— heavy smoking. In case of stubborn smokers, Buerger’s Disease can cause death. I can only imagine what Duterte must have gone through.

His common-law-wife who would be in charge of Malacañang told the same national broadsheet that Duterte had already quit smoking years ago.

Anne S. Jambora, who claims she had the same affliction said: “Of course, he must have— or he wouldn’t be here with us right now, alive with limbs intact.”

I would not wish the same condition on my worst enemy. *** I don’t know what Du30 is up to when he continues to hurl invectives against the Catholic Church, calling it hypocritical because some members of the hierarchy allegedly have mistresses. He says he could prove that there have been lecherous popes.

According to him, the Catholic Church is irrelevant. He is no longer a Catholic but a member of Duterte’s church.

Du30 repeated his tirades against the Church when a retired archbishop replied that the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines had its own

internal laws on how to discipline erring bishops and priests. He also challenged Du30 to release names as proof.

In my over 66 years as a journalist, I have never heard an incoming president saying as much as he does against the Catholic Church as an institution. He confuses the institution with its members who have not been true to their vocation, committing abuses and violating their vows of celibacy.

Of course the Catholic Church as an institution has had some scoundrels. Didn’t Jesus Christ himself have a Judas Iscariot among his disciples?

The institution will remain long after Duterte is gone.

As a Catholic, though, I believe what Jesus said to St. Peter: “Thou art Peter, the rock. Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

Du30, having studied at the Ateneo de Davao run by the Jesuits, should have learned from history that the Church as an institution had gone through many crises.

And yet it continues to be around. The institution will prevail, long after Duterte is gone.

There may be a constitutional provision on the separation of powers between the State and the Church. Still, the Church has an obligation to remind its faithful on what is right and wrong. The faithful must follow what is written in the gospel.

PRESIDENT DUTERTE, NOT PRESUMPTIVE RODRIGO Duterte is president. Yes, he is president and not just a presumptive president.

“Presumptive” is a term borrowed by local media from the US media which refers to Donald Trump who has so much bombast in his body it flows out of his ears and other orifices. “Presumptive” rings pretentious and Duterte is not at all pretentious. The longtime Davao mayor says what he means and means what he says. He is a WYSIWYG guy—what you see is what you get.

Duterte is not at all a presumptive president. That the local media calls him “presumptive” is a hangover of the colonial days when what sounded foreign or American sounded good.

Trump started calling himself the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

On cue, CNN and Fox News also started calling him the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Local media, especially ABSCBN, heard the word “presumptive” thinking it sounds good and safe and began calling Duterte the “presumptive” president. The correct word is president-elect. But since Duterte has been issuing orders and dicta and people, like taxi drivers, began complying with the new rules, then for all practical purposes, he is our president.

Now, outgoing President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III has started feeling insecure and is by now, a lameduck. Look at what the police did to the once powerful police general, Alan Purisima. He was met by his arresting officers at the airport upon his arrival on May 20 from a domestic out of town trip and hauled off to the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan to post bail in connection with a sweetheart deal that allowed a fly-by-night courier, Werfast, to be the exclusive courier for gun licenses. The incorporators of Werfast are the same people who own the forex dealer which helped launder $81 million in stolen money from the Bangladesh central bank.

Meanwhile, Noynoy has gone on a media barrage, talking with the New York Times and TIME and delivering speeches to make sure his so-called Daang Matuwid legacy is

What I am concerned about as a citizen is the need for the country to move forward. Du30 only exacerbates this division by taking on the Catholic Church when he leads a nation that is predominantly Catholic. *** Congress, both the Senate and the House of Representatives, will start the canvassing of ballots for the presidency and vice presidency today.

The law mandates that there must be a president and vice president to be proclaimed before June

VIRTUAL REALITY TONY LOPEZ not forgotten and thrown, to use a cliché, into the dustbin of history.

He has even told Duterte in no uncertain terms to toe the US line as regards the South China Sea, implying the president-elect lacks adequate briefing that is why he is soft on China.

In his early morning press conference on May 23, Duterte was asked about President Obama’s congratulatory call on May 17. The mayor shrugged and blurted, “it was just a simple hello.” Obama, Duterte related, talked about enhancing relations in various fields like terrorism, human rights, and the China Sea. The White House version of the call made it appear the téte-á-téte was more substantial than “a simple hello.” Said a White House statement: “President Obama noted that the successful election and record voter participation were emblematic of the Philippines’ vibrant democracy. The President highlighted the enduring values that underpin our thriving alliance with the Philippines and the long-standing ties between our two peoples, including our shared commitments to democracy, human rights, rule of law, and inclusive economic growth. The two leaders affirmed their interest in seeing the relationship continue to grow on the basis of these shared principles.”

If that sounded like a lecture, it was. The reference to human rights and rule of law sounds like a warning to Duterte: “Please do not kill suspects without due process.” The mayor has said he will kill as many as 100,000 drug lords and other criminals and dump their bodies into Manila Bay to fatten the fish there.

For his part, Duterte assured Obama, “we are allied with the western powers on all matters, especially military, because we have the RP-US Mutual Defense Pact.”

30, 2016 —the date when the incumbent president steps down.

There is no question on the proclamation of the president. Duterte leads his closest rival by over six million votes.

But the neck-in-neck contest for the vice presidency is something to be watched. There are claims of election fraud, with a director of Smartmatic monkeying around with the codes, likely affecting the votes for Senator Bongbong Marcos and Rep. Leni Robredo.

He told the outgoing American President: “I will agree with the multilateral [approach] but if there is no progress on the negotiations and [the talks] does not improve into something specific and good for us, after two or three years, I am willing to talk bilateral, perhaps even earlier.”

A guy who chalks up nearly 17 million in votes in a hotly contested five-way presidential fight and with an unprecedented 6.26 million more votes than the second placer, is certainly not a presumptive president. In fact, Duterte is so confident of his mandate he has said he won’t bother to come to Manila to be proclaimed the elected president or winner by Congress (the outgoing Senate and the House in joint session) sitting as a National Board of Canvassers. The Constitution is silent on whether the winning candidate needs to be present in Congress for his proclamation as the elected president. The deadline for Congress to begin the national canvassing is June 9.

Duterte seems to be having difficulty completing his Cabinet. At this writing, he has not announced his secretaries for Trade and Industry, Budget and Management, Health, Agrarian Reform, Social Welfare and Development, Higher Education, Tourism, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, Metro Manila Development Authority, National Anti-Poverty Commission, Tesda, and Governance Commission for GOCCs, as well as for the newly created Department of Information Communications Technology (DICT) which will cannibalize the Department of Transportation and Communications into simply a Department of Transportation (DT).

So far, two appointees have declined their nominations—Gilberto Teodoro, for Defense, and Peter Laurel, for Education.

The president has reserved the following positions for military generals—Immigration, National Penitentiary, and PDEA (Drug Enforcement). The Bureau of Internal Revenue post is still vacant. biznewsasia@gmail.com

Instances of election fraud are widespread— from Lamitan, Basilan to Santa Rosa, Laguna.

Because of this, it seems logical that the canvassing for the vice presidency should be put off until a full audit of the system is made by the Comelec itself.

If the administration decides to go ahead despite the problems, this would be a violation of election laws. Even the proclamation of the president may be put under question.

What I cannot under-

stand is why the Comelec allowed Marlon Garcia, Smartmatic’s project director, to continue his functions when he was the same person who was a respondent in an electoral sabotage case in 2013.

Even more questionable is why the Comelec continued with Smartmatic given the latter’s infamy in cheating and vote shaving. All these reflect on Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista’s honesty and integrity.

Continued on A11

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OPINION lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

BACK CHANNEL ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO AIR pollution and the smog coming from China’s factories must be severely clouding Chinese leaders’ thinking.

How else do you explain their distorted claim that ancient historical maps showed China owned almost all of the sea from its coastlines without total regard for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea? China raised the propaganda bar, ranting the United States is militarizing the region.

But wasn’t it China that militarized the region by building military installations from the shoals and reefs reclaimed from the sea? The US rebalancing of its military forces and pivot to Asia is not seen as a hostile act by nations in the region. Even Vietnam welcomed President Barack Obama this week. The former foes are drawn together by China’s aggressive moves in the region and its sweeping claim of nearly the entire South China Sea. Vietnam, like the Philippines, welcomed

IT’S THE SMOG, STUPID the US presence in Asia after China grabbed Scarborough Shoal and the Paracels from it. High on the Hanoi visit of US President Barack Obama is the US policy shift lifting the ban on the sale of weapons to Vietnam. This means Vietnam can now acquire modern military hardware, including warships and sophisticated jetfighters the US supplied treaty allies South Korea and Taiwan.

“Mindful of the past but focused on the future,” President Obama intoned in his address to the Vietnamese, referring to the long-drawn war between the US and Vietnam that cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.. But there’s a new threat in the region and the end of the arms embargo would strengthen Vietnam’s security and sovereignty.

How times have changed.

The former enemies are now friends and former friend China, which helped Vietnam in the war against the US,

The Catholic... From A10 *** BS Aquino is beating his breast like a proud chimpanzee. He says he is leaving the country with a gross domestic product growth of 6.9 percent during the last quarter of 2015.

This is reportedly the highest in Southeast Asia.

What BS Aquino did not say is that he’s also leaving a country with the highest unemployment and poverty incidence in the region.

The preoccupation of Aquino economic managers on GDP growth is meaningless unless it’s inclusive. This means that the benefits of that growth must trickle down to the poor and the jobless.

Read this and weep: The latest labor force survey data not-

ed that unemployment in the Philippines was 5.8 percent in January this year. China had 4.0 percent, Vietnam 2.3 percent, Indonesia 6.5 percent, Malaysia 3.5 percent and Thailand, 1.0 percent.

As for BS Aquino III’s legacy of high growth rate, no less than the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas attributed this to the sound economic fundamentals that former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo left in 2010.

What I am saying is that BS Aquino cannot claim the high GDP growth as his legacy.

Poverty and unemployment rates are still the highest in this region. In truth, his legacy are his mistakes, shortcomings, and the hypocrisy of “Daang Matuwid.”

#FAILOCRACY

looms as the new enemy.

The polluted air in China must be so bad it has wafted to neighboring North Korea which has unhinged its leader and Chinese ally, Kim Jongun. Pyongyang’s supreme leader has been firing missiles across Japan and threatening to send some to the US West Coast. Such provocative threats can only invite a preemptive first strike from Uncle Sam. How will China respond to an attack on its ally?

Beijing added the Philippines is escalating tension when Manila filed a case with the international arbitration court in The Hague challenging China’s sweeping claim in the South China Sea. What was a small country like the Philippines to do when its giant neighbor across the pond started bullying it and other claimants like Vietnam and Malaysia? Following international law and as a signatory to Unclos like China, Manila sought the ruling of

The Hague court to define and delineate maritime borders in the disputed waters.

China’s arrogant response to The Hague’s ruling which is due to decide this year is not to recognize its jurisdiction by not participating in the legal proceedings. Beijing also made known it will not be bound by an adverse ruling

by The Hague court.

China’s pollution problem has also taken its toll on its media and the people purveying propaganda- slanted news. A female newscaster, in a straight-faced delivery on national TV, claimed China owned the Philippines! So it’s not only the waters, the shoals, reefs and protruding rocks in the West Philippine Sea but also the other 7,107 islands.

China must be careful of what it wishes for. Spain, America and Japan occupied the Philippines but had to fight a rebellion from Filipinos who refused to bow

to a foreign power.

If China cannot rein in Taiwan which it considers a renegade province, what more an independent country like the Philippines?

Taiwan’s first woman president, Tsai Ing-wen, is cool to the One China Policy that Beijing wants Taipei to adopt.

Cross-strait investments from Taiwan, however, continue to flow into mainland China. *** The incoming administration of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has announced some Cabinet appointments, a few of which are controversial if not dubious. With the external threat of China facing the country, the government must convene the National Security Council, something the Aquino administration has failed to do. Retired Armed Forces General Hermogenes Esperon, named by Duterte as the National Security Adviser, has his job cut out for him.

Leni’s... From A8

provider Smartmatic during the May 9 elections and afterwards, to me, smacks of misrepresentation.

Of course, Aquino would act like Robredo’s lawyer in the Senate, though he would be cut down to size by Marcos in his responses to Bam’s thinlydisguised leading questions. I especially liked the way Marcos cut off Aquino when the latter said that most academicians were of the opinion that no cheating had been perpetrated: “Is this now a question of who has more academicians on their side?” Marcos retorted.

But I guess I can’t expect this or any Aquino to grow some shame. Bam Aquino, if he had any sense of propriety, should even inhibit himself from being a part of the National Board of Canvassers that will declare

both the new president and the new vice president.

But if Bam cannot even declare his loyalties in a simple interpellation at the Senate, how can anyone ask him not to join the canvassing because of a conflict of interest? After all, Bam could have made a real difference when he called that high-profile investigation of the country’s two telecommunications companies for charging sky-high prices for super-slow Internet service—and was never heard again after a couple of hearings on the matter.

But I guess Bam is just living up to the Aquino name that he carries and which carried him, another nobody, all the way to Senate. I can’t believe we have to suffer three more years until this last Aquino standing is finally thrown out of office.

*** Speaking of Leni, I was amused to see Senator Bam Aquino stand up to interpellate Senate Marcos after the latter delivered his privilege speech in the Senate. I was waiting for Aquino to announce that he was questioning Marcos not only out of a genuine desire to ferret out the truth but as Robredo’s campaign manager, to no avail.

See, Senator Aquino had been assigned as early as October last year by Malacanang and the Liberal Party to run Robredo’s campaign. That Aquino failed to point this out when he tried to make Marcos admit that he had no call to protest the actions of the Commission on Elections and its private automated system

CHONG ARDIVILLA

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sports sports@thestandard.com.ph

Murray locked in battle for survival PARIS—Darkness halted Andy Murray’s bad-tempered French Open survival battle with Radek Stepanek while Stan Wawrinka avoided becoming the first defending champion to lose in the first round on Monday.

Dela Torre ready to put on a show

By Ronnie Nathanielsz UNBEATEN Filipino junior lightweight Harmonito “Hammer” Dela Torre is ready to put on a show in his US debut at the Seneca Resort and Casino in Niagra Falls, New York, where he is featured in the televised main event on “Championship Boxing” on the CBS Sports Network on Friday (Saturday, Manila time).

The Filipino faces Guillermo Sanchez in an eight-round bout presented by Greg Cohen Promotions.

Dela Torre, who hails from the hometown of eight-division world champion and recently elected Senator Manny Pacquiao in General Santos City, is a 22-year-old fighter with an impressive record of 17-0, with 12 knockouts.

His manager, youthful Jim Claude Manangquil, who heads Sanman Promotions said: “I’m confident Harmonito will put on a great show for American boxing fans We’re hoping that his first fight will be the start of something special.”

DelaTorre fought twice at the Cotai Arena in Macau, once on the undercard of the Pacquiao-Brandon “BamBam” Rios fight, which Manny won handily.

Dela Torre scored a third-round knockout over Jason Butar Butar in a scheduled six-round bout on Nov. 24, 2013 and then pulled off a first-round knockout of Yakobus Heluka in a scheduled six-round bout on Feb. 22, 2014.

The 27-year-old southpaw Sanchez started his career with a string of 11 wins before he hit a bad spell and in fact has lost his last four fights.

Britain’s Andy Murray reacts after winning a point against Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek during the men’s first round match at the Roland Garros 2016 French Tennis Open in Paris. AFP

Director’s Cup shootfest lures 300 bets MORE than 300 participants all over the country will compete in the 1st Civil Security Group Director’s Cup National Shooting Competition Level II on June 11 to 12 at the ARMSCOR Firing Range in Marikina City.

The inaugural practical shooting competition, organized by the Magnus Sports Club, is inviting all shooting individuals, gun club members, PNP/AFP personnel and private security personnel, among

others, to join the competition that will enhance their shooting skills.

“We are expecting the best shooters to compete in this prestigious shooting event after the last day of the gun ban on June 10,” said event coordinator Jose Ortalla Jr. “The participants will undergo an effective safety measure during the competition.”

The shootfest is sponsored by PSSLAI, Aboitiz, Alsons, ARMSCOR, Sta. Elena Properties Inc.

and stakeholders of Firearms and Explosives Office and Supervisory Office for Security and Investigation Agency.

It is sanctioned by the Philippine Shooters and Match Officers Confederation Inc., which will have the following stages on handgun and mini rifle event: Spinning balls, the Pirate, the storage plant, the warehouse, Raid on Sosia Lobby, Abandoned Building, Guard Inspection and

in search for the target.

The Level I PSA handgun and shotgun match event will have the following stages: Parking Lot Encounter, Mall Robbery and Hotel Lobby Hold Up. The guest of honor and speaker during the opening ceremonies is DILG Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento.

For any inquiry and pre-registration, you may visit www.directorscup.csgpnp.org.

No suspension for Green LOS ANGELES—Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green has been fined $25,000 but will escape a suspension for his kick on Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams, the NBA said Monday.

Green left the Warriors sweating on the prospect of a possible ban after kicking Adams in the groin during Golden State’s rout to the Thunder in Game Three on Sunday.

Golden State’s management and Green had insisted the incident in the first half— which left Adams doubled over in pain—was accidental.

Kiki VanDeWeghe, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations, said Green’s foul

had been upgraded to a flagrant two—meaning he would have been ejected from the game if the officiating crew had given that ruling on the court.

“After a thorough investigation that included review of all available video angles and interviews with the players involved and the officials working the game, we have determined that Green’s foul was unnecessary and excessive and warranted the upgrade and fine,” said VanDeWeghe.

“During a game, players—at times—flail their legs in an attempt to draw a foul, but Green’s actions in this case warranted an additional penalty.” AFP

Bourgeois body cult. People are shown exercising at a gym in Havana. Cuban body builder Armando Yera opened a gym in central Havana, which is becoming more and more popular among Cubans looking for transformations. The “bourgeois” body cult is growing in Cuba.

AFP

Second seed Murray dropped the first two sets 6-3, 6-3 before taking the third 6-0.

He then edged ahead with a break in the fourth at 4-2 when play was halted in the gloom of Court Philippe Chatrier at 2123 (1923GMT).

At 37, Stepanek is bidding to be the oldest winner of a singles match in Paris since Jimmy Connors in 1991.

And he appeared to be cruising to a shock win over the three-time semi-finalist when he swept the first two sets.

But Murray’s greater stamina and his eight-year age advantage resulted in a dramatic turnaround as he took the third in just 18 minutes.

In between, the Scot was warned for swearing while Stepanek was also hit with a code violation for time wasting as he desperately demanded that the tie be called off for the night after the third set.

But he was ordered to keep playing and when the tie was halted it was Murray in the ascendancy ahead of a Tuesday resumption where he will attempt to avoid his first opening round exit in Paris since his 2006 debut.

Wawrinka needed five tough sets to get past Stepanek’s equally combative and fiesty Czech compatriot, Lukas Rosol.

Third seed Wawrinka fired 56 winners but committed 46 unforced errors and needed to save eight break points to book a second round clash against Japan’s Taro Daniel.

Wawrinka, 31, had defeated 59th-ranked Rosol in the semi-finals of the Geneva clay-court tournament just last Friday.

But Rosol went into the match on a chilly Court Philippe Chatrier with the pedigree of having famously stunned Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2012.

That free-swinging masterclass almost paid dividends again Monday but once he had let slip two break points at 2-2 in the fourth set, his hopes slowly faded.

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sports sports@thestandard.com.ph

McIlroy could snub Rio over Zika fears LONDON—Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy revealed on Monday he could reject the chance to play at this year’s Olympics because of the Zika virus in Brazil.

Fiji’s Vijay Singh and Australia’s Marc Leishman have already decided not to participate in the Rio Games because of the virus, while Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel have pulled out for what they say are scheduling reasons.

World number three McIlroy is keeping tabs on the spread of Zika, which is linked to brain deformities in newborn babies, and the Northern Ireland star conceded it is possible he might join the growing list of absentees.

“There’s going to be a point in the next couple of years where we’re (with fiancee Erica Stoll) going to have to think about starting a family,” he told the BBC. “Right now I’m ready to go but I don’t want anything to affect that.”

Asked if there was a chance he might opt to stay away, McIlroy, said: “Yeah,” before adding: “Right now I am going and looking forward to it”.

Golf is back at the Olympics for the first time since 1904 and McIlroy, who has won the PGA Championship twice and the British and US Opens once, has been a big supporter of the sport’s return.

However, the risk of catching the virus is making the 27-year-old think twice about the trip.

“As it gets closer I am relishing the thought of going down there and competing for gold,” McIlroy added.

“But I have been reading a lot of reports about Zika and there have been some articles coming out saying that it might be worse than they’re saying and I have to monitor that situation.

“I am actually going to get my injections on Wednesday - at least I will be immunised for whatever... if I do get bitten by a mosquito down there.” AFP

1Pacman No. 1 nominee

Dr. Mikee Romero is joined by sons Miguel (right) and Santi (front) after taking his oath of office as member of the House of Representatives recently.

The Globalport owner intends to join the youth and sports committee in the House in order to craft laws that will help the country produce its first Olympic gold medal winner.

FIFA sacks top official over secret bonuses ZURICH—FIFA on Monday sacked deputy general secretary Markus Kattner for financial ‘breaches’ involving secret bonuses worth millions of dollars, according to sources close to an inquiry by the world body.

Kattner’s downfall topples another member of ex-president Sepp Blatter’s inner circle at football’s world body.

Kattner, a 45-year-old German-Swiss national, had been acting general secretary after previous general secretary Jerome Valcke was also dismissed for irregularities.

“Kattner has been dismissed from his position effective immediately,” the world body said in a statement.

“FIFA’s internal investigation uncovered breaches of his

fiduciary responsibilities in connection with his employment contract,” it added.

“There was enough to determine there was a breach of his responsibilities and to take action against Mr Kattner,” a source close to an internal FIFA investigation told AFP. “We are talking about significant sums of money, millions of dollars,” the source added.

The source said the money came from bonuses under a contract whose terms were

kept secret from FIFA’s audit committees.

The internal FIFA inquiry, carried out by the Quinn Emanuel law firm, “covers the period from 2008 to 2014,” the source said.

“There was sufficient evidence to demonstrate shortcomings in his fiduciary responsibilities and to take action,” the same source revealed, adding that “only a small group of people knew about these payments”.

According to another source familiar with the workings of FIFA, these bonuses would have been approved by the world body’s financial committee, who decided how much the president, general secretary and deputy general secretary were paid.

The president of this committee was former FIFA finance chief Julio Grondona, an Argentine and close ally of Blatter. Grondona died aged 82 in 2014 and has been largely implicated in the scandal which has embroiled FIFA over the past year.

“FIFA will not comment further on any of the details, but will continue its cooperation with the relevant authorities,” said the FIFA statement.

The Swiss justice ministry, meanwhile, told AFP that “as of today, Mr M Kattner is not under investigation” by prosecutors.

- Restoring FIFA’s image Swiss prosecutors are already investigating Blatter, who is serving a six year ban imposed

by FIFA, and Valcke. AFP

Rio artists highlight city’s violent underbelly RIO DE JANEIRO—As Rio de Janeiro prepares to play Olympic host, one art exhibit is flying a less than celebratory five-ring flag portraying five youngsters shot dead by police in this often deadly city.

Part of an exhibit by a dozen artists, the installation denounces police violence against the poor in Brazil’s secondbiggest metropolis and international tourist attraction.

Far from the image of sun, surf and partying along Rio’s Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, the city is plagued by poverty and battles between police and drug gangs, a reality Olympic organizers appear eager to conceal.

Installation artist Wagner Novais hopes the show at the Helio Oiticica cultural center will draw attention to injustices overshadowed in the lead-up to Au-

gust’s Olympics.

“Everything is made up to put on a spectacle, the pageantry of sports,” Novais said, “but in real life the state kills its youth. Our voice is suffocated.”

To prepare for the exhibition, the artists worked for a month in the Mare favela, a gang-ridden, impoverished complex of slums and working class areas.

“At the moment we are taking advantage of the Olympics and the overselling and overexposure of the city to show the other side,” said Eduardo Bonito, manager of the show at Helio Oiticica.

“There are injustices that have been committed because of the games, but there’s also injustice that the state regularly commits here in Brazil.”

- ‘Provoking empathy’ Novais’s Olympic-style five-ring

banner refers to an incident last year when police shot dead five youths in a car in another favela called Costa Barros, prompting an unusual public outcry in a city that usually shrugs its shoulders at tales of gun violence in the favelas.

The banner reads: “Rio, Champion of Killing Indigenous, Black, and Poor People for 450 Years.” Nearby there are Tshirts with the victims’ portraits as well as videos in which the victims’ mothers speak about the sons they lost.

A German tourist at the show struggled to hold back tears listening to one of the mothers.

Although crime rates have decreased significantly during the past decade, Rio remains a dangerous city with almost four homicides a day.

Much of the violence is concentrated in favelas and among the poor, with black men the main victims.

The deployment of police units in the favelas leading up to the World Cup in 2014 and now the Olympics has failed to dampen the turmoil.

“I hope to trigger empathy in visitors, to connect with the pain of others,” Novais said. “And I also wanted to put a face to this young victim with a T-shirt showing his photo and name, as if it were the body of the young.”

- ‘Anti-souvenirs’ The beginning of the exhibit presents objects imagined by the artist Rafucko on the theme “MonstruaRio2016”—a Portuguese play on the words “to show” and “monster.” The work sells “anti-souvenirs” of Rio 2016. AFP

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

Tabuena, Diaz make it to Rio

By Peter Atencio

GOLFER Miguel Tabuena and lifter Hidilyn Diaz are sure entries to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Team Philippines chef de mission Joey Romasanta confirmed this after attending a Delegation Registration meeting in Bangkok.

“Tabuena is a sure inclusion.

Si Hidilyn, confirmed na din,” said Romasanta during Tuesday’s weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Shakey’s Restaurant in Malate, Manila.

Tabuena’s Olympic ranking of no. 37 has solidified his hold on a slot to the Games.

Around 60 slots are available in golf, with one reserved to an entry from host Brazil.

The 21-year-old Tabuena is currently ranked at no. 120 in the

world (different from Olympic rankings) after joining 11 tournaments since the start of the year.

Two weeks ago, Tabuena moved up in ranking after placing 18th in the Mauritius Open.

Diaz has been given a slot by the International Weightlifting Federation, through its quota place system in the women’s division.

She is now in China with Nestor Colonia and national coach Dondon Aldanete, training at the Fujian Sports Center, with the best Chinese lifters and world-class coaches.

Romasanta said they expect to have 11 Filipino qualifiers by the end of July.

Tabuena and Diaz join other sure entries, which include sprinter Eric Cray, long jumper Marestella Torres-Sunang, table tennis player Ian Lariba, taekwondo jin Kirstie Alora, boxers Roger Ladon and Charly Suarez.

They are waiting for the confirmation on the status of golfer Angelo Que, Colonia, swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi, Roxanne Yu, Joshua Hall and Jessie Khing Lacuna, as well as boxers Mario Fernandez and Eumir Felix Marcial.

Romasanta said Que is no. 52 in the Olympic rankings. But he needs to join more tournaments to assure himself of a seat.

Que is no. 259 in the world, placing 18th in the recent Kensai Open in Japan.

On the other hand, Colonia got a bronze in the clean-and-jerk of the 56-kg category in the world championships in Houston last year, but

POC vice president and PH team chef de mission Joey Romasanta (center) briefs sportswriters on the status of the athletes’ preparations for the Rio Olympics during Tuesday’s PSA Forum. He is joined by Olympic qualifiers Ian Lariba (table tennis) and Christine Elaine Alora (taekwondo). EY ACASIO

this did not earn him a quota place.

Being fifth in the Olympic rankings, Colonia still has a

chance to book a ticket to Rio de Janeiro with a strong finish in the individual qualification.

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

Republic of the Philippines Province of Bataan City of Balanga BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE OFFICE INVITATION TO BID NO. GOODS-032-2016

INVITATION TO BID NO. GOODS-030-2016

The Provincial Government of Bataan, through the General Fund32intends to apply the below listed procurement w/ corresponding Approved Budget of the Contract (ABC). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected a bid opening.

The Provincial Government of Bataan, through the General Fund30intends to apply the below listed procurement w/ corresponding Approved Budget of the Contract (ABC). Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected a bid opening.

Name of Project

Name of Project

Approved Budget of the Contract (ABC)

1. Supply & Delivery of Food Supplies of Inmates of Bataan District Jail for the Month of July to August 2016

The Provincial Government of Bataannow invites bids for the above listedProcurement.

Delivery of goods is requiredon or before the maturity date stipulated on contract.Bidders should have completed, at least one (1) contract that is similar to the contract to be bid. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using nondiscretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is open to all interested bidders, whether local or foreign, subject to the conditions for eligibility provided in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Office of Bataan Bids & Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the same office.

Bid documents will be available only to eligible bidders upon payment of a non-refundable amount of using standard rates approved by GPPB as stated on their Resolution No. 04-2012 listed below.

Approved Budget for the Contract

500.00

=P=3,686,846.00

The Provincial Government of Bataannow invites bids for the above listedProcurement.

Delivery of goods is requiredon or before the maturity date stipulated on contract.Bidders should have completed, at least one (1) contract that is similar to the contract to be bid. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is open to all interested bidders, whether local or foreign, subject to the conditions for eligibility provided in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Office of Bataan Bids & Awards Committeeand inspect the Bidding Documents from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the same office.

Bid documents will be available only to eligible bidders upon payment of a non-refundable amount of using standard rates approved by GPPB as stated on their Resolution No. 04-2012 listed below.

Maximum Cost of Bidding Documents (in Philippine Peso)

500,000 and below

Approved Budget of the Contract (ABC)

1. Supply & Delivery of Medicines for the use of Jose C. Payumo Jr. Memorial Hospital &Orani District Hospital, Province of Bataan

=P=4,649,136.00

Approved Budget for the Contract

Maximum Cost of Bidding Documents (in Philippine Peso)

500,000 and below

500.00

1,000.00

More than 500,000 up to 1 Million

More than 1 Million up to 5 Million

5,000.00

More than 1 Million up to 5 Million

5,000.00

More than 5 Million up to 10 Million

10,000.00

More than 5 Million up to 10 Million

10,000.00

More than 10 Million up to 50 Million

25,000.00

More than 10 Million up to 50 Million

25,000.00

More than 50 Million up to 500 Million

50,000.00

More than 50 Million up to 500 Million

50,000.00

More than 500 Million

75,000.00

More than 500 Million

75,000.00

More than 500,000 up to 1 Million

1,000.00

The Provincial Government of Bataan will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on May 30, 2016 at 10:00 A.M at Provincial BAC Office, PEO Capitol Compound, Balanga City, Bataan, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

The Provincial Government of Bataan will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on May 31, 2016 at 10:00 A.M at Provincial BAC Office, PEO Capitol Compound, Balanga City, Bataan, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

Bids must be delivered on or before June 13 , 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at Provincial BAC Office, PEO Capitol Compound, Balanga City, Bataan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated on IRR of RA 9184 and Bid Securing Declaration in standard form.

Bids must be delivered on or before June 14, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at Provincial BAC Office, PEO Capitol Compound, BalangaCity, Bataan. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated on IRR of RA 9184 and Bid Securing Declaration in standard form.

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

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

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

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

In case of the above dates is declared a special Non-Working Holidays, it will automatically reset on the next working days.

In case of the above dates is declared a special Non-Working Holidays, it will automatically reset on the next working days.

Other necessary information deemed relevant by the Provincial Government of Bataan

Other necessary information deemed relevant by the Provincial Government of Bataan 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Activities Advertisement/Posting of Invitation to Bid Eligibility Check Issuance and availability of Bidding Documents Request for Clarification Opening of Bids

Schedule May 23 – May 29, 2016 Refer to date of Opening of Bids May 23 – June 13, 2016 June 03, 2016 June 13, 2016

The Provincial Government of Bataanreserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to:

Activities Advertisement/Posting of Invitation to Bid Eligibility Check Issuance and availability of Bidding Documents Request for Clarification Opening of Bids

Schedule May 24 – May 30, 2016 Refer to date of Opening of Bids May 24 – June 14, 2016 June 03, 2016 June 14, 2016

The Provincial Government of Bataanreserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: Engr. Josephine R. Valenzuela Provincial BAC / PEO Bataan Provincial BAC / PEO Office, Capitol Compound, BalangaCity, Bataan 047-237-9316 bac@bataan.gov.ph

Engr. Josephine R. Valenzuela Provincial BAC / PEO Bataan Provincial BAC / PEO Office, Capitol Compound, BalangaCity, Bataan 047-237-9316 bac@bataan.gov.ph (SGD.) ENRICO T. YUZON BAC CHAIRMAN (TS-MAY 25, 2016)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

(SGD.) ENRICO T. YUZON BAC CHAIRMAN (TS-MAY 25, 2016)

Maasin net tilt draws big cast A FULL-PACKED field gears up for a fierce battle in various divisions as the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional age-group tennis tournament holds the Maasin, Leyte leg beginning Wednesday at the Maasin City and Capitol Tennis Club.

Organizers have actually tapped additional venues to accommodate the close to 300 participants with the boys’ 14-, 16- and 18-andunder categories featuring full roster of 64 players each, underscoring the tremendous response of the top players and upcoming stars in the region and from nearby provinces.

Rewel Justiniani, Marcus del Rosario, Norman Enriquez, Reynan Mahusay, Paolo Loreto, Kevin Pantillo, Chyme Arradaza and Francis Hidalgo of Cebu banner the 18-U side while Francis Hidalgo, Del Rosario, Venz Alforque and Justiniani take the top four seedings, respectively, in the 16-U section of the Group 2 tournament sponsored

by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

“We are overwhelmed by the big turnout which only inspires us to continue promoting and developing the sport and at the same time help in discovering future national players,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.

Other venues tapped are the Semenary, Capitol, Makron and Ichon tennis courts.

Alforque, meanwhile, gets the top ranking in the 14-U division with Surigao’s Ruperto Tortal at No. 2 followed by brothers Rewel and Khenz Justiniani from La Carlota, John Coderos, Eron Garces, Eric Longakit and Kyle Gacutno.

W E D N E S D AY : M AY 2 5 , 2 0 1 6

A15

SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

PH golfers gain in US 4-ball match play PRINCESS Superal and Pauline del Rosario sustained fierce form and eased out Mikayla Fitzpatrick and Alisa Snyder of Phoenix, 3&2, to roll into the second round of the upset-marred US Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship Match Play at the Streamsong Blue at Streamsong Resort in Florida Monday.

Coming off a record-setting 132 in the 36-hole stroke play elims, including a bogey-free 66

Sunday, The Country Club bets kept their bogey-free run going, combining for four birdies as against Fitzpatrick and Snyder’s lone-birdie effort on No. 6 to lead the cast in the Last 16.

That includes fellow TCC mainstays Sofia Chabon and Mikha Fortuna, who placed 14th in the elims then beat Alysa Lamoureux and Alexa Pano, 5&4, in their side of the knockout duel.

Chabon and Fortuna rattled off

four straight birdies from No. 11 which Lamoureux and Pano failed to match, enabling the Filipina bets to turn what had been a tight match into a runaway triumph.

The top seeded Superal and Del Rosario will next face Hana Ku and Jordan Lippetz, who nipped Kaitlin Milligan and Sydney Youngblood on the 19th hole while Chabon and Fortuna tangle with siblings Nicole and Waverly Whiston, the No. 31

seed who pulled off a shock 1-up victory over No. 2 Sierra Brooks and Kristen Gillman, in the lower half of the draw.

“The girls are playing great golf and are complementing well with each other’s games,” said TCC coach Bong Lopez. “With the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 teams out, focus is now on Superal and Del Rosario and I hope they, along with Chabon and Fortuna, stay focused and get the job done.”

LOTTO RESULTS

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

AIBA expected to OK pros in Rio

By Ronnie Nathanielsz ASSOCIATION of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines president Ricky Vargas and executive director Ed Picson will attend the extraordinary congress called by AIBA president Ching Kuo-Wu in Switzerland to amend various statutes that would allow professional boxers to compete in the Olympic Games beginning in Rio de Janeiro later this year.

The proposal was to amend Article 13 (J) of the AIBA Statutes and to insert the following text into it: “To govern, organize, promote and represent the sport of boxing in accordance with the AIBA Statutes, AIBA Bylaws, AIBA Technical Rules, AIBA 3 Program Competition Rule, AIBA Code of Ethics, AIBA Disciplinary Code, AIBA Procedural Rules and the AIBA Anti-Doping Rules within its territory by establishing appropriate rules and regulations concerning the practice of the sport and the eligibility of boxers to participate in national competitions and AIBA Competitions.”

In his invitation to the AIBA National Federation presidents and secretary generals, president Wu stated: “The motion to amend Article 13(J) of the AIBA Statutes is a historical cornerstone for the future development of our sport since it allows AIBA and its National Federations to determine boxer’s eligibility status and extending to the applied rules of the sport and athlete’s at events organized or endorsed by AIBA within the territory or jurisdiction.”

Wu added: “As AIBA enters its 70th year and celebrates boxing’s rich history, this proposal to amend Article 13 (J) ensures it will be at the forefront of the international sports movement and empowers Member Federations to decide which boxers to enter into competition. I look forward to seeing you in Lausanne for this important milestone for the advancement of our sport.”

Picson told The Standard that Dr. Wu “sounds dead sure” the AIBA congress will ratify the change because he had “spoken to all the national federations and there have been no objections.”

ABAP has left the light welterweight spot open in case eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao decides to compete and meet the May 27 ABAP deadline.

“Let me know (of Pacquiao’s decision) because he (Manny) must decide first, then we talk (about a possible wild-card entry),” the president of the world governing organization under the International Olympic Committee told Picson, referring to the berth, which would spare Pacquiao from going through the elimination rounds of the competition.

P0.0 M+ P0.0 M+

Kayla nears qualifying 100-m mark

By Peter Atencio

World Slasher Cup. Engr. Sonny Lagon (left), the reigning 2016 World Slasher Cup 1 champion, pits his entry to that of Damon Yorkman of the USA during the launching rites of the 2016 World Slasher Cup 2 at Novotel Quezon City. EY ACASIO

Gabuco falls to taller foe in world slugfest LIGHT flyweight Josie Gabuco has lost to what ABAP executive director Ed Picson described as a “younger, taller” Chinese girl in the semifinals of the AIBA 2016 Women’s World Boxing championships in Kazakhstan, with all three judges turning in identical 39-37 scorecards in favor

of the talented Chinese.

A rundown of the entries in the light flyweight division identified the Chinese boxer as E. Naiyan, who was ranked No. 9, while Gabuco was ranked No. 12.

Gabuco had earlier entered the quarterfinals with an impressive unanimous

decision victory over a taller girl from Belarus, but lost out in the clash for a medal finish.

In the Round of 16, all three judges—Ana Martinez of the Dominican Republic, Abderahim Ammour of Morocco and Nelka Thampu of Sri Lanka, turned in similar 39-

37 scorecards.

Gabuco beat China’s Xu Shiqui in the finals of the light flyweight (48 kg) category to win the gold in the world women’s boxing championships in China, but fell short of duplicating that effort against another Chinese opponent.

Ronnie Nathanielsz

FIL-AMERICAN sprinter Kayla Richardson stayed within range of the Olympic qualifying standard in athletics.

The 18-year-old Richardson first settled for the silver medal in the women’s 100-meter dash of the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section meet at the Cerrito College in Norwalk.

Her performance times were confirmed in results released by tournament organizers in their official website.

She clocked 11.79 seconds, behind gold medallist Augustine Ariyonna, who finished in 11.64 seconds.

This kept Richardson within the range of the 11.32-second mark, the time needed by a trackster to reach the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Richardson snared the bronze in the 200-meter dash in 23.68 seconds, which is close to the 23.2-second qualifying time.

Ariyonna took the gold in 23.47 seconds, while Tatyana Pooler claimed the bronze in 23.68 seconds.

Last year, Richardson had an 11.65-second performance in the 100-meter finals.

Her best time in the 200-meters was in the heats of the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore last year when she submitted a time of 23.67 seconds.

PNoy signs jockey retirement bill into law THE HOARSE WHISPERER JENNY ORTUOSTE

CONGRATULATIONS to the New Philippine Jockeys Association and to everyone in the Philippine Thoroughbred industry who worked on the promulgation of a longawaited piece of legislation: the law adjusting the retirement age of jockeys.

Years in the making and patiently shepherded by both the jockey leadership and racing personalities in Congress and government, Republic Act 10789 was finally signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III last May 3.

The law, called the Racehorse Jockeys Retirement

Act, amends Presidential Decree No. 442, the Labor Code of the Philippines, by inserting Article 302-A, which specifically sets the retirement age of jockeys at 55 rather than the usual 60, in recognition of the “inherent dangers” of the profession “that may cause life-threatening injuries, permanent disability, and even death.”

This law will enable jockeys to receive their SSS benefits at age 55, which is their usual retirement age.

Now let’s hope that under the incoming administration, the racing authority bill and the racing taxes bill will finally receive the same positive attention.

The former seeks to turn the Philippine Racing Commission into an “authority” or something like a GOCC (govern-

ment-owned and –controlled corporation) from its present status as a line agency under the Office of the President.

As an authority, it will have to raise its own revenues rather than receive its annual budget from the national government.

The racing taxes bill, which I worked on extensively when I was a consultant for Philracom years ago, passed the Lower House during the Arroyo administration but got stuck in the doldrums thereafter.

The bill aims to lower Philippine taxes on horseracing betting, the highest in Asia, to spur industry growth. In a paradox that the industry has observed in historical sales data, the lower the taxes, the higher the gross sales; therefore the higher also the benefit to government in the

form of direct taxes, which annually hovers at around P1 billion.

Reducing racing betting taxes can make the industry self-sustaining, rather than the heavily government-subsidized activity that it is today. *** There will be no US Triple Crown winner this year, thanks to Exaggerator’s victory in the May 21 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico that relegated Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist to third place.

Ridden by Kent Desormeaux (who I met at Santa Anita Park back in 2002—a real gent and accommodating to fans such as myself), second-choice Exaggerator avenged four previous losses to Nyquist and handed the latter his first defeat by running off-

the-pace and pulling away down the stretch to win by 3-1/2 lengths.

Longshot Cherry Wine also staged a rally from the back of the pack to cop second place.

Exaggerator and Nyquist are expected to meet again on June 11 in the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel of the US Triple Crown.

However, on May 23, Nyquist’s connections announced that the horse had a fever, possibly due to a virus, and his trip to Belmont Park was put off. Exaggerator will be shipped there on May 29, giving him a couple of weeks to settle down and familiarize himself with the track. *** Facebook: Gogirl Racing, Twitter: @gogirlracing, Instagram: @jensdecember

A16

W E D N E S DAY : M AY 2 5 , 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 Raptors stun Cavs to level series at 2-2 Injuries pile up for Gilas

By Jeric Lopez ADD Rain or Shine superstar Paul Lee to the list of injured players in the pool of Gilas Pilipinas.

After spearheading the Elasto Painters to the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup championship last week and winning the finals Most Valuable Player, Lee said he needed to take some time off as his nagging knee injury has reoccured.

In just a span of a week, Lee became the third member of the Gilas pool to suffer an injury.

The injury that hounded Lee early in the PBA season and forced him to miss most of the Philippine Cup is once again bothering him, forcing him to leave the team.

Gilas had already started its preparation for the coming FIBA Qualifying Tournament in July and the team needs as many bodies as it can to be able to assemble the best possible line-up.

But last week, Barangay Ginebra star center Greg Slaughter and Talk ‘N Text wingman Matt Ganuelas-Rosser were both ruled out of the Gilas pool due to various injuries that will force them to be out for a certain period.

Sharp-shooter Marcio Lassiter recently joined the team in practice and naturalized import Andray Blatche is set to join the training sessions anytime this week. Both will be much needed firepowers for the Nationals.

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers competes for a loose-ball late against DeMarre Carroll (5) and Kyle Lowry (7) of the Toronto Raptors in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. AFP

MONTREAL—Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan scored more than 30 points each as the Toronto Raptors withstood a ferocious Cleveland Cavaliers fightback to level their Eastern Conference final series on Monday with a 105-99 victory.

Lowry scored 35 points while DeRozan weighed in with 32 as Toronto completed a victory that leaves the best-of-seven series tied at 2-2 with three games to play.

The win continues a remarkable transformation in fortunes for Toronto, who had lost the opening two games of the series heavily to trail 2-0.

The Canadian franchise— playing in its first Eastern Conference finals—held its nerve to hang on for a thrilling win on Monday.

“They played well the first two games and they protected home,” Lowry said. “Now we’ve protected home.”

With Lowry and DeRozan in imperious form, the Raptors had surged into an 18-point lead midway through the third quarter.

However, the Cavs rallied su-

Murray fights for survival TURN TO A12

perbly through LeBron James, who finished with 29 points, and Kyrie Irving to haul themselves back into the contest.

With just over five minutes of the fourth quarter remaining, the Cavs had wiped out the deficit and taken a 92-89 lead.

But just when it looked as if the Cavs might score a vital road victory—and open up a 3-1 series lead—the Raptors rallied again, going on an 11-3 scoring run in the closing minutes to claim the win.

“I thought we had control of the game, built a three-point lead, but we just made some defensive mistakes that you can’t make down the stretch,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “Each time we made a mistake they made us pay.

“We had an opportunity to not play well and win that game.

They executed every time we made a mistake.”

‘Horrible first half ’ James, who also had nine rebounds, bemoaned the Cavs lackluster start to the game.

“We got off to a horrible first half and we were playing catch up,” James said.

“We had a chance to win the ballgame but we can’t dig ourselves a hole like we did in the first half.”

Toronto’s defensive giant Bismack Biyombo produced another towering performance near the rim, mopping up 14 rebounds to keep the Cavs at bay.

The Raptors had led 27-24 after the first quarter after opening up an eight-point lead at one stage.

DeMarre Carroll had seven first-quarter points to lead the Raptors scoring while Cavs got seven points from Kyrie Irving.

Toronto went 13 points clear with 4:35 left in the second when Patrick Patterson laid up before Lowry drained a three.

Toronto were comfortably ahead 57-41 at half-time and early

Tabuena, Diaz make Olympics TURN TO A14

in the third led by 18 after another DeRozan basket.

However two Irving threepointers helped trim the deficit for the Cas while J.R.Smith’s three cut the lead to seven.

The Raptors hung on however to lead 78-69 at the end of the third.

But Cleveland then reeled off the first five points of the fourth quarter to narrow the gap and soon trailed by one point after Channing Frye made his second straight three-pointer.

James then gave Cleveland a fleeting one-point advantage before the lead changed hands several times in a frenzied finale.

The crucial passage came when first Lowry and Biyombo sank free throws to put Toronto five points ahead with 2:22 left.

Irving’s three-pointer put the Cavs within two, but Toronto held on.

“We were solid down the stretch, understanding that when they scored we had to come down and get a bucket” DeRozan said. AFP

B1

WEDNESDAY: MAY 25, 2016

RAY S. EÑANO EDITOR

RODERICK T. DELA CRUZ ASSISTANT EDITOR

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

BUSINESS

DoF pushes higher oil taxes

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

THE Finance Department is pushing for higher excise taxes on gas, diesel and other oil products under the proposed Comprehensive Tax Reform Program for the incoming Duterte administration.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said in a presentation before the American Chamber of Commerce’s general membership meeting the government would raise P101 billion in additional revenue if the current excise tax on fuels would be raised to P10 per liter of gasoline and P6 per liter of diesel products.

“Increasing the excise tax on gas, diesel and other oil, triggered and pegged with oil prices, ought to generate P101 billion, and not to mention will also fulfill our environmental objectives given the existential

threats climate change poses to our world,” Purisima said.

Petroleum products are taxed in varying rates ranging from zero to P4.50 a liter or kilogram.

No upward adjustments in excise tax rates have been made since 1997 and the rates have been fixed in nominal terms, reduced or eliminated.

The Finance Department said a P10-per-liter proposed tax rate was derived by indexing the existing excise tax rate of gasoline (P4.35/ liter) to cumulative inflation factor of 2.37 (1997-2014). The same formula was used for the proposed P5.96 tax rate on diesel.

“For simplicity and admin ease, the P5.96 was rounded off to P6,” Purisima said.

Excise tax rates will be indexed by 4 percent every year, according to the DoF. A subsidy would be provided if crude oil price reached more than $90 a barrel.

Aside from P101 billion, another P134 billion to P210 billion was also expected to be generated if the CTPR program would be

implemented by the next administration, according to the agency.

The agency proposed the oil tax increase to compensate for the proposed reduction in corporate income tax rate to 25 percent from 32 percent and exemption of incomes of P1 million and below. The income tax reduction proposal was seen to reduce collection by P158 billion to P222 billion.

“We estimate it would cost up to P222 billion. Lowering corporate income tax rates from 32 percent to 25 percent ought to reduce...our revenues, but it ought to make for a more competitive Philippines in Asean,” Purisima said.

The losses should be offset by the increase in excise taxes on gas, diesel and other oil products.

Other sources of revenue increase are the expansion of the value added tax base and the increase in the income tax rate from 12 percent to 14 percent. This particular measure is expected to gain additional P162-billion revenues for the government.

PSe comPoSite index Closing May 24, 2016

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,356.72 50.03

PeSo-dollar rate

Closing May 24, 2016 48.00 46.00 45.00

P46.920

44.00

CLOSE

43.00

HIGH P46.790 LOW P46.920 AVERAGE P46.861 VOLUME 498.700M

P427.00-P620.00 LPG/11-kg tank P35.15-P42.25 Unleaded Gasoline

oPriceS il P today

P23.75-P28.60 Diesel P34.55-P39.15 Kerosene Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Tuesday, May 24, 2016

F oreign e xchange r ate

DBP’s 101st branch. Development Bank of the Philippines opens its 101st branch in Capitol Hills, San Marcos, Cabarroguis, Quirino prov-

ince. Shown during the inauguration of DBP Cabarroguis on December 18, 2015 are (from left) DBP Cabarroguis branch head Daniel Cabangan; DBP senior manager Severa Ruckenbrod; DBP Solano branch head Loreto Marites Lilagan; Quirino consultant Reynaldo Galinato; DBP business development officer Imelda Eisma; Rev. Fr. Mario Ronilo Flores; DBP senior assistant vice president Catherine Camarao; DBP Ilagan branch head Carolyn Bago and DBP Tabuk branch head Udette Falgui.

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

46.7920

Japan

Yen

0.009156

0.4284

UK

Pound

1.448700

67.7876

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128745

6.0242

Switzerland

Franc

1.010714

47.2933

Canada

Dollar

0.760977

35.6076

Singapore

Dollar

0.726058

33.9737

Australia

Dollar

0.722000

33.7838

Bahrain

Dinar

2.653646

124.1694

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266660

12.4776

Brunei

Dollar

0.723432

33.8508

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000074

0.0035

Thailand

Baht

0.028035

1.3118

UAE

Dirham

0.272301

12.7415

Euro

Euro

1.122200

52.5100

Korea

Won

0.000846

0.0396

China

Yuan

0.152474

7.1346

India

Rupee

0.014837

0.6943

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.244858

11.4574

New Zealand

Dollar

0.675700

Taiwan

Dollar

0.030664

31.6174 1.4348 Source: PDS Bridge

Villar’s memorial park company readies public offering in June

By Jenniffer B. Austria GOLDEN Haven Memorial Park Inc., the country’s leading death care development and services company owned by the Villar Group, plans to conduct a P787million initial public offering next month.

Golden Haven, according to a latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, tentatively set the offering period of planned share sale on June 20 to 24 and the listing date on July 4.

Golden Haven plans to offer

as much as 74.117 million in primary common shares for up to P10.62 apiece.

The company hired Asian Alliance Investment Corp. as issue manager and lead underwriter of the offering.

The comnpany plans to use proceeds from the public offering to finance acquisitions and growth expansion by broadening its existing death care facilities, products and services.

The company’s move to proceed with its IPO next month comes amid continuing investor

confidence in the domestic economy after the recent presidential elections.

The Villar Group in 2015 announced plans to accelerate the expansion of Golden Haven by putting up a branch in at least 100 sites across the country.

Golden Haven started in 1984 with the development of a twohectare memorial park in Las Piñas.

It opened one in Cebu in 2003, followed later by Cagayan De Oro, Zamboanga, Santuario de San Ezekiel Moreno in Las Piñas,

Iloilo and Bulacan. It plans to open branches in Pampanga and Nueva Vizcaya provinces.

Once listed, Golden Haven will be third public company owned by the Villar Group.

The Villar family, led by business tycoon and former Senate President Manuel Villar, owns integrated property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. and Starmalls Inc. Aside from real estate and death care development, the Villar Group has investments in retail, water utility, mining, educa-

tion and healthcare.

Golden Haven was the second company to file an IPO application with the SEC this year.

In March, Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc., the local unit cement unit of Mexico’s Cemex S.A.B De C.V., filed a registration statement seeking to raise P39.74 billion.

Cemex Holdings plans to sell 2.337 billion common shares at a price of up to P17 apiece.

The Philippine Stock Exchange earlier said it expected 10 IPO listings this year.

WEDNESDAY: MAY 25, 2016

B2

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

The STandard BuSineSS daily STockS review Tuesday, May 24, 2016

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low 7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 2.49 4.2 17 30.45 2.6 1.01 100 1.46 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 1.02 0.225 78 0.9 17.8 58 62 88.35 276 41 118.2 1200 59 2.65

47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 89 20.6 85 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 2.89 31.8 109 20.75 15.3 9.4 0.98 241 4 33.9 90 13.26 293 0.62 5 5.25 12.98 15 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 7.34 1450 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 15.32 20.2 10.08 29.15 1.5 1.5 10.72 9.55 9.04 6.02 8.86 1.06 20.2 71.5 13.86 13.24 5.34 0.395 173 1.63 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 5.9 801 1.55 0.138 1.02 2.09 152 4.28 0.640 10.02 1.2

0.59 59.2 30.05 2.16 7.39 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 3.35 4.92 0.66 1455 7.5 76 6.5 9.25 0.85 17.3 0.71 5.53 9.66 0.0670 2.31 1.61 2.99 84.9 3.5 974 1.66 1.39 156 0.710 0.435 0.510

0.44 48.1 20.85 1.6 6.62 0.23 0.23 634.5 7.390 12.8 2.6 2.26 0.152 837 5.3 49.55 3.43 4.84 0.59 12 0.580 4.2 3 0.030 1.23 0.550 2.26 59.3 1.5 751 1.13 0.93 80 0.211 0.179 0.310

10.5 26.95 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 5.59 1.44

6.74 12 0.65 1.2 0.192 30.05 3.36 4.96 0.79

STOCKS

High

Low

FINANCIAL 4 3.85 46.1 45.5 103.20 102.40 91.90 91.00 38.2 37.4 2.95 2.94 1.46 1.40 14.2 14.2 17.2 16.96 1.82 1.82 0.590 0.560 86.2 84.9 0.96 0.96 15.00 14.80 24.00 23.70 51.30 50.70 102.4 102.4 270 265 31.75 31.5 199.9 197 1400.00 1400.00 65.00 64.50 1.53 1.53 INDUSTRIAL Aboitiz Power Corp.

45.2 46.05 44.9 Agrinurture Inc. 3.64 3.62 3.4 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.89 0.9 0.88 Alsons Cons.

1.91 2.04 1.92 Asiabest Group 12.9 14 13 Bogo Medelin 63 63.85 57.05 Century Food 21.85 22 21.6 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 203.4 197 195 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 17.84 17.8 17.5 Concepcion 45 46 45 Crown Asia 2.2 2.25 2.15 Da Vinci Capital 4.69 4.67 4.62 Del Monte 10.76 10.88 10.7 DNL Industries Inc. 9.800 9.800 9.670 Emperador 7.40 7.40 7.25 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.65 5.70 5.61 EEI 7.40 7.40 7.30 Euro-Med Lab 1.7 1.68 1.67 First Gen Corp.

21.7 21.8 21.5 First Holdings ‘A’ 68.35 68.5 67.6 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 12.20 12.20 12.20 Holcim Philippines Inc. 15.02 15.38 15.00 Integ. Micro-Electronics 5.7 5.7 5.66 Ionics Inc 2.320 2.380 2.270 Jollibee Foods Corp.

236.00 237.40 235.60 Mabuhay Vinyl 3.45 3.2 3.2 Manila Water Co. Inc. 28 28 27.55 Maxs Group 24.9 25 24.55 Megawide 6.87 6.94 6.87 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 322.00 326.20 319.40 MG Holdings 0.290 0.290 0.275 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 4.60 4.40 4.40 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.4 3.42 3.4 Petron Corporation 11.22 11.30 10.98 Phinma Corporation 11.64 11.62 11.56 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 5.41 5.48 5.25 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.70 1.68 1.65 Pryce Corp. `A’ 2.7 2.74 2.68 RFM Corporation 4.25 4.28 4.21 Roxas Holdings 4.19 4.42 4.19 San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’ 218.8 218.8 214 Splash Corporation 2.51 2.6 2.52 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.154 0.155 0.153 TKC Steel Corp.

1.94 1.98 1.82 Trans-Asia Oil 2.50 2.49 2.47 Universal Robina 200 202 197.5 Victorias Milling 4.6 4.86 4.86 Vitarich Corp.

0.88 0.93 0.87 Vivant Corp.

31.20 32.00 31.50 Vulcan Ind’l.

1.33 1.32 1.27 HOLDING FIRMS Abacus Cons. `A’ 0.435 0.450 0.420 Aboitiz Equity 73.00 73.90 73.00 Alliance Global Inc. 14.36 14.68 14.40 Anglo Holdings A 1.18 1.18 1.13 Anscor `A’ 5.95 6.10 5.96 ATN Holdings A 0.355 0.365 0.340 ATN Holdings B 0.370 0.380 0.345 Ayala Corp `A’ 804 827.5 807 Cosco Capital 7.58 7.78 7.55 DMCI Holdings 12.92 12.82 12.34 F&J Prince ‘A’ 5.04 5.04 5 Filinvest Dev. Corp.

6.26 6.26 6.20 Forum Pacific 0.265 0.248 0.230 GT Capital 1382 1400 1380 House of Inv. 6.28 6.21 6.20 JG Summit Holdings 90.95 92.20 90.10 Jolliville Holdings 4.5 4.25 3.6 Lopez Holdings Corp.

7.65 7.65 7.53 Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp. 0.7 0.72 0.7 LT Group 13.9 14 13.9 Mabuhay Holdings `A’ 0.470 0.480 0.480 Metro Pacific Inv. Corp. 5.91 6.07 5.95 MJCI Investments Inc. 3.49 4.08 3.39 Pacifica `A’ 0.0320 0.0320 0.0320 Prime Media Hldg 1.330 1.350 1.330 Prime Orion 1.800 1.810 1.800 Republic Glass ‘A’ 2.62 2.79 2.64 San Miguel Corp `A’ 73.00 72.90 71.50 Seafront `A’ 2.22 2.22 2.21 SM Investments Inc. 957.00 979.00 952.00 Solid Group Inc. 1.16 1.18 1.18 South China Res. Inc. 0.85 0.84 0.84 Top Frontier 159.000 154.100 154.000 Unioil Res. & Hldgs 0.3150 0.3200 0.3150 Wellex Industries 0.2110 0.2110 0.2030 Zeus Holdings 0.335 0.345 0.330 PROPERTY 8990 HLDG 7.550 7.770 7.550 Anchor Land Holdings Inc. 7.20 7.12 7.01 A. Brown Co., Inc. 1.17 1.17 1.10 Araneta Prop `A’ 2.210 2.240 2.120 Arthaland Corp.

0.260 0.265 0.260 Ayala Land `B’ 35.000 36.150 34.900 Belle Corp. `A’ 3.15 3.26 3.16 Cebu Holdings 5.1 5.2 5.11 Century Property 0.520 0.53 0.510 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 I-Remit Inc. MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

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

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

Close

SHARES 11374393 69294707 113783142 255226484 189948970 737201083 1384273233

3.93 46 102.50 92.10 37.85 2.95 1.50 14.2 16.9 1.85 0.580 83.8 0.97 14.80 23.70 50.75 102.4 270 31.65 198 1370.00 64.45 1.54

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

3.9 46.1 103.00 91.40 38 2.94 1.41 14.2 17 1.82 0.570 85.25 0.96 15.00 23.70 50.70 102.4 265 31.5 197 1400.00 65.00 1.53

-0.76 0.22 0.49 -0.76 0.40 -0.34 -6.00 0.00 0.59 -1.62 -1.72 1.73 -1.03 1.35 0.00 -0.10 0.00 -1.85 -0.47 -0.51 2.19 0.85 -0.65

158,000 21,700 1,388,980 1,093,100 68,700 9,000 995,000 11,800 346,800 45,000 376,000 2,278,020 33,000 103,200 7,800 52,230 20 1,160 60,900 2,216,550 5 46,790 14,000

45.75 3.58 0.88 2 13.5 57.05 21.95 195 17.8 46 2.2 4.62 10.86 9.690 7.25 5.65 7.30 1.67 21.7 67.6 12.20 15.06 5.69 2.300 236.20 3.2 27.95 24.9 6.89 320.00 0.290 4.40 3.4 11.20 11.60 5.26 1.65 2.74 4.21 4.42 218.8 2.52 0.154 1.82 2.48 201 4.86 0.89 32.00 1.28

1.22 -1.65 -1.12 4.71 4.65 -9.44 0.46 -4.13 -0.22 2.22 0.00 -1.49 0.93 -1.12 -2.03 0.00 -1.35 -1.76 0.00 -1.10 0.00 0.27 -0.18 -0.86 0.08 -7.25 -0.18 0.00 0.29 -0.62 0.00 -4.35 0.00 -0.18 -0.34 -2.77 -2.94 1.48 -0.94 5.49 0.00 0.40 0.00 -6.19 -0.80 0.50 5.65 1.14 2.56 -3.76

3,609,000 360,000 241,000 25,856,000 300 1,570 1,260,800 1,010 133,000 33,900 549,000 180,000 11,900 1,359,100 207,600 6,506,100 61,200 20,000 1,354,700 69,600 11,100 136,100 52,400 1,501,000 456,240 1,000 2,070,600 696,700 514,100 369,110 250,000 20,000 729,000 3,111,400 1,600 1,578,800 333,000 151,000 8,000 12,000 1,640 124,000 2,940,000 4,013,000 1,725,000 1,099,530 6,000 5,137,000 2,700 395,000

0.430 73.50 14.58 1.18 6.00 0.345 0.350 820 7.64 12.56 5 6.20 0.240 1395 6.20 90.10 4.25 7.64 0.7 14 0.480 6.02 3.39 0.0320 1.330 1.810 2.7 72.25 2.22 979.00 1.18 0.84 154.000 0.3150 0.2030 0.335

-1.15 0.68 1.53 0.00 0.84 -2.82 -5.41 1.99 0.79 -2.79 -0.79 -0.96 -9.43 0.94 -1.27 -0.93 -5.56 -0.13 0.00 0.72 2.13 1.86 -2.87 0.00 0.00 0.56 3.05 -1.03 0.00 2.30 1.72 -1.18 -3.14 0.00 -3.79 0.00

1,580,000 3,309,460 9,605,800 163,000 7,800 9,020,000 460,000 477,740 1,825,100 10,976,900 382,000 1,104,700 1,100,000 50,785 50,000 2,542,600 119,000 451,100 148,000 763,500 20,000 51,462,600 2,000 8,500,000 50,000 532,000 217,000 58,160 6,000 258,840 40,000 21,000 1,860 1,410,000 1,490,000 3,850,000

7.700 7.01 1.15 2.130 0.260 35.800 3.24 5.2 0.520

1.99 -2.64 -1.71 -3.62 0.00 2.29 2.86 1.96 0.00

231,400 1,000 3,414,000 1,053,000 190,000 12,497,300 4,228,000 6,000 2,238,000

931,440.00 -65,409,136 -21,512,842.50 -41,820.00 70,500.00 -2,497,776.00 68,528,617.00

-930,004.50 -100,880 24,904,541.00 650.00 64,622,265.00 -20,610.00 7,844,340.00 1,635,395.00 -55,200 420,440.00 8,319,284.00 -244,870.00 -23,205,656.00 -2,195.00 -17,842,580.00 -1,924,966.00 1,998,156.00 -10,302.00 -39,950.00 -16,877,544.00 30,532,895.00 -862,200.00 -188,538.00 -45,210,746.00 -51,060.00 6,755,828.00 -5,334,114.00 54,880.00 8,840.00 83,076.00 9,500.00 793,100.00 -36,218,577.00 100.00 47,250.00

107,623,507.00 107,623,507.00

83,040,925.00 -5,447,919.00 -39,015,598.00

-3,905,390.00 80,700.00 39,053,801.00 -180,632.00 5,852,868.00 119,968,249.00 230,400.00

80,148.50 -70,076,735.00

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low

STOCKS

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

0.00 1.55 7.84 4.71 -4.88 -0.65 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.47 -7.84 -3.39 -2.08 -3.28 -0.58 1.06 -3.77 1.46 1.11 3.23 1.96 -1.77

9,000 1,640,000 8,895,000 5,239,970 104,000 50,000 1,755,000 6,536,000 366,000 17,210,000 49,920,000 50,000 70,000 7,100 8,600 646,600 275,000 11,061,300 2,636,000 5,500 352,000 9,635,900

10.5 66 1.44 1.09 14.88 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 2.6 7.67 1700 2720 8.41 1.97 119.5 7 0.017

1.97 35.2 1 0.63 10.5 8.6 0.0770 2.95 56.1 1.6 4.8 830 1600 5.95 1.23 102.6 3.01 0.011

0.8200 2.2800 5.93

0.041 1.200 2.34

12.28 3.32 3.2 1 2.46 15.2

6.5 1.91 1.95 0.650 1.8 6

1.040 22.8 4 185 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

0.37 14.54 2.28 79 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

11.6 0.85 10 0.490 1.9

7.59 0.63 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. FEUI Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ IP E-Game Ventures Inc. IPM Holdings Island Info ISM Communications Jackstones LBC Express Leisure & Resorts Liberty Telecom Macroasia Corp.

Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Melco Crown Metro Retail NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

Paxys Inc. Phil. Seven Corp.

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

SSI Group STI Holdings Travellers Waterfront Phils.

Yehey

-1.33 -0.38 0.78 0.00 0.00 2.44 0.00 0.33 1.61 -6.70 0.14 -0.51 -0.55 0.00 0.85 -1.29 -6.18 0.00 -0.21 4.48 1.74 -7.04 0.56 -2.44 2.58 1.15 0.00 0.00 2.16 -0.51 10.74 -2.30 0.41 0.00 0.00 -0.98 1.27 0.00 2.59 -0.19 -2.01 -2.11 0.00 -0.30 -5.56 -2.03

96,300 44,350 125,000 296,000 4,000 8,677,000 46,790,000 664,000 621,480 34,000 5,000 2,140 43,495 103,900 84,000 2,541,180 87,300 600,000 719,100 31,370,000 8,737,000 105,000 8,000 200 1,332,000 14,000 157,000 24,000 11,423,000 675,000 34,004,000 10,000 130,000 2,740 24,400 226,400 340,000 21,968,000 416,700 480,810 248,800 13,671,000 514,000 1,045,000 300,000 56,700

0.0098 5.45 17.24 25 0.330 12.7 12.8 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 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 0.77 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 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67 0.0100

Abra Mining Apex `A’ Atlas Cons. `A’ Atok-Big Wedge `A’ Basic Energy Corp.

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

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

TA Petroleum United Paragon

0.00 -0.44 -1.60 0.00 0.00 -6.83 1.97 0.00 -3.15 0.00 3.39 -3.51 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.04 -5.22 -4.81 -1.64 0.00 0.00 -0.51 -3.36 -1.30 -7.14 0.00 -6.53 -7.69

342,000,000 511,000 266,000 -85,890.00 4,100 20,000 1,800 1,100 -8,525.00 704,000 27,200 48,214,000 -32,945,910.00 580,000 43,550,000 3,150,000 140,000.00 31,900,000 71,500,000 397,000 10,570,000 -19,958,220.00 2,021,000 -4,640,510.00 24,000 398,000 2,500,000 31,000 2,426,300 -560,245.00 7,352,000 -465,870.00 27,300,000 -140,400.00 918,640 26,901,086.00 1,631,000 -309,710.00 139,100,000 -52,200.00

70 553 525 118 120 515 8.21 1047

33 490 500 101 101.5 480 5.88 1011

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ First Gen F First Gen G GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. PF Pref 2 SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred G SMC Preferred H SMC Preferred I

0.48 0.00 0.00 0.09 0.00 0.00 4.95 -0.10 0.07 1.03 2.07 1.30 0.26 0.00

42,490 7,910 120 10 30,000 4,020 100 80 405,900 158,850 21,120 491,300 81,350 53,480

1.69

155,000

-4.94 -1.67 0.90

6,029,000 31,000 1,360,400

0.50

2,700

6.98

0.8900 LR Warrant Alterra Capital Italpinas Xurpas

12.88

5.95

130.7

105.6 First Metro ETF

1.000 1.000 1.000 0.130 0.128 0.131 0.550 0.510 0.550 56 52.5 54.45 0.780 0.770 0.780 0.153 0.152 0.152 0.97 0.96 0.97 1.94 1.89 1.94 1.27 1.25 1.27 4.25 4.16 4.22 0.111 0.094 0.094 0.2900 0.2600 0.2850 0.470 0.460 0.470 39.45 36.15 38.69 8.56 8.51 8.51 28.75 27.90 28.60 1.58 1.52 1.53 24.60 23.90 24.25 0.91 0.88 0.91 6.77 5.7 6.4 1.070 1.020 1.040 5.080 4.890 4.990 SERVICES 7.5 7.5 7.3 7.4 52.1 52.1 51.85 51.9 1.28 1.3 1.29 1.29 0.640 0.660 0.640 0.640 11.1 11.1 11 11.1 4.09 4.29 4.09 4.19 0.0540 0.0540 0.0510 0.0540 3.01 3.07 3 3.02 93 94.5 93 94.5 1.94 1.82 1.79 1.81 6.99 7.00 6.92 7.00 975 985 970 970 2174 2180 2152 2162 6.60 6.60 6.51 6.60 1.18 1.19 1.16 1.19 61.8 61.8 60.6 61 16.50 16.50 15.48 15.48 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100 9.64 9.64 9.50 9.62 0.335 0.350 0.330 0.350 1.7200 1.8500 1.7100 1.7500 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.51 10.64 10.7 10.66 10.7 7.80 7.61 7.61 7.61 4.27 4.62 4.30 4.38 2.62 2.65 2.55 2.65 0.570 0.570 0.570 0.570 2 2 2 2 2.31 2.43 2.3 2.36 3.92 3.93 3.88 3.90 2.980 3.300 2.990 3.300 17.4 17.04 17 17 2.41 2.42 2.42 2.42 116.00 116.00 116.00 116.00 23.85 23.85 23.50 23.85 1640.00 1658.00 1624.00 1624.00 0.395 0.410 0.395 0.400 0.880 0.890 0.850 0.880 40.50 41.55 40.50 41.55 77.20 77.70 77.00 77.05 6.46 6.42 6.32 6.33 2.85 2.89 2.76 2.79 0.590 0.600 0.570 0.590 3.35 3.38 3.34 3.34 0.360 0.350 0.340 0.340 6.900 6.900 6.400 6.760 MINING & OIL 0.0042 0.0044 0.0042 0.0042 2.27 2.39 2.25 2.26 4.38 4.38 4.22 4.31 13.48 13.48 13.18 13.48 0.245 0.245 0.245 0.245 8.3500 8.25 7.78 7.7800 7.6000 7.7500 7.7500 7.7500 0.510 0.510 0.500 0.510 8.88 9.00 8.30 8.60 0.870 0.880 0.850 0.870 0.295 0.320 0.290 0.305 0.285 0.285 0.270 0.275 0.280 0.285 0.275 0.280 0.0150 0.0160 0.0140 0.0150 0.0160 0.0160 0.0150 0.0160 1.92 2 1.92 1.94 4.98 4.98 4.64 4.72 2.7 2.76 2.5 2.57 0.6100 0.6000 0.6000 0.6000 1.3100 1.3500 1.3000 1.3100 0.0110 0.0110 0.0099 0.0110 3.93 3.91 3.87 3.91 7.45 7.44 7.12 7.20 3.85 3.91 3.70 3.80 0.0140 0.0130 0.0130 0.0130 126.50 127.00 126.40 126.50 3.83 3.8 3.55 3.58 0.0130 0.0130 0.0110 0.0120 PREFERRED 51.6 51.85 51.5 51.85 525 525 525 525 535 535 535 535 116.3 116.4 116.4 116.4 118 118 118 118 518 530 518 518 6.26 6.57 6.57 6.57 1025 1024 1024 1024 76.1 76.15 76.15 76.15 77.5 78.5 78 78.3 77.3 78.9 78 78.9 77 78 77 78 75.5 75.7 75.5 75.7 75.8 75.8 75.7 75.8 WARRANTS & BONDS 2.950 3.090 2.920 3.000 SME 4.25 4.45 4 4.04 3 3 2.95 2.95 17.74 18.18 17.74 17.9 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 120.3 121 120.3 120.9

7,740.00 -41,742,033.50

-4,120,900.00 -254,000.00 -20,007,190.00 18,700.00

-5,900,025.00 415,340.00 -44,343,275.00

-20,725,713.00 -498,363.00 -17,550.00 44,390.00 -16,800,980.00 -240,860.00 -198,900.00 38,597,551.00 8,340.00 -58,744,450.00 11,600.00 -22,963,305.50 4,810,250.00 43,350.00 -18,000.00

-4,450.00

2,735,670.00 465,330.00 -551,270.00 306,240.00 -2,350.00 -121,726,440.00 -184,800.00 15,205,815.00 -13,243,722.00 57,613.00 -2,410,320.00 -1,472,570.00 52,500.00

-1,680,388.00

-81,920.00 -70,470.00 -2,239,900.00 498,204.00 148,478.00

-8,710.00 -6,135,522.00

T op L oSerS

STOCKS

FINANCIAL 1,671.72 (up) 3.38 INDUSTRIAL 11,735.60 (up) 7.98 HOLDING FIRMS 7,453.11 (up) 68.90 PROPERTY 3,136.60 (up) 51.72 SERVICES 1,427.93 (down) 4.56 MINING & OIL 11,193.27 (down) 165.77 PSEI 7,356.72 (up) 50.03 All Shares Index 4,412.11 (up) 18.95 Gainers: 79; Losers: 102; Unchanged: 52; Total: 233

Close

Cityland Dev. `A’ 1.000 Crown Equities Inc. 0.129 Cyber Bay Corp.

0.510 Double Dragon 52 Empire East Land 0.820 Ever Gotesco 0.153 Global-Estate 0.97 Filinvest Land,Inc. 1.94 Interport `A’ 1.27 Megaworld 4.24 MRC Allied Ind. 0.102 Phil. Estates Corp.

0.2950 Phil. Realty `A’ 0.480 Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry 40.00 Primex Corp.

8.56 Robinson’s Land `B’ 28.30 Rockwell 1.59 SM Prime Holdings 23.90 Sta. Lucia Land Inc. 0.9 Starmalls 6.2 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 1.020 Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.080

T op g ainerS VALUE 1082684511.494 937685508.27 2048446015.893 1711252936.868 1084678811.51 286836434.952 7201591562.987

Low

0.97 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 0.188 1.15 1.42 1.27 4.13 0.090 0.290 0.39 23 2.69 22.15 1.6 15.08 0.69 3.38 0.83 5.73

606,203.00

100,111,735.00 4,144,040.00

High

1.48 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 0.305 2.22 2.1 1.8 5.94 0.180 0.470 0.72 27 8.54 31.8 2.29 21.35 1.06 7.56 1.62 8.59

31,500.00

621,720.00 -113,240.00

Close

Close (P)

Change (%)

STOCKS

Close (P)

Change (%)

NOW Corp.

3.300

10.74

Bogo Medelin

57.05

-9.44

Cyber Bay Corp.

0.550

7.84

Forum Pacific

0.240

-9.43

Victorias Milling

4.86

5.65

MRC Allied Ind.

0.094

-7.84

Roxas Holdings

4.42

5.49

United Paragon

0.0120

-7.69

GMA Holdings Inc.

6.57

4.95

Mabuhay Vinyl

3.2

-7.25

Alsons Cons.

2

4.71

Philodrill Corp. `A'

0.0130

-7.14

Double Dragon

54.45

4.71

Jackstones

2.51

-7.04

Asiabest Group

13.5

4.65

Benguet Corp `A'

7.7800

-6.83

Island Info

0.350

4.48

Discovery World

1.81

-6.70

Geograce Res. Phil. Inc.

0.305

3.39

TA Petroleum

3.58

-6.53

WEDNESDAY: MAY 25, 2016

B3

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

BDO teams up with Japan bank

By Julito G. Rada

BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender, teamed up with Aozora Bank Ltd. of Japan to provide banking services to Japanese clients in the Philippines.

BDO said in a statement the business collaboration would cover merger and acquisition advisory and investment banking services. The deal was formalized through a memorandum of understanding signed by the two banks Monday.

“Aozora handpicked BDO given the bank’s strong foothold in the Philippine market.

This strength would be helpful to Aozora’s clients who plan to invest and find potential business partners in the country,” BDO said.

BDO senior vice president and head of international desks Edward Wenceslao said the partnership with Aozora would give the bank broad coverage in the major prefectures with

the most number of Japanese investments in the Philippines.

These prefectures are Tokyo, Kanagawa, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.

Aozora, founded in April 1957, has 20 branches across Japan and five overseas offices.

It is active in the provision of deposits, loans and debentures, loan syndication, securitization, business and asset revitalization.

Aozora also provides advisory services to assist corporate, financial institutions and retail clients.

BDO earlier signed various partnerships with eight Japanese banks to provide

Servicio’s gold certificate. Servicio Filipino Inc., a pioneer in providing human resource services, receives a gold accreditation from Investors in People Philippines, an internationally recognized body that defines and sets the standard for better people management. Shown during the awarding ceremony are (from left) IiP chairman and main assessor Janet Webster, Servicio Filipino Group president and chief executive Luis Alberto Anastacio and SFI chairman Estrelita Anastacio.

Market advances; Ayala Land, DD up STOCKS rose for a second day, after President-elect Rodrigo Duterte named top Cabinet officials in a sign that economic policies will not veer away from the current administration.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, rose 50 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 7,356.72 Tuesday. The bellwether was now up 5.8 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, advanced 18 points, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 4,412.11, on value turnover of P7.2 billion.

Losers outnumbered gainers, 102 to 79, while 52 issues were unchanged.

Duterte, who is set to be sworn in as the Philippines’ 16th president, named economist Ernesto Pernia as head of the National Economic and Development Authority and businessman Carlos Dominguez as secretary of the Finance Department.

Thirteen of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Now Corp. which jumped 10.7 percent to P3.30. DoubleDragon Properties Corp. climbed 4.8 percent to P54.50, while Ayala Land Inc. added 2.3 percent to close at P35.80.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets fell in thin trading on Tuesday, extending losses on US and European markets as a stubbornly strong yen dragged Tokyo into the red while falling oil prices deflated energy shares.

With few fresh catalysts to drive deals, investors were eyeing the start of a Group of Seven summit in Japan on Thursday, as US President Barack Obama and other leaders from the club of rich nations meet for annual talks.

Shares of oil-linked firms slumped in early trading after crude dipped for a second day as comments from Iranian officials vowing to keep production up did little

to dispel worries about global oversupply.

In early deals, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for July delivery was down 14 cents at $47.94 a barrel while Brent crude for July slipped 19 cents to $48.16.

By the break in Tokyo, Japanese energy explorer Inpex was more than one percent lower while refiner JX Holdings was down 0.5 percent.

The benchmark Nikkei index fell 0.7 percent as a stubbornly strong yen clouds the outlook for Japanese exporters’ profits.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.1 percent, Shanghai was 0.9 percent lower, Seoul fell 0.6 percent, and Sydney edged down 0.2 percent.

Sentiment also took a hit from worries over a possible US interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve as early as next month, analysts said. With AFP

financial services assistance to Japanese respective clients who want to do business in the Philippines.

BDO has an established, fully-staffed Japan desk, with Japanese-speaking personnel dedicated to market and service Japanese companies operating in the country and serve the retail requirements of Japa-

nese customers.

BDO’s net income dropped 11 percent in the first quarter to P5.5 billion on lower treasury earnings.

It expects full-year net profit to reach a record P26 billion this year, up by 4 percent from last year, on the back of a double-digit growth in earnings from core lending activities.

B4 2 telecom companies offer new iPhone SE

By Darwin G. Amojelar THE country’s two largest telecommunications companies said on Tuesday they are offering the new iPhone device starting May 26. “iPhone SE proves that indeed big things can come in small packages, and we can’t wait for more Filipinos to enjoy Apple’s most advanced features in such a compact and affordable device,” Smart brand head Kathy Carag said.

“And as we always say, your phone is only as powerful as your network. Smart’s nationwidest network powers the new iPhone SE to keep up with your very active mobile lifestyle—from your daily dose of mobile surfing and gaming, instant social media sharing, and seamless music and video streaming on the fly,” she added.

Smart Communications Inc. is offering iPhone SE for free on Plan 1500 under a 30-month contract, inclusive of a supersized 8 gigabytes data allowance for videos, music and games.

On top of the 8GB data, the plan also comes with all-month surf, which gives subscribers access to all top websites and apps like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and chat apps like Viber, Whatsapp, Line and Messenger, among many others, throughout the 30-month period.

Globe Telecom Inc., meanwhile, offers iPhone SE 16GB for P1,499 a month on Globe myLifestyle Plan 1299 and a P200 monthly cashout for 24 months.

It already comes with 3GB of mobile data together with 3 months free access to either top music streaming app, Spotify or online video entertainment service, HOOQ. It also features built-in unlimited calls and texts to Globe/TM as well as unlimited all-net texts.

Globe myLifestyle Postpaid plans have a no bill shock guarantee where customers never pay more than P1500 should they exceed their mobile data allocation.

On Globe, customers can enjoy seamless browsing as the telco continues to expand its Long Term Evolution footprint to further strengthen its mobile data infrastructure.

Megaworld awards. Property giant Megaworld Corp. emerges as the ‘most-awarded’ real estate company during the prestigious Philippine Quill Awards 2015 held recently at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Newport City. The company won 10 awards, including an excellence award for Cause for a New Coast: Megaworld Leads LaBoracay 2015 Coastal Clean-up Drive. Shown are Team Megaworld led by (middle group from left) Saki Mirabueno, vice president for sales and marketing-Boracay Newcoast, Global-Estate Resorts Inc.; Harold Geronimo, assistant VP and head of public relations and external affairs, Megaworld; Tefel Pesigan-Valentino, senior AVP for marketing and business development, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls; Jennifer Palmares-Fong, VP for sales and marketing–Iloilo Business Park, Megaworld; and Glennford Heraldo, VP for sales and marketing – Twin Lakes, Global-Estate Resorts Inc.

Inflation pressures to rise—ING Bank

By Julito G. Rada

INFLATION pressures are expected to increase later this year due to higher oil prices and poor agriculture output as the El Niño dry spell shifts into La Nina or intense rainy season, ING Bank Manila said in a report Tuesday.

“One pressure is oil price. The positive base effects for low yearon-year oil price change fades by the fourth quarter and could bring a 10 percent year-on-year increase in crude oil prices,” ING Bank Manila senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng said.

“The average price of Dubai crude oil in the fourth quarter of 2015 is around $41/bl. A steady crude oil price of $45/bl later this year could exert some upward pressure.

Agriculture production may remain poor as El Niño moves into La Nina later this year,” he said.

He said aside from these possible price pressures, base effects could also become negative. He said inflation expectations remained high for 2017. He said the Bloomberg consensus forecast for 2017 inflation was 3 percent and would moderately accelerate to 3.3 percent in 2018, while the Bangko Sentral forecasted prices at a slightly higher 3.1 percent.

“These expectations imply that inflation would be trending higher and closer to the upper end of the 2-4 percent inflation target

range in the next two years. This implies that monetary policy leeway could be diminishing,” Cuyegkeng said.

Inflation in the first four months averaged 1.1 percent, significantly lower than the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent this year. The January inflation settled at 1.3 percent, decelerating to 0.9 percent in February, before accelerating to 1.1 percent in March. April inflation remained at 1.1 percent.

The policy-setting Monetary Board of Bangko Sentral kept the benchmark interest rates during its meeting on May 12, due mainly to the robust domestic economy and low inflation environment.

The interest rates of 4 percent for overnight borrowing and 6 percent for overnight lending were maintained for the 13th consecutive time since October 2014. The rates on special deposit accounts as well as the reserve requirement ratios were left

unchanged.

On May 16, however, the board re-calibrated the prevailing interest rates in preparation for the implementation of the interest rate corridor on June 3.

The rate on the current overnight lending facility of 6 percent was reduced to 3.5 percent and 3 percent for the overnight borrowing rate from 4 percent, while the special deposit account rate of 2.5 percent was kept steady.

First-quarter data showed that gross domestic product expanded by 6.9 percent, significantly higher than 5 percent a year ago, affirming the continuing high-growth trajectory of the economy.

The National Economic and Development Authority said the robust performance increased the likelihood of achieving the official GDP growth projection of 6.8 percent to 7.8 percent for full-year 2016, despite the weak agriculture and fishery sector.

Western Union, ABS-CBN Global sign promotion package THE Western Union Company, a leader in global payments services, said on Tuesday it signed a promotion agreement with ABSCBN Global Group to further expand its business globally.

Under the partnership, Western Union customers in over 100 countries who send their money to the Philippines from May 15 to August 15 could access TFC.tv Lite Package for 30 days.

“It’s a very good partner-

ship. It’s a partnership that really complements each other in terms of our strengths. We are both in the business of connecting migrant workers and Filipinos who lives and work abroad to their families as well as to the Philippines,” Western Union senior vice president for South East Asia and Oceania Patricia Riingen told reporters.

“Our thrust is to be able to provide a means for customers to

send their money safely as well as conveniently and to connect them with their families and at the same time the principle TFC [The Filipino Channel] has to connect the Filipinos abroad to the culture here,” she added.

Riingen said the promotion would be available in the US, Canada, Middle East, Oceania, Central, and South America, as well as selected countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

She said the promotion deal with ABS-CBN Global was expected to improve the business by attracting a new set of customers and a strategy to retain customers.

Western Union as of endMarch this year had over 500,000 agent locations in 200 counties and territories and over 100,000 automated teller machines and kioks. In 2015, Western Union completed 262 million customerto-customer transactions world-

wide, moving $82 billion of principal between consumers and 508 million business payments.

ABS-CBN Global chief operating officer Raffy Lopez said its collaboration with Western Union would give more consumers who send money back home to the Philippines an opportunity to remain updated with news and entertainment programs from the Philippines though TFC programs. Darwin G. Amojelar

W E D N E S D AY : M AY 2 5 , 2 0 1 6

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

B5

Coal plant rising in La Union

By Alena Mae S. Flores

Party list (mis)Representatives AS WE all wait for the canvassing of votes for president and vice president, people are urged to be more vigilant than ever to make sure that the votes they cast for their preferred candidate will not be lost in the “cosmetic change” introduced by Smartmatic— presumably with the green light coming from the Commission on Elections. After all, the powers-that-be (or at least until June 30) have made no bones about using their position and resources to make sure that a particular candidate will not make it to the second highest position in the land—by hook or by crook.

Meantime, the 12 winners in the Senatorial race have been proclaimed, which will most likely shake up the Senate. Bets are now on as to who will be the next Senate President with odds makers saying it will be a toss-up between Koko Pimentel and Alan Peter Cayetano, although stoolies say Tito Sotto is also casting a moist eye on the position, while Frank Drilon will try to hold on.

The same goes for the Lower House where the race for the Speakership is on, although it’s almost a done deal with Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez a shoo-in, handpicked by presidentelect Rodrigo Duterte. Curious developments are also happening with regard to the party list elections, where out of the 115 party list groups that participated in the May 9 elections, only 46 made it to the roster of winners. (That’s because some groups managed to get two or three seats.)

And here’s where things start to get interesting, because some of them are taking issue on the qualifications of the present crop of nominees for some of these winning party list groups. In fact, three of the new party list groups that won a seat in the House of Representatives are represented by relatives of well-known wealthy political families, notably in the provinces of Quezon and Sulu, and in Quezon City.

This is not the first time though that such howls of protest have been hurled against the party list system law and its long list of nominees. In the past, nominees were questioned because they did not belong to the sector they seek to represent.

Under the principle of representative democracy, our 29-year-old charter gives marginalized sectors a voice in law-making body, and obviously, the rule of thumb here is that nominees should belong to the marginalized sector they represent.

Unfortunately, many politicians know regard the party list election as a “revolving door” to give themselves access to political power. Even a winning party list nominee was unhappy by what he described as the “bastardization” of the party list law by political clans.

Of course, some bad eggs take advantage of the weaknesses in our law. But the presumption of regularity has it that some leaders are qualified to serve the sector they belong to—or their political advocacy benefits a marginalized sector they seek to represent.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled on the case of Atong Paglaum versus Commission on Elections where it laid down new parameters for the Comelec to follow in determining who may participate in the party list elections.

In that ruling, the High Court also prescribed that nominees of these sectoral parties or organizations must “either belong to the respective sectors or must have a track-record of advocacy for their respective sectors.” (Italics for emphasis.)

So, in case you are wondering why some party list lawmakers do not belong to the sector they are supposed to represent, it is probably due to that Court’s ruling that allows them to serve in Congress, at least until the next election in 2019.

Meantime, let’s enjoy watching how well they will do (if at all), or worse, shame themselves when the real task of passing a law challenges their competence and ability to meet the demands and expectations of a public office. But then again, thick hides and even thicker faces abound in the murky pool of politics, not minding in the least that the appropriate term for them is Party List MisRepresentative.

••• For comments, reactions, photos, stories and related concerns, readers may email to happyhourtoday2012@yahoo.com. You may also visit and like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ happyhourmanilastandard. We’d be very happy to hear from you.

Cheers!

GLOBAL Business Power Corp., a unit of GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George Ty, on Tuesday confirmed its first power project in Luzon—a 670-megawatt new station being built by a subsidiary in La Union Global Business Power president Rolando Bacani said unit Global Luzon Energy Development Corp. would construct a two 335-MW coal-fired power generationg facility in Barangay Luna, La Union.

Global Luzon has already signed a power sales agreement with Manila Electric Co. for the 600-MW output of the plant.

Meralco through subsidiary Meralco PowerGen Corp. owns a 22-percent stake in Global Business Power.

“Yes, [it’s our first power project in Luzon]. Construction is third quarter 2018 and operation first quarter 2022. No ECC [environmental compliance certifi-

cate] yet,” Bacani said.

“We need to build higher-capacity units so that we can offer lower prices and bring down the cost of electricity. The largest unit that the Visayas Grid can accept now is only 150 MW,” he said.

Global Business Power, controlled by the Metrobank Group, last year disclosed plans of expanding power generation from coal-fired plants in Luzon.

Global Business power executive vice presidentJaime Azurin earlier said the company might put up a power plant in Luzon, outside of its existing projects in Visayas.

“Yes, we’re looking at Luzon.

Yes [coal], but it has to be big-

ger in size to be able to lower the cost,” Azurin said.

Global Business Power is one of the leading independent power producers in Visayas. Its power plants are strategically located where high growth is expected, with generatiing stations in Cebu, Iloilo, Aklan and Mindoro.

The company has an ongoing 150-MW expansion project in Barangay Ingore, Lapaz, Iloilo City through subsidiary Panay Energy Development Corp.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 2014, with commercial operations set by August.

Meralco also signed a power supply agreement with Panay Energy to purchase 70 MW. Aside from the 150 MW expansion, Panay Energy owns and operates the existing 164-MW coal plant in the same area.

Panay Energy earlier signed a 25-year electric power purchase agreement with electric cooperatives belonging to the PanayGuimaras Power Supply Consortium.

Manila Water recognition. Manila Water Co. Inc.’s program dubbed as ‘Customer Care Chal-

lenge: Manila Water’s Abot Kamay ng Barangay’ bags a Quill Award of Merit in the Customer Relations category.

Manila Water bagged six honors at the 14th Philippine Quill Awards organized by the International Association of Business Communicators Philippines held on May 17 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom, Newport City. Shown receiving the recognition are (from left) customer affairs manager Racquel Catacutan, communications planning and tactical development manager Leah Flor, Manila Water operations group director Geodino Carpio, east zone support officer-in-charge Marvin Panday and stakeholder manager Prevelyn Gazmen.

Dry bulk terminal opens in Mariveles

By Othel V. Campos SEASIA Nectar Port Services Inc. announced Tuesday the start of commercial operations of its Mariveles Dry Bulk Terminal within the Freeport Area of Bataan.

Seasia chairman Ramon Atayde said the new facility would optimize the operations of dry bulk handling with the use of mechanized material handlers for faster and more efficient discharge of shipments.

“I am pleased to announce that we now have 180 meters of berth available and we are ready to accept barges and vessels,” he said.

The opening of the Mariveles terminal will make FAB a viable location for investors, as it will

allow companies to directly ship their products to Manila and outside of the Philippines.

The Authority of Freeport Area of Bataan is optimistic more investors will locate in FAB as shipping costs will eventually go down with the opening of the terminal.

AFAB also sees Seasia Nectar as instrumental to the agency’s goal of becoming the free port of choice by 2020, especially for high end fashion brands.

The terminal is designed to handle shipments of coal, clinker, silica sand and other cement raw materials, steel, fertilizer and other dry bulk cargoes.

Seasia is a joint venture company between Seasia Logistic Phil-

ippines Inc. and Nectar Group Ltd. It also plans to build facilities for warehousing, stevedoring, lightering and towing of cargo.

Atayde noted that the port was built and operated according to international health, safety and environmental standards.

“We will ensure that the facility will meet the client’s standards and employ efficient and proper cargo handling methods to avoid any impact to the environment,” he said.

The company started the development of the 11.4-hectare port in 2015, including the development of a 5.9-hectare port facility with a 247-meter quay equipped with a 13.5 meter draft under the first phase.

WEDNESDAY: MAY 25, 2016

B6

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

Bataan ecozone gets P107-b investments

By Othel V. Campos

THE Freeport Area of Bataan received P107 billion worth of investments from foreign and local companies over the last six years, the agency in charge of the freeport said Tuesday.

Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan chairman and administrator Deogracias Custodio said the agency in 2016 aimed to attract P7 billion worth of investments, slightly higher than P6.23 billion it generated in 2015.

“This has made AFAB the fastest growing freeport in the country from 2012 to 2015 in terms of foreign direct investments and number of locators to the industrial zone,” he said in a news brief-

ing Tuesday in Makati City.

Investments in 2015 included the P2.2-billion capacity expansion of San Miguel Foods Inc.’s B-Meg plant and the P2.6-billion site expansion of the E-Fare Investment Holdings Inc.’s industrial park, a San Miguel Corp. subsidiary.

The 2015 investments increased the number of FAB locators by 14 percent to 114 from 98 in 2014, while employment within the freeport also increased by 28.9

percent to 25,803 employees from 20,017 in 2014.

Employment rate in Central Luzon increased to 93.9 percent in October 2015 from 92.6 in October 2014 while unemployment rate decreased from 7.4 percent to 6.2 percent during the same period, basically because of the trickle effects of the increasing presence of manufacturers inside FAB, according to the agency.

AFAB said in the first three months of 2016, it approved P1.984 billion worth of investment pledges. The agency expects a big ticket expansion project by an existing business process outsourcing company this year.

Exports from locators in the freeport reached $526.6 million in 2015, up by 35.1 percent from $389.7 billion in 2014. Cumula-

tive exports from 2010 to 2015 amounted to $2.33 billion.

FAB’s top exporters are Mitsumi Phils. Inc, FCF Manufacturing Corp., Essilor Manufacturing, Desk Top Bags Phils. Inc., DongIn Sunbirds Inc., East Cam-Tech Corp., Dunlop Slazenger Inc., Mountaineering Instruments Corp., DI Dawn Manufacturing Corp. and Dong-In Entech K1 Inc. Total exports of these companies amounted to $454.8 million, or about 86 percent of the total export in 2015.

Most of these companies are into shoes and bags manufacturing, while Mitsumi, a manufacturer of electronic products, topped the list with $203.7 million worth of exports or about 39 percent.

Metro’s 49th store. Homegrown retailer Metro Retail Stores Group Inc., which posted a strong 69-percent growth in net income in

the first quarter, opened its 49th store in the country at Fairview Terraces Mall in Quezon City. Shown cutting the ribbon are (from left) MRSGI president and chief operating officer Arthur Emmanuel, Ayala Land Inc. assistant vice president for commercial business group Javier Hernandez, Quezon City vice mayor Joy Belmonte, MRSGI director Margaret Gaisano Ang and Barangay Pasong Putik chairman Evangeline Dungca.

8990’s income rises 10% to P1b

By Jenniffer B. Austria PROPERTY developer 8990 Holdings Inc. said Tuesday net income grew 10 percent in the first quarter to P1.03 billion from P937 million a year ago, on strong sales of low-cost housing projects.

8990 Holdings said in a filing with the stock exchange firstquarter revenues rose 10.5 percent to P2.17 billion from P1.97 billion recorded in the same period in 2015.

The mass housing developer delivered 2,005 housing units in the January-March period. The company earlier projected to sell more than 12,000 units in 2016 with total sales value of P12 billion.

8990 Holdings said it expected 50 percent of this year’s target to be realized in the fourth quarter as there would be a total of 14 new projects to be launched this year.

Demand for low-cost housing projects remained strong.

8990 Holdings said average selling price increased 11 percent in the first quarter to P1.084 million from P980,000 in 2015.

8990 Holdings said majority of homebuyers were young, college-educated and gainfully employed as regular office workers, business process outsourcing staff or workers overseas. Buyers earn a monthly income of at least P26,000 and purchase homes for primary residence and not for investment, it said.

8990 Holdings said aside from housing sales, it also generated P340 million from contract-tosell receivables, up 21 percent from P280 million recorded in the same period a year ago.

The company had P19.5 billion worth of receivables as of endMarch 2016.

8990 Holdings was able to sell P11 billion worth of CTS to various financial institutions. BDO Unibank Inc. bought P3 billion worth of CTS receivables, BPI family Bank purchased P1 billion and Security Bank acquired P2 billion.

China Bank also agreed to securitize P5 billion worth of 8990 Holdings’ CTS receivables.

Interconnection issue hampers Energy World’s LNG plant

By Alena Mae S. Flores OPERATION of Energy World Corp.’s 650-megawatt liquefied natural gas combined cycle power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon faces new delays because of interconnection problems.

Energy Undersecretary Mylene Capongcol said Energy World’s natural gas power facili-

ty could not deliver power to the Luzon grid despite the completion of the first phase with 200 MW. “They are having interconnection problems,” Capongcol said.

Energy World recently completed the first phase representing 200 MW of the natural gas power project, which was supposed to secure LNG from a floating storage regassification

unit.

Capongcol said Energy World’s planned floating storage regassification unit or FSRU remained be completed.

Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House committee on energy, said a team from Congress visited the project recently.

“There’s a problem in the interconnection. But the plant itself can produce anytime. It’s

ready for commissioning, except for the interconnection concerns,” Umali said.

Energy World previously targeted to complete the first 200MW unit of the 650-MW LNG facility in March. The second 200 MW unit is eyed for commercial operation in June.

The company will initial source LNG from the FSRU, pending the completion of the

LNG terminal hub.

The company earlier said the LNG hub would be used to facilitate the distribution of LNG and natural gas, including receipt, storage and dispatch of LNG cargoes to four main markets, namely the Energy World plant, small-scale terminal, LNG and compressed natural gas for fuels and other markets in Asia Pacific.

W E D N E S D AY : M AY 2 5 , 2 0 1 6

WORLD

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

B7

Venezuela’s currency shrinking CARACAS—Venezuela’s minimum monthly salary is 15,051 bolivares, which a government subsidy for all workers bumps up to nearly 18,600 bolivares. But no matter how you cut it, it’s barely enough to live on.

Under the strongest official exchange rate given by the government—where 10 bolivars equals $1—that would theoretically be equivalent to $1,500.

Except that rate is reserved for importing basics like essential food and medicine.

There is another, floating rate called the DICOM, which applies to purchases by international credit cards, for instance. That fetches 452.08 bolivares.

But for ordinary Venezuelans who neither import food nor

S. Korea confirms another defection Premiere. Actress Anne Hathaway attends the premiere of Disney’s ‘Alice

Through The Looking Glass’ on May 23, 2106, at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, California. AFP

12 killed in jade mine landslide in Myanmar YANGON—A landslide in Myanmar’s northern jade mining region has killed at least 12 people and many more are missing, officials said Tuesday, the latest deadly accident to hit the shadowy but lucrative industry.

The bodies were recovered after a wall of unstable earth collapsed Monday night following heavy rain in the town of Hpakant in Kachin state, the centER of a multi-billiondollar trade that feeds a huge demand for the precious stones from neighboring China.

“We retrieved seven dead bodies last night and five more this morning,” a police officer in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw told AFP, requesting anonymity.

But the rescue mission has been halted amid renewed rain which threaten to trigger a fresh landslide.

At least 15 people were injured and an estimated 30 others are missing, the officer added.

Confirming the death

toll Nilar Myint, a local official in Hpakant, said around 50 people were searching for the stone when an earth wall inside the mine collapsed.

“We are checking homes near the landslide to see who is missing among their friends and relatives,” she told AFP. The area has suffered a string of deadly landslides over the past year, with a major incident in Hpakant last November killing over 100.

Numerous other smaller accidents have left scores more dead or injured, including a landslide that killed 13 people earlier this month.

The victims are usually itinerant workers scouring the area for chunks of jade overlooked by the industrial mining firms that have carved up the once-forested landscape.

A resident told AFP hundreds of people have been searching for jade in the craters scooped out by the mining giants during Myanmar’s

rainy season, when major companies cease operations.

“We think about 200 people were working in that area when the landslide occurred last night... there could be many more casualties,” the resident said on condition of anonymity, adding that rain and poor roads have hampered the rescue.

Myanmar is the chief source of the world’s finest jadeite, a neartranslucent green stone that is prized in China, where it is known as the “stone of heaven”.

But while mining firms—many linked to the country’s juntaera military elite—are thought to be raking in huge sums, locals say they do not share in the bounty.

In an October report corruption watchdog Global Witness estimated that Myanmar jade produced in 2014 alone was worth $31 billion, with huge profits going to figures from the powerful military and the former junta. AFP

SEOUL—A group of North Koreans working at a restaurant in China have defected to the South, Seoul confirmed Tuesday, a month after a similar, high-profile defection.

South Korean news agency Yonhap had reported Monday that three women in their 20s were waiting in Thailand to board a flight to Seoul after leaving their jobs at a restaurant in the Chinese city of Xian.

Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles cross-border affairs, confirmed the defection in a statement but declined to elaborate, citing the safety of the refugees.

It is the second such incident in two months, after 13 workers at a North Korea-themed restaurant in the Chinese city of Ningbo made a high-profile defection to Seoul in April.

Nearly 30,000 North Koreans have fled poverty and repression at home to settle in the capitalist South But group defections are rare, especially by staff who work in North Korean restaurants abroad, which are a key source of hard currency for the regime in Pyongyang.

They are generally handpicked from families that are “loyal” to the regime and go through extensive ideological training before being sent out. AFP

carry around a foreign credit card, the rate they face on the streets is far, far worse.

It’s 1,000 bolivares to $1, and that’s a costly exchange that’s applied to just about anything that is imported or requires imported ingredients.

Which means most goods in Venezuela, which has long relied on its oil wealth to bring in what it needs.

Under that rate, a minimum-wage earner is bringing back just under $20 per month.

Even for the Venezuelans pocket-

ing more than that, the hyperinflation hitting their bolivares makes conditions unthinkably expensive.

That means the middle class, most of it sliding into poverty, sees anything but food purchases as a luxury.

“Everybody is knocked low,” Michael Leal, a 34-year-old manager of an eyewear store in Caracas, told AFP. “We can’t breathe.”

In Chacao, a middleclass neighborhood in the capital, office workers lined up outside a nut store to buy the cheapest lunch they could afford. Nearby restaurants were all but empty.

Superficially it looks like the center of any other major Latin American city: skyscrapers, dense traffic,

pedestrians in short sleeves bustling along the sidewalks.

But study it more closely and you can see the economic malaise.

Many stores, particularly those that sold electronics, are shuttered.

“It’s horrible now,” said Marta Gonzalez, the 69-year-old manager of a corner beauty products store.

“Nobody is buying anything really. Just food,” she said, as a male customer used a debit card to pay for a couple of razor blades.

A sign above the register said “We don’t accept credit cards.”

An upmarket shopping center nearby boasted a leafy rooftop terrace, a spacious Hard Rock cafe, chain stores for Zara, Swarovski and Armani Exchange. AFP Extra Judicial Settlement

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We will not be responsible for any incorrect ads not reported to us immediately.

Notice is hereby given that the estate of the late Felipe V. Verceles has been extrajudicially settled with Deed of Sale with transfer of rights among his heirs as per Doc. No. 145, Page No. 30; Book No. 05; Series of 2015 before Atty. Juan S. Sandingan.

Notary Public PTR No: 4192226/Jan. 5, 2016. ( T S - M AY 18 , 2 5 & J U N . 1, 2 016)

A Sure Bet for Progress in Gaming, Entertainment and Nation Building

INVITATION TO BID FOR THE SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF ONE (1) LOT VARIOUS IT EQUIPMENT WITH OPERATING SYSTEM FOR CF-CEBU UNDER ITB NO. PB16-012CEB The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is inviting all interested bidders in its forthcoming Public Bidding for the Supply and Delivery of One (1) Lot Various IT Equipment for CF-Cebu under ITB No. PB16-012CEB. Brief Description

Supply and Delivery of One (1) Lot Various IT Equipment for CF-Cebu under ITB No. PB16-012CEB

Delivery Schedule

Within Forty-five (45) calendar days from the effectivity date specified in the Notice to Proceed.

Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC):

The total ABC is Two Million Five Hundred Eighty-Three Thousand One Hundred Twenty Pesos (Php2,583,120.00) VAT Exclusive, Zero-Rated Transaction.

Source of Funds:

Internally Funded

Bidders should have completed, within the last three (3) before the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

All particulars relative to Pre-Bid Conference, Detailed Evaluation of Bids, Post-Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its IRR. The schedule of activities is listed, as follows: Activities 1. Issuance of the Bidding Documents 2. Pre-Bid Conference

Schedule May 25, 2016 to June 21, 2016 June 7, 2016, 2:00pm

3. Deadline for the Submission and Receipt of Bids

June 21, 2016, 2:00pm

4. Opening and Preliminary Examination of Bids

June 21, 2016, 2:01pm

Complete details of the project are indicated in the bidding documents which will be available to prospective bidder at the Bids and Awards Services Department (BASD), acting as the BAC Secretariat, upon payment of the nonrefundable cost for the sale of bidding documentsin the amount of FIVE THOUSAND PESOS (Php 5,000.00).

Prospective bidders may also download the Bidding Documents free of charge from the following websites: www.pagcor.ph and www.philgeps.gov.ph and may be allowed to submit bids provided that bidders shall pay the non-refundable bidding fee not later than the date of the submission of bids. The Pre-bid Conference is open to all prospective bidders. Prospective bidders should present to PAGCOR’s Cashier located at the Sixth(6th) Floor, PAGCOR Corporate Office, New World Manila Bay Hotel, 1588 M.H. del PilarStreet corner Pedro Gil Street, Malate, Manila either the Bidding Fee Slip which may be secured from BASD or a copy of this ITB in effecting payment for the Bidding Documents. They may also visit the Finance Office at the 3rd Level of Casino Filipino Cebu, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, Salinas Drive, Lahug Cebu 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.

PAGCOR assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of their bids.

In accordance with Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Circular 06-2005 - Tie-Breaking Method, the Branch Bids and Awards Committee, Casino Filipino Cebu (BBAC, CF-Cebu)shall use a nondiscretionary and non-discriminatory measure based on sheer luck or chance, which is “DRAW LOTS,” in the event that two or more bidders have been post-qualified and determined as the bidder having the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid (LCRB) to determine the final bidder having the LCRB, based on the following procedures: 1. In alphabetical order, the bidders shall pick one rolled paper.

2. The lucky bidder who would pick the paper with a “CONGRATULATIONS” remark shall be declared as the final bidder having the LCRB and recommended for award of the contract.

PAGCOR reserves the right to accept or reject any Bid, and to annul the bidding process and reject all Bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

Please address all communications to the Branch Bids and Awards Committee, thru Bids and Awards Committee Secretariat Section (BACSS) 3 rd Level, VIP 5, Casino Filipino Cebu, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, Salinas Drive, Lahug Cebu City. Tel No.: 032-268-4989 or 2326272 local 5265.

(SGD) JOEL G. CANTOS Branch Bids and Awards Committee (BBAC), CF-CEBU

Pyongyang reacted angrily to April’s de-

(TS-MAY 25, 2016)

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B8 Cuba’s oldest beer revived MIAMI—As he sipped the rich, malty lager, Ignacio Herrera suddenly pictured himself back at the dance hall in 1950s-era Cuba.

The 83-year-old was one of dozens gathered recently on the sunny patio of Miami’s Concrete Beach artisanal brewery, where hipsters, bikers and old men sporting Panama hats celebrated the revival of Cuba’s iconic La Tropical beer.

“The memories it brings!”

Herrera marveled. “You used to go every Sunday to dance and drink beers for five cents.”

La Tropical’s comeback kicked off stateside thanks to Manny Portuondo, an American born to Cuban exiles.

He visited his homeland for the first time last year, notably the Spanishstyle gardens where Cuba first began brewing the Vienna-style lager.

Portuondo’s great, great-grandfather originally sold that land to the Blanco Herrera family, who established Cuba’s first brewery there in 1888. The Blanco Herreras operated La Tropical until 1960, when the government nationalized it and the family went into exile.

But with the relations between the United States and Cuba in the midst of a historic thaw, American interest in the Caribbean island has spiked.

“These days it seems like everyone wants to talk about Cuba. For years, no one had a word to say about it,” joked Portuondo, who decided “it was the moment to relaunch La Tropical.”

“I felt the story running through my veins,” he said.

He worked for years to regain control of the rights to the beer and register it as a global brand, along with Ramon Blanco Herrera, the greatgrandson of the brewery’s founder.

For now, the business focus is outside of the Cuban market. But he said “it would be a beautiful ending to the story if La Tropical returns to Cuba.”

The revival of La Tropical coincides with America’s ever-growing interest in craft beer. Its biggest enthusiasts include the millennials—young people born in the 80s and 90s who frequent the trendy Wynwood neighborhood where La Tropical was released.

The beer satisfies the tastes of young beer connoisseurs and elderly Cubans alike. Concrete Beach’s master brewer Marco Reyna said the recipe is faithful to the original. AFP

CESAR BARRIOQUINTO EDITOR

editorial@thestandard.com.ph

WORLD Obama urges Vietnam to uphold human rights HANOI—US President Barack Obama told communist Vietnam on Tuesday that basic human rights would not jeopardize its stability, in an impassioned appeal for the one-party state to abandon authoritarianism.

In a sweeping speech, which harked back to the bloody war that defined both nations but also looked to the future, Obama said “upholding rights is not a threat to stability” Vietnam ruthlessly cracks down on protests, jails dissidents, bans trade unions and controls local media.

But the US leader said bolstering rights “actually reinforces stability and is the foundation of progress” in his speech to a packed auditorium including Communist Party officials.

The visit is Obama’s first to the country and the third by a sitting president since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Direct US involvement in the conflict ended in 1973.

Obama’s visit has formally reset the relationship between the former foes with the lifting of a US arms embargo.

Trade has dominated the trip, with multi-billion-dollar deals unveiled, as well as further endorsement by both sides of the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Immediately after his speech, Obama flew to Vietnam’s boisterous southern commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City, where he will meet tech-startup entrepreneurs later on Tuesday.

He has been cautious to avoid hectoring his hosts—an increasingly important regional ally—on human rights.

“Vietnam will do it differently to

the United States,” Obama said.

“But these are basic principles that we all have to try to work on and improve,” he added, referring in particular to the importance of a free media.

His speech, punctuated with humorous asides and references to Vietnamese culture and history, was greeted with warm applause and cheers.

Earlier, Obama met civil society leaders including some of the country’s long-harassed dissidents.

One of those present was Mai Khoi, a pop star dubbed Vietnam’s ‘Lady Gaga’ who was recently barred from standing as an independent in legislative elections.

She said she had asked Obama to use America’s alliance with Vietnam to push for “measurable improvements, not just rhetoric and formal agreements”.

But in a country where state control remains the default response, authorities also stopped a number

of prominent activists from meeting Obama.

Nguyen Quang A, a veteran dissident, told AFP he was bundled into a car by “plainclothes security men” and released only after Obama had left for the commercial capital.

Washington has trailed the three-day visit as a chance to cement ties with Vietnam, a fastgrowing country with a young population seen as a key element in America’s diplomatic pivot to the Asia-Pacific.

Crowds have enthusiastically welcomed the US leader wherever he has gone, including late Monday at a streetside restaurant where he supped on beer and a local noodle soup specialty.

The US President alluded in his speech to the lingering shadow of the war, recognizing the enduring “ache” for the families of the millions of Vietnamese and almost 60,000 Americans who died. AFP

Protest. Demonstrators gather at the Brussels Noordstation-Gare du Nord for a national protest on May 24 in Brussels. Belgian trade unions called for mass protests against the center-right government’s proposed work reforms as they planned rallies and strikes over the next few months. AFP

S. Korean prizewinning author says her life won’t change SEOUL—South Korean author Han Kang met the media en masse Tuesday for the first time since winning a top literary award—and said she just wants to continue writing “as if nothing had happened”.

“The Vegetarian”, which tells the story of an ordinary woman’s rejection of convention from three different perspectives, was picked unanimously by a panel of five judges for the Man Booker

International Prize last week.

The 45-year-old author and creative writing teacher was the youngest winner of the prize and the first South Korean to receive the honor.

But facing a room full of reporters Tuesday—and blinking at dozens of camera flashes—Han said her life has not changed.

“I took the subway here but nothing happened,” she said. “I

want to continue living as if nothing had happened.”

The novelist—apparently uneasy at the sudden wave of attention— was eager to wrap up the hour-long conference, saying she would like people to hear her voice “in the form of writing”.

“The best way is, I think, to hide in my room and start writing as soon as possible,” she said.

Since her win Han has enjoyed a

surge in international sales and some have questioned whether she would become the first South Korean winner of the Nobel literature prize.

Han was quick to play down the prospect.

“When I’m writing, I question myself whether I can finish it. I don’t have the energy to think about what will happen afterwards, like winning a prize,” she said.

Han is from a new wave of

younger writers eager to stray away from the traditional Korean reverence for intellectualism that is often dominated by older male critics with tastes firmly rooted in the 1970s.

The author shared the £50,000 ($72,000) prize chech with her British translator Deborah Smith.

Han said she “felt a connection” with Smith because her translation accurately delivered the subtleties of “The Vegetarian”. AFP

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TATUm ANCHETA EDITOR

BING PAREL

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

BERNADETTE LUNAS

life @ thestandard.com .ph

WRITER

@LIFEatStandard

H omE & L I v ING

LIFE

HOW TO CREATE yOuR STuDy SPACE CaleidosCope World

by CAl TAvERA

E

arlier this month, I had to line up with the other parents to enroll my daughter in school. Two weeks ago, while we were on a family vacation, it suddenly started to pour out of nowhere. Both events signify that summer is sadly coming to an end and that the new school year is starting soon. My daughter is definitely going to miss going on adventures with her cousins and playing with the pets every day. I know that when she starts the school year however, she will be excited about making new friends and creating more memories.

Well, to help ease the “pain” of going back, I was able to enlist the aid of stylist/ blogger Love Ocampo about tips on how to make study spaces more interesting so that students like my daughter will actually enjoy spending time there, versus dreading the space. After reading them, I realized these tips can also be applied for people who work from home sometimes, like me!

1. location, location, location At home, some of us tend to study or work in various spaces such as the living room, dining area and even the bedroom.

However, Love pointed out that they come with many distractions. For my daughter and I, we sometimes attempt to work on our beds. We end up taking naps at times… because soft pillows are just so much more inviting than deadlines! Find the ideal location for your desk far from these distractions, a place exclusive for working and conducive to productivity.

2. Keep the inspiration alive Doing homework can be a really mundane task. Combat those first school day blues by putting up inspiring visuals for motivation. Love suggests decorating your desks with pictures or prints of positive quotes, goals and pictures. Place them where they can be easily viewed for moral support when needed.

3. let there be (more) light This means investing in a desk lamp for task lighting, which can help one stay focused. However, don’t just get any fixture.

Consider the desk size, personal aesthetic and other elements that can be a plus like getting a lamp with rotating options or one that comes with a long neck for flexibility.

If you plan to use it throughout the night, purchase one with LED lighting as an energy-saving alternative.

4. The list It is easy to get overwhelmed with daily tasks. Making time to create a To-Do List will help organize your thoughts and the day ahead. Put them down according to their importance on a planner, notebook or through an app on your laptop.

5. Scents People rarely consider the sense of smell in creating workspaces, but just like color and music, scents also affect one’s mood and productivity. Love suggests experimenting

Workspaces

try using a metal notice board for inspiring visuals. you can attach your prints, sticky notes or calendar easily with wooden or binder clips

create your to-Do List to start your day

Personalize your deskspace

have fun creating your own space

with cinnamon and pine to help with concentration and to uplift the mood.

6. bring some outdoors indoors For mental fatigue, images of nature or indoor plants can help restore one’s attention.

7. Stay comfortable Invest in good furniture. Make sure that the working chair has adjustable features because you will be spending hours sitting on it. This is where you will be solving math problems, researching and conceptualizing projects, so comfort is key. If you have enough space, make sure the table is big enough for your needs and requirements so you won’t feel cramped.

8. Keep it neat and organized This might sound old, but it’s true.

Clutter will just provide many distractions to the person.

stapler (I saw this once in a store. I have yet to buy it for my desk).

9. Set schedules If you have several exams, homework and deadlines, note them down on a calendar. It can help allot specific timelines for them.

For more styling tips, email Love at hello@livingthecuriouslife.com. Check out more of Love’s works on Instagram @_loveocampo or visit her website www.livingthecuriouslife.net.

10. Personalize Each person is different and so will each study space. Add your own touch to the area with items that match your personality. It can be in the form of bookends that you found in your travels, a unique paperweight or a silver crocodile

Have fun creating your own study space!

For comments and topic suggestions, please email me at caltavera@gmail.com.

For my personal adventures, follow my Instagram @cal_tavera.

Photos courtesy of tarish Zamora

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

TurN homE chorES INTo FAmILY boNDINg TImE

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With a little creativity, turn home chores into family bonding activities

ids nowadays are usually clueless when it comes to doing simple chores at home. Either they grew up having a yaya all their lives, mom never lets them near any of the house appliances, or they’re always told to stay in their rooms when mom does the chores around the house.

For mommies, using home chores as a time for family bonding will not only help her finish her chores quickly, it will also teach the kids functional skill sets that they would need in the future when they’re already living by themselves. “Chore” may sound like a “bore” but if it’s fun and everyone gets to have a part, then it could become an entertaining family event. Kids usually like to help around the house more than the teenagers, so it’s best if you start them early.

Today, the technology of plug and play household cleaning appliances makes cleaning time faster and gives more idle time that can be translated to more bonding time with the family. A perfect activity would be doing the laundry. A lot of washing machines today are automatic; all you have to do is put in the laundry and press “start.”

One of the brands that brings convenience in its features is Midea. The brand has a washing machine with Dual Cleaning Motion that cleans clothes more thoroughly without the messy tangles, and a wash and dry cycle only costs no more than one peso.

Before you use the washing machine, make the kids help out in segregating the

dirty clothes – whites, colored and delicate pieces. Teach them the importance of segregating the clothes. After the spin and dry, kids can help in folding and placing the clothes in hangers. You may also ask them which of the favorite clothes they want to wash. This will give them a sense of responsibility and pride since they own the item of clothing.

Rewards may also be part of the whole activity. Whoever gets to finish first, whoever gets the most neatly folded clothes or simply just finishing the chore all together may get a favorite ice cream treat or pizza for dinner.

While waiting for clothes from the washing machine, parents can enjoy other activities with their kids: playing a board game, helping them with arts and crafts, or watching movies together in the family room.

House chores can be a weekly enjoyable moment at home, with everyone on board.

Not only do moms get to bond with their kids and teach them responsibility, they can actually get home cleaning done.

Midea, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of appliances, covers a complete range of products from electric kettles, washing machines, microwaves to large commercial air-conditioning systems.

In partnership with Concepcion Industrial Corporation (CIC), Midea’s global strength in the appliance industry infused with CIC’s Integrity, Excellence and Total Customer Satisfaction give the world-class brand a better understanding of the Filipino’s needs.

how mommies can have more time for themselves No other job can be more demanding than that of being a mother, with multiple roles expected of her: caregiver, nurturer, teacher, cook, psychologist, cheerleader and even electrician or carpenter – a superwoman no less especially when she has to balance her work as a career professional and homemaker.

Certainly, one of the pressures mothers face is to find enough time to perform the multiple responsibilities they have taken upon themselves. By learning ways to become more efficient in performing household chores, like in the kitchen for example, moms can become more empowered and will also have time to take care of themselves, not to mention enjoy more precious moments with loved ones.

Here are some helpful kitchen tips for moms to use time more efficiently: Be organized “A place for everything, and everything in its place” is an incredibly useful advice to stick to. By keeping things organized, like in the kitchen for instance where the kitchenware, cutlery, condiments and cleaning tools are stored properly, time is not wasted looking from one place to another for items needed.

Scout for ready-made cabinets, shelves, and drawers that fit in specific places in the home, and which can serve as storage for various items. If you have the budget however, a better option is to hire a cabinetmaker so that specific features including nooks and crannies can be maximized and incorporated. Likewise, the family’s unique composition should also be considered.

Those with small children may want sharp objects to be placed in hard-to-reach areas for cabinets or kitchen organizers. Other members of the family must also be taught to help keep the house spic and span by respecting the order of things.

Prepare (and use) ingredients and cookware smartly An organized mom prepares all the ingredients and cookware before she

starts cooking so she does not run to the pantry or fridge or wherever each time she needs something. Time saving kitchen tools such as food processors help for faster slicing, while blenders may be used to puree ingredients for instant sauce or soup thickeners.

Ingredients like garlic or onions should be prepared in batches, and stored for future use. And here’s a little secret: Dishes that only require light sautéing should come before those with strong flavors so that the same pan or cauldron can be used even without washing. Cookware should be washed immediately after (or soaked in water) for easier and faster removal of dirt.

mark of safety and quality. When fuel is manufactured according to the highest standards, it becomes every smart mother’s trusted partner for efficient cooking.

Solane is backed by manufacturer’s guarantee of superior product quality, safety, and exact weight. For more inquiries or to place an order, call Solane’s Hatid Bahay hotline number 887-5555 or visit www.solane.com.ph.

Plan a weekly menu Prepare a weekly menu to do the cooking more wisely and more efficiently. Planning on vegetables as a siding for fish? Place the veggies in a steamer on top of the rice.

Meat, which usually takes a long time to soften, can be used as a main dish, but some can be set aside to spice up the dishes for the next day. A weekly menu is especially helpful in preparing packed lunches and snacks for the family. When particularly pressed for time, moms can place the cooked dishes in microwaveable containers that can be reheated anytime.

Use safe and efficient fuel For cooking needs, moms should choose an LPG brand that bears the

Learning ways to save time in the kitchen, like using efficient and safe fuel like Solane, gives moms more time with loved ones and for herself

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

BEAt thE SummEr hEAt WIth cooL AppLIANcES thAt SAvE oN ELEctrIcItY coStS

S

taying cool in the midst of the heat can be made easier with cutting edge home innovations from the SM Appliance Center, like inverters that are not only convenient but also environmentally friendly.

Aside from preserving your food longer and keeping your electric bills lower, these inverter refs like the Samsung No Frost Inverter Refrigerators feature twin cooling plus technology and energy saving digital compressors. On the other hand, LG Side

by Side Refrigerators also feature smart inverter compressors that save energy up to 36 percent.

Unlike popular belief that refs with no on-off settings consume more energy, these inverter-equipped refrigerators are actually more energy-efficient because one, the compressor doesn’t have to work extra hard, and two, it will not end up consuming a lot of energy every time it is turned on.

From the SM Appliance Center also comes the very first Inverter Chest Freezer in the world from Fujidenzo. This innovative appliance can save up to 30 percent in terms of electricity cost without compromising its optimum freezing performance. The digital temperature control and LCD display allows for precise control and maintenance of the temperature inside the unit, ensuring that the stored items will be kept fresh. The roller feet allow easy transport, while key locks secure the products inside the freezer.

Aside from refrigerators, inverterequipped air conditioners are also effective in beating the summer heat because they can keep the home more cool and comfortable. Once the desired indoor room temperature is achieved, the compressor will operate at a low speed to maintain the desired room temperature, leading to less electricity consumption.

Innovative inverter refrigerators from SM Appliance Center keep food fresh and crisp

Panasonic Wall Mounted Inverter Split Type air cons with intelligent cooling save up to 50 percent of energy while the Samsung Inverter Split Type air con has a good sleep mode. Koppel Wall Mounted

This 1-HP Panasonic Wall Mounted Inverter Deluxe Single Split Type air con gives intelligent cooling

Inverter Type air cons, on the other hand, save as much as 60 percent on energy costs and can be remotely controlled for a stress-free cooling experience for the whole family.

You can find these energy saving appliances available in selected stores of SM Appliance Center nationwide.

Visit www.smappliance.com or like it on facebook.com/smappliance.

Relax comfortably at home with this energy saving 1-HP Gree Window Type Inverter air con with remote control

Eco-friendly and energy saving 0.8 HP Hitachi Window Inverter Type air con for an ultimate cooling experience for the whole family

The 19-cu.ft Samsung Side by Side Refrigerator with a digital inverter compressor, LED interior lighting and long bar handles

Keep cool during the long hot summer with inverter air cons from SM Appliance Center

The world’s first inverter chest freezer, the 20-cu.ft Fujidenzo Freezer is perfect for any business and can save up to 30 percent energy savings with a digital temperature control, key locks and roller feet

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LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

Taccia lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

@LIFEatStandard

OK lamp by Konstantin Grcic

Designer lighting fixtures to go on sale at steltz the gallery this June

H

ome or commercial lighting serves as art or a centerpiece that illuminates any space with elegance and adds character to the interior. Some interior designers say that more than its functionality, lighting fixtures is almost like jewelry, it adds flair and jazzes up any simple or intricate interior.

This June, Steltz International Inc. (Steltz), the company that has been providing renowned European designer lighting fixtures all over the world for 26 years, is giving consumers a reason to update or upgrade their home with its iconic lighting offering. Starting June 1, selected pieces from designer brands Jasper Morrisson, Michael Anastassiades and Konstantin Grcic will be offered at half the price.

Pieces from Cyprus-born designer Anastassiades will be one of the highlights during the sale. Known for his use of geometric shapes, tubes, oblongs and spheres in shiny surfaces, select items from Anastassiades’ collection is something to watch out for. His design luminaire Captain Flint, a dual-purpose free-standing lighting fixture best used as a reading light or ambient uplighting, will be part of the sale items. Other pieces will include Extra, a glowing sphere with a rectangular plane that may serve as a bedside lamp table or corner lighting in the living room; and Copycat, hand-blown glass opal diffuser with a metal sphere.

British designer Jasper Morisson’s award-winning Superloon floor lamp in various finishes is also part of the select sale items. This floor lamp reminiscent of the moon’s glow rotates 360 degrees around its own axis and features adjustable light intensity and color temperature, guided by an optical sensor on the tripod.

Other iconic timeless pieces on sale include Taccia and Taccia small lamp from Italian brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. The Taccia lamp was originally designed from plastic in 1958 and Italian lighting brand Flos produced a version in 1962 with its famous blown glass bowl. This

Ipnos by Nicoletta Rossi and Guido Bianchi

Copycat by Michael Anastassiades, a deceivingly sophisticated piece made of two touching spheres that hold each other

world-renowned piece is also available in a “mini” form with new colors, glass diffuser and LED option.

Make sure not to miss out on OK lamp by Konstantin Grcic; it’s a flat LED disc-shaped lamp that rotates 360 degrees and slides up and down from a steel cable. Another eye-catching piece that is a sure conversation starter is the indoor and outdoor LED floor lamp called Ipnos by Nicoletta Rossi and Guido Bianchi. This lanterninspired lighting fixture is composed of an ultra-light skeleton of thin extruded aluminium that emanates a diffused light that is almost invisible in the design.

All the mentioned classic pieces will be available in Steltz, The Gallery, located at 6th floor, East Wing of EDSA Shangri-La Plaza Mall. Log on to their website at www.steltzinternational.com to know more about the products or call 642-1421 for more information.

Taccia small lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

wEDnES DAy : M Ay 25, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

“Our Kind of Traitor” is a 2016 British spy thriller film directed by Susanna white and written by Hossein Amini, adapted from John le Carré’s novel of the same name

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Scottish actor Ewan Mcgregor in a scene from “Our Kind of Traitor”

Ewan McgREgOR In ‘OuR KInD Of TRaITOR’

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oney moves the world in the espionage thriller Our Kind of Traitor starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Harris based on the hit novel of the same title by celebrated novelist John le Carré.

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Susanna White, Our Kind of Traitor is a taut thriller about an unsuspecting married couple, Perry (Ewan McGregor) and Gail (Naomie Harris) on holiday in Marrakech.

They meet the flamboyant and charismatic Russian, Dima (Stellan Skarsgård) who befriends them over games of tennis and lavish parties at his villa before revealing he is the top money launderer for the Russian mafia and wants to defect with his family to Britain. From that moment on, Perry and Gail are thrown into the fractured, dangerous world of international spies and dirty politics as they endeavor to save Dima and his family, and ultimately themselves.

Indeed, Our Kind of Traitor captures a very British fascination with espionage, international double-dealing and Britain’s place in the world.

McGregor, who boasts an eclectic career

with memorable roles in films including Moulin Rouge, the Star Wars franchise, and most famously as the heroin addict Renton in his break-out film Trainspotting, plays regular guy Perry, a man in his mid-40s whose life has not turned out to be as he hoped it would. He is a little bit lost and looking for a way back to his life, not entirely unlike the hopeless souls recruited by the Russian mafia in jail to the Vory, a reallife organized crime cohort.

For the actor it was, as always, about the quality of the script. “It’s harder and harder to find movies like this,” McGregor admits. “But it’s what le Carré does best in that his characters are very real, very human characters and in this case even more so because he’s put two civilian people into the world of espionage. He’s plonked them right in the middle of this thriller. That’s interesting because you think, ‘What would I do in this situation? How would I react?’”

McGregor read the script before going to the book. “Perry is more serious and quiet and withdrawn in the book and he’s been brought forward a little bit in the screenplay but he’s still quite a thoughtful, quiet

character,” McGregor says. “Gail absolutely holds her own and it’s a very modern marriage in that respect, there’s nothing traditional about it and there’s no husband and wife roles. They’re both in this thing together and she gives as good as he does.

You see the consequences of what they’re doing and how it affects both of them. It’s quite nice as it’s quite unusual.”

For screenwriter Hossein Amini, McGregor is the perfect Perry, dressed in vintage-looking jeans, boots and leather jackets. “I love the idea of Ewan playing Perry, because as an actor what I’ve always admired in his work is that there’s an edge and a toughness but there’s also something incredibly vulnerable and innocent,” says the screenwriter. “Perry is thrown into this world and copes with it pretty heroically but at same time is almost wide-eyed in his purity and his reaction to the moral compromises and the darkness in people he is witnessing.

“What’s great about Ewan is that he feels morally so solid,” Amini continues. “You really sense his outrage and his disappointment in people, but also the toughness and

an edge that allows him also to be an action hero, and that’s required too. It’s that combination that makes him so ideal.”

White praises McGregor’s ability to engage with audiences. “He and I talked early on about the challenges of playing a real relationship of people whose marriage is in trouble,” she says. “He liked the idea of scrutinizing what it felt like to be slightly emasculated by a wife who’s more powerful than you are. In theory if you ask Perry whether he thought it would be good to have high achieving women, he would say ‘of course, women deserve that.’ But when he is faced with his own situation he starts to feel threatened by Gail and challenged by it. Part of the challenge was keeping audience appeal while seeing his weakness at the beginning of the film and his journey to rediscovering himself, who he is and redefining his relationship of with Gail. It was a very interesting journey with Ewan.

He wasn’t afraid to play a character that was weak at the beginning of the film but who gains in strength.

Our Kind of Traitor opens June 8 in theaters from OctoArts Film International.

Ultimate blood sport in ‘Generation Z’

Following a near apocalyptic zombie outbreak in Generation Z (a.k.a. The ReZort), humans now have the upper hand and life has returned to relative normality with only an occasional reminder or mention of recent horrific events. Most people wouldn’t even blink at seeing a zombie now.

They know how to handle them. It’s no big deal because humans fought and won the battle and are in control again.

Generation Z brings the latest craze in this post zombie-outbreak world – Zom-

bie Safari, the newest and coolest thing in adventure holidays – a chance to go out and shoot the undead in the wild. It is the ultimate test in action and adventure, the ultimate blood sport and, to many, the ultimate in therapeutic revenge.

But unbeknownst to most that go on safari, the park is a highly controlled and monitored environment; a maze of concealed security cameras, restraints and barriers. The eyes and ears of trained security personnel are on the guests - and

Scottish actor Dougray Scott in the zombie film “Generation Z”

Humans in “Generation Z” trying to take in control in a near-apocalyptic zombie outbreak in the film

the zombies 24/7, always ensuring a safe shooting distance between the living and the zombies. Nothing is left to chance.

Nothing is unplanned.

According to writer Paul Gerstenberger, the film explores the repetitive and cyclical nature of “man’s hubris. “We get overconfident, we ignore the risks and we get our comeuppance. And humanity is doomed to continuously repeat.”

Dougray Scott, who plays Archer in the film, says “It reminds me of one of those old Cowboy movies. So if we get it right, hopefully it will appeal to a wide audience”. Further, Scott describes his role as “a lone wolf, sort of the archetypal cowboy. He’s a very mysterious character who you don’t know why he’s there other than he’s good at shoot-

ing”. Unlike the “posh business men and screaming kids” populating the park around him, Archer goes on the zombie safaris to “let off steam” and so when the residents are unleashed, it falls to Archer to protect the group as more and more of his own story is revealed over the course of the film. He is also the first of the group to be aware that something has gone awry and that there might be a more sinister cause.

For Gerstenberger, Scott was the ideal Archer, “When people would ask who would be good for Archer, I had always imagined [he] would be perfect…. He’s one of those actors who can tell a story with his face, his eyes or an expression”.

Generation Z opens June 1 nationwide from Axinite Digicinema.

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SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

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Lucky AnD unLucky SHowbIz cELEbRItIES In ELEctIonS 2016 pARt 2 wIThOuT wang2 nIckIE wang

W

ith the victory of entertainers, singers, actors and other showbiz personalities in the recent elections, it’s likely that we would see another roster of ambitious names in future polls for government positions.

Whether or not entertainment celebrities should get involved in politics is a matter left to experts to debate on, but we can’t ignore how these people from the local tinsel town, and even those whose stars have already faded, made the recent elections more dramatic, interesting, if not entertaining.

Last week, we wrote about the showbiz personalities lucky to be elected and those who weren’t touched by Lady Luck’s magical wand including those who have ran for national posts like newly-re-elected senator Tito Sotto (who is now on his fourth term) and newly minted senator Manny Pacquiao as well as unlucky ones – Edu Manzano, Isko Moreno (Francisco Domagoso), Rey Langit, Mark Lapid, and Alma Moreno.

This week, we are listing the names of those actors and celebrities who won and lost in the local race that we missed out in our first installment.

Inspired by their father’s political “deeds and ambition,” Lala and Gian Carlo are beginning to carve their names in politics, with pride.

Tito Sotto’s second child with former actress Helen Gamboa was elected councilor in the 2nd District of Quezon City, while her younger brother, Gian Carlo will start his third term as councilor in Quezon City’s 3rd District. Their cousin, Vico Sotto, son of Vic Sot-

Former sexy star cristina Gonzales-Romuladez is the new mayor of tacloban city

to with Coney Reyes, is successful in his first attempt to run for public office as councilor in the 1st District of Pasig City.

Also in Quezon City, comedian and original Petrang Kabayo star Roderick Paulate won a fresh mandate as councilor despite being ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman over ghost employees.

In Makati’s 1st District, It’s Showtime host Jhong Hilario and OPM singer Rico J. Puno each won a seat as councilors in the city’s first district while Taekwondo champion and former action star Monsour del Rosario was proclaimed congressional representative with 76,728, or 60.3 percent of the votes against his rival’s 30.1 percent.

In Parañaque’s, former Ang TV cast member and singer Roselle Nava, former child star Vandolf Quizon and former Gwapings member and underwear model Jomari Yllana all won as councilors of the city’s 1st District.

On the other hand, Jomari’s older brother Anjo Yllana has been recently proclaimed councilor of “City of the Star’s” fifth

cROsswORD puzzlE 39 40 42 43 45 47

answer PreVIOUs PUZZLe

ACROSS 1 Wingding 5 Eggy desserts 10 Knife handle 14 Humdinger 15 It inches along 16 Great work 17 “Madam, I’m —” 18 Pseudopod possessor (var.)

19 Oater backdrop 20 He did “Chantilly

Lace” (2 wds.)

— -upper Drink like Rover — is me!

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38 Grave risk 22 23 24 25 29 33

Fleur-de- — Overlook — out (withdraws) Less than a drizzle Reese and Moore Gourd-shaped rattles 49 Provide with weapons 50 Magna — laude 51 Hits the horn 54 It’s passed in counsel (2 wds.)

60 Rolling — — (rich) 61 Nanny 62 Cold — — icicle 63 NASDAQ rival 64 Gracie or Fred 65 Posse’s quarry 66 Pink-slipped 67 Sound from the fold 68 Water pitcher DOWN 1 Spill the beans 2 German import 3 Steel-mill refuse 4 Brought low 5 Slushy beverage 6 Gravy no-no 7 Helm position 8 Wyo. neighbor 9 Tijuana “Mrs.” 10 Coziest 11 Triangle tip 12 Firecracker part

district. Their youngest brother, Ryan, won as a re-electionist in Parañaque’s 2nd District.

Outside the National Capital Region, former Viva Hot babes member Andrea del Rosario is now the vice mayor of Calatagan in Batangas. Cosmo Hunk and Star Magic talent Alex Castro, who appeared in a Maalaala Mo Kaya episode last

35 38 41 43 44 46 48 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 61

Saturday along with del Rosario, topped the race as Board Member in Bulacan’s 4th District.

Former sexy actress Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez is the new mayor of Tacloban City, a landslide victory. She was proclaimed by the Tacloban City Board of Canvassers (CBOC) early morning just a day after the elections.

phillip Salvador lost to fellow actor Daniel Fernando in bulacan’s vice gubernatorial race

kapamilya star Jason Abalos fails to win an election in his hometown in nueva Ecija

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2016

13 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Singer and cosmo hunk Alex castro tops the race as board Member in bulacan’s 4th District

Meanwhile, in what was a fierce fight among two former film and television actors in Bulacan, LP candidate Daniel Fernando has emerged the winner. He led against fellow actor Phillip Salvador, his closest rival in the race for vice gubernatorial position.

Like Salvador, a lot of showbiz personalities and entertainers have not been victorious in their bid for local posts.

Actor Jason Abalos tried his luck in politics when he ran as councilor in his hometown in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija. Abalos, who wanted to make his hometown a tourist attraction and look into the welfare of local employees in Pantabangan, lost the battle.

Back in NCR, former beauty queen and commercial model Daisy Reyes almost won the mayoralty race. Her rival topped her with just 1, 316 votes.

In Muntinlupa, action star Ronnie Ricketts, former President of the Philippine Film Actors Guild and former Chairman of Optical Media Board (only he was suspended due to a graft case), placed second in the congressional race in the city. In other words, he lost, too.

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Glass square Amtrak driver Slap the cuffs on

wEDnES DAy : M Ay 25, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

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PuREgolD’S TnAP conVEnTIon A SuccESS

P

uregold Price Club Inc. recently gathered a fabulous line-up of the country’s brightest stars in the biggest and grandest installment of its Tindahan Ni Aling Puring (TNAP) national convention of sari-sari store owners, that happened on May 18 to 22 at World Trade Center in Pasay City.

Dubbed as “PINASipag, PINASwerte, PINASenso: Isang Bayan Para Sa Panalong Tindahan,” this is the 11th year of Puregold’s TNAP national convention.

TNAP members were treated to world-class performances from Pinoy rock royalty Bam-

boo, pop star princess Sarah Geronimo, and multi-platinum pop-rock band Sponge Cola, among many other amazing performers.

The event was also graced by Eat Bulaga hosts Ruby Rodriguez, Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, and box-office superstar Bossing Vic Sotto as well as other big celebrities such as Piolo Pascual, Julia Montes, Megan Young, Carla Abellana, Janella Salvador, Janine Gutierrez, Luis Manzano, Kim Chiu, Ryan Agoncillo, Daniel Matsunaga, Erich Gonzales, Ogie Alcasid, Kathryn Bernardo, Juila Barreto, Michael V., Zan-

joe Marudo, MC Muah, Donita Nose, Lassy, Iza Calzado, Dimples Romana, Yassi Pressman, 4th Impact, John Lloyd Cruz among many others.

TNAP members also learned valuable tips and methods from the free seminars conducted by business masters such as Francis Kong, Chinkee Tan, RJ Ledesma, Michaelangelo Lobrin, Dennis Sy, and Marvin Germo.

For more information on TNAP like Puregold’s official page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/puregold.shopping, follow @Puregold.

Actor John lloyd cruz flanked by stand-up comedians Mc and Donita nose

Albay proclaims tourism envoys ‘Happiness Is A Pearl’ opens on June 9

To cap a month-long festival which relived the ancient legend of Mayon Volcano, the Province of Albay proclaimed its ambassadresses of goodwill and tourism in the Mutya ng Daragang Magayon, one of the Bicol region’s most sought-after beauty and brains pageants.

Lyra Velchez of Tabaco City finally won the top prize on her third attempt, besting 20 contenders from all over Albay and neighboring provinces. Runnersup were Jenny Rose Ignacio and Monalyn Abaluado of Legazpi City, and Marjorie Vista of Malinao.

Katrina Villanueva of Legazpi City was named Miss Tourism.

Adding to the glitter of the pag-

eant were showbiz personalities Tweety de Leon and JC De Vera, and Heart Evangelista, Senator Chiz Escudero and resident judge lawyer Caroline Cruz who served as jurors. Alex Medina, fresh from the successful horrorcomedy movie Echorsis: Sabunutuan Between Good and Evil, serenaded the contestants during the swimsuit portion.

A brainchild of Governor Joey Salceda, the month-long Daragang Magayon Fest featured a wide array of cultural activities, celebrity- and entertainmentoriented events, top billed by the GMA Kapuso Night and ABSCBN’s Kapamilya Caravan.

The three-termer provincial chief executive, a Tourism Star

From left: Sen. chiz Escudero and wife Heart Evangelista, gov. Joey Salceda, 2016 top winner lyra Velchez, and judges Tweety de leon and Atty. caroline cruz

Awardee of the Department of Tourism, has nurtured the Mutya into one of the country’s best-produced beauty and brains quests by organizing the Albay Pageant Academy.

The said Academy provides a rigid personality development program to Bicolanas intending to join national contests, in its bid to make Albay the “Venezuela of the Philippines” which churn out world-class beauty queens.

Salceda, who is the incoming congressman of Albay’s second district, has provided valuable support to Bicolana charmers Miss Universe 2010 fourth runner-up Venus Raj and Binibining Pilipinas 2013 Supranational Yvette Marie Santiago.

Mutya ng Daragang Magayon 2016 winner lyra Velchez (center) and her court

What Can You Do soon leaves her when For Love? she becomes attached Happiness is a Pearl, to a male gigolo named an original play penned Kenji, who has a pearl

by Carlos Palanca Mestitched under the skin morial Awards for Litof his penis. However, erature Hall of Famer Kenji sets his eyes on a Rody Vera. It opens on poverty-stricken Filipina June 9 at the 1701 The entertainer named MaLittle Room Upstairs Stage director Rody Vera ria. Intertwined by fate at Landsdale Tower, and struggles, how will Mother Ignacia St. Kenji, Maria, and Mari corner Timog Avenue, find the true meaning of Quezon City. love and happiness ?

The play runs unHappiness is a Pearl til July 3 with 7 p.m. is directed by Paul Jake shows, Wednesday – Paule, an actor/direcFriday, and 3 and 7 p.m. tor and Aliw Awards shows every Saturday nominee. and Sunday.

The cast features As the opening pro- Actor Paul Jake Paule guest artists Ruth Alduction for the second ferez (Mari); indie film season of Artist Playground, Hap- actor Tomas Miranda (Kenji); piness is a Pearl revolves around together with The Players, Artthree characters - Kenji, a male ist Playground’s very own group courtesan; Maria, a poor Pinay of artists namely Cath Go (Mari, Japayuki; and Mari, a wife who alternate), Jerome Rosalin (Kenji, falls in love with Kenji. alternate); Shiela Espina and Irra Before becoming a prostitute in Ruzz (Maria). a club in Kabukicho, Tokyo, Mari For tickets and inquiries, visit was married to a wealthy business- Artist Playground’s FB Page or man. But Mari’s billionaire husband contact 0926 932 3179.

Tom Hanks in ‘A Hologram For The King’ Adapted from the novel by Dave Eggers, A Hologram for the King, starring Tom Hanks is set in a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and finally do something great. In A Hologram for the King, author Dave Eggers takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy’s gale-force winds. This taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel turned movie is a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment — and a moving story of how we got here.

This latest Tom Hanks starrer is directed by Tom Tykwer who has solidly established himself as a young Spielberg for this wellendowed type of international co-productionalism that basically milks state funds on a global scale. What Tykwer likes about A Hologram for the King is its tacky

Tom Hanks in Tom Tykwer’s adaptation of the Dave Eggers book, “A Hologram for the King”

surrealism, and he indulges in it. Tom Hanks is the fool in the dunes, but he gets a nice bath in the end, and even romance. When was the last time anyone thought of putting Hanks in a sex scene?

That must have been Philadelphia, again. But then Saudi-Arabia is so strait-laced that even Everyman has an edge.

After Tom Hanks gave Dave Eggers’ National Book Awardnominated novel A Hologram

for the King a rave review on his Twitter feed in 2012, only one issue remained unresolved for the two-time Oscar-winning actor. “I was already a big fan of Dave Eggers’ work, having read a bunch of his stuff including things he did with McSweeney’s literary review,” Hanks says. “Then I read A Hologram for the King in one sitting and my only question when I finished it was whether or not he wanted a movie made out of his book.”

German filmmaker Tom Tykwer, who co-directed Hanks in the 2012 sci-fi epic Cloud Atlas, felt just as strongly about the source material.

“A Hologram for the King hit a very particular nerve in me,” Tykwer recalls. “It was the most contemporary novel I’d read in a very long time so I felt like it couldn’t wait: this story had to be made into a movie.

It’s very much about now, yet it still it has the sense of a classic novel in that it’s a book for all times. I found that to be a brilliant mix so I turned into this very pushy machine trying to put the movie together as fast as I could.”

Tykwer, who had worked with author Eggers previously on a miniseries adaptation of the San Francisco-based author’s novel What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, arranged a meeting with Hanks and Eggers at a Los Angeles hotel. After pitching his ideas for the book’s cinematic adaptation, Tykwer and Eggers came to a very un-Hollywood-like agreement.

“Dave and I trust each other,” the

director explains. “I love that he offered to get rid of all the contract stuff and just write on some piece of paper ‘I promise not to be an asshole’ and then we would both sign it. We’re very much on the same page when it comes to artistic exchange. Dave understands that once you let somebody take over your vision, you have to keep some distance.”

Tykwer was equally excited about partnering once again with Hanks. “Working with Tom is liberating for a filmmaker because he’s so open-minded to every moment and every situation,” Tykwer says. “He’s like a superintelligent child who comes into a room and says, ‘Okay, what are our toys?’

And then, ‘Let’s explore what we can do with them!’ That’s super inspiring because when you come up with a new idea, he picks it up really greedily and does something with it in a wonderfully playful way.”

A Hologram for the King opens June 1 in cinemas. It is released by OctoArts Films International.

w ednes day : M ay 25, 2016

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“Laff, Camera, action!” judges (from left) director Caesar Cosme, comedian sef Cadayona with program hosts sheena Halili and Bentong sumaya and comedienne and live performer Gladys Guevarra

NEW gamE shOW ON KapusO ThIs mONTh ISAH V. RED

B

etong Sumaya and Sheena Halili bring happier weekends via GMA’s comedy game show Laff, Camera, Action!. GMA Network never fails to feast the eyes of every Kapuso with amusing and innovative concepts.

Following the phenomenal success of Celebrity Bluff and Picture!

Picture!, get ready to laugh out loud every Saturday afternoon as it brings to Filipino homes the newest comedy game show Laff, Camera, Action!.

Premierieng on May 28, this weekly improvisational program showcases unscripted and unrehearsed performances from two groups of three performers each featuring comedic talents from television, stage, comedy bars and even schools and universities.

The show will test the performers’ skills in improvisational comedy, creating scenes and characters on the spot based on given scenarios.

Laff, Camera, Action! will have two of the network’s multitalented artists – Betong Sumaya and Sheena Halili – as hosts.

Betong is very grateful to GMA for entrusting him this show and he is excited to bring happier weekends to the viewers. “Natutuwa ako na pinagkatiwalaan ako ng GMA for this project. Sobra akong na-o-overwhelm and at the same time sobrang

thankful. Siguradong matutuwa ang Kapuso viewers sa bagong programang ito na handog ng GMA.” Sheena, meanwhile, reveals that this is her very first hosting stint and she is happy to offer something new to her fans and supporters. “Na-excite ako and also, na-challenge rito sa panibagong project na binigay ng GMA sa akin. I’ve been in showbiz for more than a decade now and very thankful ako talaga. It’s my first hosting job. I can truly say that my showbiz career has blossomed in this network through the various roles that I have portrayed,” the actress said.

Laff, Camera, Action! is made up of three exciting rounds: In Round 1, the two teams will interpret two different scenarios and each group must be creative in using the limited number of props on the set.

The competition heats up in Round 2 as a special guest performer joins each team in acting out two different scenarios. No props will be provided.

The third and final round will be the ultimate test of creativity in improvisational comedy as both teams will perform the same exact scenario using the same set of props on the set.

The winners will receive cash, trophies and other special prizes.

To determine the winning team, a panel of three judges will evaluate and score the performances. These include veteran comedy writer and director Caesar Cosme, comedienne and live performer Gladys Guevarra and ace comedian Sef Cadayona.

Laff, Camera, Action! begins May 28 every Saturday after Wish Ko Lang on GMA.

New TV tandem. “Laff, Camera, action!” hosts sheena Halili and Bentong sumaya