BusinessMirror April 23, 2016

“My expectation is that, by the end of the year, we will have created the conditions whereby Mosul will eventually fall.”—President Barack Obama, in an interview with CBS after the United States agreed to deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq and to send eight Apache helicopters for the first time into the fight against the Islamic State group.

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“It’s as if...the president is setting the policy and the Congress is executing it. That’s just upside down.”—Justice Anthony Kennedy, as the Supreme Court heard arguments for and against President Barack Obama’s immigration plan to shield roughly 4 million people from deportation and make them eligible to work in the United States.

“I think what we intended to do from the beginning was to...bring as much attention to the issue as possible, and that was the reason for linking it to the American dinner table.”—Associated Press journalist Robin McDowell, part of a reporting team that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service after their series exposed forced labor in Southeast Asia’s fishing industry. AP

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Saturday, April 23, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 196

MERALCO’S NEW SUPPLY DEALS TO HELP TEMPER ELECTRICITY-COST SPIKES

ERC OKs Meralco Ipsas with 3 plants 243 T MW

INSIDE

Sports

Saturday, April 23, 2016 A7

THAI TAKES 4-SHOT LEAD T

HAI Kasidit Lepkurte put on a brilliant, bogey-free eight-under 64 to storm to a four-stroke lead over erstwhile leader Danny Masrin and two others, threatening to turn what had been billed as a wild finish into a runaway triumph in the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Sherwood Hills Classic on Friday in Trece Martirez, Cavite.

Five birdies at the front proved enough for the hot-putting Lepkurte to overhaul a threestroke deficit and jump from joint fifth to the top of the heap, then pulled away from the pack by gunning down three more birdies coming home to complete a rare bogey-free round of 31-33 at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club, which finally took some beating from the elite foreign players despite windy condition after holding its ground in the first two days.

With a nine-under 207 total, Lepkurte moved four shots clear off Masrin, who blew a 34 start with a 37 for a 71 and dropped to joint second with Swede Oscar Zetterwall and Japanese Toru Nakajima, who both fired 68s, at 211.

“I played pretty good, everything—from putting, irons and my shots were simply good,” said Lepkurte, who hardly figured in the mix in the early going with a 71 and 72 but birdied three of the first four holes in the third round inside 15 feet and closed out his frontside stint with backto-back birdies from 18 feet to move on top. He made it three straight with another birdie on the 10th then rammed in two more at 15 and 18, the last a 20-foot uphill feat to take complete control.

His 64, however, fell two strokes short off Cassius Casas’s record feat in the 2001 First Gentleman’s Cup. “I have to play steady and avoid getting into trouble,” said Lepkurte, 18 holes away from nailing his first victory here and duplicating

compatriot Itthipat Buranatanyarat’s victory last year in this $60,000 event sponsored by ICTSI. Zetterwell and Nakajima also sneaked from behind to assume the challenger’s role with the former spiking his 35-33 card with four birdies. He actually gunned down an eagle on the par-5 eighth but yielded the strokes right on the next with a double bogey.

Nakajima, a former leg winner on the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour, reeled farther back with a bogey on No. 3 but got back into the groove by rattling off five birdies in the last 11 holes for a 36-32 card.

Masrin, who took charge in the opener with a 68 and hung tough with a gutsy 72 halfway through the 72-hole championship coorganized by the Asian Development Tour and Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc., failed to keep in step with Lepkurte and company’s charge, hitting five birdies but fumbling with two bogeys and a double bogey for a 34-37.

“I played bad today [Friday] and committed many mistakes,” Masrin rued. “But I’m still in contention.

There are still 18 holes left and anything can happen here.”

James Ryan Lam survived a roller-coaster round of seven birdies against five birdies and took charge for the local bets with a 70 for a 213, six strokes adrift and in a tie with Dino Giacomazzi, who rallied with a seven-under 65, highlighted by five birdies in the last seven holes, and fellow American John Catlin, who carded a second 70.

Ateneo, La Salle begin dream UAAP volley finals F

OR the fifth straight year, archrivals Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle clash for the Season 78 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s volleyball supremacy, as Game One of the best-of-three finals fires off on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Lady Spikers, the defending back-toback champions, and the Lady Spikers, winners of Seasons 74 and 75, collide at 4 p.m., right after the series opener of the men’s finals between Ateneo and National University (NU) at 12 noon.

Ateneo had an easy route to the finals after dispatching No. 4 seed University of the Philippines in their Final Four encounter, while La Salle nearly blew its twice-to-beat advantage to Far Eastern University (FEU) before hanging on their do-or-die game on Wednesday to arrange the finals showdown against its chief nemesis for the fifth straight time.

“Isa sa pinakamahirap na situation ngayon kasi galing sa knockout. Hindi kami nakapagpahinga nang maayos kasi tuluy-tuloy ‘yung game namin halos four games,” Lady Spikers Head Coach Ramil de Jesus said.

“Last time na nagharap kami, kami ‘yung talo so lalabas na kami ‘yung underdogs, then sila pa ‘yung nag-number one, kami ‘yung nag-number two.”

De Jesus believes his graduating players, namely, Ara Galang, Mika Reyes, Cyd Demecillo, Carol Cerveza and Mika Esperanza want to end their collegiate careers with a crown to hoist.

“Sa bawat team may last playing year na, kaya may gustong patunayan. Kung sino na lang ‘yung mas may puso na laruin ‘yung

gusto nilang patunayan sa sarili nila,” he added, as he will also bank on his stabilizers Kim Fajardo, Kim Kianna Dy, Majoy Baron and libero Dawn Macandili.

Galang has a score to settle with Ateneo, as she was not around when the Lady Eagles completed the back-to-back drive because of knee injury.

“Superhappy and excited ako dahil last year ito ‘yung hinintay ko at pinagtrabahuan ko pero hindi ko na-meet,” Galang said. “Ngayon kailangan kaming buong team magtulungtulong para ma-meet namin ‘yung goal.”

Ateneo’s top gunner Alyssa Valdez is playing her farewell season and wants to end her career with another title. But Valdez said she has high respect to La Salle.

“Since season 74, La Salle will be La Salle,” she said. “Mayroon silang good system from their first to 14th player, sobrang reliable sila. So we can’t be complacent kahit sinong ipasok nila and si Ara [Galang] talaga ‘yung heart and soul of the team even Kim [Fajardo], Mika [Reyes], and Cyd [Demecillo].”

Valdez admitted there’s pressure to achieve the three-peat but it’s attainable as long as they play as a team.

“Pressure will always be there, even if we’re not yet in the finals pero may teammates ako na tumutulong sa akin, and they’re really contributing to the team that even the smallest things ginagawa nila,” said Valdez, who is also leaning on graduating Amy Ahomiro, setter Jia Morado, Bea de Leon, Kim Gequillana and libero Gizelle Tan. “It’s not really me who’s the key in this game, all of us we really have to play together as one team and be happy inside the court.” Lance Agcaoili

KASIDIT LEPKuRTE studies the line of his putt on No. 8. ROY DOMINGO

URCC resumes with 4 title fights in ‘Rebellion’

Additional power supply that Meralco can source from Toledo Power, Panay Power and1590 Energy

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CTIONS in the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) return with an exciting four-title fight night, billed as “Rebellion,” on Saturday at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Parañaque City.

URCC featherweight champion Reydon Romero headlines the 10-bout event, as he stakes his belt against Do Gyeom Lee of South Korea.

“I want to make my country proud. This is going to be a war,” Romero said.

The Rebellion also features three other championship matches and six undercard bouts for the comeback of the Philippinebased mixed-martial arts organization since its last event in July 2015.

Romero (9-5) bagged the featherweight crown after a submission victory over fellow Filipino RIcardo Sapno in November 2013.

He successfully defended his belt against Malaysian Jian Kai Chee via a technical knockout win last year.

Lee (1-1), on the other hand, is on his second bout in the URCC after trouncing Drex Zamboanga in URCC 26: “Domination” in Clark last July.

In other title fights, Japanese flyweight titlist Hideo Morikawa (8-3) defends his belt against unbeaten Filipino fighter CJ de Tomas (5-0).

Veteran Will Chope (29-9) of the US, who is now based in the country, battles Richie Redman (2-4) for the vacant lightweight belt, while local bet Caloy Baduria (9-4-1) squares off with Swiss star Chris Hofmann (2-1) for the light heavyweight title.

URCC President and founder Alvin Aguilar said the Rebellion will be broadcasted in 120 countries through KO Productions, as they also signed a partnership agreement with Resorts World Manila for the event and ABS-CBN Sport and Action as its official television broadcaster.

sports

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

ALASKA POWER CAMP

a senior’s brush with PAINT AND CANVAS B4 Saturday, April 23, 2016 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

OurTime BusinessMirror

T

ORONTO, Canada—Time was when sociopolitical blog writer Joe Rivera looked with awe at a painting, acquired it, and made it an eye-catching fixture in the hall, living room or library of his home. He still does so, every chance he gets.

However, Joe has moved on to the next level following his retirement. He has embraced the power and the message of the brush and paint against canvas.

He has earned the honor of having his paintings exhibited during the Don Valley Art Club’s (DVAC) spring-summer art show at the Papermill Gallery in Todmorden Hills Heritage Site in Toronto from May 4 to 15.

In an online interview with PNA, Joe recalled the days when he gauged the visual arts, particularly painting, as “just a subject for appreciation.”

He and wife Patty, an accomplished poet-fiction writer and book author in Canada, used to admire and collect the work of University of the Philippines (UP) fine-arts students.

The couple, however, had to entrust the paintings to Patty’s siblings when they moved to and settled in Canada in 1987.

Patty has a fourth poetry book being reviewed for publication. Her first novel, The Disappearance of the Rose, is still in search of a publisher.

The novel was short-listed in the 2015 Cirilo F. Bautista Prize for the Novel, out of 73 entries among Filipino writers.

“Both Patty and I loved visiting museums whenever we travel,” Joe said. Trips and vacations to other countries present Joe and Patty great opportunities to do their exhilarating rounds of arts and culture appreciation

in every city they go to.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art topped their bucket list. In France the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and the Henry Matisse and Marc Chagall museums in Nice amazed them. Most recently, they checked the local museums in the old city of Geneva.

In Toronto they are frequent guests at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum and other art spots in the city’s west and east ends.

As a child, Joe wanted to be a musician, like his late grandfather Lolo Abo, a marching-band leader.

“My late mother used to tell stories of my Lolo Abo, so I was fascinated by him,” Joe said. “I think my late grandfather, surnamed Cruz, came from the Cruz family of musicians and entertainers in the Philippines, although I have no way of verifying it.”

Joe loves music, but he was not meant to bask in it. During his college years at UP, Joe put into ink and paper his thoughts and insights on social and political issues haunting the Filipino people during the martial-law era in the Philippines.

He has also written a few plays staged during those dark hours in Philippine politics.

From 1987 to 2014, he adopted netizenship, opened a blog and wrote commentaries on a wide range of concerns raised in the city

Maintaining compassion and dignity at the heart of hospice care necessary

By Dan Brown | Aiken Standard, SC/TNS

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OR Hospice Care of South Carolina workers, it is all about providing compassion and dignity for their patients. It’s about making a difference to patients, their families and their loved ones. Hospice Care of South Carolina was created to make a difference, a difference in their patients’ lives, and every life touched by an advanced illness. Hospice care is available to those with less than six months to live.

“For more than a decade, we’ve been changing the way people think about hospice care by focusing on living, and focusing on what the end of life can be,” said Katie Ard, community relations liaison with Hospice Care of South Carolina, during a presentation to the Aiken Rotary Club on Monday. “We are committed to providing our patients compassion and dignity. Those are two very important words for Hospice Care of SC workers.”

As America’s Baby Boomers age, the need for hospice care rises among South Carolina’s 46 counties. “Over 9 million Americans are over the age of 65,” Ard said. “But hospice is not a death sentence; it's about recognizing someone is dying and giving them choices. It is not giving up hope. It is about preserving hope. It is about facing reality and making transitions that are good for the patient and family.”

Hospice is not a place, Ard said. “It is a concept of care that is delivered in the place a person calls home.”

Hospice also is not exclusive to the elderly. While the majority of patients served by hospice are elderly, almost 20 percent of patients are under the age of 65.

“Hospice care is for anyone who has a life limiting illness,” Ard said. Children are affected as well as adults.

“Kids are amazing,” Ard said. “Children touch our lives in so many different ways: a smile, a laugh, a hug. We admire their playful spirit as they laugh with friends, swing on the monkey bars and even color outside of the lines. It’s often easy for us to overlook the pain that some children face through the loss of a loved one.

“A child’s pain can sometimes be masked through laughter and play,” Ard said. “We recognize that children grieve in many ways. They want support from their peers and need to know that they’re not alone, others are going through the same thing. This is why we created Camp Hands of Hope, a safe, caring environment where children can express their feelings and connect with others going through similar experiences.”

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Villar calls for intensified info campaign to inform indigents

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TEACHING TAI CHI TO THE ELDERLY Mike Aronza, 18, a tai-chi exercise student, teaches Rhoda Maguisay, 63, from Baguio City, his tai-chi techniques. Aronza holds his exercise sessions every morning at the Rose Garden Park in Baguio City. MAU VICTA

of Toronto, in Canada and in the US, and in the Philippines.

Joe’s recollection of his earliest experience with the art of painting involved sketches of human figures he doodled when he was very much younger.

“I think we all sketched and drew when we were children…without any serious attempt toward developing a distinct or certain art form. Sometimes, we even used watercolors. I knew early on that I had the ability to sketch figures and landscapes,” he said.

His reawakening to the application of visual arts came after he retired from law practice and from his church-based volunteer work helping immigrants and refugees.

“While looking for something

else to do, I received in the mail literature from the Toronto District School Board regarding its Learn4Life courses. I scanned the literature, became interested in art classes that were open to seniors, and enrolled for a beginner’s course in drawing and painting at Central Tech,” Joe said.

The next term, he took a course in landscape painting; and followed it with a course in abstract impressionism. While studying and learning to paint, Joe scoured the art galleries and coffee shops in Toronto’s east end, “where I could possibly display my early paintings, as my art portfolio began to grow.”

From then on, there was no stopping Joe from participating in recent solo and group exhibits at

the Ben Navaee Art Gallery, Gerrard Art Space, Flying Pony Coffee and Art Gallery and the Papermill Art Gallery.

Before he rubs a brush on canvas and creates life from color, Joe spends a lot of time reading books and magazines, mostly telling “fascinating stories that can inspire me to develop images I can transfer to the canvas.”

He also seeks for a “subject in old and historical photographs that convey powerful narratives and images.”

Joe began painting in acrylic, but has since shifted to oil. He said he started out with the realistic or objective style of painting, which all artists did at the beginning of their careers, by copying pictures or things.

EN. Cynthia Villar called on the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Monday to intensify its efforts and reach out to indigent members so they can benefit from free medical services.

Villar made the statement during the Information and Education Awareness Campaign on PhilHealth Programs and Benefit Availment Program at Villar Sipag Center, Pulang Lupa 1, Las Piñas City. Sipag stands for Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance.

Villar said that, while PhilHealth is there to take care of the people’s health by providing medical assistance, many Filipinos, especially the indigents, are not aware of PhilHealth and the benefits they can get from it.

“Filipinos should be covered by PhilHealth, but only a few know about the services being offered by PhilHealth,” said Villar, adding that Filipinos should be educated on how to access them.

“We must also ensure they are aware of their benefits and entitlement from PhilHealth. We must ensure also that the country’s universal health-care system can reach all intended beneficiaries,” she added.

The senator believes the information drive about PhilHealth should be intensified and the people should be abreast on the updates of its services, like additional health packages.

During the program, Villar also spoke on the significant role PhilHealth, the country’s biggest state insurance, plays in the lives of the Filipino people.

The activity, attended by about 1,000 participants, was in line with PhilHealth’s Universal Health program Alaga Ka—Alamin at Gamitin, Kalusugang Benepisyong PhilHealth Program.

Alone and aging in India: Here’s how to reach out and help our elders

By Rhythma Kaul & Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Hindustan Times, New Delhi/TNS Forum

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ULTAN JAHAN SALIK, 88, lives alone in her ground-floor flat in the Park Circus area of Kolkata.

A retired teacher, active researcher and author, she has been living by herself since her husband died in 1998. She cooks, picks up groceries, visits chemists and banks, and on days when her maid doesn’t show up, also does the cleaning. She travels alone to meet her daughters, who are professors and live abroad.

“It’s difficult to live alone when you are old. My attempts to be self-reliant are really a test of my character. But there is no use complaining,” said Salik, who recently returned from Dhaka, where the Bangla Akademi published a book she edited, called Muslim Modernism in Bengal -Selected Writings of Delawarr Hosaen Ahmed Meerza, who is a Muslim reformist of the 19th century.

She finds support in her four brothers, two sisters and their spouses, who live nearby. All in their 70s and 80s, they connect over the phone at least once a day. Many, like Salik, live alone, because their children have moved away.

“Only one of my nephews lives nearby and, in case of emergency, he is the one to depend on,” Salik said.

The septuagenarian Khatris living in Sector-62 Noida in Uttar Pradesh have no such extended support, which has forced their son Shivum Khatri, 31, to move in with them once again.

An advertising professional, Khatri had moved to Gurgaon, in Haryana, to save on commute hours. But he was forced to return home after his father was diagnosed with Chronic

million seniors in the country by 2050.

“With the rapidly changing social structure, the study will provide valuable data on the health needs and issues faced by older persons, and help us draw policy tools to address these issues,” said BP Sharma, secretary, Ministry of Health. “Whether we need more hospitals or clinics, rehabilitation centers, hospice facilities or homes for the elderly, taking care of their specific needs, this study should help us be better informed.”

The rapid rise of India’s elderly population, coupled with the rise of the nuclear family and limited social support, poses pressing economic, health and social challenges for policy-makers. “Population ageing threatens to topple existing insurance and pension systems and create healthsystem overload. This, therefore, calls for review of existing models of health-care, familial and social support,” said Anita Agnihotri, secretary at the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment. Currently, the 60-plus population accounts for 9 percent of Indians, amounting to roughly 103 million seniors, and there is still no sufficient broad national representative data on this demographic.

“This study is important to determine where money should go when it is allotted to older people. Society is moving fast and the health-care system is stuck,” said Dr. AB Dey, head of geriatrics at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). “Currently, our focus is not older people; it’s on pediatrics and neurology. The ministry of health approved two national centers of ageing last year, one of them at AIIMS. We hope the center at AIIMS starts functioning soon.”

OUR TIME 89 YEARS AND STILL WALKING

Lola Carmen Mendoza, 89 years old, goes to the market two times a week for exercise and to buy her supply of food and other basic house needs. MAU VICTA

Obstructive Pulmonar y Disorder four months ago.

“It meant frequent hospital visits and my parents found it difficult to negotiate long queues, paperwork and laboratories tests. I initially used to visit them every weekend, but I soon realized it wasn’t sustainable for either them or me. They needed help 24x7,” Shivum said.

At present, not many facilities focus on older-people care, but India has started preparing for change. The world’s largest study on the elderly— The Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI)—was launched in March, to

track the aging patterns and diseases affecting India’s 103 million people over the age of 60. The study will survey 60,000 seniors across all states and union territories every two years for the next 25 years. With people living longer, the global share of people 60 and older has risen from 9.2 percent in 1990 to 11.7 percent in 2013, and is expected to reach 21.1 percent by 2050. Older people are projected to exceed the number of children for the first time ever, in 2047.

With 65 percent of India’s population under 35, there are set to be 350

B4

World Earth Day Environmentalists, including Miss Earth beauty contestants, conduct a coastal cleanup to mark World Earth Day on Friday at a bird sanctuary, known as Freedom Island, in suburban Las Piñas City, south of Manila. Earth Day is celebrated in over 190 countries worldwide with this year’s theme of encouraging people to plant more trees to save Mother Earth. AP/Bullit Marquez A CHRIST’S SHEPHERDING LOVE Dear Lord, it is good to know that when some popes misbehaved, God always found a way to steer the course of Peter’s boat out of all storms and dangers of shipwreck.

Fortunately, especially in the last two centuries, the Church has been gifted with popes who have offered outstanding examples of CHRIST’S SHEPHERDING LOVE for His people.

We have the pleasant duty to respond to the pope’s fatherly love and guidance with our filial, grateful affection.

May we be guided, too, in striving to CHRIST’S SHPHERDING LOVE as we lead a simple holy life. Amen!

Word & Life, Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB and Luisa M. Lacson, HFL

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken (right) chats with South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam (left) and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki before a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se in Seoul on Tuesday. Jung Yeon-je/AP

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A7

FORMER La Salle volley star and Power Camp Volleyball Director Michelle Gumabao (third from left) poses with (from left) Power Camp Football Director Thomas Lozano, Sports Development General Manager Richard Bachmann and Marketing Director Blen Fernando during the press launch of the Alaska Power Camp, which includes basketball, volleyball and football, at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Makati City on Friday. For details and schedule, visit www. alaskapowercamp.com.

A senior’s brush with paint and canvas

CHINA NEEDS FRIENDS, NOT ENEMIES, IN SOUTH CHINA SEA–BLINKEN

@llectura

he Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved the power-supply contracts between the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and three power producers, giving the utility firm more flexibility in sourcing its power requirements, especially in situations when demand is high that would Continued on A2 pull up electricity cost.

thai takes 4-shot lead BusinessMirror

By Lenie Lectura

P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 16 pages | 7 days a week

‘Don’t give up on rice self-sufficiency goal’

By David Cagahastian

W

@ davecaga

ith the adverse effects of climate change now being matters of certainty rather than of speculation, it is imperative for the Philippines to continue pursuing food security, particularly self-sufficiency in rice.

And despite the obvious lagging behind of the Philippines with its Asean peers in producing rice, the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) still be-

PESO exchange rates n US 46.3840

lieves that rice self-sufficiency can still be done.

“Food security is the most important thing. Especially with the threats posed by climate change, we cannot be reliant upon other countries for the need for food of our population, which has already reached more than 100 million,” said CDA Chairman Orlando R. Ravanera in an exclusive interview with the BusinessMirror.

Ravanera admits the Philippines has lagged behind its peers in the Asean in

producing rice, after once being a leader, not only in Asean, but in the whole of Asia, in producing rice, which explains why it became the host to the International Rice Research Institute (Irri), which was established in the 1960s.

Production cost of palay

According to figures from the CDA, the production cost of a kilo of palay in the Philippines is P23 per kilo, which is so much higher than the production

eijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea is more likely to create adversaries who would unite against China rather than advance its interests, United States Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told university students in Hanoi on Thursday.

“Often what happens in history when one nation emerges and rises is that other nations get very nervous,” Blinken said. When the rising nation “uses its size and strength, not its ideas, to advance its interest, it’s going to create adversaries,” and other countries will get together to prevent its rise, he said.

China’s claims to more than four-fifths of the South China Sea and the ongoing militarization of its land-reclamation projects have sparked tensions with other Southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam. The US contends that the militarization of the islands may hinder navigation in waters that carry more than $5 trillion of seaborne trade a year.

On a visit to the Vietnamese capital ahead of a state visit there by President Barack Obama next month, Blinken emphasized that US policy in the region was not about containing China.

“On the contrary, it is to welcome its emergence as a strong and important participant in the international system, one that meets its responsibilities as a leading member of that system,” Blinken said. “And that’s why we work to deepen our own cooperation with China in many different areas.

But with the emergence of China as a leading nation comes responsibilities, and that’s what we also care about.”

Following last week ’s announcement by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter that US and Philippine forces had already begun joint naval patrols in the South China Sea and would immediately begin air operations over the area, Blinken said the US would “defend our national interest and support our allies and partners in the region. We are not looking for bases but we will continue to sail, to fly, to operate anywhere that international law allows.”

Strengthening ties

Calling on China to draw inspiration from the example set by the US following World War II, Blinken said he hoped China would “uphold, respect and even add to” international rules and institutions, and “resolve disputes peacefully, not corrosively.”

See “China,” A2

Continued on A2

n japan 0.4239 n UK 66.4172 n HK 5.9798 n CHINA 7.1569 n singapore 34.3814 n australia 35.8827 n EU 52.3536 n SAUDI arabia 12.3724

Source: BSP (22 April 2016 )

BMReports

A2 Saturday, April 23, 2016

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Data of all Filipino voters hacked

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China. . .

Continued from A1

Blinken, who received a standing ovation from the audience inside a packed auditorium at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said the outcome of the November presidential election was unlikely to affect his country’s engagement and focus in the Asia-Pacific region, which, he added, would continue no matter who was president.

Citing areas, including regional security, military cooperation, trade, business, human rights, education and peacekeeping, Blinken said the US relationship with Vietnam—war adversaries only four decades ago—was about “deepening and broadening ties in areas that we couldn’t even imagine that we could even talk about

much less do together just a few years ago.”

Human rights

Nevertheless, Blinken said the US urged the Vietnamese government to “release all political prisoners, cease harassment, arrest and prosecution of anyone—journalists, bloggers, civil- society activists or students—for exercising their internationally recognized rights,” adding that “no one should be imprisoned for peacefully expressing political views.” He said the US also encourages Vietnam to “quickly and impartially investigate allegations of police abuse, which aggressively feeds a sense of injustice and erodes social stability.” Bloomberg News

‘Don’t give up on rice self-sufficiency goal’ Continued from A1

cost of palay in Thailand, where farmers are able to produce a kilo of the country’s staple for only P15. At these prices, Filipino farmers are at risk of being eaten up by cheap imports of rice.

These cheap imports have driven many economists, including the National Economic Development Authority, to believe it would be better for the Philippines to abandon its goal of rice self-sufficiency, seen by many pragmatists as a chivalric dream, since rice is held dear

by Filipinos for being their staple food.

Former Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno believes the country’s agrarian-reform program could have hurt the rice industry, since the small farmlands, now owned by individual farmers, produce less palay than the bigger landholdings from which these small farmlands came from.

Lifting of quantitative restriction

Another imminent problem that threatens the very livelihood of rice farmers is the lifting of the quantitative restrictions allowed by the World Trade Organization for the Philippines to impose until June 30, 2017.

The protectionist policy shields the domestic market from being flooded by cheap rice imports by setting a minimum-access volume (MAV) of 805,200 metric tons. Imports falling within this are slapped a lower tariff.

The rationale behind the protectionist policy is to ensure that, by the time the quantitative restriction is lifted, Filipino farmers would have already achieved enough efficiency to be able to compete with the incoming cheap imports of rice.

But with the production cost of palay still high, it would appear the Filipino farmers are still not capable of competing.

Economy of scale

There are many government officials, such as Ravanera, however, who still believe Filipino farmers may achieve competitiveness by banding together through cooperatives to make rice production more efficient and cheaper.

Earlier this week Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala also called on the next administration to continue the programs to achieve rice self-sufficiency, in which goal he had failed despite having declared at the beginning of his term six years ago that the Philippines would be self-sufficient in rice by the end of the Aquino administration.

Ravanera said the key to making the agricultural sector competitive is to add value to their harvests by processing the raw products into higher value by-products of the raw produce, such as making chopsticks out of bamboo, animal feeds out of corn, or coco sugar out of coconut.

He said the same principle applies to palay, which can be turned into rice by the farmers themselves by banding together into cooperatives to buy the necessary equipment.

Credit-surety funds

It is in the area of capital expenditures, which the CDA and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) hope to help cooperatives increase productivity and income to make them competitive against the expected influx of agricultural products from neighboring Asean countries.

Under the new Credit Surety Fund Cooperative Act, credit-surety funds shall be established from contributions from member-cooperatives, local government units and government financial institutions, like the Land Bank of the Philippines. The credit-surety funds shall be administered by a trustee bank, which shall invest the fund to make it sustainable. The said funds shall also be turned into collateral, which a member-cooperative can use when it contracts out a loan from the private banking sector.

The CDA and the BSP are drafting the implementing rules and regulations for the new law, which is expected to be out before the end of the Aquino administration.

Philippine elections database leak, which could have exposed personal details of all 55 million registered voters, will not undermine the May 9 national elections, officials said on Friday in the latest hacking scandal to hit the Southeast Asian nation.

Gover nment agents on late Wednesday arrested a 23-year-old suspect, a new graduate of information technology, in his home in Manila. Officials said they are hunting down his alleged accomplices.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Spokesman James Jimenez said the automated elections will be run on a different server, not on the one that was hacked, and that experts

say the polls are unlikely to be compromised. The leaked data include voters’ names, birthdays, home addresses, e-mail, parents’ full names and, in some cases, passport details and text markers of fingerprints.

A hacker group defaced the web site of the Comelec last month, and a second hacker group posted the entire database online, with mirror links where the data could also be

downloaded, according to a research posted on April 6 by Internet security company Trend Micro.

The Tokyo-based company first reported on the breach on its web site.

The commission said it had shut down its web site.

Presidential Spokesman Herminio B. Coloma condemned the cyberattack and said government agencies were closely coordinating with the commission to further strengthen its security protocols. He vowed to prosecute the perpetrators.

“Although verifications that have been made thus far have shown that the integrity of the automated election system has not been affected by the latest cyberattack, we share the public’s concern on the il effects of this act,” he said. Trend Micro said, with the breach, “every registered voter in the Philippines is now susceptible to fraud and other risks.”

“With 55 million registered voters in the Philippines, this leak may turn

out as one of the biggest governmentrelated data breaches in history,” it said.

The data dumps include 15.8 million records of fingerprints, it added.

There are 54.3 million registered voters in the country and 1.3 million overseas. Jimenez said the leaked data that were uploaded online were not fingerprints but text markers that cannot recreate the fingerprints.

The latest hacking scandal comes amid an investigation into the cyber theft of $101 million from the Bangladesh central bank’s account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the money’s transfer to the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

The Philippine Senate inquiry has shown that $81 million was diverted to bank accounts created with fictitious names at a branch of a Philippine bank, consolidated and then shifted to Philippine casinos and junket operators through a local remittance company. Related story on A3 and A6. AP

ERC OKs Meralco Ipsas with 3 plants Continued from a1

“Per records of the commission, Meralco received on April 15, 2016, the commission’s letter informing them that the three interim power-supply agreements [Ipsas] they have filed are approved, subject to certain conditions,” ERC Spokesman Rexie Digal said in an interview.

Meralco signed separate Ipsa with Toledo Power Corp. (TPC), Panay Power Cor p. (PPC) and 1590 Energy Corp. in January.

However, these contracts need to be approved by the ERC before they can be implemented.

Under the agreements, the TPC will supply Meralco up to 28 megawatts (MW) from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., from Monday to Saturday, until the contract expires on February 25, 2017. PPC, meanwhile, will sell up to 45 MW to Meralco from 10 a.m. to 9 a.m., from Monday to Saturday.

The Ipsa between Meralco and PPC will also expire on February 25, 2017, unless terminated earlier or extended.

The PPC owns and operates a 72-MW diesel-fired power plant in La Paz, Iloilo City. The TPC, meanwhile, owns and operates a 40-MW diesel power plant in Toledo City, Cebu.

Meralco also signed a similar agreement with 1590 Energy Corp.

The Ipsa states that Meralco will source 170 MW from the plant powered by bunker oil from February 26 to July 26, 2016, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., from Monday to Saturday.

Besides this, Meralco may also opt to source up to 170 MW from the same power plant from July 26, 2016 to February 25, 2017, during the same schedule.

1590 operates and manages the

RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE ARE AFFECTING NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LUZON EASTERLIES AFFECTING EASTERN SECTION OF SOUTHERN LUZON, VISAYAS AND MINDANAO (APRIL 22, 5:00 PM)

energy output of the 215-MW bunker-oil-fired diesel-engine power plant in Bauang, La Union.

Meralco, for its part, said the Ipsas would give f lexibility to optimize its sourcing of power. “ This is especially true during period of high demand and tight supply, when there is pressure for spot-market prices to increase,” Meralco Head for Utility Economics Lawrence Fernandez said in an interview.

Meralco, in its applications, said it must immediately implement these Ipsas “to reduce the company’s WESM [Wholesale Electricity Spot Market] purchases, and protect its customers from forecast high WESM prices, to help ensure reasonable prices for such customers, especially during the summer months of 2016.”

WESM is the country’s trad-

ing f loor for electr icit y, where distributors are exposed to volatile prices, as demand and supply drive power costs.

If the Ipsas are not implemented during the said period, Meralco will be constrained to source from the WESM where prices are volatile, especially during the summer months, Meralco said, adding that this can be further aggravated and would likely result in higher WESM prices in light of the very tight supply under thin reservema rg in cond it ions du r ing t he said period.

Meralco said the Ipsa with PPC and TPC would result in an overall savings of P0.0074 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and P0.0003 per kWh, respectively.

Meanwhile, savings from the Ipsa between Meralco and 1590 is expected at P0.0541 per kWh.

News BusinessMirror

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Saturday, April 23, 2016 A3

Aquino blamed for Comelec data breach

By Butch Fernandez

A

@butchBM

CONGRESS-approved bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), which for months has been awaiting President Aquino’s signature, contains key provisions effectively deterring cybercrimes, such as the massive voter-data breach that is now feared to provide identity theft rings with a treasure trove of details to carry out all sorts of fraud—including making bogus accounts in banks for money launderers, among others. See related story on page A6.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto pointed to the unsigned DICT bill when asked about the recent Commision on Elections (Comelec) data breach that has raised concerns of identity theft rings having a field day harvesting personal data of voters for various uses.

This developed as Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. voiced concerns that the Comelec data breach “puts the credibility of the May 9 elections on the line.”

In a statement, Marcos advised the Comelec to treat the incident as “a very serious matter” because it not only affects the credibility of the elections, but the “safety and security of every Filipino voter,” as well.

“The Comelec should treat this as a dangerous security breach because voters’ data are made accessible to the public,” the senator said, referring to the web site www.wehaveyourdata.com, where hackers uploaded voter details from the breached Comelec web site, including birth dates, fingerprints, passport details and addresses, among others.

Saying the Comelec should explain how it happened in the first place, Marcos also prodded the poll body to “swiftly conduct a thorough probe on the incident, as it constitutes an attack on the voters’ right to privacy.”

“There are crucial informatioin that the Comelec has secured from the voters. These are personal data entrusted to the poll body by the Filipino people,” Marcos added.

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, on the other hand, indicated that senators will likely seek a “full briefing” from government investigators to assess the need for additional remedial legislation to prevent a repeat of the Comelec data breach.

“We need a full briefing from the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] Anti-cybercrime Division and other informationtechnology experts to guide us in crafting protective legislation to avert future eventualities,” Sotto said in a text meessage to the BusinessMirror.

Recto told the BusinessMirror that even before the revelations at the Senate Blue-Ribbon Committee inquiry into the $81-million cyber heist money-laundering case affirming the apparent ease with which bogus accounts can be created with help from unscrupulous bank personnel, lawmakers have approved preventive legislation, such as the pending DICT bill to deter cybercrimes.

Asked what remedial measures would lawmakers consider to pitch to banks and regulators to avoid the Comelec files on voters’ personal data being used for such evil designs, Recto replied: “For President Aquino to sign the DICT bill. It is included there.”

Under the awaited bill passed by the Senate and the House months ago, a new government agency, DICT would be created to focus on the development of the country’s growing information and communications technology (ICT) sector.

The National Telecommunications Commission, the National Privacy Commission and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center, would be attached to the DICT for the coordination and implementation of the country’s cybersecurity policies and programs.

As approved by Congress, the DICT would be created by merging existing ICT-related agencies under the departments of Science and Technology, and Transportation and Communications; namely, the Information and Communications Technology Office, the National Computer Center, the National Computer Institute, the Telecommunications Office and the National Telecommunications Training Institute.

Recto added that the pending law primarily intends to promote digital literacy and ICT expertise across the country, but also provides safeguards to address cybercrimes.

A4 Saturday, April 23, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

The reality of our foreign relations

T

he Philippines and Filipinos are usually characterized as being warm and friendly, particularly to foreigners who visit our shores. It is good to have that reputation not just for the potential financial benefits, but that it shows what kind of people we are.

However, this tendency to present a big smile on our faces and a song in our hearts may cloud our judgment of the real world. Like it or not, it is a jungle out there, where the innocent can become lunch for those that are not so innocent.

Whatever else the comments of presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte in regard to Philippines-Australian relations may mean, the reality is that all nations act in their own self-interest.

There is no reason to defend Duterte. That is not the point. But in response to his comments, some recalled the “generosity” of the Australian government last year, when it donated two landing-craft heavy vessels and a package of spare parts to the Philippine Navy. Certainly, we should thank the Australians for giving us two of their own decommissioned ships that they no longer want.

It would be rude not to thank them, as with any charitable donation given to someone less fortunate. Perhaps, though, there might be a small hidden agenda.

The Aquino administration shut down foreign mining investments in the Philippines back in 2010. Now, we would not be implying that the ship donation less than a year before a new administration should be suspect. But it is interesting that the Australian senior trade commissioner recently made it very clear what that country wants from the next president. Anthony Weymouth recently said, “It is disappointing that it [mining] has not been given emphasis,” describing how the administration of President Aquino has handled the industry.

Weymouth: “It depends on the next administration. There must be an emphasis on mining.” Australian-Canadian mining company OceanaGold’s Country Director Bradley Norman echoed the sentiments of Weymouth that the next administration should give priority to the mining industry. The above quotes are taken from an interview conducted by the BusinessMirror.

The United States is an important ally of the Philippines, but again let’s be realistic. In 2012 then-US Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta made trips to both Thailand and Vietnam, seeking to open doors for the return of US military aircraft and ships to be based in both countries. Thailand did not want its important relations with China clouded by a US presence. Vietnam did not want to have to check with the US as it makes its foreign-relation decisions.

The first American President, George Washington, said as he was leaving office, “There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation.” In other words, in the normal course of international relations, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Every nation expects to get something back in return.

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Crazy campaign; crazy markets John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

R

egardless of where your “loyalty” lies in the upcoming national elections, you have to admit that this campaign season has been wild and crazy. I suppose you could write the movie script as a slapstick comedy just as easily as a dark drama with all of what had happened and what had been said.

Now take that thought and apply it to the global financial and asset markets, and you will understand where I am going with this.

This whole mess started in 2007-2008 with the banks creating investment vehicles based on loaning money to people to buy real estate in the US and Europe that was overpriced, knowing the borrowers could never repay the loans. Then the governments and central banks loaned money to the banks that had made these loans to keep them from going bankrupt. Are we laughing or crying yet?

As a result of the real-estate market collapse, the economies took a big

fall. So the central banks reduced interest rates to zero to get people who were losing their jobs to borrow to buy stuff. Meanwhile, the Chinese government was spending money to build cities that no one could afford to buy and live in just to keep people employed. Does this make any sense yet?

The governments and central banks pumped money into the banking system that went to buying the stock markets, which, of course, went to historic highs...repeatedly until now. Corporate profits were not going up, and these same corporations were borrowing money—not to expand—but to buy their stock

The governments and central banks pumped money into the banking system that went to buying the stock markets, which of course went to historic highs...repeatedly until now. Corporate profits were not going up and these same corporations were borrowing money—not to expand —but to buy their stock to keep the prices high. to keep the prices high. Are you still following me?

With all this stock-price nonsense going on, the central banks tried to convince people who owned stock that they were wealthy and would, hopefully, then buy stuff. It hasn’t worked. So they decided to take interest rates to below zero. That is, if you parked your money, you would actually lose value, like loaning to the Swedish government and getting back less than you loaned. It made more sense to go out and buy stuff, but no one has been doing that.

The stock markets and now the credit markets are broken and not

reflecting any genuine sense of value or worth.

Now, we turn to the last liquid asset market left on earth—the commodity markets. Never mind that the biggest user of iron ore on the planet —China—has flat demand, iron-ore prices are up 50 percent since the middle of January. Sure, you can find reports that Chinese steel-company purchases went up 6.5 percent last month. But in the first two months of the year, China imported 87 percent of its total demand for the year.

Crude-oil prices are up 58 percent this year. Here also, never mind that global production has never been any higher and growing, but maybe, just maybe it won’t go up much more even as demand is down from 2015, but might, just might, go up later this year.

If you think the political world is acting a little bizarre, it is nothing compared to the global markets.

When is 2016 ever going to end?

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by COL Financial Group Inc.

Signing on to a more secure and stable world

By Federica Mogherini

European Commission High Representative and Vice President

& Arias Cañete

Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action

T

he signing of the Paris Agreement in New York on Friday will be a historic event and an important step toward implementing the world’s first global climate deal.

A record number of countries is expected to attend: The whole world is committed to turning the promises we made in Paris into concrete action. The Paris spirit is alive and well—and moving forward.

In the past years, we had listened to so many gloomy predictions that a universal agreement would be impossible to achieve. Indeed, there were strong reasons for being sceptic. But our faith in diplomacy and multilateral cooperation has paid off. And we must say out loud that Europe has played a crucial role in creating consensus around a 195 countries-strong deal.

In the run-up to the Paris climate conference, our Union mobilized its network of 3,000 European Union delegations and member-state embassies across the globe. This dialogue with our partner-countries, the general public, the business community and civil-society organizations has helped us build a global

coalition to fight climate change.

This is European diplomacy at its very best: working together for the good of Europe and the whole world.

During the conference, Europe was a strong voice for ambition.

Our climate diplomacy set up a network of alliances with the group of 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states. We engaged with both big players and smaller developing countries to aim for the highest level of ambition. This now-famous High Ambition Coalition was the game changer in Paris.

And our work goes on. Paris was just the beginning. Building on the successful alliances we made in the run-up to and during Paris will be crucial: We will need each other’s help to keep on track toward a global clean-energy transition. That is the only way to limit global warming to well below 2°C and limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. Globa l temperat ures have

reached record levels. The impact of climate change continues to threaten lives and destabilize entire regions. Collective action worldwide is more vital than ever.

Desertification and drought foster mass movements of people, spread epidemics and create conflicts for the control of resources. Climate change is already a foreign-policy issue: It affects our security right now, not in a distant future.

Tackling this global threat must continue to be at the heart of the European external action—all 28 EU foreign ministers have agreed on that. Addressing the direct and indirect security effects of climate change will be an important part of the new EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy to be presented to the European Council next June.

It is a complex threat, but we already have many of the tools we need to address climate fragility and limit risks to peace. Our partners in the G7 are also working hard to identify concrete areas for action. And yet, our strategies on climate change, development, humanitarian aid and peace-building issues need to be more strongly integrated. All our policies must keep an eye on climate-change issues, as suggested by the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

When time is short and financial resources are limited, we cannot afford duplications and inconsistencies. National climate-adaptation program could identify and promote the cobenefits and synergies with other areas, such as economic and social development, health, environment, and also peace.

Our priority now is to go for an early ratification and entry into force of the Paris Agreement. This would send an important signal to the world: European governments are serious about climate change, and we will put into practice what was agreed on paper.

For the same reason we cannot lose any time in bringing into play the climate action plans we prepared in advance of Paris. We will support our partners across the world as they prepare for implementation, and we will keep engaging with non-State actors, such as businesses, cities and many others. Everyone has to play his or her part in the collective global effort ahead.

It is time to get down to the hard work of delivering on the Paris’s promises. We will need the same ambition and shared sense of direction, which brought about the deal. Our Union will keep leading the way—as it has always done—toward a greener and safer planet.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Students need venue to think, communicate, build confidence and self-respect

Veritas Truth Survey on Servant Leadership of 2016 presidential candidates Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

Jemain Diaz de Rivera

Forward Moving

T

he Philippines is the third-largest English-speaking country in the world, over 100 million in population, over 40 million work force, almost 700,000 graduates taking higher education, with a 93-percent literacy rate. We have a scalable educated talent pool and the numbers are the primary reason the country is enjoying rapid growth in the information-technology and business-process management (IT-BPM) industry. By the end of this year, the industry will be fully employing 1.3 million Filipinos and earning $25 billion.

The Service Management Program (SMP) was created by the IT & Business Process Association Philippines (Ibpap) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to help students develop competencies needed for a career in IT-BPM. It is available to students taking tertiary education. Subjects included in SMP are Business Communication, Service Culture, Fundamentals of Business Process Outsourcing 101 and 102, Principles of System Thinking, and Internship Program.

Recognizing the importance and benefits of having obtained higher education, senators late last year argued for the need to infuse more resources into higher education in consideration of the country’s low investment in this sector compared to its Asean neighbors.

According to CHED documents, the last two decades saw governments elsewhere focus on contribution to global competitiveness through research and vigorous initiatives to develop human capital. The Philippine per-capita expenditure in higher education is $548, which is slightly lower than that of Cambodia ($593) and is a far cry from those of Indonesia ($1,181), Thailand ($1,883) and Vietnam ($1,327)— which invested in higher education more than twice as much as the Philippines between 2010 and 2012— and Malaysia ($9.753) and Singapore ($16,247), which spent about 17 and 29 times more, respectively.

Building intellectual capital is the single most important investment to become globally competitive.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) recommends a gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) that is 1 percent of GDP. Philippine GERD was less than 0.2 percent, Indonesia .08 percent, Vietnam .05 percent and Malaysia 2.10 of GDP in 2007.

Late last year the Senate specifically proposed sourcing funds to

cover the tuition of undergraduate students in state universities and colleges. The CHED welcomes the Senate’s intention to infuse more funds into public higher education. Opportunities are highly skewed against the poor and the cash-strapped lower middle class due to inequitable structure of Philippine society, thus government subsidy for the deserving poor must be higher than for non-poor students. The funds that would have gone to paying for the full tuition of rich students could be spent instead in building the physical and human infrastructure.

Instead of the proposed onesize- fits-all free-tuition policy, the CHED appeals for a more propoor policy that will also enhance the relevance and quality of Philippine higher education in the long term.

Based on the position paper of the CHED, it is imperative to invest strategically and in a big way in higher education to improve both equity and quality within the development context of the Philippines, and the collaborative and competitive context of the Asean Economic Community. At the end of the day, propoor and proquality investments in higher education, instead of an undifferentiated tuition policy, are better investments in the future of the Filipino.

For the past few years I had the opportunity to visit state universities and college campuses in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, reaching out to students, sharing with them career opportunities, interacting with student leaders who are future contributors to their local economy.

I met with future leaders who deserve the best professors, classrooms, libraries, facilities and Internet connectivity. They are young great minds that need the right environment and venue to nurture, inspire, and motivate not just ideas and conversation but also confidence and self-respect.

E-mail: jemain_diaz_de_rivera@yahoo.com.

L

ast Wednesday, April 20, I joined Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, DD, and member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani Jr., DD, for the public presentation of the results of the Veritas Truth Survey on Servant Leadership qualities of the 2016 presidential candidates for the forthcoming national elections.

The nationwide survey on voters’ perception of the servant qualities of the candidates for the highest post of the land, held during the first quarter of 2016 by Radio Veritas, asked respondents to rank the five presidential candidates based on the 10 qualities of a servant leader (listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of the people, and building community).

The Veritas Truth Survey is being conducted to know if candidates for the coming election possess qualities of a servant leader based on the points of view of the voting public and to assess how such qualities would affect voters’ decisions.

Based on the results, most

Filipinos viewed independent presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe to have the qualities of a servant leader after being at the top spot in 9 out of 10 qualities of a servant leader and with an overall percentage of 59 percent.

She was followed by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago of the People’s Reform Party who has been consistently ranked second in half of the given traits and had an overall percentage of 51 percent.

PDP-Laban standard-bearer Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Liberal Party bet former Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II tied for the third spot, both garnering 44 percent. Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Al-

BLOOMBERG VIEW

A

dvocates of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union have pounced on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ill-advised decision to allow the prosecution of satirist Jan Boehmermann for an obscene poem about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. To them, the German leader has illustrated the unacceptable compromises the European Union’s (EU) dysfunctional nature forces nations to accept. That may be right to a degree, but Merkel is walking a domestic tightrope, and she’s beginning to wobble.

Earlier this week London Mayor Boris Johnson, one of the most eloquent campaigners for a UK exit, wrote a column criticizing Merkel for not rejecting Erdogan’s demand that Boehmermann be prosecuted: “The process of EU integration means the wholesale erosion of democracy; and it would seem that protecting that process means the erosion of free speech, as well. The

whole thing is infamous.”

Johnson is not alone. In a blog post for The Spectator, Douglas Murray announced an Erdogan limerick contest, and a reader contributed a 1,000-pound prize for the winner, to be announced by June 23—the day of the referendum on withdrawal, “because we may not be able to announce it after that point.”

Referring to Erdogan’s efforts to

The Veritas Truth Survey is being conducted to know if candidates for the coming election possess qualities of a servant leader based on the points of view of the voting public and to assess how such qualities would affect voters’ decisions. Respondents were asked to rank the five presidential candidates based on the 10 qualities of a servant leader.

liance (UNA) ranked last in half of the given traits and has obtained an overall percentage of 41 percent of the respondents.

When all scores given to each candidate per servant leadership trait were averaged, the survey showed that the respondents viewed the candidates to have these qualities: awareness (61 percent); listening (56 percent); conceptualization (53 percent); empathy (51 percent) and foresight (50 percent).

Getting less than 50 percent of the average percentage, respondents thought that candidates have lack of persuasion (45 percent); stewardship (45 percent); commitment to growth (43 percent); building

community (41 percent) and healing (34 percent).

These qualities are adapted from the servant-leadership theoretical framework first proposed by Robert K. Greenleaf. He was the founder of the modern Servant Leadership Movement and the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. To further define Greenleaf’s paradigm shift, Larry C. Spears, executive director of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership, identified 10 characteristics of a servant leader in his paper, titled “On Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders.”

The Veritas Truth Survey was conducted by the research department of Radio Veritas, headed by Dr. Clifford Sorita. The survey was conducted among 1, 200 respondents from urban and rural areas nationwide. Respondents were chosen on the basis of stratified random sampling, with +/- 3 percent margin of error. The full results may be viewed at www.veritas846.ph.

To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www. caritasmanila.org.ph. For your donations, please call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 09997943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857. Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.

Trump is getting great people (for the wrong side) Jonathan Bernstein

I

BLOOMBERG VIEW

t’s already too late for Republicans to avoid some of the damage Donald Trump will do to their prospects in congressional elections this year.

How can we know this now? After all, it’s still unclear if he will get the GOP nomination or, if he does, if he’ll do as badly in the general election as polls now say he will. If he’s the party’s standard-bearer, and if Republicans unite around him, he will almost certainly wind up somewhat more popular than he is now.

Yet, even if things go really well for Republicans at the presidential level in November, Trump already has cost them. This is because partisan swings in congressional elections—like those Republicans took advantage of in 2010 and 2014 and Democrats exploited in 2006 and 2008—work in two different ways.

There is the direct effect: Voters turn against a party or its president, and seek to punish those running for

office from that party.

But indirect effects are important too, and can matter even if voters in House and Senate contests have no larger partisan motives at all. This is because expectations in congressional elections can be self-fulfilling.

If “everyone” believes 2016 will be a good year for Democrats, for example, then Democrats will recruit a strong field of politicians, while Republicans will struggle to find good candidates. Donors and other activists will react to expected conditions, too, making a maximum effort if things seem to be going well or, by contrast, saving their money and effort for another year if things look bad.

In a good year for the party favored by national conditions, then

Merkel’s blunder doesn’t justify UK exit Leonid Bershidsky

Saturday, April 23, 2016 A5

protect himself from criticism in Turkey, Murray wrote, “Many of us had assumed that these lesemajeste laws would not yet be put in place inside Europe. At least not until David Cameron succeeds in his long-held ambition to bring Turkey fully into the EU. Yet, here we are. Erdogan’s rule now already extends to Europe.”

These critics assume that Merkel’s motivation is to appease Erdogan and preserve a shaky deal to alleviate the refugee crisis that depends on Turkey’s resolve to accept illegal immigrants deported by EU nations. The chancellor’s motivation is probably much more complex, though.

The prosecution of Boehmermann is extremely unpopular with German voters. So, too, is an opendoor policy toward refugees. Merkel now has to figure out which of two bad options is worse.

She must have decided that getting a handle on the refugee crisis is more important, primarily because it’s increasingly hurting her with her own party. Her political mentor, former Chancellor Helmut

MERKEL

Kohl, who has avoided politics in recent years, has come out with harsh criticism of Merkel’s policy on refugees. On April 17 the daily Der Tagesspiegel published the preface to the Hungarian edition of his book, entitled Out of Concern for Europe, which contained the following quote about refugees: “The solution is to be found in the affected regions. It is not to be found in Europe. Europe cannot be the new homeland for the millions of people who are in danger worldwide.”

Kohl presented this for publica-

Overall, quite a few more Republican seats than Democratic seats are in jeopardy so far this cycle, many of them because of such strategic decisions by politicians. Even if Republicans manage to solve their top-of-the-ticket troubles (or if Hillary Clinton proves to be an unusually weak candidate for the Democrats), a lot is locked in already for the 2016 cycle. voters in many districts will see strong, well-funded candidates with professional campaigns. For the party facing adversity at the national level, the candidates will be weaker. Even if times have changed by election day, some voters may well favor the stronger candidates, regardless of party.

That’s the theory (see Gary Jacobson and Jamie Carson, “The Politics of Congressional Elections”). It explains, among other things, the Republican blowout in the House in 2010. Not only did Barack Obama’s

approval ratings stink that year. Republicans also benefited from the vast difference between the quality of their challengers to Democratic incumbents (measured by political experience) and that of Democratic challengers to Republicans.

This year more experienced Democrats are choosing to run for the House, putting Republican-held seats in play. For example, the Cook Political Report this week downgraded one Minnesota seat from “likely” Republican to only “lean” Republican, after a Democratic state senator whom Cook analyst David Wasserman considered a “good fit” for the district jumped into the race.

Overall, quite a few more Republican seats than Democratic seats are in jeopardy so far this cycle, many of them because of such strategic decisions by politicians. Even if Republicans manage to solve their top-ofthe-ticket troubles (or if Hillary Clinton proves to be an unusually weak candidate for the Democrats), a lot is locked in already for the 2016 cycle.

And what if the presidential election really is a blowout for Democrats? It’s possible, though still unlikely, that Democrats could wind up with unified control of Congress.

tion in Germany ahead of his April 18 meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, an admirer and something of a protégé in the 1990s.

Orban, who has taken a leading role in eastern Europe’s fight against accepting refugees, asked for a quiet meeting, but Kohl chose to publicize it, which was interpreted as a way to express his dissatisfaction with the way Merkel has steered his party, CDU, on immigration.

Kohl is a respected figure in CDU ranks, an elder statesman, one of the fathers of the modern EU who set up Germany’s leadership by pushing through the country’s unification. His view of the union includes closer ties with the eastern European nations, which he helped liberate from Communism. The irritation of Hungarians, Czechs and Poles with Merkel doesn’t fit the party’s mission as established under Kohl.

Merkel is sensitive to intraparty rebellions, and it’s important to her to preserve the deal with Turkey.

That doesn’t mean that she wants to impose Erdogan’s laws on the German press, as the British com-

mentators suggest. It’s in Merkel’s nature to find compromise and make trade-offs. Handing Boehmermann to the justice system—which most likely will acquit him or hand him a light sentence, though certainly not send him to prison—may cause less damage to her than letting off the comedian and endangering the deal with Turkey.

That doesn’t sound principled, and it damages Merkel’s image as a leader who stands up for liberal values. Yet, she’s a politician in a tough spot, and Boehmermann helped put her there.

As Merkel announced her decision to let the prosecution proceed, she said the German law against insulting foreign countries’ leaders would be abolished by 2018: She has no intention of putting “lese-majeste laws in place inside Europe.” Her efforts at damage control may be cynical and unsavory, but they indicate nothing about the EU’s supposed undemocratic leanings—on the contrary, these decisions have to do with German politics. UK politicians play such games, too.

A6 Saturday, April 23, 2016 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

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Lawmakers hit Comelec for data breach

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

AWMAKERS want the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to account for the 1.3 million passport data and 15.8 million fingerprints that were stolen by hackers from the poll body’s computer system.

Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian of Valenzuela and Party-list Reps. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna and Terry Ridon of Kabataan said the stolen voters’ information has been published in wehaveyourdata.com, with hacker group LulzSec Pilipinas aiming to make the government “start thinking about security of citizens’ personal data.”

“What is alarming is that this crucial data is just in plain text and accessible [to] everyone, including cyber criminals who can use the leaked personal information of Filipino voters for extortion and other illegal activities,” Gatchalian said.

On Thursday agents of the National Bureau of Investigation Cybercrime Division arrested in Sampaloc, Manila, a suspect in the Comelec web-site hacking, who turned out to be a 23-year-old fresh information-technology graduate.

Colmenares, meanwhi le, scored the commission for its criminal neglect and incompetence, which allowed a massive data leak of its database, saying the leak included sensitive information of registered voters, from their addresses, birthdates and

even passport numbers.

“Not only was the Comelec web site easily hacked, the culled data was also uploaded to a web site and exposed the sensitive and personal information of millions of Filipino voters to identity thieves and other predators. All cases of identity theft now could be blamed on the Comelec,” he said.

“The Comelec has utterly failed in its obligation to protect the fundamental human right of privacy of the Filipino people. The situation endangers the security, life and property of each one of us,” he added.

Under the Data Privacy Act, or Republic Act 10173, the lawmaker said it is the responsibility of the head of the agency to ensure that sensitive and personal information it maintains remain secure, using the most appropriate information and communications technology standards.

“Under the same law, negligence of the agency, resulting in a large-scale breach, is punishable by imprisonment of up to six years, fine and disqualification to hold public office. The agency must also be held accountable

for concealment of this security breach, which is, likewise, punishable by imprisonment, fine and disqualification,” he added.

Moreover, Trend Micro, a global security software company, said the defacement and subsequent leak of the Comelec’s entire database online “may turn out as the biggest government-related data breach in history.”

“The report by Trend Micro is alarming, considering that the cyber attack on the Comelec web site left 55 million Philippine voters at risk, even surpassing the US Office of Personnel Management hack in 2015 that leaked personal data of 20 million US citizens,” Gatchalian said.

Gatchalian added it is imperative for the Comelec to assure all political parties, candidates and the voting population that all their systems, from the Internet web site to the transmission of votes from the vote-counting machines, are free from hacking and other forms of manipulation.

“The Comelec, under Chairman Andres Bautista, owes it to the Filipino people that the results of the May 9 polls will be reflective of the actual votes made. A credible election will ensure that our elected leaders will truly be the choice of the people,” he said.

Trend Micro reported that the personal data of 1.3 million overseas Filipino voters, which included passport numbers and expiry dates, as well as fingerprints of 15.8 million people, were compromised in the hacking of the Comelec’s web site on March 27.

Trend Micro also reported that, in previous cases of data breach, stolen data have been used to access bank accounts, gather further

RPS, Green-Energy Option guidelines to be released before Aquino bows out–Monsada

By Bong D. Fabe Correspondent

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AN CARLOS CITY—The Department of Energy (DOE) is now working double time to finalize and release before end of June the twin guidelines on the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and the Green-Energy Option, Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada said.

Republic Act (RA) 9513, or the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, which the 14th Congress passed in July 2008 and signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in December 2008, mandated these twin-policy prescriptions in order to make investments in the renewable-energy (RE) sector viable and profitable for developers.

Once enforced, the RPS and Green-Energy Option program will mean additional incentives for RE developers to invest, as it will also provide them additional market for their capacities.

RPS will “require all distribution utilities [DOS] to have certain percentage of RE in their mix,” Monsada said. This means that once enforced, all DU companies must source part of their supply from RE sources, as it generally sets a percentage as to the level of RE capacity that power producers must come up with.

It was learned that the DOE is now fine-tuning the draft of the RPS guidelines, prepared by formerAE-

MONSADA

nergy Secretary Jericho Petilla. The first RPS draft came out in 2012, but has been gathering dust in the DOE archives.

Section 6 of RA 9513 states, “All stakeholders in the electric power industry shall contribute to the growth of the RE industry of the country.”

Toward this end, the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB), created under Section 27 of that law, “shall set the minimum percentage of generation from eligible renewable-energy resources and determine to which sector RPS shall be imposed on a per-grid basis within one year from the effectivity of this act.”

On the other hand, the Green-Energy Option is described in Section 9 of RA 9513 as a “program which provides end-users the option to choose RE resources as their sources of energy.” This means that end-users have the option or power to directly

choose their RE source of energy, Monsada explained.

“The end-user who will enroll under the energy option program should be informed by way of its monthly electric bill, how much of its monthly energy consumption and generation charge is provided

by RE facilities,” Section 9 of RA 9513 added.

The Renewable Energy Act mandates the DOE, “in consultation with the NREB,” to set the appropriate implementing rules and regulations of the (Green-Energy Option) Program and for the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, DUs and Philippine Electricity Market Corporation to “provide the mechanisms for the physical connection and commercial arrangements necessary to ensure the success of the Green-Energy Option.”

Monsada said the RPS and GreenEnergy Option program are just a few of the results of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), or RA 9136, that Arroyo signed into law on June 8, 2001.

“Epira provided for open access and retail competition in our energy sector. And this “allow[s] big end-users to buy directly at hindi na kailangang dumaan pa doon sa big distribution utilities,” she added.

Monsada accompanied President Aquino here for the inauguration of the 59-megawatt, 75-hectare solar farm in this city on Tuesday.

information about specific persons, used as leverage for spear phishing e-mails or Business E-mail Compromise schemes, blackmail or extortion, and much more.

The Comelec earlier downplayed the hacking of its web site, with Bautista saying that hackers from the group Anonymous Philippines failed to access any confidential information that may derail the 2016 elections.

For his part, Ridon said the massive data breach has “manifold ramifications to all affected voters, yet, the most insidious among these is the fact that unscrupulous groups—especially those currently in power—can use the data trove to commit automated electoral fraud of a scale unparalleled since the advent of automated polls.”

“With millions of sensitive personal information of voters now uploaded in the Internet and even searchable through a new search engine that sprouted recently, we cannot emphasize enough how the so-called Comeleaks totally compromises the integrity of the upcoming elections,” the legislator said.

R idon also assailed the poll body for mishandling the data breach.

“What is the Comelec doing to safeguard millions of voters affected by the leak? The poll body must clearly be held accountable for this. It is the Comelec’s responsibility to protect and secure personal voter information. This case again highlights the poll body’s ineptitude and gross negligence of duty. Surely, in one way or another, this incident will affect the integrity of the upcoming national elections,” Ridon said.

Red Cross gets ship for humanitarian missions

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O make it easier to bring relief to affected areas, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has acquired a ship that would help the humanitarian organization in fulfilling its mandate of alleviating human suffering.

PRC chairman Richard J. Gordon said a ship is essential for the PRC and the Red Cross Movement, as well, in order to effectively perform its humanitarian mandate in the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region.

“At the onset of Typhoon Yolanda, it took us four days to reach affected areas. Hence, the Philippine Red Cross and delegates from partner nationalsocieties and IFRC [International Federation of the Red Cross] agreed that we need our own ship to effectively perform our humanitarian work in the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region,” Gordon said.

He noted the country is visited by an average of 22 to 26 typhoons a year; an average of 170 maritime accidents also occur every year; and it is also prone to earthquakes, fires, landslides, volcanic eruptions and man-made disasters, like armed conflict and terrorism.

Gordon said this necessity was further driven home by the PRC’s e x per ience when Yol and a battered Eastern Visayas, causing the closure of airports and seaports, which made it difficult for the Red Cross to bring relief to the affected areas. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Earth Day protesters condemn ‘criminal neglect’ under Aquino

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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ROTESTERS stormed Mendiola Street in Manila on Friday to condemn the Aquino administration’s slow response to the disaster caused by El Niño in various parts of the country.

The rally, which coincided with the celebration of Earth Day, was led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and environmental group Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE).

Protesters came from Metro Mani la, Mindanao, Batangas, Cavite and Laguna.

The Earth Day celebration was marked by the country’s signing of the Paris Agreement, a legally binding agreement forged between United Nations member-countries held in Paris, France, in December last year, to reduce carbon emission and limit global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje signed the agreement for the Philippines in behalf of President Aquino. The protesters blamed the environmentally destructive projects that contributed to the effects of the El Niño, which is strongly being felt in various parts of the country.

Pedro Arnardo of KMP-Southern Mindanao said the drought is aggravating the situation in the countryside, wherein farmers are already suffering from hunger and extreme poverty, particularly in Mindanao, where a bloodbath ensued as the police dispersed protesters to demand for government support.

“We still don’t have land to call our own, and seeds and water to start our farming again. Conversely, the government has provided full support, like irrigation, subsidies and land provision for foreign agrocorporations, like Del Monte and Dole, which already own thousands of hectares of land at the expense of our communities and forests,” Arnardo said in a statement.

The projects, the GAIA Environmental Information System, also made deforested areas and adjacent communities more prone to flashfloods.

GAIA said deforestation and land degradation are two of the major environmental issues in South and Southeast Asia. Conversion of forests into agricultural lands, urbanization, commercial logging and forest fires are among the major reasons for the degradation of natural resources in the region, it said.

Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE, said the Aquino administration should be held responsible for the crisis.

He noted that, as early as 2014, the country’s weather bureau already predicted that El Niño will cause intense drought, yet, the government failed to prepare adequately to mitigate its effects.

“The people have, thus, been yoked both by the extreme climate

AQUINO

impacts and the long-standing conversion of vast tracts of forests into agricultural plantations, mining areas and logging concessions,” Bautista lamented.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has identified 21 provinces in seven regions in 2014 that will be badly affected and may result in water, food and power shortages.

This year the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said a total of six provinces, 12 cities and 17 towns have been placed under a state of calamity because of the drought.

As of March a total of 253,000 hectares of agricultural land were affected, resulting in a loss of 384,000 metric tons of agricultural crops, based on Department of Agriculture data.

Petti Enriquez of Bukal, Batangas, who is leading a campaign against coal-plant expansion in Batangas province, said: “Both drought and pollution bring more hardships to our communities.”

El Niño’s effect, she said, is being aggravated by the air and water pollution coming from coal power plants adjacent to communities.

“Our agricultural harvest is consistently on a significant decline. At the same time, there is an increasing incidence of respiratory illnesses, like asthma and cough, particularly among children,” she said.

Bautista added that, “until now, there is not enough relief given to the drought-affected areas and families.

“While the government said it has already released more than P1.2 billion worth of assistance, we have heard no food assistance has been given to the affected areas in Metro Manila and regions in Luzon and the Visayas. But worst of all, it continues to push for projects that will worsen the already climatevulnerable situation of people in these areas,” he said.

Bautista said big-ticket projects, like the coal power plants in Batangas, Quezon and Palawan; reclamation projects in Metro Manila and Laguna; big dam projects in Rizal, Iloilo and Nueva Vizcaya; and expansion of large-scale mining in different areas, will not only bring more environmental devastation, and more community displacements, and worsen the country’s vulnerabilities to climate change.

Ombudsman files graft charges against former Lamitan City vice mayor

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MBUDSM A N Conchita Carpio-Morales has ordered the filing of charges against former Vice Mayor Arleigh Eisma of Lamitan City, Basilan, for the alleged unlawful disbursement of funds to pay for fuel in the gasoline station that he owned.

Morales said Eisma will face violation of Section 3(h) of the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices

Act, or Republic Act (RA) 3019, for allegedly facilitating and approving gasoline expenses for his personally owned vehicles amounting to P1,120,186.90 from August to October 2012.

She said records show that all trip tickets, purchase requests, purchase orders, inspection and acceptance reports, checks and disbursement vouchers were approved by respondent alone. The

receipts issued by the gas station clearly indicated Eisma’s name as registered proprietor of the business, Morales added.

According to the Ombudsman, “The transactions were all undertaken, with respondent fully knowing that they will be beneficial and favorable to him as owner of the gasoline station.”

“This is a clear transgression on the prohibition of a public of-

ficial having pecuniary interest on a transaction, which requires the intervention of his office,” she said.

Under the Local Government Code, a local government official is barred from engaging in any business transaction with the local government unit in which he is an official, or over which he has the power of supervision where money is to be paid out of

the resources of the government to such person or company.

Also under Section 3(h) of R A 3019, public officials are prohibited from directly or indirectly having financing or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity, or in which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any

law from having any interest.

In his counteraffidavit, Eisma did not dispute ownership of the gasoline station but claimed that there are only three gasoline stations in Lamitan, two of which are owned by a member of the Sanggunian Panlalawigan.

“The city council would not have any fuel supply if relationship is made a prohibition,” Eisma said. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Sports

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Saturday, April 23, 2016 A7

THAI TAKES 4-SHOT LEAD T

HAI Kasidit Lepkurte put on a brilliant, bogey-free eight-under 64 to storm to a four-stroke lead over erstwhile leader Danny Masrin and two others, threatening to turn what had been billed as a wild finish into a runaway triumph in the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Sherwood Hills Classic on Friday in Trece Martirez, Cavite.

Five birdies at the front proved enough for the hot-putting Lepkurte to overhaul a threestroke deficit and jump from joint fifth to the top of the heap, then pulled away from the pack by gunning down three more birdies coming home to complete a rare bogey-free round of 31-33 at the Sherwood Hills Golf Club, which finally took some beating from the elite foreign players despite windy condition after holding its ground in the first two days.

With a nine-under 207 total, Lepkurte moved four shots clear off Masrin, who blew a 34 start with a 37 for a 71 and dropped to joint second with Swede Oscar Zetterwall and Japanese Toru Nakajima, who both fired 68s, at 211.

“I played pretty good, everything—from putting, irons and my shots were simply good,” said Lepkurte, who hardly figured in the mix in the early going with a 71 and 72 but birdied three of the first four holes in the third round inside 15 feet and closed out his frontside stint with backto-back birdies from 18 feet to move on top. He made it three straight with another birdie on the 10th then rammed in two more at 15 and 18, the last a 20-foot uphill feat to take complete control.

His 64, however, fell two strokes short off Cassius Casas’s record feat in the 2001 First Gentleman’s Cup. “I have to play steady and avoid getting into trouble,” said Lepkurte, 18 holes away from nailing his first victory here and duplicating

compatriot Itthipat Buranatanyarat’s victory last year in this $60,000 event sponsored by ICTSI. Zetterwell and Nakajima also sneaked from behind to assume the challenger’s role with the former spiking his 35-33 card with four birdies. He actually gunned down an eagle on the par-5 eighth but yielded the strokes right on the next with a double bogey.

Nakajima, a former leg winner on the ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour, reeled farther back with a bogey on No. 3 but got back into the groove by rattling off five birdies in the last 11 holes for a 36-32 card.

Masrin, who took charge in the opener with a 68 and hung tough with a gutsy 72 halfway through the 72-hole championship coorganized by the Asian Development Tour and Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc., failed to keep in step with Lepkurte and company’s charge, hitting five birdies but fumbling with two bogeys and a double bogey for a 34-37.

“I played bad today [Friday] and committed many mistakes,” Masrin rued. “But I’m still in contention.

There are still 18 holes left and anything can happen here.”

James Ryan Lam survived a roller-coaster round of seven birdies against five birdies and took charge for the local bets with a 70 for a 213, six strokes adrift and in a tie with Dino Giacomazzi, who rallied with a seven-under 65, highlighted by five birdies in the last seven holes, and fellow American John Catlin, who carded a second 70.

Kasidit Lepkurte studies the line of his putt on No. 8. ROY DOMINGO

URCC resumes with 4 title fights in ‘Rebellion’

Ateneo, La Salle begin A dream UAAP volley finals F

OR the fifth straight year, archrivals Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle clash for the Season 78 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s volleyball supremacy, as Game One of the best-of-three finals fires off on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Lady Spikers, the defending back-toback champions, and the Lady Spikers, winners of Seasons 74 and 75, collide at 4 p.m., right after the series opener of the men’s finals between Ateneo and National University (NU) at 12 noon.

Ateneo had an easy route to the finals after dispatching No. 4 seed University of the Philippines in their Final Four encounter, while La Salle nearly blew its twice-to-beat advantage to Far Eastern University (FEU) before hanging on their do-or-die game on Wednesday to arrange the finals showdown against its chief nemesis for the fifth straight time.

“Isa sa pinakamahirap na situation ngayon kasi galing sa knockout. Hindi kami nakapagpahinga nang maayos kasi tuluy-tuloy ‘yung game namin halos four games,” Lady Spikers Head Coach Ramil de Jesus said.

“Last time na nagharap kami, kami ‘yung talo so lalabas na kami ‘yung underdogs, then sila pa ‘yung nag-number one, kami ‘yung nag-number two.”

De Jesus believes his graduating players, namely, Ara Galang, Mika Reyes, Cyd Demecillo, Carol Cerveza and Mika Esperanza want to end their collegiate careers with a crown to hoist.

“Sa bawat team may last playing year na, kaya may gustong patunayan. Kung sino na lang ‘yung mas may puso na laruin ‘yung

gusto nilang patunayan sa sarili nila,” he added, as he will also bank on his stabilizers Kim Fajardo, Kim Kianna Dy, Majoy Baron and libero Dawn Macandili.

Galang has a score to settle with Ateneo, as she was not around when the Lady Eagles completed the back-to-back drive because of knee injury.

“Superhappy and excited ako dahil last year ito ‘yung hinintay ko at pinagtrabahuan ko pero hindi ko na-meet,” Galang said. “Ngayon kailangan kaming buong team magtulungtulong para ma-meet namin ‘yung goal.”

Ateneo’s top gunner Alyssa Valdez is playing her farewell season and wants to end her career with another title. But Valdez said she has high respect to La Salle.

“Since season 74, La Salle will be La Salle,” she said. “Mayroon silang good system from their first to 14th player, sobrang reliable sila. So we can’t be complacent kahit sinong ipasok nila and si Ara [Galang] talaga ‘yung heart and soul of the team even Kim [Fajardo], Mika [Reyes], and Cyd [Demecillo].”

Valdez admitted there’s pressure to achieve the three-peat but it’s attainable as long as they play as a team.

“Pressure will always be there, even if we’re not yet in the finals pero may teammates ako na tumutulong sa akin, and they’re really contributing to the team that even the smallest things ginagawa nila,” said Valdez, who is also leaning on graduating Amy Ahomiro, setter Jia Morado, Bea de Leon, Kim Gequillana and libero Gizelle Tan. “It’s not really me who’s the key in this game, all of us we really have to play together as one team and be happy inside the court.” Lance Agcaoili

CTIONS in the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) return with an exciting four-title fight night, billed as “Rebellion,” on Saturday at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Parañaque City.

URCC featherweight champion Reydon Romero headlines the 10-bout event, as he stakes his belt against Do Gyeom Lee of South Korea.

“I want to make my country proud. This is going to be a war,” Romero said.

The Rebellion also features three other championship matches and six undercard bouts for the comeback of the Philippinebased mixed-martial arts organization since its last event in July 2015.

Romero (9-5) bagged the featherweight crown after a submission victory over fellow Filipino RIcardo Sapno in November 2013.

He successfully defended his belt against Malaysian Jian Kai Chee via a technical knockout win last year.

Lee (1-1), on the other hand, is on his second bout in the URCC after trouncing Drex Zamboanga in URCC 26: “Domination” in Clark last July.

In other title fights, Japanese flyweight titlist Hideo Morikawa (8-3) defends his belt against unbeaten Filipino fighter CJ de Tomas (5-0).

Veteran Will Chope (29-9) of the US, who is now based in the country, battles Richie Redman (2-4) for the vacant lightweight belt, while local bet Caloy Baduria (9-4-1) squares off with Swiss star Chris Hofmann (2-1) for the light heavyweight title.

URCC President and founder Alvin Aguilar said the Rebellion will be broadcasted in 120 countries through KO Productions, as they also signed a partnership agreement with Resorts World Manila for the event and ABS-CBN Sport and Action as its official television broadcaster.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

ALASKA POWER CAMP

FORMER La Salle volley star and Power Camp Volleyball Director Michelle Gumabao (third from left) poses with (from left) Power Camp Football Director Thomas Lozano, Sports Development General Manager Richard Bachmann and Marketing Director Blen Fernando during the press launch of the Alaska Power Camp, which includes basketball, volleyball and football, at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Makati City on Friday. For details and schedule, visit www. alaskapowercamp.com.

Sports BusinessMirror

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aturday, April 23, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

ANOTHER CHAMP WITHDRAWS

South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen becomes the third major champion to withdraw in the Rio Olympics. AP

Oosthuizen latest top golfer to pull out of Rio Olympics

By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press

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OUIS Oosthuizen of South Africa won’t be taking part in golf’s return to the Olympics this year, the third major champion to withdraw in the last week as the deadline nears to confirm participation.

Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 British Open at Saint Andrews and No. 12 in the world, said on Thursday he was pulling out because of family and scheduling issues.

“I have always represented South Africa with pride, so didn’t make my decision without a great deal of thought,” Oosthuizen said.

Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion and No. 7 in the world, cited the busy schedule around the Olympics when the Australian said on Tuesday he was withdrawing.

Vijay Singh, a three-time major from Fiji, said last week he was not going to play. The 53-year-old Singh has not won on the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour for nearly eight years.

By not playing, Fiji will not have a representative in Rio because no other male professional has any ranking points.

Peter

Puerto Rico game off?

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IAMI—Players from the Miami Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates have expressed concerns about their two-game series next month in Puerto Rico because of the Zika virus.

Officials with Major League Baseball (MLB), the Marlins and Pirates expect the games to be played as scheduled on May 30 and 31, they said on Thursday.

But the teams, MLB and the players’ union are continuing discussions about the series, and union head Tony Clark described the health and safety concerns as serious.

“We recognize the importance of the trip,” Marlins pitcher Craig Breslow said. “But, at the same time, our health and the health of our families is paramount.”

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league is in contact with the union about the issue.

The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention has said Zika can cause a birth defect called microcephaly, where infants are born with unusually small heads. The virus is most often spread by mosquito bites, but it also can be spread through sexual intercourse.

Since the virus lasts longer in semen than it does in blood, the CDC advises abstaining or using condoms if a man may have been infected while his partner is pregnant. It also can be difficult to determine whether someone has contracted Zika, because some infected people do not show any symptoms.

Breslow noted that CDC guidelines recommend that couples trying to get pregnant should wait six months if the man was diagnosed with Zika and was in an outbreak area.

“There are guys who are uncomfortable engaging in the lifestyle changes being recommended by the CDC,” he said. “I’m not sure that’s fair to ask of 20- to 30-yearold men who are potentially looking to start families or expand families.”

Clark said the union is gathering as much information as possible from top scientific experts.

“As is the case with any international event, there are steps that have to be taken procedurally as we work toward a solution,” Clark wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

MLB issued a statement expressing optimism the games in San Juan will be played as scheduled. Team officials, MLB and the union share the same concerns regarding the issue, Marlins President David Samson said.

“We’re all aligned on this to make sure that the safety of the players, the staff and the fans is always paramount,” Samson said. “I’m completely confident MLB and the MLB Players Association will work together with the CDC and any other required parties to ensure all of our safety.”

Samson and Brian Warecki, the Pirates’ vice president of communications, said they expect the games to be played as scheduled.

“We are very confident that we are taking the overly cautious steps to ensure we have a very successful two-game series in San Juan,” Warecki said.

Pirates left-hander Tony Watson said the players would prefer not to go to Puerto Rico, “but we don’t have all the facts, either. We’re trying to walk a fine line here. It’s an interesting situation that we’re getting constant feedback from the CDC, doctors, experts, and it keeps blowing up bigger and bigger,” he added.

“We’re just trying to find the right thing to do for the players because health and safety is our No. 1 concern. It doesn’t matter who it is, you bring one [case] back, or a couple months later something happens, it’s just what we would not want to have happen at all.” AP

Dawson, president of the International Golf Federation said in a statement on Thursday, “The IGF [International Golf Federation] understands the challenges players face in terms of scheduling this summer and it is regrettable to see a few leading players withdraw from this year’s Games.

“The Olympics is the world’s greatest celebration of sport and it is exciting and appropriate that golf features in its program again. Real history will be made at this year’s Olympic competitions and it is our belief that the unique experience of competing will live forever with athletes that take part.”

Potential golfers must submit on May 6 to Olympic drug testing, which is more stringent than the random testing on the PGA Tour. Candidates for the Rio Games are subject to testing at any time and must inform officials of their whereabouts.

Golf is returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1904, a 72-hole stroke-play event for 60 men and 60 women.

Qualifying is based on the world ranking, with no country allowed more than two players if they are outside the top 15. Countries, such as the United States in men’s golf and South Korea in women’s golf, are allowed a maximum of four players if they are in the top 15.

Scott’s withdrawal means Marc Leishman (No. 34) would be the top candidate to replace him. The other eligible Australian is Jason Day, who is No. 1.

Former

Nadal wins, reaches Barcelona Open quarters

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ARCELONA, Spain—Nearly 14 years after their first meeting as professionals, Rafael Nadal maintained order by beating Spanish countryman Albert Montanes, 6-2, 6-2, to make the Barcelona Open quarterfinals on Thursday.

Nadal has yet to drop a set in six tour-level and challenger matches against Montanes. They exchanged early breaks but the top-seeded Nadal soon took control.

Nadal broke serve five times and had 24 winners against only nine for Montanes, a wild card.

“I had a great forehand today and the conditions were much better than yesterday,” said Nadal, who was 16 when he beat Montanes for the first time as a challenger in Barcelona.

Coming off his first title of the year at the Monte Carlo Masters last week, Nadal will next face Fabio Fognini of Italy, who defeated eighth-

seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia, 6-3, 6-2.

Fognini eliminated Nadal in the third round of Barcelona last year, among his three wins over Nadal in 2015, including a five-setter in the third round at the US Open.

“Tomorrow will be a tough match against Fognini, he beat me three times last year and it was an up and down against him,” Nadal said.

Nadal is trying to win his ninth title at the Barcelona Open, and first since 2013. He is on a seven-match winning streak.

Second-seeded Kei Nishikori, the twotime defending champion, advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, 6-3, 7-5.

Nishikori lost serve at 5-4 in the second set, but broke back in the following game to eventually clinch the third-round victory. It was his 12th straight win in Barcelona.

Nishikori will play 11th-seeded Ukrainian

Alexandr Dolgopolov, who defeated Russian qualifier Karen Khachanov, 6-4, 7-5, behind 10 aces.

“It will be a very complicated match,” Nishikori said. “He is difficult to play, serves well, and uses the slice a lot. We are very good friends so it will be interesting.”

Also, Malek Jaziri converted only two-of-12 break points but was able to defeat Alexander Zverev of Germany, 7-6 (5), 6-4, to set up a quarterfinal against sixth-seeded Benoit Paire of France, who eliminated ninth-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, 6-2, 6-4. AP

Rafael Nadal reaches the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open. AP

HARDEN HITS GAME-WINNER VS WARRIORS

H

OUSTON—Houston’s James Harden scored 35 points, including the game-winner with 2.7 seconds left, as the Rockets capitalized on Stephen Curry’s absence to beat Golden State, 97-96, on Thursday, narrowing the deficit in their National Basketball Association (NBA) first-round playoff series to 2-1.

The other two series contested on Thursday also stand at 2-1, as Oklahoma City comfortably beat Dallas, and Toronto won at Indiana.

The game at Houston built to a late climax, as Shaun Livingston stole a pass from Trevor Ariza to create Ian Clark’s lay-up, which put Golden State up by a point with 10.6 seconds left. Harden then took it to the other end and stepped back for the jump shot to win it.

“The last shot was typical of what James does,” Houston Coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “The move, we’ve seen before. The finish, we’ve seen before. You do get spoiled by it at times, but in these biggest of moments, you can’t help but appreciate it.”

Golden State had a chance to win it after that, but Draymond Green dribbled the inbounds pass off his foot and out of bounds.

“I cost us the game,” Green said. “The world will think I’m talking about that last turnover but I’m not. That happens. I was awful the whole game.

I care about that turnover, but I cost us the game way before then.”

Marreese Speights came off the bench to lead the Warriors with 22 points and Klay Thompson had 17.

Dwight Howard added 13 points, 13 rebounds and had two blocks for Houston.

Curry was feeling better on Thursday and wanted to play, but the Warriors decided the chance of him re-injuring his ankle before it was fully healed wasn’t worth the risk. Coach Steve Kerr said they will have a better feel for his availability for Game Four on Sunday after they see how he responds to the next two days of practice “Whether Steph’s here or not, we should perform at a high level, which we did for much of the game, but we’ve got to eliminate some of the mistakes,” Kerr said.

Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant bounced back from the worst shooting game of his playoff career with 34 points, which led the Thunder to a 131-102 victory over Dallas.

Durant had seven field goals midway through the second quarter on nine shots, compared with the 33 attempts he needed to seven in a Game Two loss.

The 2014 Most Valuable Player scored 20 points in the first half, when the Thunder led by as

many as 19 points.

Game Four is on Saturday in Dallas.

Dirk Nowitzki played despite a right knee bruise and scored 16 points for the Mavericks, who missed 10 of their first 12 shots from three-point range.

Russell Westbrook scored 20 of his 26 points in the second half and had 15 assists.

Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan rebounded from his postseason shooting slump, and he and Kyle Lowry scored 21 points to lead the Raptors to a 101-85 win at Indiana.

The Raptors reclaimed the home-court advantage they squandered by losing the series opener last weekend.

Indiana was led by Paul George, who had 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Rookie Myles Turner scored 11 of 17 points in the second half.

Game Four is on Saturday in Indianapolis.

DeRozan was 10-of-37 from the field and zero-for-five from three-point range through the first two games. On Monday he finished seven of 19 from the field. AP Houston Rockets guard James Harden »celebrates a basket against the Golden State Warriors. AP

Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa is No. 20 and would be the best bet to replace Oosthuizen. Branden Grace at No. 11 is the highest-ranked South African.

There is no team competition in Rio. Jack Nicklaus, at a charity event for the Memorial, told Golf Digest on Wednesday that Scott not playing was “sad for the Olympics and for the game of golf.”

“I don’t know Adam’s circumstances, so I couldn’t comment on what he’s dealing with,” Nicklaus said. “Obviously, he felt like he couldn’t play, and if he felt that way, I understand. But it’s unfortunate. What I’m concerned about is that golf has a little bit of momentum going right now. If the guys don’t want to participate, then we might not be in the Olympics after this.

They vote next year.

“And if they vote to keep golf in, then that’s great, but if not then we lose that momentum with growing the game.”

The men’s competition is from August 11 to 14, and it caps a hectic summer schedule. From the US Open (June 16 to 19) through the PGA Championship (July 28 to 31), there are three major championships and a World Golf Championship at Firestone.

The British Open ends on July 17 at Royal Troon in Scotland. The PGA Championship begins 11 days later at Baltusrol in New Jersey.

Nearly half of the men’s current field for the Olympics would then have one week off before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin in New York on August 25. Three straight weeks of playoff events would be followed by one week off, the Tour Championship and then straight to Minnesota and the Ryder Cup for US and European players.

Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy have all indicated they are looking forward to the Olympics.

Tennis faced similar issues when it went back on the Olympic program in 1988 at Seoul. Boris Becker and Mats Wilander withdrew with injury, while John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova declined to play.