The Standard - 2016 May 29 - Sunday by Manila Standard

VOL. XXX NO. 106 3 Sections 24 Pages P18 SuNday : may 29, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

susPect in concert Deaths arresteD

fight for truth goes on—marcos By Maricel V. Cruz and Joel E. Zurbano

THE camp of Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that they will continue to search for the truth over the results of the May 9 elections and blamed President Benigno Aquino III for the cheating in Mindanao that was attested to by witnesses. “As far as Bongbong Marcos is concerned, the fight is not over,” said Marcos’ campaign adviser Abakada partylist Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz. “We have to continue asking for a systems audit. We have to search for the truth, and that is important.” Dela Cruz said the Commission on Elections has not yet explained some 3.5 million undervotes and while the number may not matter in the presidential race which President-apparent Rodrigo Duterte won by a landslide, the number is a game-changer in the vice presidential race. Dela Cruz said there is no more reason for the Comelec not to act on the request of Marcos for a systems audit of the transparency and central servers because the congressional canvassing has been concluded. Dela Cruz said Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, who was declared winner of the election on Friday by a margin of 263,473 votes, may even resign if she finds out what really happened. “If she sees what happened, she may resign. She knows. I am sure Malacañang, the Liberal Party know in their hearts they did something that violated the sovereign will of the people,” Dela Cruz said. Dela Cruz said it is normal for the LP to downplay the issue of the undervotes although the number of votes can make a difference in the vice presidential race and at least three Senate seats. “It is understandable for them to downplay that claim. They are vulnerable. We’re expecting that all issues that we have been raised will be set aside, but we will prove to them what was really happened. We all know that the real opponent here is the President,” Dela Cruz said. He recalled that during the 30th anniversary of Edsa People Power, Aquino campaigned against Marcos and vowed never to allow a Marcos to return to Malacañang. Marcos’ lawyer George Garcia said the public also has the right to know why there was such a high number of undervotes for the position of vice president, which totaled about 3.2 million for the first two days of the official canvass. He explained that they arrived at the figure by deducting the total number of votes for the position of vice president from the total number of votes cast. “It’s true that some voters opted not to vote for a certain

‘saLt man’ sPeeDs uP Logistics inDustrY

FLAG DAY. A street vendor carries miniature flags for sale along Roxas Blvd. in Manila on May 28, 2016. The nation marks the start of commemoration for the National Flag Day which culminates on June 12, coinciding with the celebration for the 118 years of Philippine Independence. MANNY PALMERO

RODY’S PEACE OVERTURES HAILED

By John Paolo Bencito

DAVAO CITY—President-elect Rodrigo Duterte will likely “do more” in his first 100 days in office to end the communist insurgency than outgoing President Benigno Aquino III who failed to resume peace talks with the communists in his entire six-year term.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said Duterte—who described himself as the first president from the Left —is already moving forward toward a dialogue with the Reds unlike Aquino. “Duterte has committed to release all political prisoners as a confidence-building measure. In an unprecedented move, he has offered

cabinet positions to the Left, more than what was ever given by any postEdsa regime,” said Bayan secretarygeneral Renato Reyes. “In contrast, Aquino continues to avoid any responsibility for his failed handling of the peace talks with the NDF,” he said. “When it comes to the peace process with the NDF, Duterte Next page

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MAN HELD OVER CONCERT DEATHS By Joel E. Zurbano

AFTER a tongue-lashing from President-apparent Rodrigo Duterte, government agents arrested a suspected drug peddler who supposedly sold the drugs that killed five people, including an American, at a Pasay City concert party on May 22. The National Bureau of Investigation identified the suspect as Joshua Habalo who was arrested Friday night inside the Remington Hotel in Pasay City and is now undergoing interrogation at the NBI headquarters on Taft Avenue in Ermita, Manila. NBI Anti-Illegal Drugs Division agents led by Joel Tovera also confiscated some Ecstasy tablets, packets of cocaine and three green-colored tablets from the

suspect. Habalo, however, denied knowing the fatalities and told investigators that he was not among the persons who sold drugs in the party concert in Pasay City. The NBI is now preparing the filing of criminal charges against the suspect before the Pasay City prosecutors office. Habalo’s arrest came on the heels of a public tongue-lashing by Duterte who scolded govern-

ment officials and policemen for their supposed negligence and threatened to implement a massive revamp of the Philippine National Police when he assumes office June 30. Duterte even called a midnight press conference “because nobody from the higher office is talking about the incident” which, he said, was the result of a failure of intelligence. The president-in-waiting even threatened to implement a massive revamp where he will reassign Metro Manila police chiefs and their men to far-flung police commands, like those in Sulu. “Where’s the NBI, their anti-drug units or whatever that agency is called? Where’s the police? Where’s the PDEA? They knew that if it’s a rock concert or

there were bands playing, many assholes would bring illegal substances. I’m just guessing it was just passed on to everybody. Why are there so many people who died [in the concert]?” Duterte said. Officials of the National Capital Region Police Office, Southern Police District and Pasay City Police kept mum over the tonguelashing, saying “this issue will be addressed by the National Headquarters.” But PNP spokesman Wilben Mayor recognized it will be within the powers of incoming President Duterte to reorganize the police force. “Being the president of the Philippines, he is the commander-in-chief, he is the chief executive. He can do so. He can direct

all units that are within the power of the president,” he said. NCRPO director Joel Pagdilao, for his part, insisted on Friday that his men are hot on the trail of two suspects—a man and a woman—who supposedly sold drugs during the concert party. “We are conducting follow-up operations. What we have now is a man and a woman suspects whom, according to the witnesses, were the persons who sold drugs during the event. Our men are now tracking down the whereabouts of these people,” said Pagdilao. However, the NBI beat the police to the arrest although they even formed a Special Investigation Task Group composed of personnel from the NCRPO, SPD and Pasay City police.

Fight... From A1

position and that’s normal. But take note of the percentage, that’s 3.2 million voters who did not vote for vice president,” said Garcia. With such a hotly-contested election and the high voter turnout of over 80 percent, Garcia said the high number of undervotes should be explained. He said areas where large number of undervotes occurred were in the Visayas and Mindanao. Dela Cruz reiterated the Marcos’ legal team will file electoral protest on the matter, even as they demand that the Smartmatic be banned from future elections. Dela Cruz earlier said “the integrity of the whole 2016 elections is on the line here and we do not want unresolved questions and issues to linger after the proclamation.” Already, the group Solidarity for Sovereignty rejected the results of the elections because the Comelec had supposedly abdicated its mandate to hold honest and credible elections. “Our Constitution states only Comelec has authority to conduct elections but the Comelec turned over its mandate to Smartmatic,” the group said in a statement. “The Comelec also ignored the SC’s order to enable the security features of the Precinct Count Optical Scanner, or the PCOS Vote Counting Machine such as the digital signatures of BEI’s, security ballot paper, watermarking, ultra-violet ballot authenticator, vote confirmation receipt, and others to ensure the integrity of the vote. “Nor was the source code before and after the elections, ever provided. Many other cases filed for the nullification of that election remain unresolved to this day.’’

rody’s... From A1

and the hacendero president are poles apart.” Reyes said Duterte was first in extending an olive branch to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front whose armed struggle has already claimed millions of lives. Duterte, who described himself as being left of the center, had promised to give cabinet positions to progressive individuals and visiting leaders of selfdeterminist groups to urge them to pursue peace with the government. “I will go along. If it’s just a matter [of them being] identified with the left, it is not an issue with me,” Duterte had earlier said. “I will speak with the left because I want a peaceful country.” Reyes noted that Duterte has already promised the left at least two seats in his Cabinet and even offered more if CPP

Gotcha. Agents of the National Bureau of investigation escort suspect Joshua habalo after he was arrested over his alleged peddling of prohibited drugs at a concert party in Pasay City that resulted in the death of five people. NOEL CELIS

founder Jose Maria Sison comes home in July. The communist umbrella National Democratic Front had already submitted a list of nominees to the Duterte administration and Duterte publicly said he was impressed and was inclined to accept the nominations. Among the names submitted by the NDF were former Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño for Department of Environment and Natural Resources, former University of the Philippines professor Judy Taguiwalo for the Department of Social Welfare and Development and former Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano for the Department of Agrarian Reform. Duterte had earlier promised to give the Department of Labor and Employment as well but he later announced the designation of 1-BAP Rep. Silvestre Bello, a nomination that the NDF did not protest. Reyes said Duterte’s moves has shown his sincerity and showed a great contrast to the Aquino administration which rejected the NDF’s proposal to draft a new

Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees list after the original one, stored in a very old floppy diskette, got corrupted and could no longer be retrieved. “Even in his last days in office, ‘Boy Sisi’ [Aquino] continues to blame everyone but himself,” Reyes said. “He fails to understand the importance in the peace talks of upholding previously signed agreements such as the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees.” “Noynoy excelled in violating the JASIG and the agreement on respect for human rights, and thus accumulated so many political prisoners, 18 of whom are NDF consultants. He was not serious at all in talking peace, which explains why even back-channel efforts failed,” he added. Formal peace negotiations with the communist movement was stalled in 2004 after the NDF withdrew from the negotiating table on account of the renewed inclusion of CPP Founding Chairperson Jose Maria Sison and his organization in the US terrorist list.

The government conducted several rounds of informal talks through the facilitation of the Royal Norwegian Government in an attempt to revive the negotiations, but the talks still failed. President Aquino, however, said that it was the NDF that walked out of the peace talks. “How do we proceed with the peace process if we go back to the long dragged out and no-compromising position?” Aquino said. In various interviews, Duterte stressed that if he “can talk smoothly” and CPP founder Jose Maria Sison will come home in July, he’s ready to give progressives positions in his cabinet. Fidel Agcaoili, NDF chief negotiator in an interview, said that the Duterte administration is already preparing for the resumption of the peace negotiations “towards the attainment of a just and lasting peace.” “Peace talks will resume as soon as possible after his proclamation as president,” he said in a television interview.

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Flag daY. Former President Fidel V. Ramos salutes the shrine of the Battle of Alapan in Imus, Cavite, where the Philippine flag was first unfurled after defeating Spanish forces on May 28, 1898. The day also marks the beginning of flag days until June 12. DANNY PATA

CHINA RISKS RAISING A NEW ‘GREAT WALL’

WASHINGTON—China risks creating a “Great Wall of self-isolation” through its continued military expansion in the South China Sea and its hacks on US companies, Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Friday. Carter’s remarks came ahead of his trip next week to an Asian security summit in Singapore, where China’s actions in the contested waterway will likely dominate discussions. “China’s actions could erect a Great Wall of self-isolation,” Carter told graduating officers at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. “Countries across the region—allies, partners, and the unaligned— are voicing concerns publicly and privately at the highest levels.”

China has in recent years dredged reefs, islets and other maritime features and built these up into larger islands capable of sustaining a military presence. For instance, the Fiery Cross Reef Outpost, located between the Philippines and Vietnam, has since 2014 been converted from a sandy speck in the ocean to an island stretching more than two miles [three kilometers,] complete with a lengthy runway. “China’s actions [in the South China Sea] challenge fundamental

principles, and we’re not going to look the other way,” Carter said. The United States disputes China’s sovereignty in the region and has conducted several “freedom of navigation” operations in which it deliberately sails close by the islands, attracting the ire of Beijing. Carter also blasted Chinese cyber attacks on US companies. “China’s cyber-actors have violated the spirit of the Internet—not to mention the law—to perpetrate large-scale intellectual property theft from American companies,” he said. Carter’s remarks came after the Group of Seven summit in Japan where the leaders of advanced democracies said rising maritime tensions in Asia are a cause for concern and disputes should be resolved legally and peacefully.

Though no individual countries were mentioned, the contents of their declaration at the close of an annual summit appeared to be directed at China. Beijing’s claim to nearly the entire South China Sea has angered some of its Southeast Asian neighbors and sparked fears over threats to freedom of navigation in the body of water that encompasses key global shipping lanes. The Philippines, along with Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also have competing claims in the expansive maritime area. China’s ongoing militarization of islets and outcrops there has sparked broader apprehensions about the country’s growing regional might as well as its threats to back up the claims with force, if necessary. aFP

HACKERS MOVING VS MORE BANKS WASHINGTON—The hackers behind the $81-million heist from the Bangladesh central bank have likely been involved in a series of attacks on the financial system, a US security firm has concluded. Researchers at the security firm Symantec also found that the malware used in the bank hacks shares code with that used in the massive 2014 cyberattack against Sony Pictures. Symantec said a bank in the Philippines has been attacked by the group that hit the Bangladesh central bank and attempted a heist from the Tien Phong Bank in Vietnam. “Malware used by the group was also deployed in targeted attacks against a bank in the Philippines. In addition to this, some of the tools used share code similarities with malware used in historic attacks linked to a threat group known as Lazarus,” Symantec researchers said in a blog post Thursday. “The attacks can be traced back as far as October 2015, two months prior to the discovery of the failed attack in Vietnam, which was hitherto the earliest known incident.” News of the Bangladesh incident sparked a warning from the global financial interbank platform SWIFT, which earlier this month warned of a wide-ranging campaign. SWIFT said this month that hackers exploited vulnerabilities at two unnamed banks to gain access to their fund transfer systems, which then give instructions to the SWIFT network. Symantec said the malware found has been tied to the group known as Lazarus, blamed for the Sony attack which according to US officials had been ordered by North Korea. “The discovery of more attacks provides further evidence that the group involved is conducting a wide campaign against financial targets in the region,” Symantec said. aFP

ANOTHER NEWSMAN KILLED By vito Barcelo A RADIO reporter was gunned down by a motorcycle-riding man in Quiapo, Manila last Friday night, the Manila police reported Saturday. Police identified the reporter as Alex Balcoba, a reporter of DzBB who also writes a column for the weekly tabloid newspaper People’s Brigada. Manila Police Chief Inspector John Guiagui said that Balcoba was talking to his wife’s friend in Quiapo when a gunwielding suspect appeared and shot the victim in the head. Balcoba was an official of the Manila Police District press corps. Police investigators recovered an empty bullet shell from the scene of the crime and has yet to undetermined the type of firearm. The National Press Club of the Philippines said the attack on Balcoba, a reporter for the People’s Brigada tabloid, brought to more than 30 the number

of journalists killed in the Philippines since 2010, with no suspects yet brought to justice. “The culture of impunity that is behind these attacks is yet to be addressed by the authorities despite their repeated boasts and promises,” said NPC president Paul Gutierrez. Balcoba is the second journalist to be murdered in the Philippines this year, and the 34th since 2010 when President Benigno Aquino III came to power, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. He is also the 174th journalist killed since a bloodless uprising ended the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship 30 years ago, a union official told AFP. Just 10 suspects have been convicted for attacks on journalists across the country since 1986, according to the union. Known for its outspoken press, the Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries for reporters, where powerful figures often kill critics with impunity. With aFP

Post-election evaluation. Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz (left) and

Press Secretary-designate Salvador Panelo discuss election issues during the weekly news forum at Anabel’s Restaurant in Quezon City. MannY PalMeRo

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OPINION

ADELLE CHUA EDITOR

lettertotheeditor@thestandard.com.ph

OPINION

LESSONS FROM A BANK HEIST

[ EDI TORI A L ]

ONE FLAG ON MAY 28, 1898, the Philippine flag was first unfurled after the revolutionary army defeated the Spaniards in a battle in Imus, Cavite. Less than a month later, on June 12—what we now commemorate as Independence Day—the flag was formally presented to the people. By virtue of a 1994 executive order of President Fidel V. Ramos, National Flag Day was extended to the period between May 28 and June 12, during which Filipinos are encouraged to display the Philippine flag in offices, agencies, business establishments, schools and homes. It’s a good time to remind us that we all fall under the same three colors no matter what dominant shade we displayed during the last campaign period. No doubt, the just-conducted elections and the wild days that preceded it would stand out as the most creative, most ingenious but also the most vicious among all campaign periods, not just among the candidates and their supporters but among individual citizens as well. Over social media, ugly exchanges took place that sometimes resulted in relationship rifts. Aside from the violence that occurred on the streets, bad faith and bile accompanied people’s choices— and their judgment of others’ choices. This period when we are expected to give our national flag the reverence it deserves, we are reminded that one could only sport one color for long. The outgoing President, for instance, has never shed his habit of wearing only a yellow pin on his chest, sending the message that he only leads those who support him. But what of the others who harbored a different, though equally valid, view? The new administration will, we hope, shed the practice of immediately rejecting the voices of those who do not agree with it. Diversity and disagreement are good; leaders who are humble enough to acknowledge that they may not have all the answers and that they may not always be right, even better—so long as they place the nation’s interest first. These virtues came in short supply during the Aquino administration; we hope they will not in the next one.

IN DEFENSE OF REPUBLICAN OPPORTUNISTS By Jonathan Bernstein MARCO Rubio’s decision to attend the Republican convention and speak for Donald Trump has exposed something important. Not about Rubio—but about a lot of Republicans. Yes, Rubio is clearly showing himself to be, as the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein says in a takedown, “an opportunistic politician with his finger to the

wind.” Ross Douthat agrees. After all, before he ran for the Republican It may turn out that having supported presidential nomination, Trump will be a black mark against he had already gone Republican politicians if he loses against from being an inside player in the Florida Hillary Clinton or is elected and performs Legislature to a Tea Party terribly in office. If so, Rubio’s sin will be “outsider” when he ran poor judgment, not opportunism. for the US Senate. He supported comprehensive immigration reform when it seemed to be where his Franklin Delano party was heading, then regained the upper hand. So what’s wrong with Roosevelt, the greatest repudiated it when antipresident of the last 100 immigration sentiment that?

years, was an ambitious opportunist. The best two Republican presidents of the last 100 years, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, were ambitious opportunists. Reagan’s opportunism in particular should be a model for conservatives to emulate, since he was both a conservative ideologue and a politician “with his finger in the wind.” Reagan, in both California and in the White House, proved

ready to compromise when he couldn’t get his way unilaterally, whether it was with the California Legislature, US House Speaker Tip O’Neill or the Soviet Union. Nor was Reagan above abandoning unpopular positions to remain popular. This is not to say that Rubio’s decision to openly support Trump is the correct one for him. It may turn out

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that having supported Trump will be a black mark against Republican politicians if he loses against Hillary Clinton or is elected and performs terribly in office. If so, Rubio’s sin will be poor judgment, not opportunism. I’m not sure why Republican party actors took so long to settle on a candidate in 20152016, and then why support for Rubio was relatively weak once

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he emerged as their choice. Perhaps some Republicans were looking for someone with less obvious traditional ambition than Rubio or several other well-qualified candidates in the GOP race, such as Scott Walker or Bobby Jindal. Someone who (as Douthat and Klein put it) would be an “idealist” or “an inspirational moral leader.” If so, it’s no wonder they lost. Bloomberg

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SWIFT can’t do it alone. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, an organization that enables money transfers worldwide, has come under fire after a rash of bank hackings—some of which bear fingerprints of nation-states including North Korea. In response, it announced this week a series of new measures aimed at protecting the global financial system from cybercrime. These steps can’t hurt. They’ll probably help. But the more urgent security problem rests with the banks, not with the messaging system they use. The story began in February, when Bangladesh’s central bank fell victim to an $81-million heist. Hackers used the Swift network to access the bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and transfer funds to accounts in the Philippines, from which they vanished. Similar breaches have happened at banks in Vietnam and Ecuador, and possibly elsewhere. Troubling as the heists may be, it’s important to put a few things in perspective. While $81 million is nothing to sniff at, it’s small in comparison to the hundreds of billions of dollars in transfers that the system facilitates every day. What’s more, Swift itself did not fail, any more than a telephone fails if somebody uses it to commit fraud. The network passes messages among banks, which then move money on their own. Hackers were able to impersonate the banks, thanks to weaknesses in the systems they used to connect to Swift. This gave the hackers access only to the compromised banks’ funds, not to the funds of the thousands of other institutions that use Swift. Nevertheless, the breaches are a big deal for an organization founded on trust: For the system to work smoothly, banks must be able to assume that the messages they receive are legitimate. To that end, Swift has wisely offered to take on more responsibility for the security practices of its members. It plans, for example, to toughen software requirements, expand the use of two-factor authentication (which provides an added identity check), monitor compliance more rigorously, and facilitate sharing of frauddetection know-how. Ultimately, though, Swift can only do so much. The network is fast and efficient because it’s neutral and passive—a feature that any major effort to police some 11,000 member institutions could impair. The real solution must come where the failure happened: at the banks. If institutions in developing nations somehow prove unable to defend against statesponsored attacks, some assistance from the developed world might be in order. That said, keeping their money safe is something banks themselves should have the resources and expertise to do. Bloomberg Rolando G. Estabillo Jojo A. Robles Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Francis Lagniton Joyce Pangco Pañares Adelle Chua Romel J. Mendez Roberto Cabrera

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OPINION

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OPINION

LESSONS FROM A BANK HEIST

[ EDI TORI A L ]

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A CHANCE ENCOUNTER ON THE SYRIAN FRONT By Delil Souleiman FATISAH, Syria—We were resting, hiding in the shade from the searing heat, when we saw the strangers arrive. We were in the village of Fatisah, in northern Syria, which had just been captured from Islamic State by the SDF, the mainly Kurdish fighters battling the jihadists in this area. All the village residents have fled and the fighters, whom I’ve been following for several hours, were lounging in the shade of a house, resting up after a heavy battle. Armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the strangers pulled up in pickup trucks. They stood out right away. Most didn’t look like they came from the region and they spoke English between them, with that distinctive Yankee drawl. A dead giveaway. It wasn’t a secret that American “military advisers” were in northern Syria helping the SDF in the fight against the Islamic State. The US has said so itself, though it has insisted that they are working away from the frontlines. But it’s rare for them to be photographed. And here I was, actually seeing them in the flesh and near the frontline. I was with a videographer, Jihad Darwish, and we were both ecstatic. We have driven more than 600 kilometers to get here. Like everyone else, we knew that US soldiers were in

US ‘military advisers’ help Kurdish fighters battle IS jihadists. AFP

the region. And now we were actually seeing them in action. The village of Fatisah is about 50 kilometers north of Raqa, the de-facto Syrian capital of the Islamic State extremists. For several days now, the SDF has been waging an operation to chase the extremists from this part of the province. We are less than two kilometers from the area under the control of the jihadists. The area is dangerous, dotted with mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Most

of the houses are booby-trapped, so there is no questions of going inside. In the skies above us, we see the planes of the US-led coalition, a reassuring sight under the circumstances. In any event, I am used to combat zones; I’ve worked in them often. At first, I am careful not to photograph the American soldiers head on. I’m not sure how they’ll react. So I shoot them from a distance. Ever so slowly, step-by-step, I come closer. I am nervous, but I force myself to hide the anxiety and

smile, trying to reassure them and put them at ease. They don’t prevent me from taking pictures. They don’t seem to think that a photographer here is something bizarre. Some have a patch of them American flag on their sleeves. Others have the patch of a Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). Still others of a women’s unit within the YPG. I wonder why, but don’t dare to go up and ask. An SDF commander tells us that the men are US special forces and are there to provide

training. Later, a Pentagon spokesman said that American commandos often wear insignia of the units that they train. The soldiers, their eyes hidden behind sunglasses, don’t seem bothered by us at all. Some prefer to look away when they see us pointing our cameras at them. Some yell to us not to take pictures of their faces. They don’t talk to us, but they are very calm and there is no hostility. After a while, the US special forces and the SDF soldiers get into vehicles and head toward a school on the outskirts of the village, which apparently serves as their training camp. We follow them. On the way, we pass another group of US soldiers who are hauling an anti-tank system to the top of a building. “The Americans shoot surface to surface missiles from the top of this building on the explosives-rigged cars” that the IS often uses to attack the SDF forces, tells us Hawkar Kobane, an SDF commander. One of the Americans, who seems to be in charge of the group, heads toward us, yelling in English for us to stop filming and shooting. We continue toward the school. But when we get there, SDF soldiers block our way. There is no question of getting inside. In any case, it’s getting dark, so we continue on our way having seen for the first time, US “military advisers” on the ground. AFP

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE TO A BANANA REPUBLIC By Sebastian Smith BRASILIA—There was a moment at the height of Brazil’s titanic impeachment crisis when the whole thing boiled down to one tiny detail—what to do with those portraits? The little-loved elected leftist president Dilma Rousseff had left her presidential palace to start a six-month suspension. Her little-loved, conservative vice president, political nemesis and replacement was about to move in. But there was the issue of all those Rousseff portraits dotting the palace. Suddenly Brazil’s new leadership, which had so ruthlessly and efficiently pushed Rousseff from office halfway through her second term—sparking accusations of a coup d’etat—looked hesitant and confused. And no wonder. The problem was that officially, Rousseff was only temporarily suspended. Until a Senate trial definitively removed her from office, Temer was only an acting president. So what to do: celebrate victory by ditching her smiling pictures or leave them up in case, however unlikely it seems, she ended up returning? At first, the portraits did start coming down. In one of those made-for-the-movies regime change moments, a handyman was seen struggling to remove a particularly big version of the picture, featuring Rousseff in her presidential sash. But then Temer himself intervened, ordering the pictures

to be left up. To me the controversy summed up nicely the surreal nature of Brazil’s slide from global economic and political star just a few years ago toward a banana republicstyle slapstick comedy. And although the portraits may have been a detail, there’s nothing tiny about the power struggle in the country. At stake is leadership of Latin America’s biggest nation, one of the world’s biggest economies, home to the world’s biggest rainforest and a lot of the world’s raw materials, oh, and host of the Rio Olympics in less than three months. Some would go further and say that Latin American democracy itself—a shaky issue over the years—is in play. To find out just exactly what was going on with the portraits, I headed to the press office on the first floor of the presidential palace, a magnificent building of sharp angles, sexy curves, glass and marble from Oscar Niemeyer’s breathtaking 1950s design. But up there, I got the run-around from a charming and smooth-spoken media relations expert—what you might call a flack—who claimed erroneously that there’d never been any plot against the portraits. So I made my way down to the bowels of the administration building, where civil servants work in warrens of tiny offices. Here the atmosphere was decidedly less polished and very nervous: the country they served hung at the edge of the unknown, just like those pictures.

“What we’ve heard is that someone could come to collect them, but that they’ll be put in a safe place until it’s known if she’s coming back,” one functionary told me, speaking in a hushed voice about how she agreed with Rousseff ’s claim to be the victim of a coup. “For me the portrait should stay there —right until 2018 when she finishes her mandate,” another office worker said, referring to Rousseff ’s second term. “Don’t put our names,” she joked. “They’ll send us to the guillotine.” I’ve seen plenty of banana republic tragi-comedy during the years that I spent covering the ex-Soviet Union. There were those magically predictable elections of Nursultan Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan, where the father of the nation’s vote tally has risen steadily over the decades to the high 90 percentile. No wonder he can get away with building a tower in his own honor with a golden imprint of his right hand at the top. Then there was Ukraine, where despite the extraordinary courage of prodemocracy protesters, the country remains riddled with government corruption, incompetence and thieving oligarchs. Indeed, the Kremlin’s English-language mouthpiece Russia Today pithily summed up Ukraine on its website as “a Banana Republic, without bananas.” But of course, Russian state media should know: Vladimir Putin has used his seemingly endless rule to perfect the

cocktail of faked elections, crony capitalism, police brutality and cult of personality that goes a long way toward the definition of banana republics. Brazil, though, was a more hopeful country—or so I’d thought. But now I found myself observing an all-night Senate session in the capital Brasilia, which was about to throw Brazil into circus-like turmoil. It must be said that the capital is already a very odd place. Built from scratch in a barren region at the end of the 1950s, this was meant to be Brazil’s city of the future. That morning, Rousseff walked out of her presidential palace, officially to start her suspension, but in reality quite possibly never to return again. And just as Temer would have his headache over the portraits a short while later, she had her own symbolism dilemma: which door to use? The back door promised minimal drama but looked sneaky. A central exit which opens onto a long ramp would maximize the theater, but might seem too final. So a regular front door was chosen—she would walk out as if going for a stroll. Staff and supporters cried as the country’s first female president took that long, slow walk to her waiting motorcade. Rousseff, who was tortured by Brazil’s military leaders in the 1970s, kept her eyes dry. But she looked reluctant to get into the black car. Just before she did, she turned around and blew a kiss to the crowd, her final act. AFP

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HealtH care bill okayed By Maricel V. Cruz

The house of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to integrate hospice and palliative care into the Philippine health care system. House Bill 6422, of Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrellita Suansing, seeks to improve the quality of life of terminally ill patients and minimize the financial burden of their families, the authors stressed. Likewise, the measure aims to prevent the draining of resources of public hospitals and local government units in provid-

ing medical and financial support to terminally ill indigent patients. The bill mandates all government and private hospitals to provide palliative and hospice care to all patients with life-threatening illness. Hospitals are required to link with an effective referral and aftercare network that is organized and made

functional by all provincial, city, and municipal governments under the guidance and monitoring of the Department of Health. Under the bill, rural health units, health care centers and health offices are required to develop home-based or near home palliative care program in coordination with government-owned and privatelyowned hospices in the local government units. The measure requires hospitals, private hospice institutions, medical practitioners, health and social workers for hospice and palliative care to be accred-

ited by the DoH in partnership with the National Hospice and Palliative Care Council of the Philippines to ensure standard quality services. On the other hand, health care professionals and volunteers from national to local levels are tasked to undergo multidisciplinary education and training on palliative and hospice care support services to be conducted by the DoH in partnership with accredited palliative and hospice care institutions. To ensure quality hospice and palliative care services, the bill provides that ac-

credited hospitals and hospices should have adequate number of multi-specialty personnel; assured financing for health and custodial services; clear and practical standards for facilities and services; appropriately designed and equipped facilities; and regular and systematic supervision and reporting to the DoH. As for the provision on funding support, the measure states that all non-profit, DoH accredited hospice and palliative care institutions, which are serving indigent patients, shall qualify as institutional beneficiaries under the

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Institutional Financial Program. Meanwhile, the bill provides that all grants, bequests, endowments, donations, and contributions made to the DoH to be used, directly, and exclusively for hospice and palliative care programs shall be exempt from donor’s tax and the same shall be allowed as deduction from the gross income of the donor. Allocation of funds for training, education, and promotion of the health program on palliative and hospice care is also provided under the bill.

school cleanup caution urged

oPlan rody. Violators of the 10 p.m. liquor ban are made to do 40 push-ups at a police headquarters in Manila on May 28, 2016. oplan ‘rodY

or rid the streets of drinkers and Youths’ is enforced by a police station in Manila following the cue of president-elect rodrigo duterte who says he will impose a nationwide curfew on children being on the streets late at night and also ban the serving of alcoholic drinks after midnight. afP

Manila gets water treatMent reactor A FIRST-IN-THE-wORLD plant that treats waste water from both ‘estero’ and wet market and which complies with US Environmental Protection Agency standards was recently turned over to the Manila city government. A Filipino-developed technology called “sequence bio-reactor” (SBR) employed in the Paco Estero plant was donated as a grant to Manila City Hall by technology provider Eco-System Technology Inc. The technology may be replicated to treat many polluted river and water systems in the country, the company said in a statement. “It is able to generate an effluent that is of highest quality for non-potable water reuse—10 milligrams per liter or less. It keeps up with the United States effluent standards for water discharged to the environment.” Treating waste water from the Paco estero and public market may seem difficult. It is a combination of household

waste, sewer backflow, Pasig River (and Manila Bay) intrusion from the tidal flows, rain, and flood water. ESTI’s SBR technology is able to comply with and even exceed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ effluent standard in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) of 50 mg per liter. BOD is a measure of how much oxygen is needed to allow for waste’s decomposition; the lower the better. SBR has been the preferred sewage treatment technology in the last decade in developed countries as the US, and now also in the Philippines. Its effluent is ideal for water reuse— for cooling tower, watering plants or irrigation, and toilet flushing. The SBR plant was bestowed as a grant to the Manila city government by ESTI. It was completed under ESTI’s partnership with ABS-CBN Foundation, in coordination with DENR. It collects 220 cubic meters of waste water daily.

ready for sChool. Volunteers from the philippine Business for social progress stage the annual kick-off event for the ‘ready for school-Brigada eskwela 2016’ at the esteban abada elementary school in Quezon city by repainting school chairs and other materials as part of the campaign to help public school students. Manny PalMero

A wASTE and pollution watch group urged participants of this year’s Brigada Eskwela on May 30 to June 4 to clean and beautify the country’s public schools in a way that will not put human health and the environment at risk. As schools gear up for the annual sprucing up, the Ecowaste Coalition reminded participants to ensure that wastes collected from the week-long cleanup drive are not burned and that lead-free paints are solely used for school renovations. “Burnish trash and using leaded paint must be avoided all the time as these practices can contaminate the school environment with healthdamaging substances,” said Thony Dizon, coordinator of the Ecowaste coalition’s Project Protect. The group reminded school principals, teachers and the general public that open burning is prohibited under the Republic Act 9003, the Ecological Solid waste Management Act and that the use of lead-free paints is prescribed under the Department of Education Memorandum No. 85, Series of 2016. The burning of discards discharges microscopic toxins can trigger headaches, cause eye, throat and skin irritation, weaken respiratory functions, cause asthma and heart attacks, bring about reproductive disorders, and even result in cancers, the group pointed out. Coating school walls, doors, windows, chairs, tables and other fixtures with leaded paints creates a lead poisoning hazard as the painted surfaces will chip and deteriorate over time, dispersing lead-containing paint flake and dust that can enter the human body via ingestion or inhalation, the group added. According to health experts, the brain damage caused by chronic and low-level exposure to lead, a potent neurotoxin, is irreversible and untreatable.

SUNDAY: MAY 29, 2016

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‘DUTERTE NEEDS CREDIBLE ALLIANCES’ ALLIANCE treaties with the US and other countries like Japan and Australia should be strengthened by the new government as the Armed Forces of the Philippines needs to shift its stance from internal security to territorial defense, an independent think tank said. “We believe the AFP should now develop a credible defense position that would make a potential adversary think twice before using force against the Philippines,” said Dindo Manhit, president of the Stratbase Albert

del Rosario Institute (ADRi). Tensions threatened to escalate days ago over the disputed waters when Chinese fighter jets “maneuvered unsafely” as they intercepted an American navy reconnaissance plane. The two nations

had since traded accusations. An option is fostering a trilateral armed forces featuring the Army, Air Force, and Navy for maritime territorial security, in particular the monitoring and securing of Philippines-controlled land features in the South China Sea and adjacent waters. Even so, Manhit cautioned that no amount of resources and arms acquisition can enable the Philippines to face an assertive and militarily powerful China and so efforts must be concentrated on strengthening the AFP’s joint operations capabilities.

Its development of its early warning, surveillance, and command, control, and communication must be designed with an ally or set of allies in mind. It is thus crucial for the administration of presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte to strengthen its alliance with the US built around the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. “Continuous training with allied forces, including the US and its other bilateral allies such as Japan, Australia, and South Korea should also be prioritized,” he said.

Another area of cooperation is Stratbase ADRi’s very own USPhilippines Strategic Initiative, a high-level policy dialogue project launched last year in Washington featuring the think tank, the Philippines Inc. Eminent Persons Group, and Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Described as a potential “game changer” in US-Philippine relations, USPSI is a three-year project designed to add depth, creativity, and a sense of urgency in modernizing the US-Philippine alliance.

PACQUIAO VOWS PERFECT SENATE ATTENDANCE By John Paolo Bencito DAVAO CITY—Known for his “habitual” absences in the House of Representatives, Senator-elect Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao on Saturday promised “perfect attendance” once he starts his term as a member of the Senate on June 30. The eight-division boxing champion who landed seventh among Senate best with 16,050,546 votes in the recent senatorial polls, said that he won’t pursue his dream of winning a gold medal in the Rio Olympics and instead focus on his political career. “I didn’t accept the Olympics offer because I’ll be starting my new job in the Senate,” Pacquiao told reporters at the Almendras Gym here. “I’m targeting not to be absent again—the responsibilities are not like in Congress that you only work in your district—this one is nationwide,” he said. “It would be a disservice to the people who placed me here in this position if during my first months of service, I’ll be absent again.” Pacquiao said that his victory over American Timothy Bradley last month would be the “final fight” of his career, saying, however, that he might get tempted to get out of retirement for a chance at Olympic Senator-elect Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Pacquiao glory in August or promises to make himself more available and another mega-buck strive for ‘perfect attendance’ in the Senate during fight against arch- an interview at the Almendras Gym, Davao City. JOHN PAOLO BENCITO rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao said that he chose public service over his love for boxing, admitting that he had a hard time making the decision. “It hurts me as an athlete that the ultimate dream to get a gold medal can’t be possible anymore. I was excited before because I knew that I have a good fighting chance. We’re not after the money but the gold for the country.” “But when my numbers [in the surveys] were on the winning circle, that’s when I decided to forego my Rio dreams,” he said. On Saturday, Pacquiao paid respect and congratulated fellow Mindanaoan, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, who won by a landslide in the recent national elections. Pacquiao said that to support Duterte’s legislative agenda, he will be joining the majority to be formed in the Senate. The boxing icon added that if it’s needed for him to fly back to his original party, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan from his current party United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay “just to express support to Duterte,” he’ll be willingly doing so. “Why do we need to think of political parties? What’s important is the message of change, let’s support the new administration and its advocacies,” he said. Pacquiao confirmed that he will remain the coach of the KIA Mahindra Enforcers in the PBA. While he will remain as the head coach of the Mahindras, he will be taking a more “supervisory” role following his retirement from boxing.

President Benigno S. Aquino III leads Pagcor executives headed by president-COO Eugene Manalastas, director Eric Nuguid, assistant vice president for corporate communications Maricar Bautista and vice president for gaming, licensing and development Francis Hernando during the ceremonial turnover.

PAGCOR YIELDS P8.8B, MAKES HISTORY THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. once again made history when it remitted the highest contribution to the government during the Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation’s Dividends Day held at the Malacañang Palace on May 23, 2016. Pagcor has turned over a total of P8.86 billion to government coffers, P1.89 billion of which accounts for cash dividends for 2015. Fifty-four GOCCs remitted a total of P40.2 billion in dividends and other forms of contributions during the event. According to Pagcor president and COO Eugene Manalastas, who led the ceremonial turnover of check to President Benigno S. Aquino III, the state-run gaming firm continuously met its targets and maintained its position as one of the government’s top-revenue earners. “For the past four years, Pagcor has religiously remitted cash dividends to the national government. From the P1-billion dividends remitted in 2012, our contributions continuously increased, enabling Pagcor to consistently make it to the GOCC Elite Circle or the

Billionaires’ Club. These are the corporations that remit at least P1 billion to the government,” he said. He also shared that from 2012 to present, Pagcor has already remitted a total of P13.39-billion cash dividends to the government. President Aquino, who received the GOCCs’ check remittances, noted that he wants to leave behind a better nation when he steps down from office this coming June 2016. Aquino shared that during his term, GOCCs have already remitted a total of P163.33-billion dividends. The President said the cash dividends remitted by the GOCCs will help fund various projects such as AFP modernization, socioeconomic programs, particularly those related to education, health, agriculture, irrigation, infrastructure and seaports. Under Republic Act 7656, GOCCs are required to remit at least 50 percent of their annual net earnings as cash, stock or property dividends to the National Government. Of the 54 GOCCs which re-

mitted cash dividends this year, nine made it to the Billionaires’ Club. Apart from PAGCOR, among those included in the Elite Circle are the Land Bank of the Philippines, which remitted P6.85 billion; the Mactan Cebu International Authority (P5.06 billion); Bases Conversion and Development Authority (P3.93 billion); Development Bank of the Philippines (P2.87 billion); Manila Airports Authority (P2.35 billion); Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (P2.27 billion); Philippine Ports Authority (P2.81 billion) and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (P1 billion). Meanwhile, Manalastas added that apart from cash dividends—which Pagcor started remitting only during President Aquino’s time—the state-run gaming firm has also other remarkable accomplishments during its incumbent management. “In the past five and a half years [from July 2010 to December 2015], Pagcor generated P221.18 billion in total revenues. Pagcor has also increased contributions to nation-building reaching a staggering P119.09 billion,” Manalastas said.

SUNDAY: MAY 29, 2016

Roderick T. dela Cruz EDITOR

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

SALT TRADER CRYSTALLIZES PH LOGISTICS INDUSTRY

Mober Technology Pte Inc. founder and chief executive Dennis Ng

A FORMER salt trader and entertainment magazine publisher has discovered the power of mobile application and is now using it to transform the logistics sector in the Philippines. Dennis Ng developed a mobile app for delivery vans, which he hopes will change the logistics sector in the same way ‘Uber’ and ‘Grab’ revolutionized the taxi cab service. “I was into a salt business 10 or 12 years ago. I saw the need for delivery service for SMEs when my small customers found it hard to transport sacks of salt that could not be loaded in an ordinary taxi. When I went to Hong Kong where I have an office for a magazine business, that’s where I discovered a van delivery service model that worked. That’s what I wanted to bring here,” Ng says in an interview in Makati City. Ng, an accountant by profession and currently the publisher of entertainment magazine Chismax, decided to pursue the idea, amid the rise of mobile apps. He himself was attracted by the power of information technology and led a team that provided the mobile booking app for leading taxi company R&E. “I thought that if ‘Uber’ could do it for taxi passengers, why not a mobile app for delivery vans,”Ng says. He says using the same taxi booking system his team designed for R&E, “we tweaked it slightly to become a van delivery app.” Entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises do not have to buy expensive trucks or vans to transport goods, according to Ng, who started as a salt importer and trader in Manila. All they have to do, he says, is to book a van at www.mober.ph, a mobile app that connects individuals or business owners directly with van drivers for real-time delivery needs. Mober, a play on the word ‘mover’, is a revolutionary way to transport goods and parcel for on-demand customers and suppliers around Metro Manila, he says. As a mobile app, with GPS tracking, it connects individuals and small businesses to a fleet of pick-up trucks and delivery vans that registered as Mober partners. At the click of the app, customers can book a delivery van nearest their location to pick up the goods and transport them to their desired

location within Metro Manila. Ng is the founder and chief executive of Mober Technology Pte Inc., the startup company behind www.mober.ph which had a soft launching in Manila in December 2015. Ng, who goes to Hong Kong regularly to supervise Chismax magazine for OFWs, saw how small businesses in the Chinese territory rented vans from owners for their transportation needs. “I have an office in Hong Kong, where I have a showbiz magazine. That’s where I drew inspiration from. In Hong Kong, there are individuals called ‘uncles’ who buy their own vans and they receive calls from those who request for delivery service. In the Philippines, there is no similar service. That’s what we aim to serve here, using mobile app technology,” Ng says. Ng established Mober, with a $180,000 investment, mainly to buy five vans, to start up the business. He leads an eight-man team, with Jade Adrienne Hugo as the managing partner and Sergei Iscarov from Belarus as the chief technology officer. The soft-launching of Mober was well received in December 2015. It served as the logistics partner of retailers that participated in the Noel Bazaar at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. Its target clients also include appliance stores, furniture outlets, e-commerce players, restaurants with catering service, party planners and event suppliers. Among its business-to-business partners are Mandaue Foam and Dimensione Furniture. Mober can also shuttle pets, furniture and appliances of households, he says. “SMEs used to buy their own delivery vans. But those vans were not fully utilized, because their business was just starting. With Mober, they don’t have to buy their own vans, which means less capital expenditure. At the same time, we can use the underutilized delivery vans TURN TO B3

SUNDAY: MAY 29, 2016

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FOR fresh culinary graduates seeking excellent job opportunities and higher career goals, working abroad is a typical direction especially if they want to make a mark early in their profession. This is the decisive path that Chef Carlo Buenaventura took six years ago, when he chose to explore what the world has to offer through culinary arts.

Although Chef Carlo had an interest in cooking since he was young, his culinary journey didn’t take the familiar route. “My greatest influence was my grandmother, Lola Ludy. But I didn’t take up culinary arts immediately, I finished nursing first. When I moved to Manila, I worked for my uncle in Congress. It was then that I decided to take up culinary studies as a second career since I’ve always wanted to have my own restaurant,” said Chef Carlo. Upon the recommendation of his friends from Ateneo, Chef Carlo took the threemonth short course on Fundamentals on Culinary Arts at the Center for Culinary Arts, Manila. After “testing the waters,” Chef Carlo enrolled in the two-year diploma program. “What I liked most in CCA is that they offered me a really good program. They have student assistant programs where I gained great amount of actual kitchen work experience,” he said. As a student, Chef Carlo’s accomplishments included being the youngest member of the culinary varsity team of CCA, Manila. He also joined competitions abroad. Shortly before graduation, Chef Carlo decided it’s time to try out his luck overseas. He was among the first wave of CCA graduates who ventured for job opportunities in New Zealand, which, according to him, has just opened up for foreign workers at that time. As he would later find out, New Zealand is indeed a country of immense opportunity for Filipino culinary graduates. Chef Carlo immediately took on various job positions, starting at the Crowne Plaza in Queenstown where he got hired as full time commissary chef and worked there for two years. In 2012, Chef Carlo also worked at one of the longest standing restaurants in Wellington, the Matterhorn, where he met his business partner and co-chef William

NEW ZEALAND OPENS DOORS FOR YOUNG FILIPINO CHEFS

Chef Carlo Buenaventura (left) with business partner William Cook

Cook. After a brief stint at Foxglove Bar and Kitchen, Chef Carlo then moved to Auckland to work at Orphan’s Kitchen before finally opening a pop-up kitchen called the Cult Project together with Cook. “Our business philosophy at Cult Project is that food is our common ground. To date, we have a lot of collaborations with major restaurants in New Zealand and in other cities, one of which is with Roots Restaurant this June,” he said. While there are a lot of pop-up restaurants in New Zealand, Chef Carlo said they are mostly run by well-established restaurants. “Through our pop-up, we are trying to create an ‘Auckland cuisine’. It’s indirectly using my influence in the Philippines, our way of discovering our own local cuisine within the city by using the diverse

influences and multi-culturism around us with the help of local produce and flavors familiar to Kiwis. That’s how we create our dinners and menus,” he said. Now enjoying a well-earned and blessed career in New Zealand for six years, Chef Carlo recently returned to CCA, Manila to inspire and invite applicants for BurgerBurger, a growing company in Auckland. It is a collaboration between Mimi Gilmour, Adrian Chilton (executive chef/founder) and Chef Chino Salazar (head chef) who is also a CCA graduate. “They really want to hire Filipino chefs. So when my employers asked me to do school visits and orientation for them, I took the opportunity. It’s my obligation almost to share the good news and opportunities to fellow CCA graduates,” he said.

“I told them to weigh in on their options, as there is so much to explore in the other side of the world, like in New Zealand. Especially now that they are promoting their own cuisine to the world, they are in need of well-trained Filipino chefs,” Chef Carlo said. Chef Carlo is equally happy that aside from him, there are a lot of CCA alumni who are igniting New Zealand culinary scene. “We have a continuously growing network of CCA alumni. I’m so proud that CCA graduates are doing very well in their culinary careers. In fact, two fellow CCA graduates, Chefs Jess Granada and Andrew Soriano, are doing a great job in New Zealand with their restaurant Nanam, which highlights modern Filipino cuisine,” he said.

ZALORA GOES INTO CLOUD ZALORA, the largest e-commerce fashion company in Southeast Asia, has extended its partnership with Oracle Marketing Cloud. Zalora has relied on Oracle Marketing Cloud technology since 2013 to send customers targeted and personalized marketing communications at scale. Zalora is the fastest growing online fashion retailer in Asia, operating across eight countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The e-commerce platform works with a good mix of over 500 international and local labels, providing consumers with a diverse range of apparel, footwear and accessories, tech products, beauty essentials, sporting equipment and more. “We are happy to have achieved the success we have today, and want

to continue offering the best-inclass customer experience across our digital channels. For us it is not just about understanding our customers preferences, but making sure we listen and respond to their digital body language to develop a personalized dialogue with each and every customer,” said Joshua Tan, head of regional CRM at Zalora. Zalora communicates with more than 10 million app users, 7 million Facebook fans, 500,000 Instagram followers, 120,000 Twitter followers, and over 2.2 million email, call and online chat requests. Today, the platforms cater to the varying customer profiles where Zalora provides individualized experiences for each of their customers’ interests. “Our earlier marketing efforts were batch and blast, but as the business evolved, we saw the need to respond

to increased expectations from our customers for a personalized dialogue. Being able to orchestrate individualized communications and make informed, data-driven decisions is key. Having the right tools makes our job much easier, that’s why we chose to extend our investment in Oracle’s Marketing Cloud technology,” said Tan. With Oracle Marketing Cloud, Zalora is able to speak to customers in a relevant and personalized way. Automated programs equip Zalora with the ability to analyze customer behavior and better understand how to incentivize customers. Zalora has since managed to halve the time needed for lead conversion to capture a larger customer base, which has resulted in a multifold increase in revenue. Oracle’s marketing cloud technology allows Zalora to create

automated programs that have helped reduce the resources previously required. “Zalora is an innovative company that appeals to a young, constantly engaged audience. We are happy that Oracle Marketing Cloud is able to support their marketing organization with a platform that allows them to intelligently and creatively communicate a cohesive brand message across channels, and deliver a world-class customer experience,” said Paul Cross, group vice president for customer success at Oracle Marketing Cloud Asia Pacific. Zalora currently has 10 automated programs in place and has plans to expand the number of triggered touch points with customers, to further enhance cross-channel marketing and grow their customers into strong brand advocates.

SUNDAY: MAY 29, 2016

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

An architect’s perspective and aerial view of the expanded SM Mall of Asia

SM MALL OF ASIA TO HOST SOCCER FIELD A MALL as successful as SM Mall of Asia is entering a new phase, reinventing itself, this time, into one of the biggest and most exciting destination malls in the world. SM and SM Prime chairman Henry Sy who once called this mall, the greatest project of his life, had a vision to build one of the largest malls in Asia which will not just be a shopping complex but a premier destination. Sy’s vision was for shoppers and tourists alike to come together to have a unique leisurely experience. “The mall will be a major Asia-Pacific destination,” Sy said at that time. SM Mall of Asia opened in May 2006 as the flagship development of SM on its 60-hectare reclaimed land along the scenic Manila Bay in Pasay City. The mall introduced the first Olympicsize skating rink and the first iMax theater in the country.It also opened the Science Discovery Center now called The Exploreum and a state-of-the-art bowling center.

SALT... FROM B1 of those who have already bought their vehicles to transport the goods of others,” he says. “So we are solving two problems here. One, we are solving the need of those that require delivery service. SMEs or individuals don’t have to buy their own vans, just to cater to one or two minimum requirements. All they have to do is book with Mober. The cost of booking with Mober is a little bit higher than taxi service. For five to eight kilometers, it is only around P500. For 10 kilometers, P800, with full load,” he says. “The next problem we are solving is that for SMEs that already purchased their own vehicles, we can provide them additional income. All they have to do is after they met their own transportation requirements, they could join Mober,” says Ng. Ng says cargo delivery through Mober

Ten years later, the mall is set to once again revolutionize the Philippines’ concept of a mall. Steven Tan, senior vice president for SM Supermalls said that when the design team was going through the redesign process for SM Mall of Asia, SM Prime Holdings president Hans Sy wanted it to have the “wow” factor. “Mr. Hans Sy didn’t just want to expand the mall without giving a reason to the people. He said, if there was going to be an expansion, we have to ensure the success of the mall,” Tan said. Designed by Miami-based firm Arquitectonica, the enigmatic “wow” would finally come in the form of a FIFA World Cup-size soccer field mounted on the mall’s roofdeck. A botanical garden that blends with a spectacular view of the bay will also be built. “I’ve seen the perspectives and the view from up there will be breathtaking. There will be an unobstructed view of the sea and it is beautiful,” Tan said. With over 700 tenants, SM Mall of Asia is considered one of SM’s most successful malls, enjoying an occupancy of between 98 percent and 100 percent. This has prompted the company to do the

redevelopment of the mall in phases. The Olympic-size skating rink which will be on the third floor is targeted to be ready by the end of the year. A food hall, dolled up with designer furniture in tune with the mall’s modern look, will also open on the third level. New brands are also set to come in including Swedish clothing giant H&M which is slated to introduce a 3,000-square-meter flagship store that promises to be something unique. The mall will also have a “warmer” look and feel, according to Tan where the interior will adopt a different color scheme and introduce wooden panels. The mall also recently unveiled a “solar carpark” which was visited recently by no less than environment advocate and former US vice president Al Gore. The 2.7-megawatt MOA solar carpark, in partnership with Solar Philippines, is nearly twice the size of the 1.5-MW SM North Edsa Solar Carpark, making it one of the world’s largest on-site solar projects. Comprised of 10,426 solar panels and 40 inverters, it supplies nearly 20 percent of the mall’s power needs.

To add to the dynamic developments in the 60-hectare MOA complex, Conrad Manila, SM Prime’s deluxe hotel is set to open in June 2016 with a new retail podium called S’Maison which will house unique concept stores as well as luxury retail stores, fine dining restaurants and state-of-the-art cinemas. Another latest development, the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Museum is taking shape which will give visitors a unique experience in learning the history of the 250-year old global trade route where the Philippines and Mexico played major roles. The museum will highlight the galleon trade’s impact on today’s commerce, banking, travel and cultural exchange. The dome will showcase the actual process of building a galleon, while exhibiting relics such as porcelain, gold, and other goods that were traded in the Spanish era. With such new and exciting additions, MOA will add about 250,000 square meters to its floorplate, spanning a total of over 650,000 square meters which will count as one of the largest in the world, a fitting milestone to a mall that has touched the lives of millions in the last 10 years.

can be tracked. The fare depends on the type of vehicle requested and the distance between the pick-up and drop-off sites. Minimum fare is P500 for van and P750 for a VanPlus service, which goes along with a van porter who can help load and unload the items. The base fare is P250 for van and P450 for VanPlus, with additional P25 per kilometer and P2.50 per minute. Average arrival time of the van is estimated at 30 to 60 minutes upon confirmation. Ng says over the past three months, Mober handled 800 bookings from over 100 customers, mainly using the five-company owned vans. He expects the volume of transactions to pick up substantially in the coming weeks, as the company begins accrediting van partners. “Our target by end of 2016 is to have 500 van partners,” Ng says. “Profit is expected in three years.” He also plans to bring Mober to other major cities in the Philippines this year. “We are looking forward that by the

end of 2017, we will have at least 7,500 van partners. By early or mid-next year, if everything goes well, we will go to Singapore and Hong Kong. In the next five years, or once e-commerce booms in the Philippines, Mober is ready to accommodate all SMEs,” he says. Mober also provides insurance coverage. “All the delivery as of the moment are insured with P50,000, in case the cargo is lost or destroyed. Eventually, we will require all our van partners to have insurance coverage of P500,000 to P1 million,” he says. Ng says Mober is now actively attracting more van partners. “The biggest challenge we are encountering now is how to get van partners. We are now trying to reach out to all van owners. In-house, we have five. We brought five brand-new vehicles just to validate our business model and use them for marketing and promotion,”he says. “Three weeks ago, we started recruiting van owners to join. We have approved 50 vans and they will soon be deployed,”

says Ng. “The five company-owned vans are fully booked. With the entry of 50 more vehicles, we can now start accepting partnerships from other B2B clients. Demand for delivery is really there.” Ng says similar mobile apps from Thailand and Indonesia, backed by venture capitalists, are about to enter the Philippine market soon, but he is confident that Mober will beat the competition, with his innovative and generous financial model. He says Mober plans to provide 20-percent equity to van drivers to counter the competition. “We want happy drivers,”he says. Ng describes Mober as a 100-percent Filipino-owned company. “This time, I am looking forward to see a Filipino company become well known in Asia. Our plan is to go to Hong Kong and Singapore hopefully by early next year. Eventually, we want to become the biggest logistics company in Southeast Asia,” he says. Roderick T. dela Cruz

WORLD

ACTIVISTS WARN VS RISING HIV CASES IN RUSSIA

FACEOFF. Anti-Donald Trump protesters clash with Trump supporters outside the Republican presidential candidate’s election rally event in San Diego, California, on Friday. Thousands of pro- and anti-Donald Trump demonstrators faced off outside a rally for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in San Diego. AFP

UN DENIES CPJ SPECIAL CONSULTATIVE STATUS

UNITED Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is deeply disappointed by a UN decision to deny the Committee to Protect Journalists special status at the world body, his spokesman said Friday. A UN committee voted on Thursday to reject the press freedom watchdog’s request for accreditation as a non-governmental organization, by a vote of 10 to 6, with three abstentions. Ban “believes they do valuable work” and is “deeply disappointed” by the decision, which would block the CPJ’s access to UN bodies, including the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, said spokesman Farhan Haq. “Journalists already are facing undue restrictions on their work in many, many parts of the world and organizations that are dedicated to protecting journalists shouldn’t

face restrictions at the United Nations,” he added. Russia, China, Sudan and South Africa were among the 10 countries that voted against the request for the CPJ to be granted special consultative status at the world body. The United States, which voted in favor, said it would bring the CPJ’s request in July to the full 54-member Economic and Social Council to try to override the decision. In a reversal, South Africa on Friday said it supported CPJ’s request and would vote in favor when it comes up for a vote in ECOSOC. “We regret the misunderstand-

ing and the wrong message that the lack of explanation of our vote in the NGO Committee could have portrayed,” said a statement from South Africa’s international relations department. Pretoria praised the CPJ for its “outstanding and sterling work” and said it supports “the role that journalists play in democracy and free societies.” Azerbaijan, Burundi, Cuba, Nicaragua, Pakistan and Venezuela also opposed the request from the CPJ, which has taken up the plight of journalists jailed worldwide for their reporting. Diplomats said the vote was indicative of a growing backlash against NGOs at the United Nations, in particular those who defend reproductive rights and are vocal on LGBT issues and freedom of expression.

ARGENTINA CONVICTS EX-DICTATOR, 14 OTHERS FOR MILITARY ATROCITIES AN ARGENTINE court sentenced 15 South American ex-army officers Friday for their role in Operation Condor, a program by the continent’s military regimes to torture and kill dissidents in the 1970s and 1980s. The court, the first to try atrocities committed under the six-nation plan, sentenced former Argentine

dictator Reynaldo Bignone to 20 years and retired Uruguayan colonel Manuel Cordero—the only nonArgentine national in the dock—to 25 years. Fifteen of the 18 defendants were convicted of criminal conspiracy for their role in the plan, which included the military dictators of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,

Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The US-backed operation began in the 1970s at the height of the Cold War. It is blamed for 105 executions and kidnappings. Bignone, 88, is already serving a 15-year sentence for the theft of babies born to political prisoners during Argentina’s 1976-1983

Earlier this month, at least 20 NGOs, most of whom are active on gay rights, were barred from taking part in a major AIDS conference in June after 51 Muslim countries, Russia and African nations protested. The UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai of Kenya, said the same governments that are restricting civil society at home are now targeting the United Nations. “They are doing this by hijacking, and subsequently closing, the main door used by civil society to enter the United Nations system: the Committee on NGOs,” said Kiai. French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the vote was “deeply disappointing and disturbing” and could only be understood as a reprisal against the Committee to Protect Journalists. AFP

VADIM Pokrovsky stunned hundreds of students at a conference in Moscow last week when he reached into his pocket and took out a condom. “And you, the young generation, how do you protect yourselves from HIV?” said Pokrovsky, the 61-year-old head of Russia’s federal AIDS center. “I always have a condom on me. Today even a 90-year-old can contract the virus.” The audience fell silent for a moment before breaking into applause. Despite the efforts of activists like Pokrovsky, the total number of registered HIV cases in Russia exceeded one million in late 2015, with authorities struggling to contain an epidemic that experts say could be curbed by increased funding and more awareness campaigns. Pokrovsky has been openly critical of the Kremlin’s policies promoting traditional family values, saying they have failed to halt the spread of the deadly virus. “In 2015 alone, some 100,000 new HIV cases were reported in Russia,” Pokrovsky told AFP. “This is a very high rate, maybe the highest in Europe.” The Russian government’s policy focuses on treatment while neglecting prevention drives such as sex education in schools, with the number of people infected with the virus soaring as a result, say experts. A public health campaign in Moscow last year urged people to be faithful to their partners, rather than promoting condom use. “Young people here often don’t even know what HIV is and don’t understand its dangers,” said Moscow-based student Darya Belimova who joined Pokrovsky to address more than a thousand young people at the conference. The gathering was part of the “Stop HIV/AIDS” prevention campaign spanning more than 200 universities. And although the Russian health and education ministries support “Stop HIV/AIDS”, activists and volunteers say they are fighting a lonely battle against Russia’s AIDS epidemic as the virus increasingly affects the heterosexual population. AFP

PEACE. French and

German students stand in a circle around a “peace and love” sign as they take part in an educational workshop at the World Peace Center on Friday, in Verdun, eastern France before the remembrance reenactment and ceremony to celebrate the centenary of the War World I battle of Verdun. The city of Verdun became the world capital of peace and French President Francois Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel attend a memorial ceremony today. AFP

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WORLD editorial@thestandard.com.ph

US: key IS commander kIlled In Iraq offenSIve Hundreds of people fled the Fallujah area Friday as forces pressed simultaneous offensives on the Iraqi city and on another of the Islamic state group’s key bastions in syria. An estimated 50,000 civilians remained trapped in Fallujah city however, as well as twice that number along Syria’s border with turkey as a result of an IS sweep near Aleppo. The US-led coalition claimed it killed a key IS commander for the Fallujah area, although it was not clear when. “We’ve killed more than 70 enemy fighters, including Maher Al-Bilawi, who is the commander of ISIL (IS) forces in Fallujah,” coalition spokesman Steve Warren said. Warren said the IS commander was killed two days ago while an Iraqi officer and a local official had reported his death last week. tens of thousands of Iraqi forces on May 22-23 launched an offensive to retake Fallujah, one of only two major Iraqi cities still controlled by IS, the other being Mosul. IS fighters holed up in

Fallujah are believed to number around 1,000 and while the myriad forces involved in the operation have moved closer, none have yet entered the city proper. Fallujah is one of IS’s most important bastions. It was the first Iraqi city to fall out of government control in January 2014 and was the scene a decade earlier of some of the worst fighting US forces had seen since the Vietnam war. The city has been surrounded by pro-government forces for months and concern has been mounting among humanitarian groups that the population was being deliberately starved. “The situation inside Fallujah is getting critical by the day,” said Nasr Muflahi, the Norwegian refugee Council’s Iraq director. Despite plans before the operation for safe corridors, few civilians have managed to flee the Fallujah battle in recent days. AFP

ASIANS. Japanese Prime minister shinzo abe(r) and laos’ Prime minister thongloun sisoulith(l) shake hands prior to the their meeting in Nagoya, in central Japan on may 28, 2016. sisoulith is in Japan to attend the g-7 ise-shima summit outreach session. AFP

REFUGE. syrian migrants offer prayers after arriving at subang air force base

in subang, outside kuala lumpur on saturday. malaysia yesterday received 68 syrian refugees including 31 children out of a total of 3,000 it hopes to allow into the predominantly muslim country with hundreds more expected soon. AFP

Chad stroNgmaN faCes life seNteNCe for war Crimes A SPeCIAL court will hand down the verdict in the landmark war crimes trial of former Chadian dictator hissene habre on Monday, with prosecutors hoping for a life sentence. habre, 73, was president of the central African country from 1982-1990, during which time he is alleged to have committed crimes against humanity and torture, with thousands of victims. he went on trial last July in the extraordinary African Chambers (CAe), established in Dakar by the African Union under a deal with Senegal. Special prosecutor Mbacke Fall said the “apparatus of repression began to operate under the direction of hissene habre,” in closing arguments in February during which he called for a maximum life sentence.

Led by a judge from Burkina Faso, the historic case is the first time that an African leader accused of serious abuse of power has been tried by another country on the continent. often dressed in combat fatigues complementing his “desert fighter” nickname, habre fled to Senegal after he was ousted in 1990 by Chad’s current President Idriss Deby. habre has declined to address the court and refuses to recognise its authority. Neither he nor his legal team will be in court for Monday’s hearing, they confirmed to AFP Friday. his court-appointed lawyers will attend the hearing and are hoping for an acquittal. “We have developed our arguments sufficiently well to prove that hissene habre is innocent,” said Senegalese lawyer Mbeye Sene. AFP

B5 Nokor to retaliate vs sokor iNtrusioN North Korea on Saturday warned South Korea of “merciless retaliatory strikes,” a day after the South fired warning shots at North Korean boats near their disputed sea border. The North’s military General Staff said from now on it would open fire without warning at any South Korean ships if they intrude “even 0.001 millimeters” into disputed waters in the Yellow Sea. It called for the South to apologize for the “reckless military provocation,” which it said aimed to “drive the situation in the volatile hotspot to the brink of explosion.” “From now on, we will open direct fire on any warship of the South Korean puppet forces without warning, if it intrudes... even 0.001 mm in the hotspot of the West Sea,” it was quoted as saying in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). “They should be mindful that they would face our merciless retaliatory strikes anytime and at any place and in any way,” it added. It accused the South of responding to its efforts to create dialogue with “reckless military provocation.” AFP

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SPORTS

RIERA MALL ARI EDITOR

sports@thestandard.com.ph

Rogen Ladon (left) is good but not flashy, not spectacular but he’s pesky. He’s always there all over you.

WITH AMATEUR BOXING FREE OF CORRUPTION,

FILIPINO BOXERS GET A BETTER CHANCE IN RIO

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

THE present leadership of AIBA, the Alliance of International Boxing Associations under its president Dr. Wu Kuo-Ching of Chinese Taipei and who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee Executive Board, has re-established its integrity as an organization free of the kind of corruption that was rampant during the presidency of his predecessor Prof. Anwar Chowdhry of Pakistan. In 2007, Chowdhry was barred for life from any involvement with AIBA for alleged mismanagement of federation funds. This simply means that in the present environment, Filipino boxers have a better chance of winning in major international competitions. Despite the ban, Chowdhry, who was chairman of the Pakistan Boxing Federation, remained the most powerful man in boxing in Pakistan as neither the Pakistan Olympic Association nor the Pakistan Sports Board took any action against him after the ban. Dr. Wu won the AIBA election by a slim margin of votes of 83-79 over Chowdhry on Nov. 6, 2006

in Sto. Domingo, with what the AIBA described as “high hopes of reforming AIBA into a transparent, trusted and professionally operated governing body.” Since Dr. Wu’s assumption of the top post, AIBA has become what is regarded as a “respected and model organization where efficiency, honesty and equality are ever present.” Dr. Wu continues to build on the qualities of AIBA and “reach for higher, bolder goals that will bring boxing into a category of its own.” ABAP executive director Ed Picson, in a lengthy conversation with The Standard, said that under Wu there is no corruption,

Charly Suarez (right) is in the elite level of boxers in the AIBA.

compared to Chowdhry –not by a long shot.” “I’m not saying there’s none because I don’t know that, but there may be some influence in it. In the past, there was barefaced corruption during Chowdhry’s time. You’d see people bringing suitcases full of money,” Picson said. In the past, ABAP officials revealed they were forced to bribe Chowdhry or his henchmen as much as $5,000 merely to be assured of a fair decision, but it was a pointless exercise as the Filipinos’

opponents did the same thing. Such revelations angered Chowdhry, who vowed that no Filipino will win medals in major international competitions. It’s different under Dr. Wu. “He strikes me as a decent fellow. He was schooled in England. He conducts himself in a very proper manner. He is a gentleman. He is articulate and has introduced so many measures like the choice of referees and judges,” Picson said. “I can’t for the life of me see how somebody can get to

the referees and judges.” He then enumerated various measures instituted by Dr. Wu to maintain the sport’s integrity. “No. 1 they are isolated, even the technical officials. I am not allowed to even talk to my wife (who is a top official of AIBA in the technical committee),” Picson said. “Everybody makes a joke about it. But if they see me talking to Karina, she’ll be sent home. That’s how strict they are. No. 2, the officials are not allowed to bring their cellphones and when they go to the gym, the referees and judges don’t know which bouts they are going to officiate because they are told only one bout before. And no. 3, there are five judges appointed for each bout, but only three will count. It’s computerized with the seats numbered 1 to 5 and you don’t know which seat you are going to be assigned to until before the fight when you draw a pingpong ball with a number on it. And then you don’t know whether your scores will be counted or not because the computer only comes out with the seat numbers and chooses the scores to be tallied after the bout. That’s why you see Turn to B7

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SPORTS sports@thestandard.com.ph

GARCIA HOPES NEW PSC EXECS KEEP COOPERATING WITH POC By Peter Atencio

MAINTAINING a good relationship with the Philippine Olympic is something that the next chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission needs to appreciate. PSC Chairman Ricardo “Richie” Garcia, who is waiting for his replacement, said this after the present administration of the government sports agency received a commendation from the POC last Wednesday. “I hope that whoever will be appointed will continue the good relations,” said Garcia. The POC passed a resolution appreciating the PSC’s efforts to work handin-hand with the national sports associations in their effort to train and develop athletes. Garcia believes that the next chairman can do a lot for the NSAs as he will have a budget of P1.4 billion in his disposal. The money comes from funds saved by the government sports agency over the last six years. The funds, according to Garcia, was earmarked as seed money for the purchase of land which will be utilized as a national training center for athletes. The money can be spent well by the new set of agency officials for the PSC’s

grassroots programs and national athletes preparing for international competitions. “The new set officials need not worry about where their budget will be coming from,” said Garcia, who is set to leave the agency once the new administration of incoming president Rodrigo Duterte appoints new people to handle the PSC. Garcia also talked about the agency’s accomplishments and the legacy that he and the present set of commissioners will leave behind. The agency has given national athletes an increase in allowances through the PSC’s priority program. They have also provided incentives to athletes who have won medals in international meets, even helping differently abled athletes in their campaigns abroad. Garcia is confident that the incoming Duterte administration will be able to order the new Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation Chairman

WITH AMATEUR... From B6 judges looking up to the scoreboard to see if their scores counted.” Picson emphasized: “It’s very difficult. You’ll have to bribe all of the 40 or 50 people. But there are human hands and every time there are human hands, there is somebody who’ll find a way. But I don’t know how.” The reform process began when Dr. Wu was narrowly elected new president of AIBA. It is against this cleansed environment that the Philippines continues its quest for an elusive Olympic gold medal in boxing, where two fighters have already qualified for the Rio Olympics – lightweight Charly Suarez and light flyweight Rogen Ladon. The Olympics could now be open to pro boxers in an innovative, but controversial decision that has been assailed most especially by World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman and astute Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who has categorized the inclusion of professionals in the Olympics as “sheer madness.” Picson noted that only five weight categories are available for the “wild card,” one of which is the junior welterweight division that the ABAP has left open for Manny Pacquiao, who however, decided not to compete in the Rio Olympics, which would be his last chance since he would be over the 40-year age limit for the 2020 Tokyo Games. The alternate to Pacquiao is Dennis Gal-

PSC Chairman Ricardo “Richie” Garcia: “I hope that whoever will be appointed (to the PSC) will continue the good relations between the PSC and the POC.

Andrea Domingo to give the PSC its 5% remittance from its gross income. The remittance will strengthen the PSC’s budget and help strengthen the implementation of its many

van, who won a gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games, beating Indonesia’s Arjan Bachtila in Palembeng in 2011. Galvan settled for a silver two years later in Myanmar, where he lost to a truly talented Thai boxer in Wuttichai Masuk, the 2009 Asian Amateur Boxing Championship gold medalist, who went on to win the gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games. Picson noted that they still have about three weeks to go and the coaches have a program starting with endurance and ending in speed. Dodong Donaire, the father/trainer of five-division world champion Nonito Donaire Jr. is helping out coaches Nonito “Boy” Velasco and Romeo Brin, who are all three-star coaches. “Our boys will give it their all. I expect a tough competition, but I also expect them to be able to hold their own against the best there is. I will not be foolhardy enough to guarantee qualification, but what I can promise is they will be at their best and their best should be good enough,” said Picson However, there are so many factors including the luck of the draw and the recognition that “the judges sometimes even if they are not corrupt, are incompetent and at times not attentive.” All of these factors need to be taken into consideration. With the AIBA president certain that the June 1 congress in Lausanne will approve the proposal to allow professionals to compete in the Olympic Games beginning with Rio, ABAP is in the meantime paying attention to the boxers who qualified in the

programs. Pampanga Rep. Joseller “Yeng” Guiao recently filed a petition before the Supreme Court, asking the PAGCOR and PCSO to honor their obligations to

the PSC. The two agencies need to remit close to P4 billion between 2010 and 2015. The PSC Act of 1990 clearly mandates that 5% of PAGCOR’s gross income

tournament in China. Ladon settled for a silver medal, losing to Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan in the light flyweight division, while Suarez was beaten by Mongolia’s Dorinyambuugiin Otgondalai and also settled for a silver medal. When The Standard mentioned that Dodong Donaire believes Suarez is a real gold-medal prospect, Picson replied: “I think Charly is in the elite level of boxers in AIBA and he’s proven it time and again. But there’s just one last hump he needs to hurdle. One thing with Charly is he’s been after the Olympics for the longest time. When he didn’t make it to London, he got so many offers to turn pro with signing bonuses of up to P1 million and he turned them all down because he said his dream is to get to the Olympics and win there.” Picson added: “Suarez is properly motivated, very determined and is very focused on his mission. Amongst all of them, he is the most serious about this. Besides, he is the most mature at 28. He doesn’t allow extraneous factors get to him except for his Bible study. He mouths bible verses every sentence like Manny Pacquiao.” On the other hand, Picson described light flyweight Ladon as a good boy who “can’t believe that he is there, saying ‘since I am there now, I’m not going to let this go.’” Picson added: “Ladon has always been in the shadow of London Olympian Mark Barriga. When I asked Barriga at the time he was preparing for the 2012 Olympics when we brought them around to Cebu and Bacolod to train, who he wanted as a

should automatically be remitted to the PSC. It was alleged that the gaming agency has brought down its contribution to 2.135 percent of its gross income since 1993.

regular sparring partner, I was surprised when he picked Ladon because he was always in the fringes and when I asked him why, he said he is the guy who gives him the most problems. He is good but not flashy, not spectacular but he’s pesky. He’s always there all over you. He is a quiet worker. He was our surprise in the SEA Games.” Picson recalls he got flak from the POC/ PSC for bringing Ladon. “They asked who is this guy, he is a nobody, you should bring Barriga. We are going to cut the allowances of all your boxers if you insist on that guy,” Picson narrated. “But when Ladon bagged the silver medal they all shut up. They also questioned Junel Cantancio and inquired why not Suarez and I told them you don’t bring Gilas to the SEA games. You don’t need to bring those guys and Cantancio won gold.” Despite the prodding by some journalists, the ABAP official claimed: “I never said it’s vindication. We came here to win and now that we won, we are happy and everyone should be happy. Nobody came up to say sorry, but that’s okay..” He then drove home the undeniable fact. “We know these guys. We work with them every day. We know what they can do,” he said. The ABAP, headed by its president Ricky Vargas, is hoping that we can qualify at least two more boxers for Rio and with the present environment of integrity in the sport, the long painful drought of waiting for a celebrated gold medal will ultimately end and our nation and people can rejoice.

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reUel viDAl EDITOR sports@thestandard.com.ph

sports Paddlers churn up the waters as three dragon boats compete to win this heat during the 10th Boracay International Dragon Boat Festival. Twenty one dragon boat teams – including 10 foreign teams from the US, Dubai, China, Hong Kong and Singapore – participated in the fun-filled event.

Boracay paddlers group holds dragon Boat festival By Homer Vidal

THE Boracay Island Paddlers Association (BIPA) celebrated the dragon boat spirit of sportsmanship and international camaraderie by holding the 10th Boracay International Dragon Boat Festival at Station 2 White Beach in Boracay. The fun-filled event was the biggest yet with 21 dragon boat teams – including 10 foreign teams from the US, Dubai, China, Hong Kong and Singapore – participating. Dragon boat racing traces its roots to an ancient folk ritual of contending villagers, which has been held for over 2,000 years throughout southern China. It is much more than just a race and carries religious and community observances along with competition. Boracay, on the other hand, is often described as a piece of heaven right here on earth. It is renowned for its breathtaking white sand beaches and is among the most popular tourist destination by tourists from around the world. No small wonder therefore that the Boracay International Dragon Boat Festival, open to club teams, has gained a name for itself to be the event to attend among the dragon boat community worldwide. This annual race is among the most well-attended by foreign teams in the Philippines, making it one of the biggest annual, international sports events in the country. Many events in different parts of the Philippines have tried to make their event international but foreign teams do not participate. It is only in Boracay where they participate with increasing number of paddlers each time. Among the Philippine teams that participated were three teams from Manila, two teams from Cebu, one team from Dumaguete and five local teams from Boracay. The event started with the ceremonial dotting of the eye of the dragon which symbolizes the awakening of the dragons and start of the festival. Dragons' eyes dotting were performed by Malay Vice Mayor Wilbec Gelito as well as Henann Resort representatives Dindo and Cynthia Carreon. The 10th Boracay International Dragon Boat Festival at Station 2 White Beach in Boracay was another triumph for the Boracay paddlers group with international teams joining the fun-filled event.

Sh-Boom! Fire queen Rachel Lobangco performs an electrifying fire dance before the start of the festivities of the 10th Boracay International Dragon Boat Festival.

Members of the Bonifacio Global City dragon boat team celebrate at the podium as they receive their trophies for winning their category during the 10th Boracay International Dragon Boat Festival.

GonzAGA returns to tHe sAnd By Peter Atencio

Jovelyn Gonzaga keeps her eye on the ball as she steps forward to make a dig pass during PSL beach volleyball action. Peter Atencio

JOVELYN Gonzaga used to dominate the local beach volleyball scene winning every tournament she participated in. She then chose to focus on hard-court volleyball action as a member of the Philippine National Team and the RC Cola-Army ladies volleyball squad. Gonzaga though made an exception by teaming up with veteran Nerissa Bautista to compete for RC ColaArmy A in the 2016 Philippine Super Liga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup at the MOA Sands by the Bay. The pair disposed of April Rose Hingpit and Jonafer San Pedro of Meralco, 21-17, 21-16, to tally their third consecutive victory and advance to the quarterfinals. That win wasn’t a breeze, but their drop shots in the second set decided the outcome of the match. Their attacks at the net allowed them to top Pool D with an unbeaten 3-0 record. They finished ahead of Bernadette Pons and Kyla Atienza of FEU-Petron, who also advanced with a 2-1 card. “Naka-adjust kami sa galaw nila. Kaya napapalayo namin sila sa net,” said the 24-year-old Gonzaga who is among the players to watch consider-

ing the many beach volleyball titles she has won before. She burst into national prominence as team captain of the Central Philippine University volleyball team. She is from Sta. Teresa, Guimaras, Iloilo and has never lost in numerous beach volleyball tournaments she joined in the country and abroad. She is a three-time champion in the Nestea Beach Volleyball, a manytime titlist in Iloilo and has won Asian Beach Volleyball tournaments as well. In the quarterfinals Gonzaga and Bautista stopped Petron 4T’s Maica Morada and Ces Molina, 21-14, 21-12, to advance to the semifinals against Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Bang Pineda. Pons and Atienza, finalists in the past UAAP beach volleyball championship, clobbered Mary Grace Berte and Vhima Condada of Cignal Team Awesome, 21-14, 21-15. They could emerge as one of Gonzaga’s top rivals for the crown and advanced to the semifinals against the unbeaten pair of Cherry Rondina and Patty Orendain. Semifinal games will held 11 a.m. today, May 29, Sunday at the SM MOA Sands by By the Bay with the finals later in the afternoon.

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TATUm ANCHETA EDITOR

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

BERNADETTE LUNAS

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@LIfEatStandard

S U NDAY L If E

LIFE

Anika Martirez, owner of Anika clothing line

PHOTO BY STAR SABROSO

FuSS-FREE ClOThIng FROm AnIkA

“P

Young designer AnikA MArtirez introduces new collection for woMen

eople look at the fashion industry like it s just all glamorous, but it’s not. If they only knew the behind-thescenes, it takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears. However, in the end, it s all worth it, says 26-year-old young designer Anika Martirez as she talks about her passion and her new clothing line, Anika. Anika is fairly new in the fashion scene, but as social media plays a huge role in shaping the fashion market, her designs have caught the attention of industry personalities and fashion publications. Her clothing line started in 2015 but her official trunk show opened early this year, and Instagram has been playing a major role in attracting the market, putting her creations to fore via her Instagram account @wear.anika. The brand targets the taste of millennial women whose preference in clothing is light, comfortable yet fashion forward and savvy. Anika s philosophy is about wearable understatement. Easily feminine, so very wearable, but at the same time it could be

Anika's new collection is available at www.wearanika.com

The Lolita dress

Lolita top and Marge culottes

worn by any woman of any age, background or status and still look effortless and chic without trying, she shares. According to the young designer, learning restraint is very important especially when it comes to designing. It s about practicing your restraint and control at the same time. Stay true to your aesthetic, she says. There aren t really any rules when it comes to the art of fashion, but it s important to stay true to your philosophy, Anika reiterates. Being a fashion designer is Anika s lifelong dream. After getting out of college, she figured that she wanted to pursue a more formal education on fashion design. She pursued a career in Merchandise Marketing and then took up Fashion Design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. Four years of living in LA convinced her that she really wanted to produce readyto-wear, not couture. Following her first collection that exudes LA s casual vibe in dressing, the young designer’s latest collection called

The Echo Park top

“Femme. Film. Fiction” is inspired by her favorite films from different genres. The second collection plays on the youthfulness, sensuality and vulnerability portrayed by various fictional characters on film. All these films, like the cinematography, the stories, and the female characters especially, I love how feminine they are, their youthfulness. There’s sensuality, she explains. My designs are very youthful but even a 40-year-old woman can rock my piece, she adds. She intends for people to feel chic and classy while wearing her pieces without having to try hard or lose their personal style. She wants her pieces to stay very effortless and feminine, at the same time very easy that they can be mixed and matched even with one’s existing wardrobe. The favorite part of Anika about being a fashion designer is having creative control. In all aspects of the business, I get to say what I want, how I wanted (it done) and the outcome is something I like, because from

Anouk dress in sky chambray

point A to point B, I m very hands on with it, she says. You’re your own boss. You choose the theme you want. She encourages all young designers to start their own business because she believes that it is better for one to build one’s own dream than be hired and build someone else’s dream. She says, Do what you love. Give your all. Do it with love. If you love what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life. Anika sees her brand expanding online and might work on new pieces for resort wear. She s currently working on her own eCommerce website that will carry her line. Her goal is to become the go to RTW brand in the Philippines where people can find good quality products without having to break the bank. Marjaleen Ramos Follow @wear.anika on Instagram and visit anikamartirez.blogspot.com to learn more about the designer. Order the new collection at www.wearanika.com

S U N D AY : m AY 2 9, 2 0 1 6

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

Telus International team members help repaint chairs as part of their goal to provide students a clean and comfortable learning environment

@LIFEatStandard

Telus employees show full support to #TELUSDayofGiving event by painting the walls of Cayetano Arellano High School

mAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH TELUS

eing zealous in doing good and giving back to local communities, the Telus family once again lends a hand to the community during its 10th Telus Days of Giving last May 21. Inspired by the “we give where we live” philosophy, the leading Philippines-based provider of contact center and business process outsourcing solutions partnered with Hands on Manila to conduct cleanup activities at the Cayetano Arellano High School in Santa Cruz, Manila which served as a lead up to the Department of Education’s Brigada Eskwela Program. Teachers, parents and community members worked together to prepare the public school facilities for the incoming school year. According to Cris Rosenthal, Telus International Philippines vice president for Human Resources, seeing the condition of Cayetano Arellano High School back in 2014 made them realize the need to go back. “How

From left: Hands on Manila president Atty. Gianna Montinola, principal of Cayetano Arellano High School Dr. Loida Diaz, president of Telus International Jeffrey Puritt, and vice president for HR of Telus International Philippines Cris Rosenthal

can these children sit and learn, sustain the four hours, five hours a day being uncomfortable in that situation?” she said. “In our view, education really has a unique role to play in our world,” stated Jeffrey Puritt, president of Telus International. Telus believes that a safe, clean and comfortable learning

environment helps maximize the potential of students for learning, he shared. “The 10th Telus Days of Giving reinforces our commitment to the communities where we live, work and serve. Our team members who came straight to the venue from their shift and volunteered in this wonderful

event bring to life the Telus philosophy that ‘We give where we live’,” he reiterated. In support of the company’s Days of Giving program, 2,300 volunteers extended help to the chosen community by repainting classrooms and hallways, repairing chairs, painting wall murals and rehabilitating the garden. TIP also held a workshop wherein students and volunteers were engaged in an eco-bag painting activity which was started as a part of a Teen Entrepreneurship volunteer program that began in 2015. Around 100 students worked with Telus International team members to design and produce the ecobags. An entrepreneurship talk was also held at the last part of the session. To date, the company’s Days of Giving program in support of the DepEd’s Brigada Eskwela program has helped an estimated 35,290 students in five Metro Manila public schools. More than

4,300 high school students attend Cayetano Arellano High School. “If you walk around in the school here today, you will see our 2,400 team members – every single one of them smiling, every single one of them deriving a sense of importance, a sense of community,” Puritt expounded. “It’s amplifying our sense of family in the community inside our organization,” he added. Atty. Gianna Montinola, president of Hands on Manila, also expressed gratitude to Telus for the continuous support of their mission to help uplift the lives of Filipino students, disclosing that her group is looking forward to the continued strengthening of the partnership which started four years ago. For the past 10 years, the company has also helped thousands of poor kids and families through partnerships with NGOs such as Gawad Kalinga, Bantay Bata, Bantay Kalikasan, Virlanie Foundation and Hands on Manila. – Marjaleen Ramos

Special treats for special moms Mothers always have a special place in everyone's heart. They are every child's major supporter, confidante and superhero. They make sacrifices for us and love us without asking anything in return. Mothers are God's gift to all of us and we at The Standard Life know how to treat these one-of-akind ladies. Last May 20, we treated three special moms who won our Mother's Day special contest to a sumptuous lunch (or dinner, whichever their choice is) at New World Manila Bay, a relaxing Oxygen Infusion facial treatment at Vietura Aesthetic Lifestyle in Sofitel Philippine Plaza, and a lovely Michelis jewelry item that signifies their exceptional role in the lives of those close to them. The moms were all smiles and felt really special and pampered while enjoying the treats they received, thanks to their loving children who sent in pics and stories explaining why they think their mom is the best. Moms Julie Endoso, Cynthia Feliciano and Nellie Reyes Guevarra were nominated by their respective daughters who shared to the world the things that make

Each mom takes home a lovely piece of jewelry from Michelis

their moms special via Facebook and Instagram posts using the hashtag #CelebrateLIFEwithMom. For Jirah Endoso, her mom Julie is special because "she always thinks

The Standard Life treated Julie Endoso, Nellie Reyes Guevarra and Cynthia Feliciano (not in the photo) to a relaxing facial treatment at Vietura Aesthetic Lifestyle in Sofitel Philippine Plaza

of others before herself.” Eillen Jayne, on the other hand, says that her mother Nellie is “the original Superwoman” because she takes on the roles of mother, father, sister,

Moms felt like royalty while getting Vietura's oxygen Infusion facial treatment

friend, mentor, teacher, student, supervisor, nurse and grandmother. Through a heartfelt post on Instagram, Diane Cruz recounts how, despite going through—and

conquering—cancer, her mom Cynthia “has always managed to stay strong for me and my dad.” PHoToS by AC bRIzUELA

S U N D AY : m AY 2 9, 2 0 1 6

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

@LIFEatStandard

NEw BorAcAY AND PALAwAN ProPErtIES ADDED to HoSPItALItY INNovAtorS’ ImPrESSIvE PortFoLIo

eading property management specialist Hospitality Innovators Inc. has teamed up with Luana Lifestyle & Leisure, Inc. to elevate the entertainment, dining, shopping, and accommodation offerings in Boracay and Palawan via Hue Hotels and Resorts. Known for operating and managing some of the country’s highest rated hotels and residences to the latest developments in the country’s top travel destinations, HII will bring its experience and expertise into the partnership by operating and managing the design forward Hue Hotels and Resorts equipped with world-class facilities and amenities that are at par with the natural beauty of the islands where the resorts are located. Set to open this October, the 122room Hue Hotels and Resorts Palawan situated in Puerto Princesa is a great destination for those on the lookout for rest and relaxation in an island paradise. The property is also conveniently located as it is just 15 minutes away from the airport. Located right at Station 2, Hue Hotels and Resorts Boracay on the other hand has 126 luxe rooms that will provide colorful stays and experiences to leisure and business travelers alike. Guests will also appreciate the large open spaces and extensive shopping and dining options offered within the property which is set to open by January 2017.

Sealing the deal with Luana Lifestyle and Leisure Hotel are (from left) Hue Hotels and Resorts’ managing director Dennis Lee with Lamberto and Dexter Lee, and the Hospitality Innovators team led by founder and CEO Luis Monserrat, EVP Agnes Luna, corporate group director Philippe Bartholomi and executive director Peter Stevens

Latest batch of Sm scholar graduates presented at SmX convention center The generosity of SM founder Henry Sy Sr. and his family has enabled hundreds of young people over the years to realize their dream of obtaining college degrees and help their families get a better life. At the recent presentation of graduates held at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, 225 graduates from Southern Luzon, the Cordilleras, Bicol region, the Visayas and Mindanao took center stage and expressed their gratitude at the man and his family who envisioned the scholarship program for deserving public high school graduates. The SM scholar graduates of school year 2015-2016 gathered for a testimonial dinner in their honor tendered by their benefactor, with the proud parents, officials of partner schools of SM Foundation Inc., members of the academe, SM officials, clients and friends of the SM conglomerate joining in the happy occasion. Graduates from various regions in the country flew to Manila for the

presentation ceremony and were billeted in hotels located around the SMX area. Following the presentation, the scholar-graduates were interviewed for employment opportunities offered by the SM Group of Companies. This recent batch of graduates produced four summa cum laude, 11 magna cum laude, 46 cum laude and 11 graduates with academic distinction, comprising 32.6 percent of the total scholar graduates. Established in 1993, the SM scholarship program has given opportunities for poor but deserving high school graduates to enroll in the following college courses: Accountancy, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electronics and Communications Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Elementary Education, Information Management, Information Technology, Mechanical Engineering, and Secondary Education Major in Biology, Chemistry, English, Mathematics or Physics.

SM scholar graduates happily pose during the 2015 presentation at SMX Convention Center graced by (from left) SM Department Store president Jorge Mendiola, SMFI executive director Debbie Sy, Mrs. Felicidad T. Sy, SMIC president Harley Sy and SM’s CFO and SMFI president Jose Sio

Graduates during the 2011 presentation pose with SMFI’s Debbie Sy, Harley Sy, SM founder Henry Sy Sr. and SM Prime Holdings president Hans Sy

Partnering with the SM Foundation are 82 colleges and universities. From the time it was established, the scholarship program has since produced over 1,900 graduates. Aside from the college scholarship program, the SM Foundation also supports technicalvocational students enrolled in Don Bosco’s TVET Center and Punlaan School. The tech-voc scholarships are offered to out-of-school youth and individuals

inclined to take on technical/vocational courses. This coming school year will also usher in more tech-voc scholars as SM Foundation is increasing the number of scholarship slots available. For more information and updates on the SM scholarship program and other corporate social responsibility projects, visit www.sm-foundation.org.

S U N D AY : m AY 2 9, 2 0 1 6

LIFE life @ thestandard.com .ph

For P4,580-plus, guests can enjoy their Sunday brunch with free-flowing Moet & Chandon

@LIFEatStandard

Ensaladang talong with a smoky vinegar tosazu

Nobu SuNday bruNch

A buffet of JApAnese And peruviAn-inspired menu infused with pinoy flAir PhotoS by Star SabroSo

ilipinos love to eat, and we love dining with family and friends, more so when eating something familiar, especially dishes ingrained in our culture. This has been one of the inspirations of the famous Nobu Restaurant in City of Dreams Manila in creating its Sunday Brunch offering. Known for the delectable Japanese and Peruvian-inspired menu by celebrity Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Nobu Restaurant has inspired an image of good taste and quality in Manila. But buffet style dining has not really been among its offerings since it caters to a la carte menu that most foreign visitors enjoy. According to Nobu restaurant manager Kenny Hernandez, there’s only a few locations in the world that serve Nobu brunch and most of them are infused with the flavors of the locale. The Nobu brunch offers over 50 dishes categorized in the Sushi station that showcases fresh local and imported fish; the Pastry station that welcomes the guests as they walk into the restaurant with its array of sweet desserts that can all be dripped and drizzled with the towering macha fountain; the Hot Dishes section where diners can partake of Shrimp in Spicy Garlic Sauce, Truffled Cabbage, Umami Marinated Chicken or Braised Short Rib with sautéed mushrooms; and the Teppanyaki station where guests can enjoy sticks of vegetables, meat and seafood cooked in an iron griddle. Since it opened the Sunday Brunch end of last year, the menus have been changing every week, although Nobu signature dishes are always a staple. Guests can enjoy servings of Chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s signature dishes such as the Tuna Tataki in Cilantro Dressing, White Fish Tiradito, Wagyu Beef Taco, and Salmon Karashi Su Miso. Other dishes that will keep guests coming back are the Sea bass Jalapeño, Crispy Pork Belly in Spicy Miso and Okonomi Yaki. The changing dishes are inspired by local ingredients and dishes that the chefs infuse with Nobu flavors. “We want people to come in and recognize some of the dishes,” explains head chef Michael de

The pastry station offers and array of sweets in sticks that can be dipped on the macha fondue

Sushi chef Akihisa Kawai cuts the local yellow fin tuna for his fresh sashimi and sushi rolls

The sushi station features local and imported fish

Lechon marinated Nobu style with three different sauces, Anticuchos sauce, Teriyaki sauce and Nobu lechon sauce

Head chef Michael de Jesus

Jesus. “Nobu asked me not only to incorporate local dishes, but marry them in terms of style and the flavor profile. We create dishes that people can relate to, we added what we want when you go to a buffet while keeping it Nobu.” Last Mother’s Day, the restaurant offered a Palabok in Nobu style

which used Udon for the noodles and contained uni and shrimp stock for the sauce drizzled with bacon furikake instead of chicharon. They’re also experimenting on lechon, something Nobu fans will be shocked with but, hey, Pinoys are familiar with it and the resto is trying to incorporate Nobu sauces and marinate for the pork. So far, cooking is being outsourced in another restaurant but with strict guidelines on ingredients from Nobu chefs. Guests can enjoy the lechon with different sauces prepared in the restaurant like the Peruvian Anticuchos sauce made with garlic, onion, cilantro, vinegar, citrus and beer; Teriyaki Sauce; and Nobu lechon sauce made with secret ingredients but following the local techniques of using innards added with tonkatsu sauce. Some local flair is added on dishes like Ensaladang talong with a smoky vinegar tosazu, the Shrimp Sinigang with miso

and yozu – a Japanese citrus that makes the sour taste lighter than the local tamarind. They also serve the Pinoy breakfast staple which is tocino that uses sweet miso to get the sweet taste, but without the usual pink color locals are used to. According to chef Michael, they are still experimenting on the different local vegetables that can be incorporated in the Nobu flavors. He particularly mentioned his interest in all the bahay kubo vegetables and is curious about how to use sigarilyas for his dishes. The brunch menu is always an exciting product from the talented kitchen staff. “Being part of the Nobu family, we are able to try new things and experiment a little bit. Chef Nobu has given us the freedom to be creative and try new things,” shares Hernandez. “Every location depending on where they are, they can source local ingredients, and sample the cuisine a little bit.”

Nobu Manila’s Sunday brunch is offered from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Family and friends can enjoy the interactive live stations for P2,880-plus inclusive of sodas, juices, mocktails, coffee and tea. If Sunday is more of a fun day and adults want to get a little bubble, you may opt to have the brunch with free flowing Moet & Chandon, a selection of Champagne cocktails, Bloody Marys, Mojitos, wines and beer, at P4,580-plus. Nobu offers 50 percent off for diners aged six to 12, with no charge for kids five years old and under. Nobu Manila is open for breakfast and dinner daily, and is at the first level of Nobu Hotel Manila, which is the first Nobu Hotel in Asia. For inquiries and reservations, call 800 8080 or email guestservices@cod-manila.com or visit cityofdreams.com.ph.

SunDAy : m Ay 2 9, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

Ryan Gosling (left) and Russell Crowe (right) in a comedy about a mismatched pair of private eyes who investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star

A scene from “The nice Guys,” dubbed by film critics as the breeziest and most charming comedy of the year

RussEll CROwE, Ryan GOslInG aRE ‘ThE nICE Guys’

cademy Award Best Actor Russel Crowe (Gladiator) and Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling (Half Nelsen) team up in the action comedy film set in the ‘70s, The Nice Guys, which is the third directorial outing for Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3). Their first encounter, Holland March (Gosling) gets a beating from Jackson Healy (Crowe) right in his own home. It turns out that the latter works as a legbreaker and claims he’s just doing his job of teaching March a lesson. Meanwhile, March is a private detective and a single father who is down on his luck, so when Healy shows up again

with a surprising good offer, he finds himself accepting it. He and Healy must work together to solve the case of the missing daughter of a chief justice and the seemingly unrelated death of a porn star. But what looks like a simple case might actually be the crime of a century as the duo uncovers a shocking conspiracy that reaches up to the highest circles of power. Dubbed as “The Buddy Comedy of the Year”, The Nice Guys is filled with witty banters between the two characters. Shane Black, who is known for being an expert in tough guy dialogues and explosive action, co-wrote the script with Anthony Bagarozzi.

This is the first movie collaboration of 35-year-old Gosling and 52-year-old Crowe, yet the two clicked so well even from the beginning. Ryan revealed in an interview, “When I read the script, I knew that Shane was on a plane trying to convince Russell to do it, so I read it with Russell in mind. I just could completely picture him in the role and I’ve never seen him do anything like that and the movie just immediately became so funny.” Indeed, Shane Black flew all the way to Australia to get Crowe’s nod to do the film, and he did not have a hard time getting it. Crowe said, “I really liked the script, particularly the social commentary aspect of it, and it made me laugh…”

Playing the role of Gosling’s daughter is newcomer Angourie Rice, who earned the respect of Gosling for her innate talent. He said, “She has such a strong point of view on her character and what she would and wouldn’t do, and it makes it really fun… She can get in and hit back just as well as anyone else.” The Nice Guys also stars Oscar winner Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential), Matt Bomer (Magic Mike films), Margaret Qualley and Keith David. It is produced by Joel Silver (Non-Stop, The Matrix films, the Sherlock Holmes films). Distributed by Viva International Pictures and MVP Entertainment, it is showing in cinemas on June 1.

more action, mind-boggling twists in new season of ‘nCIS: Los Angeles’ AXN delivers the action with a new season of NCIS: Los Angeles. The team once again delves into the depths of a wide variety of cases on the seventh season of NCIS: Los Angeles. Special Agent G. Callen, Detective Marty Geeks, and the rest of the crew will travel far and wide to destinations such as Africa and Russia in their regular quest to solve crimes. Agents doing undercover operations is one of the recurThe new sassy girl: Singer-actress Victoria Song ring themes of the series. This season comes with different issues such as terrorist organizations, money laundering, nuclear radiation, cyber data collection, murders, and hostage taking. Actor Chris O’Donnell reFrom the surprise romantic turns as Special Agent G Calblockbuster South Korean film len while LL Cool J plays CalMy Sassy Girl, the comical and len’s partner, Special Agent lovable Cha-tae Hyun is back in Sam Hanna. NCIS: Los Angeles his latest romantic misadventures is originally released by CBS in My New Sassy Girl. and aired the first episode of Following the sincere, funny Season 7 in September 2015. and hapless Gyun-Woo (Cha-tae NCIS: Los Angeles will be Hyun), he is now married to his Korean star Cha-tae Hyun seen first and exclusive on childhood sweetheart played by no time, Gyun-woo falls in love AXN premiering on June 2 and Victoria Song. In the movie, Gyun-woo is try- once again, marries her and goes will air 9 :45 every Thursday. AXN is seen on Cable Link ing to mend his broken heart af- through a honeymoon which no Channel 38, Cignal Digital ter being separated from his love man would ever dream of. My New Sassy Girl will open on TV Channel 61, Global Desat the end of the first film. He tiny Cable Channel 61, Dream then finds himself reunited with June 1 from Pioneer Films. Click here for the film’s trailer: Channel 20, Gsat Channel 12, his childhood sweetheart while SKYCable Channel 49. mending his broken heart. In https://youtu.be/WC_ZzqOlQ2k

Second round of hilarious love story

nCIS: Los Angeles stars Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J

SunDAy : m Ay 2 9, 2016

SHOWBITZ

ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

JAkE CuEnCA bAgS SEConD bESt ACtoR AwARD

Jake Cuenca wins best Actor award for the indie film “mulat” at the world Cinema brazil 2016

wo years since bagging his first international acting recognition, Star Magic actor Jake Cuenca was hailed as Best Actor anew for his indie film Mulat at the World Cinema Brazil 2016 on May 22 at Copacabana, Brazil. Jake claims that he never expected to gain another recognition for the “passion picture” that he did two years ago. “I felt good. Sinabi ko nga, itong movie na ito it was a passion picture. I didn’t get so much for this. It wasn’t a mainstream movie na parang naging blockbuster. It was a movie I did out of my passion of loving indie movies and, at the same time, it was something I did as support for the film industry in the Philippines,” he said. Apart from the Best Actor award, the film also took home the Best Narrative award. Jake says he appreciates the fact that his acting talent is no-

ticed especially on the international scene. “It feels good kasi when you accept a passion picture and it comes back to you this way, you win an award from different countries. May mga napanalo na akong award dito sa Pilipinas pero of course ‘yung Best Actor ko na panalo twice for this film was for an international film, so it feels good,” he stressed. The Kapamilya actor first bagged his Best Actor trophy for Mulat at the 2014 International Film Festival Manhattan (IFFM). The Dianne Ventura psychological-thriller centers on the story of “mentally-afflicted” Sam played by Star Magic Angel Loren Burgos who was enamored with her new man Jake, played by Jake, but who happens to be engaged to Vincent played by Ryan Eigenmann. According to Jake his role

on the film was quite refreshing and light, as far his recent intense roles were concerned. Recall that Jake heated the primetime scene as Juan Samonte on the recently concluded toprating soap Pasion de Amor together with Coleen Garcia, Arci Muñoz, Ejay Falcon and Joseph Marco. “The role was very simple. It’s very me. It’s more of the storyline that was nice kasi para ngang we had a relationship in a dream. That was the storyline. It wasn’t as challenging as some of the roles that I’ve done in the past,” he shared. Prior to venturing into international film festivals, the independently funded film actually became part of the Metro Manila Film Festival’s New Wave Category in 2014. After conquering Brazil, Jake shared that Director Ventura plans to bring their movie to other film festivals in Europe.

Davaoeño mountaineer competes at 2016 mister golden universe Mister Golden Universe Philippines Jay Daniel Chuong is in Manuas, Brazil to compete in Mister Golden Universe 2016 on May 29. The 24-year-old native of Davao City has been appointed by the Mister United Continents Philippines (MUCP) organization after winning Mister Imperial Universe Philippines, one of the titles of the Mister United Continents Philippines 2016 pageant. He was supposed to compete at the Mister Imperial Universe pageant in Puerto Rico but due to some problems, he was instead sent to the Mister Golden Universe contest. Chuong is a volunteer-member of

Sagip Kagubatan para sa Kinabukasan, a non-profit environmental organization involved in forest preservation and socio-civic works like feeding programs, donating medicine and other basic needs, especially to indigenous tribes. He is majoring in Information Technology and got into modeling to develop his self-confidence. Jay hopes to use his stint at the Mister Golden Universe pageant to further his advocacy, to inspire individuals to become one and to represent the country with noble deeds. Chuong, a mountaineer, will be donning a traditional Igorot-inspired national costume combined with modern

cROsswORD puzzlE

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over-sized capes and coats and embellishments made of gold, wood, handmade fabric of indigenous material created for him by designer Mike Sangco. The Davaoeño learned some basic Spanish and Portuguese, underwent catwalk, personality development and physical fitness trainings to prepare for the Mister Golden Universe competition, now on its second edition. The MUCP organization, headed by Meleen Miranda, owns the Mister United Continents international pageant and holds other local franchise, like Mr. Asia World and Mr. Imperial Universe. – Eton B. Concepcion

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twenty-four-year-old Jay Daniel Chuong competes in brazil for this year’s mister golden universe contest

SunDAy : m Ay 2 9, 2016

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ISAH V. RED EDITOR

isahred @ gmail.com

‘SInglE/SInglE’ EpISoDE 3 DElVES Into REAlItIES, DIlEmmAS of mIllEnnIAl lIfE

on’t miss episode 3 of Single/ Single Season 2, the breakthrough romantic comedy series of PhilStar TV and Cinema One, as it will feature a jolting event that will force the characters to face a biting fact of life. This gripping episode is expected to once again trigger a discourse on the realities of millennial living among its avid viewers. In the last episode, the jovial birthday glamping for Joey, which reunited the gang –Joee, Ranee, Benny, Tita Bianca and the rest, turned more serious as they bared their innermost thoughts and feelings in the hugot bonfire, where they cast off habits, memories, addictions and hang ups that held them back from moving on and becoming the best versions of themselves. The most telling of all was Joee’s desire to throw away “Baby Jojo,”

Romantic comedy “Single/Single” featuring lead actors mateo guidicelli and Shaina magdayao

the cuddly bear that held all the memories and feelings she shared with Joey in past. Tension arose when Joey declared he also wanted to dispose of the bear and everything it represents. The two were suddenly engaged in a brief, farci-

cal tug of war, or tug of feelings, and the bear was cast in the fire. Will Joee and Joey ever be able to resolve their issues or will this finally put out the flame between them? The glamping celebration will get more interesting with an

unexpected turn of events that will leave the characters, and even viewers, reflecting about existential issues. Catch all these on the third episode of Single/Single, 10 p.m. on Cinema One tonight. Single/Single is now on its sec-

ond season of combining engaging comedy and relevant messaging targeted to urban millennial singles coping in a more complicated digital world. The show is top-billed by today’s finest young actors namely Mateo Guidicelli, Shaina Magdayao, Anna Luna, and Brian Sy who bring to life the characters of Joey, Joee, Ranee and Benny, respectively, reflecting the many faces of today’s millennials, including their sentiments, dilemmas and challenges. Joining them is veteran actress Cherie Gil as Tita Bianca. Single/Single airs every Sunday, with replays every Wednesday 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday. Previous episodes can also be viewed on philstartv.com. For more updates, visit facebook.com/SingleSingleC1 and @SingleSingleC1 on Twitter and Instagram.

music icon Brian mcKnight to serenade fans at Kia theatre World-renowned platinum recording artist Brian McKnight returns to Manila for a night of unforgettable music on June 20, 8 p.m. at the Kia Theatre. Filipinos easily became fans of the musician, thanks to his collection of hits like “Back at One” and “One Last Cry,” to name a few. The multi-awarded singersongwriter and producer is currently on a world tour to promote his 13th studio album Better, which he considers to be a throwback to the albums he made early in his career. With 16 albums to date, McKnight returns to his soulful roots on his new record; featuring 12 relatable and touching songs. He worked with Hawaiian vocalist Kimie Miner and rapper Glasses Moses on the new project, which also includes long-time guitarists Chris Loftin and Tyrone Chase. “I’m taking it back to basics,” Brian explains. “Creating music like we did 20 years ago – completely organic, all real instruments. The truth is, I’m in love

American R&B singer-songwriter Brian mcKnight returns to manila

and love makes us better, it makes us come alive, and I wanted to convey that through this album in a very relatable, authentic way.” The title track of his album Better has received positive reviews online since it was released on Feb. 26. It includes tracks like “Just Enough,” and “Get U Into

My Life,” among others. McKnight’s musical career began in 1992 when he released his eponymous album, which then featured his highest-charting single “One Last Cry.” His video for “Anytime” was nominated for Best Male Video at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. Along with 16 Grammy Awards nominations, McKnight has also been the recipient of Soul Train Awards, American Music Awards and Billboard Songwriter of The Year. His most notable album, Back At One, sold over three million copies. His passion to create new sound also allowed him to collaborate with famous artists in the industry, among them Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, P. Diddy, Christina Aguilera, Rascal Flatts, Nelly, Vanessa Williams, Willie Nelson, and Kenny G. This allowed him to constantly evolve and improve as an artist. Tickets to Brian McKnight are now on sale. Visit Ticketnet website for more details.

I-Bilibers Chris tiu, moymoy palaboy and louise de los Reyes

What’s up in ‘I-Bilib’

The show today asks you, Bilibers, if you saw a wheel that’s turning even when it has fallen down. That’s what the gang, led by Chris Tiu, James, Roadfill, and guest Louise de los Reyes will show you in what they call “Bicycle Centrifuge Experiment.” In Discover Science, you can try walking and cross a rainbow. Is this possible? But Tiu and com-

pany will demonstrate it in “Walking on the Rainbow Experiment.” The gang will also make a whirlpool? Is that possible? Well, we just have to watch and learn. In the segment “Trivia,” James and Roadfill will visit the Philippines Science Centrum. They will be amazed at what they will see and learn. Watch I-Bilb every Sunday morning only on GMA 7.

one more time for ‘one more Chance’ and ‘A Second Chance’ The Kapamilya Box Office (KBO) shares with ABS-CBN TVplus users the extraordinary love story of Popoy (John Lloyd Cruz) and Basha (Bea Alonzo) as it airs One More Chance and A Second Chance, two phenomenal and heartfelt movies that captured the hearts of many Filipinos for P30. Families will get another shot to catch how the love story of Popoy and Basha that all began in One More Chance, the 2007 hit that has become a cult classic, and A Second Chance, the much-awaited sequel that ultimately became the highest grossing Filipino film of all time. Apart from the well-loved tales of heartbreak and second chances, ABS-CBN TVplus completes the weekend movie fix of fami-

lies through the KimXi rom-com Bride for Rent and the American supernatural horror movie The Haunting of Molly Hartley. Families also have a chance to catch-up on missed episodes of Dolce Amore via a marathon airing this weekend on KBO. The Kapamilya Box Office (KBO) is the newest feature of ABS-CBN TVplus that allows families to have more TV bonding moments at home via commercial-free weekend movie marathons for P30. Movies airing on KBO can also be seen via iWant TV on ABS-CBNmobile. For users who don’t have an ABS-CBNmobile SIM, the SIM is available in any SM store, 7-Eleven branch, telco tiangge,

and the ABS-CBNmobile store priced at P30. Users may also order through text by sending SIM DELIVERY to 23661. All ABS-CBN TVplus boxes priced at P1,999 are bundled with an ABS-CBNmobile prepaid SIM and are available in any accredited retail outlets, sales agents, and dealers. Meanwhile, load for ABS-CBNmobile is available in SM Store, SM Savemore, 7-Eleven, Cebuana Lhuillier, Generika and convenient stores or telco tiangges that sell autoload max. The Kapamilya Box Office of ABS-CBN TVplus is available in GMA, Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Benguet, Metro Cebu,

Relive the extraodinary story of popoy and Basha in the back-to-back screening of “one more Chance” and “A Second Chance” on ABS-CBn tVplus

Davao City, and Cagayan de Oro. Don’t miss a weekly fun family bonding only with commercialfree movie screenings via Kapamilya Box Office. For more infor-

mation on weekly movie line-up, visit tvplus.abs-cbn.com and follow ABS-CBN TVplus on Facebook. For queries, text KBO <SPACE> HELP to 23661.

sunday : m ay 2 9, 2016

IsaH V. REd EDITOR nICKIE WanG WRITER

isahred @ gmail.com

SHOWBITZ

PROmIsIng bOy banD RElEasEs DEbuT album ISAH V. RED

fter winning GMA Network’s multi-platform boy band competition To The Top, Adrian Pascual, Joshua Jacobe, Louie Pedroso, Mico Cruz, and Miko Manguba now collectively known as T.O.P (Top One Project), have a debut album under GMA Records. On May 18 at the Executive Lounge of GMA Network Center, the group faced the members of the press to announce that their freshman album is now out in the market. “Pag-gising” is the promotional track along with four other favorites from their performances in the competition such as

adrian Pascual, 17

“Bakit Ganon,” “Alaala,” “Kaya Ko Kaya Mo,” and “Somebody.” T.O.P. also takes prides that their first original composition “San Na” is also in the album. Having imbibed the wisdom of Ryan Cayabyab, the band is humbled to use what they have learned to bring the best out in the album. Despite having different strengths, the five boys found their harmony in friendship and their drive to reach their dreams. Youngest member Adrian Pascual, 17, shares how fellow member Miko Manguba inspires him to sing with his heart. “Dahil po siguro ako yung pinaka-bata, sineseryoso ko po yung mga tinuturo nila sa’kin. Lalo na po si Miko, siya po yung nagtuturo sa’kin ng mga tamang techniques sa pagkanta.” Miko M., 22, plays as the Music Man in the group who guides his band mates in their vocals and overall musicality. Although too modest to admit, Miko is considered to be the band’s leader for his mere

mico Cruz, 21

Joshua Jacobe, 20

talent and experience. “Nag-start po ako sa choir, where I acquired an ear for music. And then noong college, my brother influenced me to join an organization that also taught me how to dance.” Twenty-year old Louie Pedroso is tagged as the bad boy in the group, thus his moniker Medyo Pilyo. Playful in his tone, he admits to have started his passion in singing to impress girls. “When I was a kid, napapanood ko sa TV na mas nagugustuhan ng mga babae yung mga lalaking marunong kumanta. But as I was growing up, hindi na yung mababaw na concept na magpasikat yung naging reason ko. It’s about sharing na what the music portrays and what you can do and to inspire others.” On the other hand, the group’s Good Boy Mico C., 21, shares how he found his own style. “I tried everything para mahanap kung ano yung bagay sa’kin. Kasi ‘di naman pwedeng gusto ko lang, tapos hindi naman bagay sa boses ko. Nangyari naman na na-

Louie Pedroso, 20

enjoy ko yung jazz, at sa tingin ko bumagay siya sa akin and I learned to love it.” Twenty two-year old Joshua Jacobe was once an intern at GMA Records. After hearing the call for To The Top auditions, he was encouraged to try his luck and fortunately landed the top spot alongside his four “brothers.” Joshua believes that his strong vocals came from his roots as a rock band member. “Nasa underground band scene po ako noong high school. Pero sa tingin ko po, nag-evolve yun habang tumatanda po ako at mas na-appreciate ko yung iba’t ibang klase ng music until I became more comfortable with T.O.P.’s genre.” T.O.P.’s album has been digitally released and is available for download on iTunes, Amazon, Deezer, and other digital stores nationwide. The physical album is now available at Php 199.00 in various record bars nationwide, as well as through www. Lazada.com.ph.

miko manguba, 22