BusinessMirror March 12, 2016

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OREIGN direct investments (FDI) in 2015, the kind that stays for the long haul and are actually invested in so-called bricks-andmortar businesses in the Philippines, proved virtually unchanged from that achieved the year before, the number having stood marginally lower to only $5.724 billion, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

GERMANY: FILES LISTING I.S. FIGHTERS ARE ‘AUTHENTIC’ The World BusinessMirror

This compared with FDI totaling $5.74 billion in 2014, a number that must have disappointed the economic managers who previously anticipated long-gestation investments totaling at

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Germany: Files listing IS fighters are ‘authentic’

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ERLIN—Thousands of files have surfaced with personal data on members of the Islamic State (IS) group— documents that might help authorities track down and prosecute foreign fighters who returned home after joining the extremists, or identify those who recruited them in the first place.

Germany’s federal criminal police said on Thursday they are in possession of the files and believe they are authentic.

The announcement came after Britain’s Sky News reported it had obtained 22,000 IS files that detail the real names of fighters for the group, where they were from, their telephone numbers and even names of those who sponsored and recruited them.

In a joint report, Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in Munich and broadcasters WDR and NDR reported independently on Monday they had obtained “many dozens” of pages of such documents itself.

“This is a huge database—there are more than something like 22,000 names, so this is very, very important,” said Dalia Ghanem-Yazbeck, a research analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center.

She said the files would “definitely” help international security services, including those in Arab countries, to confirm the identities of those who have already left to fight for IS, to discover the identities of new fighters, and to help them in identifying those who return home from Syria and Iraq.

Sky said the files, obtained at the border between Turkey and Syria, were passed to them on a memory stick stolen from the head of the IS’s internal security police by a former fighter who had grown disillusioned with the group.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the German broadcasters reported they also had obtained the files on the TurkeySyria border, where they said IS files and videos were widely available from anti-IS Kurdish fighters and members of IS itself.

The documents highlight the bureaucratic work of the highly secretive extremist group that has spread fear through its brutal killings and deadly attacks in its self-declared caliphate of Syria and Iraq, as well as in places like France, Turkey, Lebanon, Yemen and Libya.

The information could help the US-led coalition that is fighting the IS group by aiding in a crackdown on the extremists’ foreign-

fighter networks, said US Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the coalition.

He said that while he was not able to verify the documents, he hoped that “if there is a media outlet that has these names and numbers, I hope they publish them.”

That would help bring attention to the problem of foreign fighters joining IS and also would help authorities to crack down on the problem, he said.

“This would allow the law-enforcement apparatus across the world to become much more engaged and begin to help do what we can to stem this flow of foreign fighters— so we’re hopeful that its accurate and if so we certainly plan to do everything we can to help,” he said.

Both Sky and Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported the documents were forms with 23 questions to be filled out by recruits when they were inducted into the IS. Sky said they included nationals from at least 51 countries, including the US and Britain.

Zaman al-Wasl English, a Syrian news site critical of extremist fighters and the government, also obtained the documents from a source in the border area, said its editor, Mohamed Hamdan.

However, the site only had only 1,736 names and Hamdan couldn’t explain the discrepancy.

“The document gives the jihadists who want to join Daesh [IS] the choice of profession, what does he want to be: a suicide bomber, a martyr, a fighter, or an administrative worker. And many of the people who join the [IS] as administrative workers have degrees in engineering, computers and many strong majors,” Hamdan told The Associated Press (AP) in Tunis.

The documents it posted had the word “secret” at the bottom, while on the top it had the name “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant,” or ISIL, on one top corner and the “General Directorate of Borders” on the other. Hamdan said they were the same as those obtained by Sky. The web site’s documents stated the fighters entered areas under IS control in 2013, except for a Turk-

DEMONSTRATORS chant pro-al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as they carry al-Qaeda flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 360 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, in 2014. AP

ish citizen born in 1989 who entered on May 12, 2014. It also says which border point the fighter crossed, who from his family IS should contact, his personal belongings, blood type and marital status.

It posted 122 documents of fighters from around the world who said they wanted to carry out suicide attacks.

As of last month, the US estimates IS had 19,000 to 25,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, down from an estimated 20,000 to 31,500 fighters—a number that was based on intelligence reports from May to August 2014.

The decrease reflects the combined effects of battlefield deaths, desertions, internal disciplinary action, recruiting shortfalls and difficulties that foreign fighters face traveling to Syria, according to a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the estimates with the media.

The documents appear to have been collected near the end of 2013, Sky News reported. At that time, the IS was “at a pretty early stage of its state-building capacity,” GhanemYazbeck said.

“I wouldn’t say that this is the most dangerous leak, but it is very interesting to see what does it mean exactly for IS,” she said at her office

UN experts: IS expanding in Libya

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NITED NATIONS—The political and security vacuum in Libya is being exploited by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, which has “significantly expanded” the territory it controls in the conflicttorn north African nation, UN experts said in a report circulated on Thursday.

The experts monitoring UN sanctions against Libya said the militant group has successfully recruited marginalized communities in the central city of Sirte, which it controls. It has also increased its operational capacity in the city of Sabratha and the capital Tripoli through local recruitment reinforced by foreign fighters, the experts said.

“While ISIL [Islamic State in Syria and the Levant] does not currently generate direct revenue from the exploitation of oil in Libya, its attacks against oil installations seriously compromise the country’s economic stability,” the six-member panel said in the report. “Libyans have increasingly fallen victim to the terrorist group’s brutalities, culminating in several mass killings.”

Libya has effectively been a failed state since the 2011 ouster and death of longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi, which led to the country’s military collapse and fragmentation by powerful militias.

Since 2014, an internationally recognized government has convened in the far east of the vast, oil-rich country while a rival Islamist government is based in Tripoli. The United Nations has been trying to help forge a unity government to revive services to millions of people and confront IS extremists.

According to the experts, Libya has become increasingly attractive to foreign fighters and their presence in the south “is symptomatic of the regional dimension of the conflict.”

They added that countries in the region have been providing political support—and possibly more—to various groups, further fueling the continuation of fighting.

The experts said in the report to the UN Security Council that all parties in the conflict are continuing to receive illicit arms transfers, some with support from UN member countries.

These weapons are not only influencing the instability but are having “a negative impact on the security situation in Libya and its political transition,” the report said.

The experts called for the arms embargo—which allows the government to seek exemptions—to remain in place and be enforced.

As for the financing of Libyan armed groups, the report said, “government salaries are continuing to be paid to enlisted combatants, regardless of their human-rights record or their ties with spoilers or terrorist groups.”

The experts said armed groups and criminal networks in Libya have further diversified their sources of financing, including through kidnapping and smuggling migrants, oil products, subsidized goods and profits from foreign currency exchange schemes.

As for other sanctions, the report said asset freezes and travel bans on individuals from the Qaddafi regime continue to be broken, with large amounts of assets remaining hidden and unfrozen and travel bans repeatedly violated. AP

22,000 Number of files obtained that detail personal information of IS fighters

in Beirut. “It shows that the organization is not that...hermetically sealed.”

Haras Rafiq, managing director of the London-based Quilliam Foundation, an anti-extremist thinktank, noted that the data was from 2013, and, thus, might not be “that important.”

But he added: “Clearly, there is a fracture in the organization, people are disillusioned, the price of oil is dropping—and that is having an effect on their operations and paying people.”

Markus Koths, a spokesman for Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, the Bundeskriminalamt, told the AP that the agency had IS documents, such as those obtained by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

He would not comment on specifics about either media report amid an ongoing investigation, and he also would not say how German intelligence obtained the documents, or how long they have been in its

possession, “for tactical reasons.”

He did say, however: “We believe there is a high probability that these documents are genuine.”

“These documents are of significance for us for prosecutorial reasons and for threat prevention,” he said.

Koths would not say whether other intelligence agencies had the same files, and the Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment on the authenticity of the documents or whether US officials have seen them.

The ISIL was the official name of the group before its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the IS caliphate in June 2014 after the group captured wide areas of Iraq, including the second-largest city of Mosul.

The extremist group was formed in 2013 during the brief merger of al-Qaeda’s branches in Iraq and Syria, known as the IS in Iraq, and the Nusra Front.

After they split in early 2013, those under al-Baghdadi’s command kept using the name ISIL until the caliphate was declared and they started using just the IS name.

The date of the documents suggested they may not provide information on the group’s current membership, but could offer insight into fighters recruited in 2013, as well as its bureaucratic systems.

Mathieu Guidere, a French analyst who has written a book about

the IS, cautioned against taking the documents at face value. Guidere worked on deconstructing records obtained from al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2007 and said about 80 percent of the information in them turned out to be a plant.

Among the more than 400 French names on the Syrian list, he said some were real and some appeared to be false—a pattern he said likely was true for the rest of the documents.

He speculated that it could be an attempt by the Syrian administration to engage Western intelligence agencies.

“These are files that are part-real, part-fabrication,” Guidere said. “I think the Syrians want to negotiate an information exchange.”

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the documents in Germany’s possession “are most likely authentic” and “show the thoroughness of this criminal organization.”

He said authorities can use the documents to build better cases against people who had gone to fight with IS and then returned home.

“If it’s now clear that they were there...then it is an important supplement to the chain of evidence that leads to a tougher and more precise verdict, then they are very useful documents,” he said. AP

Brazil prosecutors explain charges vs ex-president Lula

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ÃO PAULO—São Paulo state prosecutors said on Thursday they filed money-laundering and criminal misrepresentation charges against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva because of evidence he and his family unduly benefited from a real-estate scheme that adversely affected thousands of Brazilian families.

Lead prosecutor Cassio Conserino said the former president and his family were swept up in a yearslong investigation into wrongdoing at a failed cooperative in São Paulo that sold apartments at cost.

The case against Silva hinges around a triplex in one of the residential towers built by the cooperative, which prosecutors allege was destined for the former leader and his family.

“While thousands of families lost their apartments and saw their dreams of becoming homeowners shattered, one of those investigated received a triplex,” Conserino said at a news conference.

Silva has denied any wrongdoing and said he is not the owner of the apartment in the coastal city of Guaruja.

In a statement on Wednesday, his not-

for-profit Instituto Lula suggested Conserino is biased against the former president.

Conserino and the other prosecutors at Thursday’s news conference insisted they are neutral and just following the letter of the law. “The investigation is sustained with procedural and documental evidence,” Coserino said.

The state public prosecutors’ office brought the charges against Silva, as well as money-laundering charges against his wife and one of his sons, late Wednesday.

For Silva himself, conviction on the two charges could carry a maximum sentence of 13 years in prison.

The judge in the case must now decide whether to accept the charges and move forward with the case. Conserino said he had no idea when that might happen, suggesting that due to the sheer volume of the case it might take some time.

Conserino declined to respond to repeated questions of whether prosecutors had asked that Silva be provisionally detained. But Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa told reporters the Sao Paulo prosecutors had indeed made such a request, which would also have to be signed off on by the judge in the case.

“This request is totally baseless,” Barbosa told reporters gathered at a São Paulo hotel where the Insituto Lula was holding a debate about the economy. Barbosa added that “this polarization is doing much harm to the Brazilian economy.”

In a separate statement on Thursday, the Insituto Lula dismissed the request as “another sad attempt” by Conserino to “use his job for political ends.”

The São Paulo case is only part of Silva’s legal woes.

Last Friday federal investigators said they were looking into whether renovations at the Guaruja beachfront apartment and another project at a country house used by Silva and his family constituted favors in exchange for political benefit.

Both places have undergone major renovations paid for by construction companies that for decades have had contracts with the federal government.

Those enterprises are also at the center of the scandal gripping the state energy company, Petrobras, in which prosecutors allege $2 billion was paid in bribes to obtain contracts with the company. AP

WORLD

B24

RETESTS UNDER WAY Sports A8

| SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph|sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao |Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

I

NDIAN WELLS, California—Teenagers Frances Tiafoe and Brona Coric grabbed the center-court spotlight when the men joined the women for first-round play on Thursday in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Tiafoe outlasted Taylor Fritz, 3-6, 6-2, 3-6, in a battle of 18-year-old Americans, and Coric, a 19-year-old Croatian, beat Lucas Pouille of France, 6-2, 7-5.

Those two matches helped kick off a formful opening day for the men, with Nicolas Mahut of France, Leonardo Mayer of Argentina and Robin Haase of the Netherlands also advancing. Mahut beat qualifier Renzo Olivo of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4; Mayer ousted Sam Groth of Australia, 6-4, 6-3; and Haase toppled Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, 6-3, 6-4.

Daniela Hantuchova, a two-time tournament champion, lost to Daria Kasatkina of Russia, 6-2, 6-4, as the women completed their first round. It was the

ANDY MURRAY says he is careful to read everything that is relevant to him. AP

second straight first-round loss for Hantuchova, who won her titles in 2002 and 2007.

The women will begin second-round play on Friday with Venus Williams scheduled to play her first match at the tournament in 15 years in the afternoon and top-ranked Serena Williams on the schedule for the night session. AP ITALY’S Camila Giorgi reaches to return to Germany’s Julia Goerges during their match at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. AP

‘BE CAREFUL’ I

NDIAN WELLS, California—Scottish tennis star Andy Murray reacted to Maria Sharapova’s failed drug test by noting that he’s careful to read everything that is relevant to him.

Sharapova said this week that she had tested positive for meldonium because she didn’t read the e-mail from the World Anti-Doping Agency that said the drug was on the prohibited list this year. The Russian called it a huge mistake.

“Everyone’s obviously different,” Murray said on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open. “Some people put a lot of trust in the people and the team around them, so it’s hard to say what’s the right thing for everyone, but I think it’s almost part of our job to know everything that’s going into our bodies and not just rely on what a doctor is saying or a physio is saying.”

Murray said since Sharapova’s announcement he has been reading about meldonium, too, and what he’s learned makes him wonder about those using it.

“The stories like this happen regularly,” he said.

“It seems like it’s almost a weekly occurrence, so I wouldn’t say it was shocking, really. Obviously, since then you try and read about it and learn as much as you can and try to understand what’s really going on. I read that 55 athletes have failed tests for that substance

since January 1. You don’t expect such high-level athletes, at the top of many sports, to have heart conditions.”

Meldonium, virtually unheard of in the United States, has been widely used in Eastern Europe and former Soviet countries for heart conditions. But it was placed on the banned list because it enhances oxygen uptake and endurance.

A study recently released by the British Journal of Sports Medicine said that during last year’s European Games, meldonium may have been used by almost 500 athletes and there were 66 positive tests.

“This study highlights the widespread and inappropriate use and prescribing of this prescription drug in a generally healthy athlete population,” the researchers said.

Murray thinks that’s a problem with more than just meldonium, too.

“I think taking a prescription drug that you don’t need just because it’s legal, that’s wrong,” he said. “If you’re taking a prescription drug and you’re not using it for what that drug was meant for, then you don’t need it, so you’re just using it for the performance-enhancing benefits that drug is giving you.”

That being the case, Murray said, the penalty should be obvious.

“If you’re taking performance-enhancing drugs and you fail a drug test, you have to get suspended,” he said. AP

L

Frenchman R wins Stage 4 of Paris-Nice THIS time there’s no controversy in Nacer Bouhanni’s stage victory.

B S W The Associated Press

ONDON—Armed with enhanced techniques, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is retesting hundreds of doping samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics to weed out drug cheats before they can compete in this year’s Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

In an interview with The Associated Press (AP), IOC Medical Director Dr. Richard Budgett said athletes who competed in Beijing and are likely to be selected for Rio are having their stored samples reanalyzed to catch any violators who evaded detection eight years ago.

“We want to protect the clean athletes who are going to be competing in Rio,” Budgett said. “We are making sure that athletes who cheated back in 2008 don’t get to compete in Rio in 2016.”

The IOC stores blood and urine samples from each games so they can be reanalyzed years later with improved testing methods. Any positive tests can lead to retroactive sanctions, disqualifications and loss of medals.

The statute of limitations for retesting was extended in 2015 from eight to 10 years, meaning the Beijing samples remain valid through 2018.

“Many of the athletes who are likely to be selected for Rio will have their samples retested a couple of years earlier OMANS-SUR-ISERE, France—French rider Nacer Bouhanni outpaced his rivals in a sprint finish to win the fourth stage of the Paris-Nice race on Thursday, while Australian Michael Matthews retained the overall lead.

Matthews beat Bouhanni in controversial circumstances on Tuesday’s second stage when Bouhanni was penalized for deviating from his line in the final sprint.

“This time there’s no controversy, I won,” Bouhanni said. “Of course I was a bit revengeful, what happened in Tuesday’s sprint upset me, and I slept badly that night.

It consumed a lot of my energy and I wanted this win to forget all of that.”

Bouhanni held off Belgian rider Edward Theuns and Andre Greipel of Germany to win the 195.5-kilometer (121-mile) trek from Julienas to Romans-sur-Isere at the foot of the Vercors mountain range in the Alps of southeastern France.

Matthews leads Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands by 14 seconds overall, with Patrick Bevin of New Zealand 19 seconds back in third place.

The standings are set for a shakeup on Friday, when Stage 5

P.  |     | 7 DAYS A WEEK

than we need to,” Budgett told AP on the sidelines of the Tackling Doping in Sport conference in London. “There are some new analyses that are available. The samples are in the process of being retested.

It’s in the hundreds.”

“We’ve cooperated very closely with the international federations, finding out which athletes are still competing, finding out which athletes are likely to be selected for Rio,” he added.

“If we’ve got samples for them from Beijing, we’re doing that testing.”

Budgett said the process should be completed in the next few weeks.

“If we have any adverse analytical findings, there will be a sanctioning process and those athletes will be very unlikely to compete in Rio,” he said.

Noting that scientific techniques will continue to improve in the next two years, the IOC is keeping the other Beijing samples for retesting closer to the 2018 deadline, Budgett said.

It’s not the first time that samples from Beijing have been retested. A few months after those games, the IOC reanalyzed nearly 1,000 of the total of 4,000 samples with a new test for the blood-boosting drug CERA. Five athletes were caught, including 1,500-meter gold medalist Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain.

Budgett said some samples from the 2012 London Olympics are also being retested now on a targeted basis ahead of the Rio Games, although most are being saved for later reanalysis.

“We want to reserve samples for the expected advances that will happen over the next six years,” he said.

Nearly 500 doping samples from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin have already been retested. The IOC has not disclosed whether those retests had produced any positive cases.

Five athletes were caught in retests of samples from the 2004 Athens Olympics, including men’s shot put winner Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine.

On a separate issue, Budgett said he is confident that Brazil’s national antidoping agency will comply with World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) rules by next week’s deadline to prevent Rio’s drugtesting laboratory from being ruled ineligible for the Olympics.

The Brazilian agency has until March 18 to meet Wada’s guidelines. If it fails, the Rio lab would be declared noncompliant, meaning thousands of doping samples during the games would have to be sent out of Brazil for testing, posing major logistical and financial issues.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is scheduled to sign a decree on March 15 that would bring the agency into compliance.

“We’re very hopeful that it finally will be resolved,” Budgett said. “The laboratory itself is performing well and really is state-of-the-art. We always have a Plan B. Anything can happen. That’s there in case, but I do not expect to be using it.”

Budgett said the IOC plans to carry out a “similar number” of tests in Rio as the 5,000 conducted in London. An intelligence unit created by Wada is targeting athletes for testing in the lead-up to the games.

“We’re not talking about the numbers any more, we’re talking about the quality,” Budgett said.

takes the peloton up the famed Mont Ventoux, one of the most feared climbs on the Tour de France.

In Pomarance, Italy, Zdenek Stybar timed his attack to perfection to win the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico and move into the overall lead on Thursday.

The Czech rider went clear at the top of the tricky final climb, opening up a gap on the short descent and holding off the chasing pack to win the 207-km (129-mile) stage from Camaiore to Pomarance.

Peter Sagan of Slovakia was second, leading home an elite group of chasers finishing a second behind Stybar.

Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway was third.

“We planned it a little bit two-anda-half weeks ago with [Etixx-QuickStep Sport Director Davide] Bramati that this could be a stage for me. So I was pretty focused for this stage,” Stybar said.

“I knew that the last 2 or 3

km were very technical, which is good for me. I tried to go.

I didn’t really plan to go there but I saw the opportunity, the space, and I thought ‘OK, the bunch will slow and I’ll go with everything I have.’”

Local favorite Diego Ulissi attacked on the slopes of Il Cerreto, which had gradients of more than 16 percent, but he was reeled in and passed by Stybar near the summit.

Vincenzo Nibali gave chase in the final kilometer, but was unable to bridge the gap and the Italian was swallowed up by the peloton in the sprint to the line.

American squad BMC Racing won the opening team trial stage on Wednesday to put Daniel Oss into the leader’s blue jersey but the 10-second stage winner’s time bonus saw Stybar take over the overall lead.

The Etixx-Quick-Step rider has an advantage of nine seconds over Oss’ teammates, Greg Van Avermaet and Tejay van Garderen.

The seven-day Tirreno-Adriatico continues on Friday with a 176-km (110-mile) ride from Castelnuovo Val di Cecina to Montalto di Castro. AP

SPORTS

A8

Amb. Antonio L. Cabangon Chua: Your life made the world better

Total foreign direct investments last year, way below the $6-billion government target

As a result, the $5.724 billion FDI in 2015 was 0.3 percent lower than FDI of $5.74 billion in 2014.

The numbers are a validation of the need for a government-led infrastructure buildup that at the beginning of the term of President Aquino was touted as one that would be investment-friendly.

S “FDI,” A

Lazada, SM share expertise to take advantage of rising online shoppers

B

ILLIONAIRE Henry Sy, owner of the largest Philippine builder and retailer, has partnered with an online retailer backed by Germany’s Rocket Internet SE to target the rising number of consumers in the Southeast Asian nation who shop using the Internet.

Projected compounded annual growth rate of the Philippine e-commerce market from 2013 to 2018

RETESTS UNDER WAY

International Olympic Committee Medical Director Dr. Richard Budgett said athletes who competed in Beijing and are likely to be selected for Rio are having their stored samples reanalyzed to catch any violators who evaded detection eight years ago.

least $6 bilion for the 12-month stretch.

The shortfall came as FDI shrank by 51.3 percent in December 2015, to $273 million, from $561 million recorded in December 2014.

101.4%

BusinessMirror

TEENERS SHINE

Saturday, March 12, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 156

2015 FDI haul failed to meet expectations $5.724B F

INSIDE

B2-4 Saturday, March 12, 2016

n

IT’S THE GOLDEN AGE OF TV IN A WORLD GONE DIGITAL “Television is still here to stay because of the ability of the screen to move people,” said Jude Turcuato, SVP and Philippine general manager at Fox Networks Group, who is among the veritable raft of advertising industry-leader speakers at this year’s Ad Summit Pilipinas. VERNON VELASCO

A

SM Investments Corp., Sy’s holding company, has reached an agreement to use the platform of the Philippine unit of Rocket Internet’s Lazada to sell online C  A

₧171B worth of RE projects OK’d by Aquino admin T HE Board of Investments (BOI) has approved a total of P170.95 billion worth of renewable-energy (RE) projects from 2010 to 2015, the investment-promotion agenc y reported on Friday.

These investments, a BOI news statement said, came from 144 RE projects with a total generating capacity of 3,861 megawatts (MW).

Most of these facilities are hydropower plants, which accounted for 45 projects, or 31 percent of the total RE

projects, the statement said.

About 40 projects, or 28 percent of the total RE pledges in the BOI, are in solar power, followed by 29 biomass projects, and 15 each for geothermal- and windenergy farms, the BOI added.

The RE sector is listed in the Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) of the BOI, which complements the Philippine Energy Plan 2010 to 2030 of the Department of Energy (DOE) to promote the use of RE. “Our industry-development pro-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 46.7440

RODOLFO: “Energy is a major concern across industries, especially now that we are already experiencing the resurgence of the manufacturing industry.”

grams are geared toward building sustainable and resilient communities— which include achieving sustainable energy sources,” Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo said.

Rodolfo added that this also supports the Manufacturing Resurgence Program (MRP) of the government, as more manufacturing investments are expected to come in the Philippines for the coming years. “We encourage

MBASSADOR Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, founder of the BM, passed away peacefully on Friday at the age of 81.

Any man whom God has seen fit to place on this planet for eight decades has inevitably touched the lives of thousands, one way or another. With a man’s death, we may first count his accomplishments and, certainly, the Ambassador created immense success during his life.

The list of his ALC Group of Companies includes his press and media companies: Brown Madonna Printing, BusinessMirror, Philippines Graphic magazine, Pilipino Mirror, Cook magazine, and radio station DWIZ. His business interests include hotels, Fortune Insurance, Isuzu Gencars, Citystate Savings Bank, Citystate Properties and the Eternal Gardens Memorial Parks.

C  A

S “RE ,” A

n JAPAN 0.4130 n UK 66.7738 n HK 6.0222 n CHINA 7.1831 n SINGAPORE 33.8798 n AUSTRALIA 34.8290 n EU 52.2504 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.467

Source: BSP (11 March 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, March 12, 2016

DOLE, SFI Group add ease to job matching via Internet

T

B M R M | Researcher

HE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) launched the new platform of PhilJobNet in a joint initiative with the SFI Group of Companies, with the goal of improving the job-matching process in the Philippines.

The updated system targets to address the job-skill mismatch in the country by coordinating specific skills set. With an extensive talent map tool, the new system is seen to lessen the underemployment rate.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said in her speech that this will also back up registered employers in posting up-todate vacancies and lessen the load of the tedious employment process through an easier means of connecting with applicants. Users are able to upload and constantly update their professional profiles online for viewing of employers.

An offline capacity was also gen-

erated, given the limited Internet connectivity in some rural communities in the country.

“Offline facilities will have the same functionality as the online system except, once the data is encoded, it will be migrated to the system to be viewed by the employers also. Anywhere, anytime,” said DOLE- Bureau of Local Employment Director Dominique Rubia-Tutay.

The job-search database will also provide a wider scope of vacancies that will accommodate minorities in the labor force, such as high-school graduates, persons with disablities and senior citi-

zens. Part-time jobs and internships will also be posted for students who are looking at spending their free time wisely.

At the same time, Baldoz encouraged newly graduates to “aspire for a government job.”

Baldoz said 173,366 positions are available in the national bureaucracy, a good one-seventh of the 1,205,605 authorizedthe government positions.

Other than that, Baldoz announced that there were 130,000 vacancies made available at the DOLE job fair on March 10. These range from blue-collar to white-collar jobs available in select countries all over the globe.

Reports from the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices show that, despite the looming oil crisis in the Middle East, the number of verified job orders and processed contracts are still climbing, with construction being the main demand at 55 percent, sales 21 percent, and oil and gas 20 percent. The data also showed that 77 percent of the manpower demand is for the semi-skilled, while 18 percent are for highly skilled workers. Coinciding with the Phil-JobNet’s launch is the

ceremonial signing of memorandum of understanding between the DOLE and groups from the private sector for the Assist WELL Program, the government initiative to accommodate displaced Filipino workers returning from overseas. “[This will] showcase job vacancies in the country and overseas that can be an alternative to those who may be affected by the Middle East crisis so that they will not have second thoughts of coming over simply because they do not know what awaits them here in terms of employment, assistance and also in terms of financial assistance coming from the government,” Baldoz said.

SFI Group of Companies President and CEO Luis Anastacio said that, at the moment, the site is ranked 662 in the most-visited sites in the Philippines. Anastacio aims to be in the top 100 in two year’s time.

Phil-JobNet contributed 16 percent to the entry-level jobs applied for according to the 2011 Philippine Statistics Authority. The site was launched under the administration of former President Fidel V. Ramos initially to promote global competitiveness.

FDI. . .

news@businessmirror.com.ph

C  A

That pledge has come and gone, and much of the flow of direct investments have poured elsewhere, instead in the region and not in Manila, where FDI on the ground are a fraction of what went to such jurisdictions as Indonesia, totaling more than $29 billion; and Vietnam, which attracted more than $14 billion in the same period.

Still, the BSP retained the optimism that FDI flows and sentiment on the Philippines should remain positive, given the country’s favorable growth prospects. More than half of the FDI net inflows during the month were investments in debt instruments, consisting of intercompany borrowing or lending between foreign direct investors and their subsidiaries and affiliates in the Philippines, which amounted to $140 million.

This much money pertain to the amount of capital the Philippine subsidiary companies borrowed from the overseas parents and, therefore, a reflection of the bullish view these businessmen have of the $285-billion economy and its prospect for greater growth down the line.

For 2015 debt instruments posted lower net inflows by 3.9 percent at $3.1 billion, from $3.3 billion.

Reinvestment of earnings also declined by 14.8 percent to $747 million during the year.

However, net placements in equity capital increased by 15.1 percent to $1.8 billion, from $1.6 billion in the previous year, partially compensating for the declines registered in the other

FDI components.

Equity capital placements originated mainly from the United States, the Netherlands, Japan, the United Kingdom and Singapore.

By economic activity, equity-capital investments were infused mainly to manufacturing; financial and insurance; real estate; wholesale and retail trade; and construction activities.

In one of his economic bulletins, Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said the FDI numbers were to post stronger inflows this year. Growth contributors to this view include expectations of higher investments in the manufacturing and financial sector. “[This] is due to the launching of two new reform programs—Manufacturing Resurgence Program and the Bank Liberalization Law. These sectors will undergo further expansion in quarters ahead,” Beltran said.

“Planning units in departments involved in other sectors may need to look for opportunities for reform to experience similar FDI resurgence,” he added.

Beltran also said sectors with small FDI presence, for now, can look forward to significant growth opportunities over the near and medium horizon. “Construction, arts and recreation services, and education are expected to enjoy more infusion, due to the country’s skills endowment.

This includes the business-process outsourcing sector, which, despite low capitalization requirements, will continue to attract FDI because of cost advantages,” he said. Bianca Cuaresma

Lazada, SM share expertise to take advantage of rising online shoppers. . .

merchandise from toys to clothes, Teresita Sy-Coson, a daughter of the billionaire owner and vice chairman of the company, said in an interview. SM will initially sell lightto-carry nonfood items through Lazada that eventually could include home furnishings and appliances, she said. “This strategic alliance with Lazada will further enhance our online store,” Sy-Coson said. “It’s a very good match: Lazada has its expertise and we also have our own expertise.”

SM Investments, operator of the country’s biggest chain of retail stores and owner

of the nation’s largest shopping mall builder, faces intensifying competition as rivals from Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc.to Puregold Price Club Inc., expand their network.

Internet access and the use of smartphones have also been rising, encouraging EBay Inc., Alibaba Group Holdings Inc. and Amazon. com Inc. to tap local online shoppers.

Shares of SM Investments rose 2.2 percent on Thursday, the highest close since April 14. The stock has gained 8.8 percent this year, outpacing the 1.4-percent gain in the benchmark Philippine Stock Ex-

change Index. More Filipinos are accessing the Internet, including on mobile devices.

About 40 percent of the Philippines’s population of more than 100 million were Internet users in 2012, up from 5.2 percent in 2004, according to the World Bank. The Philippines had about 118 million mobilephone subscribers at end-2015.

SM Investments’ alliance with Lazada comes two years after Sy-Coson said in a Bloomberg interview in February 2014 that the group has been testing e-commerce web sites and targets a full-scale online opera-

tion by 2016. The SM Group currently has web sites that sell toys and home appliances, as well as vouchers that give customers as much as 50-percent discount in purchasing select merchandise from its department stores and supermarkets.

The Philippine e-commerce market is forecast to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 101.4 percent from 2013 through to 2018, according to a 2014 report by Ken Research Ltd. The online retail market, a component of e-commerce, is projected to rise 189.2 percent over the same period, it said.

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Lazada, which began its Philippine operations in 2012, led Internet retailing in the country in 2015 with a 20-percent market share as it met rising Filipino interests for gadgets and electronic appliances from smartphones, tablets to home theater systems at prices that were a “huge” discount, according to a Euromonitor International January 2016 report.

Lazada.com.ph, which has 7,000 merchants, is the country’s sixth most popular web site and ranks 14th globally among online merchant web sites, according to Inanc Balci, chief executive at Lazada’s Philippine operations. He said the Filipino shopping pattern has evolved, with 60 percent of their customers buying goods through mobile Internet.

Lazada Group is a privately owned e-commerce company founded in 2011 by Rocket Internet with the goal of building Southeast Asia’s Amazon.com. Aside from the Philippines, it operates sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte. is among its large shareholders, according to Rocket Internet’s website.

SM Investments’ retail operations, which include department stores, grocers, supermarkets and convenience stores, posted a 17-percent growth in profit to P6.8 billion last year on a 7-percent increase in sales.

SM Prime Holdings Inc., its shoppingmall venture, had a 14-percent increase in recurring profit to P20.9 billion.

“The retail business is evolving,” SyCoson said. “It is important for a retailer to go online and it’s the right move to go with Lazada.” Bloomberg News

RE projects. . .

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investments in the energy sector.

“Energy is a major concern across industries, especially now that we are already experiencing the resurgence of the manufacturing industry,” the trade official said. Currently, around 17,025 megawatts are installed nationwide for power generation, with bulk of the capacity situated in Luzon.

Based on the DOE’s 2014 to 2019 demand-supply projections, an additional 5,100 MW is needed in all major grids of the country: at least 3,800 MW in Luzon, 900 MW in the Visayas and 400 MW in Mindanao.

Out of the required energy capacity, only 3,382.75 MW from 45 power generating from both RE facilities and conventionally fueled power plants are committed to go online this year.

Catherine N. Pillas with PNA

A4 Saturday, March 12, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Amb. Antonio L. Cabangon Chua: Your life made the world better Continued from A1

He liked to joke that his businesses stretched through and provided for people from “conception to resurrection.”

However, these are all things that we might read on a résumé but do not tell the story of a man’s life.

There were two books written about “Amba,” as he was called by his associates. His close friend and National Artist for Literature, the late Nick Joaquin, penned Antonio L. Cabangon Chua: A Saga of Success about his early life. A sequel by award-winning writer Jose F. Lacaba and Eric S. Caruncho was titled No Dream Too Tall. The books tell his story but cannot fully capture the man.

British author Sir Hugh Walpole began his 1913 novel Fortitude with these words: “It isn’t life that matters! Tis the courage you bring to it.” It would be difficult to be as courageous as this man was.

World War II destroyed and impoverished his family with the death of his father. But he channeled his pain and anger to rebuild his and his mother’s life from the ashes like the Philippines did, the country that he loved and protected with fierce passion. It would have been easier, and maybe more sensible, after a long lifetime to sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor. But time never slowed this man’s desire to build even more. In 2008 he took the location of the historic Manila Grand Opera House and built a first-class hotel to help revitalize the rundown Avenida area.

Only last year he changed the landscape of Philippine television and news by doing something everyone said would be impossible. His Aliw Broadcasting Corp., through its Nine Media Corp., now owns and operates the television network CNN Philippines. Amba created CNN Philippines to bring professional and unbiased reporting here at home and to “Tell the Story of the Filipino” around the globe.

Yet, no matter how large his businesses grew, throughout his life, he remained devoted to his mother and to his church. His personal and corporate philanthropy was far reaching and done in his style—with humility and often without publicity. Nearly everyone, who worked in his companies, has their own story of his kindness and personal interest. He was always a mentor and wanted employees to know that they were a part of his family. He was famous for reminding people that, “Whether you’re rich or poor, everyone has 24 hours in a day. It’s what you do with your 24 hours that counts.”

Ambassador, you are already greatly missed. The legacy of your wisdom that you shared with us will never be forgotten. We will honor that legacy by passing what you taught us to those who come after in the same way that you did for us. The Philippines is better because of you. One man can change the world. You taught us that.

03122016

Good-bye, my friend John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

O

RIGINALLY, the plan for today was to talk about our local stock market in light of the big news out of Europe on Thursday. The European Central Bank went full “stimulus” by dropping deposit rates from negative 0.30 percent, even farther down to negative 0.40 percent. The base refinancing interest rate is now 0.00 percent. Further, the bank also extended its monthly asset purchases to €80 billion ($87 billion), from €60 billion.

Nonetheless, that is it for the financial markets for today. Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote that, “The best laid schemes of Mice and Men often go awry, and leave us nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy!”

On Friday I lost a very good and longtime friend, Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, the founder of the BusinessMirror. I had known

the ambassador for nearly 20 years, when I first started writing for his publication, Philippines Graphic magazine. The first time I met him was at the Graphic Christmas party when he came up to me, shook my hand, and thanked me, saying that he was honored that I was willing to write for him.

Looking at my columns back the—and maybe now—I was

honored that anyone would take the time to read my ideas, let alone pay me to publish them. But that was the kind of man Tony was. He always made you feel special and important and brought out the best that you had to give. Don’t misunderstand me.

The Ambassador’s standards were high and he could scold as easily and as strongly as he could praise. But if you did not realize that he had your best interests at heart, then you were a fool and did not deserve the benefit of his wisdom.

When I would speak of something that he had told me, my wife would call him the father I never had. But being only 16 years older than I am, it would have been hard to call him “Dad.” But in truth, he was a father figure to many, perhaps, because he himself had gained his successful place in the world without having had his own father.

The fondest memories of my friend will be sitting in his office, each of us holding a freshly poured glass of wine, talking about the

world, and, sometimes, giggling like two schoolgirls about this or that. Maybe it was age or experience, but we shared a common trait. Tony took everything he did seriously, but he never took himself seriously. He could speak as easily with the pontiff of the Catholic Church as he did with his newest employee. And when you spoke with this man, you had his undivided attention.

Not many people know that in the good old days, the Ambassador was an active—and aggressive—trader in the Philippine stock market. Maybe someday, I will share some of his stock-market wisdom.

For now, I will raise a glass to his memory and be thankful for the opportunity Amba gave me to call him my friend.

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 the COL Financial Group Inc.

West Philippine Sea dispute as the first agenda of new administration Alvin P. Ang

EAGLE WATCH

I

HAD the opportunity to listen to the lecture of Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio on the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) on February 24 at the Philippine Social Science Center. The lecture was the culmination of the exhibit of various historical maps of the Philippines and China showing the disputed seas. After viewing the maps and listening to the lecture, I am convinced that the issues surrounding the dispute needs to be “laymanized,” as it has far reaching impact on our country’s fight against poverty and on our long-term development.

As we are aware of, the challenge stems from China’s claim of a significant portion of the South China Sea using its historical nine-dash line.

This will effectively cover about 86 percent of the South China Sea. This, however, is going to encroach on the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and extended continental shelf (ECS) of the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam.

The EEZs and the ECS were results of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). Unclos was concluded in 1982 and China was an active participant in its discussion. The Unclos provided defining lines and boundaries in relation to the economic rights of a country as follows: a) territorial waters—end of shore to 12 miles. This is sovereign territory; b) EEZs—the EEZs are

beyond and outside the territorial waters of a country. They stretch to 370 kilometers from the edge of the territorial waters. They are not part of sovereign territory but sovereign rights to explore the resources therein. Within their EEZs, countries are allowed to explore and use maritime resources including energy. A country has sovereign rights but does not own the territory; c) ECS are outside the EEZs by which the country still have the right to the seabed up to about 600 kilometers from seabed; and d) high seas—there is no national rights.

In public economics, open seas are classified as common resources.

It means that no one can be prevented from accessing the resource and each one can take from it. In practical perspective, it means that no

one can be prevented from fishing in these areas or explore the natural resources contained therein. What the Unclos did is to classify what is common resource and what can be assigned exclusively for a country. Thus, by assigning EEZs, ECS and the high seas, countries can have clear boundaries of what is exclusive to them and continued access to the area and explore the resources for its use and consumption, and what is for common use and exploration.

China’s claim of sovereignty over a significant portion of the South China Sea effectively extends its national boundaries and, therefore, its EEZs. By building various structures in different atolls and reefs, it is formalizing its claim over these territories. According to the lecture of Carpio, China claims that its southernmost territory is James Shoal, which is already within Malaysia’s EEZ. In the case of the Philippines, this assertion, he said, will affect about 80 percent of the Philippine EEZ in the West Philippine Sea, or roughly 381,000 square kilometers of maritime space. This area is much larger than the total land area of the Philippines, which is about 300,000 sq km. It will leave the Philippines with a very small area as EEZ in the western side and will create a 1,300km sea border with China extending from Batanes to Palawan. In terms of actual areas affected, the country will lose a number of reefs and shoals in its ECS and part of Malampaya gas

reserves within its EEZ. In practical terms, Filipino fishermen will lose access to our own EEZ as it will now be considered part of Chinese territory. These areas are also critical for the Philippines, especially as the gas reserves of Malampaya is only good for another 12 years. Likewise, areas within the ECS and EEZ used to be accessed by our fishermen but are now off-limits to them. This has affected the livelihood of fishermen along the western coastline of Luzon and those in the Palawan island groups. Hence, it is critical to clearly establish what we are supposed to lose in terms of economic value.

At present, the country is waiting for the results of the UN Arbitration Tribunal where it filed in 2013 to clarify the claims of China.

China did not participate in the proceedings. The results will most likely come out close to election day in May. The implications will, therefore, be one of the first key action points of the new administration. This is why it is critical that in the coming days, the electorate must know clearly the stand of the presidential candidates on how to deal with the results. They must show how the Philippines will benefit from any of the arrangements that will come out of the results and how to deal with China. We need to know exactly and clearly, because whatever action we take will define our foreign, economic and political policies beyond the next six years.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Saturday, March 12, 2016 A5

The ‘Veritas Servant Leadership Halalan Proper career guidance as important as improved Forum 2016’ at Radio Veritas 846 educational curriculum Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

Jemain Diaz De Rivera

FORWARD MOVING

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ILIPINOFRENCH Henry Motte-Muñoz, founder of Edukasyon.ph, an online platform that helps Grade 10 students choose career paths that fit their skills and interests, had a meeting and signed a partnership agreement with Jomari Mercado, president of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP). IBPAP will provide information technology and business-process management (IT-BPM) content information for Edukasyon.ph regarding industry needs, such as average salary, job description, skills and competencies, career progression, employment opportunities and key IT-BPM industry players.

This platform can provide students with information about the industry they hope to be a part of, and let them know about opportunities for them to build a career.

Henry was born in Paris, and raised in Paris, London, Zurich and the Philippines. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at the London School of Economics. He joined Goldman Sachs and later Bain Capital’s Private Equity team.

He was sent to Harvard Business School on a company scholarship and graduated with distinction.

Henry envisions the same systematic career guidance he experienced in Europe for Filipino highschool students. He did his undergrad in the United Kingdom, where he obtained guidance on what kind of college is right for him and what kind of subjects he can study, and if he took certain subjects, what career he can eventually have. “The perfect career path helps the student consider what they are good at, what they enjoy and which fields are actually hiring,” Motte-Muñoz said.

With support from the Department of Education, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Edukasyon.ph provides students with almost everything they need to know about pursuing a certain career: what courses lead to what career, what is the market demand for that field and how much one can possibly earn in the future.

It is a course-matching service to help students in high school find courses that will get them employed.

‘My Dream in a Shoebox’

TOGETHER, many from the ITBPM industry help make bigger dreams come true by providing children with school supplies they need to continue their education.

Children all over the country dream of a better future, but this is at times impossible because of poverty. Led by IBPAP and TeamAsia, “My Dream in a Shoebox” helps children reach for a brighter future.

It started in 2009 with the collection of 200 shoe boxes of school supplies given to less-fortunate children. By 2014 efforts have grown into a Christmas tradition with over

28,000 shoe boxes reaching more areas nationwide.

Last Christmas a total of 50,006 boxes were received for children in elementary schools, orphanages, communities and non-governmental organizations in Alabang, Antipolo, Bacolod, Bohol, Boracay, Caloocan, Capiz, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Daet, Davao, Iloilo, La Union, Leyte, Laguna, Legaspi, Lipa, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Naga, Palawan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Parañaque, Pasig, Quezon, Quezon City, Samar, San Juan, Tacloban and Taguig City.

Building dreams and chasing them

EXPERIENCE Philippines is a group of young professionals who enjoy going on random road trips and dream of a “better world.” Zoe Diaz de Rivera, one of their Road Trippers, shared about My Dream in a Shoebox, which started them packing 50 shoe boxes full of school supplies in December 2014 and a small group brought it to Muntinlupa for distribution.

Experience Philippines has over 300 Road Trippers and when challenged to double the number of shoeboxes given in 2014, they smashed the record by packing 618 boxes in 14 hours.

The founders of Experience Philippines were humbled by the fact that nothing they have accomplished with their 40+ road trips compares to seeing all Random Road Trippers meet for the first time and create bonds of friendship, as they helped pack and distribute shoe boxes to children in Payatas, and, led by Lady Ann Canlas, the Random Road Trippers distributed 155 shoe boxes to children being taught how to read by the Boracay Education and Development Fund at Yapak Elementary School. The rest of their donation found its way to other schoolchildren in different cities and provinces. n n n HELPING others build a career goes beyond creating job opportunities.

It includes holding a child’s hand by providing and caring for his or her needs, and guiding him or her when he or she is old enough to choose and prepare for one.

“…The great leader is seen as servant first…”—Robert K. Greenleaf

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ADIO Veritas 846, the leading faith-based AM radio station in the Philippines, is airing a special series, titled Veritas Servant Leadership Halalan Forum 2016, two months before the 2016 national elections.

The Veritas Servant Leadership Halalan Forum 2016 is a Radio Veritas election-related forum series that will focus on the 10 qualities of a servant-leader that should be the gauge for the voters in choosing their candidates. These 10 qualities being promoted by Radio Veritas aim to bring discernment back into the public’s choice of leaders.

The future of our country lies in our hands. It is our great responsibility to choose the best leader who could respond to the recurrent prob-

lems of our country.

These 10 guides in choosing the right candidate for the 2016 national elections may reorient the electorates in choosing their candidates for this coming election.

The 10 qualities for a servant leader include listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of the people and building community.

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.”

Radio Veritas 846 also recently received the Hildegarde Award under the Broadcast Journalism— Radio category for its flagship news program Veritas Pilipinas from Saint Scholastica’s College Manila’s 10th Hildegarde Awards for Women in Media and Communication.

Veritas Pilipinas is a news-magazine program that features Church advocacies, as well as morality and pressing political matters. It airs from 6 to 8 a.m. during weekdays, and is anchored by Ms. Penelope Lanzona, Fr. Emmanuel Alfonso of Jesuit Communications and Msgr.

Pedro Quitorio of Areopagus Communications.

Japan’s careful return to nuclear power

F

IVE years after the nuclear plant meltdown at Fukushima, Japan, has begun the controversial process of restarting its other reactors. The challenge for government and industry remains no less critical, however: to continually improve safety, lest they further undermine public support for what should be a reliable, climate-friendly fuel source.

Before Fukushima led the government to close all the country’s reactors, Japan got almost 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear.

Now it’s importing about 84 percent in the form of coal, oil and liquefied natural gas. Some 45 new coalfired-power plants are scheduled to open, threatening to increase carbon emissions and worsen lungdamaging air pollution in Japan.

The yen’s slide since 2013 has made

those fossil-fuel imports especially expensive, driving up the cost of electricity for consumers.

While use of renewable power in Japan, especially solar, is growing at a healthy clip, it remains under 15 percent—not enough to make up for the loss of nuclear power anytime soon.

That shouldn’t be a problem.

Under the right conditions, nuclear power should be able to provide a significant share of Japan’s clean energy, and safely. The meltdown at Fukushima has done more than anything in history to make the Japanese people question the safety of nuclear power, but the government has been working to allay their concerns. The Nuclear Regulation Authority has been given a strong mandate and detached from the pronuclear economy ministry. Improved hiring rules have

reinforced its independence from Japan’s powerful bureaucracy. Indeed, the slow pace of reactor restarts thus far suggests the agency takes its responsibilities seriously.

Yet the Nuclear Regulation Authority still needs more staff and resources, as well as outside voices and expertise. And while the International Atomic Energy Agency has praised Japan’s new regulatory framework, it has also warned that inspectors need to be given a freer hand to do their work properly.

To regain the public’s trust, Japan’s nuclear companies also need to fortify their own safety cultures.

This has to start with accepting accountability for Fukushima. Executives from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. have finally been indicted for professional negligence.

Now employees throughout Tepco

Too much information, Mr. Draghi

M

ARIO DRAGHI was able to bask in triumph for about an hour. The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a surprisingly bold stimulus package on Thursday, and financial markets were suitably impressed. As soon as he started to explain his reasoning, however, disappointment set in. Draghi’s first message amounted to “We have plenty of monetary-policy ammunition, and we intend to use it.” His subsequent clarification was “Come to think of it, maybe we don’t have that much.”

Give Draghi credit for ingenuity.

He announced cuts to all three of the ECB’s policy interest rates, including a drop to minus 0.4 percent in the rate it pays on banks’ deposits.

He added €20 billion a month to the ECB’s bond-buying program—more than expected. He widened the program’s pool of eligible assets to include high-quality corporate bonds, and he announced a new refinancing mechanism that will lend very cheaply to banks that supply credit to the euro area’s economy.

Having disappointed investors with the ECB’s previous policy announcement, Draghi had apparently resolved this time to over-deliver.

European stock markets surged and the euro depreciated sharply, recognizing a bold new easing of policy.

The mood changed abruptly after Draghi explained the central bank’s thinking on negative-interest rates. He said he expected no further

cuts. The ECB had looked at ways to make the deposit rate more negative, without putting banks under stress, and had concluded that the institutional complexity of Europe’s banking systems made this difficult. So he set a floor for interest rates, even as he insisted that the ECB had plenty of options for further easing.

The theory seems to be that expanded-quantitative easing and the new refinancing mechanism can deliver all the additional monetary stimulus that might be required.

That’s questionable. In any event, investors were left confused and underwhelmed. The ECB, it must be emphasized, isn’t at fault here. For months now Draghi has done everything he plausibly could, and more,

Posers on parade as Republican debate veers toward substance B J B Bloomberg View

T

HE circus was not in town. No personal insults, no demeaning taunts, no candidate bragging about his...well, you know. Instead, thanks, in part, to some solid questioning from Jake Tapper and CNN’s other moderators and a strategic recalibration from Marco Rubio after his collapse in recent primaries and caucuses, we had what passes for a serious policy debate on the Republican side.

It was not impressive.

Donald Trump either knows nothing about government and public affairs, or is playing a character who knows nothing. In most cases, his answer to everything is that every deal the United States government has ever made on anything is a disaster, and he would make much

better ones. What was wrong with the old ones? What would the new ones consist of? How would he get there? He has nothing, because, of course, there is nothing; it’s just an empty boast. When he tries to talk about specifics, he gets lost, changes the subject—usually to himself—or just flat out lies.

For example: In answering a question about social-security financing, Trump first tried to say that eliminating waste and fraud would solve everything—a politician’s trick for saying “I won’t do anything”—and then, when pressed, wandered around for a while, falsely claimed that “GDP was zero, essentially for the last two quarters,” and then, eventually, wound up talking about how costly it is to protect allies, such as South Korea, and how he would get those allies to, apparently, fund social security in the US. It’s gibberish, on this and on practically everything else. After all, this is a candidate who has twice now answered policy questions about the Middle East by saying that he was “the grand marshal, not so long

ago, of the Israeli Day Parade down Fifth Avenue.”

And yet...it’s not as if the others, who basically stick to standard movement conservative talking points, are all that coherent. Better than Trump, to be sure. But not great—whether it’s Rubio saying that nothing the US could do would have any effect on climate, or Ted Cruz dragging out the fiction that Barack Obama took an “apology tour,” or John Kasich bragging about balancing the budget in the 1990s (while, in fact, the main steps that accomplished that were George H.W. Bush’s budget deal and Bill Clinton’s 1993 budget, both of which Kasich opposed).

Take Cruz. Asked whether he thought it mattered what the rest of the world thinks of the US, Cruz

immediately answered: “Of course it does.” And then he talked about a fictional world in which the US was liked and respected everywhere up until January 2009, leaving the experience of George W. Bush to amnesia. But now, he claimed, “when I meet with heads of states and defense ministers and foreign ministers, they say over and over again, ‘it is hard to be friends with America; we can’t count on America; America doesn’t stand with us.’” And, as a policy solution to the situation, he pledged to “rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal because the Ayatollah Khamenei must never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.” Sorry, Ted. Of course, back in the real world, the Iran deal (whether on balance it is good or bad) has resulted in an

Organized by the Mass Communication Department of St. Scholastica’s College-Manila, the Hildegarde Award gives accolade to outstanding women in media and communication, as well as in advertising, print, broadcast journalism and development communication.

The award was named after Saint Hildegard and Sibyl of the Rhine, a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary and polymath. She is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.

Owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Manila, Radio Veritas continues to be the leading socialcommunications ministry for truth and new evangelization, providing religious and magazine programs, Church advocacies and social concerns to its listeners.

To know more about the programs of Caritas Manila, visit www.caritas.org.ph. For donations, call 563-9311. For inquiries, call 563-9308 or 5639298. 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.

and other nuclear companies need to be empowered to ask questions and challenge superiors.

Some common fears are probably overblown. Concerns about radioactive seafood, for example, have yet to be borne out. Only one confirmed case of cancer linked to Fukushima radiation has so far emerged.

Nevertheless, Japanese authorities need to respect and address people’s understandable worries.

Ignoring them will only breed resentment and raise the risk that inevitable stumbles will set back the whole process of restarting reactors and, perhaps one day, commissioning new ones. By demonstrating that all reactors can be operated safely, the government, regulators and power companies can see that nuclear again provides reliable, emissions-free power for Japan. Bloomberg View

to provide monetary stimulus. But the limits of that policy are finally starting to bind.

What’s needed now is fiscal stimulus. Draghi said as much, albeit elliptically. The central bank has no formal role in making fiscal policy, and he’s unwilling to cross political lines and exceed his authority.

That’s a pity. With prices in the euro area now falling, and the central bank’s inflation target moving farther out of reach, Europe’s governments need to shoulder some of the burden of supporting demand. So far, the region’s worsening prospects have left them unmoved. Enough.

Draghi should take a risk—and try harder to change their minds.

Bloomberg View

Iran, which is now further from going nuclear—but more important in this context, it’s extremely hard to believe that US allies who support and signed that deal will find a US that “rips to shreds” such agreements to be easier to “count on.”

The point isn’t that Cruz is necessarily wrong on Iran. It’s that the two halves of his answer don’t add up to anything coherent. They weren’t all terrible all the time. Rubio and Kasich do know their stuff in several policy areas, and Cruz actually did give a solid defense of international trade. But over and over, there’s just very little substance on the stage. For a major political party’s candidates for president of the US, it’s a sorry show, even if they did stay out of the gutter this time.

A6 Saturday, March 12, 2016 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

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More than 90 local officials on carpet over garbage dumps

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HE Ombudsman has ordered more than 90 local officials to reply to the complaint filed against them for alleged violation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, or Republic Act 9003.

Ombudsman Cochita CarpioMorales said local officials were given a nonextendible period of 30 days to submit their explanations and Safe Closure and Rehabilitation Plan (SCRP) that must include the proposal to immediately close the garbage dumps in their localities.

The Ombudsman also ordered

the local officials to detail the specific tasks, activities and legislative action to be completed within six months of SCRP implementation.

Morales said close to 30 investigators from the Environmental Ombudsman team have been deployed to serve the orders to the mayors, vice mayors and Sanggu-

Iqbal visits ‘hostile’ territory, justifies Mamasapano carnage B M G Correspondent

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HAIRMAN Mohagher Iqbal of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) stepped on Cordillera soil for the first time on Wednesday.

The visit is considered historic, since it is his first visit, and the area is deemed a hostile territory for him, as it is the home to 14 of the Special Action Force (SAF) commandos who perished in the hands of his fighters and other gunmen in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, in January last year.

Iqbal said, despite the fact that he was strongly advised against coming to the area, he insisted on gong to express his sentiments on the Mamasapano tragedy.

In a news conference in Baguio City on Wednesday, Iqbal said, “I am a man of peace. I have come in the name of peace. What is important is that everyone is seeking the truth.

This is an opportunity to say that we are all seeking peace.”

He reminded the media that it was not only the SAF that lost men in the Mamasapano incident but also the MILF. “It was a tragic incident that nobody wanted to happen, and regret will not change anything. “What is important is that everybody now pursues,” peace,” he said.

A Cordillera contingent went to Mamasapano to perform a ritual on the first death anniversary of the SAF commandos who perished in the area to appease their souls. Iqbal said the highest MILF military command was in the vicinity to ensure that all goes without inacident. As for a peace ritual, Iqbal said both sides still need to talk and decide on the details on how to perform this.

Iqbal maintained his stand on the Senate report that he can never agree to call the tragedy a massacre.

He explained that the Philippine government holds both the primacy of the peace process and the primacy on war against terrorism. Peace processes have failed in the past but Iqbal said they saw that the Aquino administration really upheld the peace process, and so they agreed to stop fighting.

Iqbal said that the precise moment of the Mamasapano tragedy, the war

the campaign against terrorism has become the focus of military and police operations.

“While it is true that they accomplished their objective—taking the terrorist Anwar—many died in the process. It can be legal, but was it moral?” Iqbal asked.

He questioned the timing of the operation, because there was an ongoing cease-fire between the government and the MILF, and that the police action was not even coordinated with the Armed Forces.

He did not explain, however, how Zulkifli bit Hir, alias Marwan, a longwanted international terrorist, was doing in a place that is claimed by the MILF as its “territory.”

He laid the blamed on the SAF commandos, who, he said, came in the “darkest time of the night.”

“So I can never accept the finding that it was a massacre. The SAF commandos were on the line of duty, they were fully armed. It was an encounter,” he said. He attributed the fact that the SAF troopers died because of “decisions that were not very good.”

The chairman of the government peace panel to the MILF, Miriam Coronel Ferrer, said there is a process in determining the liability of those involved in the incident. She added that the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman are investigating the operation for possible lapses, and to determine the accountable parties.

“Then justice can be meted out, but not at the expense of another justice issue which in the Bangsamoro issue,” he added.

Ferrer said there should be no contradiction, and that justice must be sought in both cases. “We don’t have to choose,” she said. “We have one foot inside the door now, help us pull the other one in. It would be more damaging to pull out and close the door to peace, as it would take again many generations to achieve peace,” she said.

Iqbal, meanwhile, reacted to the issue of unconstitionality of some provisions in the proposed Bangsamoro basic law, saying that all its provisions were “carefully and lengthily studied by many lawyers on both sides of the panel, including now Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, and found nothing contrary to the Constitution.”

niang Bayan members in Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, Albay, Quezon, Oriental Mindoro, Northern Samar, Leyte and Palawan.

“I welcome as good development the action taken by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority in its Estero Blitz program, a clean-up drive to declog the waterways of Metro Manila,” Morales said.

Under its mandate, the Environmental Ombudsman Team, headed by Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard Mosquera, shall handle complaints filed against any public official, employee, office or agency mandated to protect the environment and conserve natural resources where the act complained of appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient.

On February 10 the Environmental Ombudsman received 50 complaints filed by an ecology-advocacy group. The teams that Mosquera sent to verify the complaints reported that “field investigations reveal that the officials committed violations of RA 9003 and its implementing rules.”

The complaint alleged that mayors, vice mayors and Sanggunian members, who have “the mandate to establish policies” of their respective local governments and control over the funds, “conspired in committing the violations of RA 9003 within their jurisdiction.”

In 2013 the Environmental Ombudsman program, in collaboration with the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, launched a three-year nationwide campaign

to increase awareness of and promote voluntary compliance with RA 9003.

Under this program, the local governments were directed to conduct their respective self-assessment as to their compliance status and to voluntarily implement corrective actions.

However, the complainant said two years after the implementation, tracer results show that RA 9003 remains to be the least prioritized local government program.

RA 9003 said, “No open dump sites shall be established and operated, nor any practice or disposal of solid waste by any person, including local governments, which constitutes the use of open dumps for solid waste, be allowed after the effectivity of this Act, every local government shall convert its open dumps to controlled dumps.”

Drilon: Comelec has legal power to extend voting hours S

ENATE President Franklin M. Drilon on Friday said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is authorized by law to extend the May elections if it needs time to comply with the Supreme Court ruling on the printing of vote receipts.

Drilon said he supports the idea of extending the period of conducting the elections, “which is more acceptable under the law, instead of a complete postponement due to challenges presented to the Comelec by the Supreme Court’s decision.”

He said the law and the Constitution do not mandate that the voting period has to be finished within 24 hours.

“The Comelec has the power to decide how long the extension should be, as long as the election starts on second Monday of May, as mandated by the 1987 Constitution,” Drilon explained.

“If the Comelec, due to decision of the Supreme Court, will require that the voting hours be extended, even if it extends to the next calendar day, that is allowed under the law,” he added.

“Simply put, we can have elections on May 9 and 10. But what is illegal and violative of the Constitution is to not have elections on May 9,” he stressed.

Drilon earlier vowed to block any attempt to postpone the 2016 May elections, saying that it would violate the Constitution if the Comelec insists on it.

“The Comelec cannot postpone on this ground based on existing law. There should not even be talks about postponement. I will block any attempt to postpone the election,” Drilon said.

He explained that under the Omnibus Election Code, postponement may only be effected for “serious

causes, such as violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure, and other analogous causes of such nature that the holding of a free, orderly and honest election should become impossible in any political subdivision.”

However, Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Rodolfo T. Albano III of Isabela expressed opposition to the holding of elections for two days.

Albano, head of the House contingent to the Commission on Appointements, said the holding of two-day elections is a “recipe for chaos,” as the voters are not prepared for it.

In addition, Albano said the holding of the polls for two days may pose a “security nightmare” for the police and military, who are tasked to secure polling places, election personnel and even Board of Election Inspectors members. Butch Fernandez

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as many children as they desire. Moreover, a rising trend in teenage pregnancy and delivery has been observed,”the senator said.

These two trends “lead to an increase in maternal deaths, and are strongly associated with inadequate access to family-planning information, goods and services among poor and young women,” Santiago added.

As of 2012, the government reported that some 221 mothers die per 100,000 live births in the Philippines, a far cry from the target of 52 mothers dying per 100,000 live births set

B J C. N Philippines News Agency

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EGAZPI CITY—Albay and Fuefuki City in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, will soon formalize a sisterhood accord for their respective world-famous conical-shaped volcanos—Mayon-Fuji. The agreement is seen as a major marketing tourism coup in the travel industry.

Fuefuki City, in central Yamanashi, is home to the beautiful snow-capped Fuji, Japan’s holy mountain which straddles the border with Shiozuoka Prefecture. The city is ecology rich, with more than half of its 202-squarekilometer area covered by forests.

An eight-member Albay delegation and officials of Fuefuki and Yamanashi met on March 7 at Hotel Hata in Fuefuki City and worked out the final draft of the pact.

The Albay delegation included Department of Tourism (DOT) Region V Director Maria O. Ravanilla, Tourism Attaché and Representative to East Japan Gwendolyn Batoon, Albay Provincial Tourism Officer Dorothy Colle and four board members.

Albay Gov. Joey S. Salceda will review the final draft before its ceremonial signing scheduled soon. He initially proposed the partnership last year in a letter to Yamanashi Gov. Shomei Yokouchi, noting the significant resemblance between the two volcanos, which are favorites of tourists worldwide. He suggested the possibility of “partnership and collaboration, pooling of resources and expertise” between their local governments for tourism and other endeavors.

Salceda’s proposal immediately drew favorable reaction from Yokouchi. Following the visit of a Yamanashi delegation in October last year, the recent Fuefuki City conference was held to finalize the agreement. He said the Mayon-Fuji sisterhood brings about a “Fire and Ice” partnership that amounts to a “major marketing coup for the Philippines and the Department of Tourism, and there is no doubt Albay and the whole Bicol region will gain major boosts from this tourism alliance.”

“Fire” refers to the iconic image of the 8,000-foot-high Mayon with its crater at the apex of its nearperfect cone-shaped frame, spewing fire, while “ice” pertains to the 12,000-foot-tall Fuji that is snowcapped nearly all year round.

Filipinos in Baghdad urged to register due to possible collapse of Mosul Dam

B ART FORWARD A foundation recently launched a project aimed at helping women who were previously involved in illegal drugs address their

personal problems, such as depression, which drove them to exploring illegal substances through painting. Be Healed Foundation (BHF), in cooperation with the Department of Health, sponsored a painting session at the DOH Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Taguig City. In photo are (from left) Jay Virina, art instructor; Alexandra Santos, director and operations manager of BHF; Jerika Ejercito, BHF founder; and Bian Leabas, chief for medical services of the rehabilitation center. NONOY LACZA

Miriam vows better health for mothers, children

N Women’s Month, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago vowed to take better care of Filipino mothers and infants by addressing unequal access to health services among women of different social classes.

Santiago, author of the Reproductive Health Law, said delayed implementation of the law passed in 2012 cripples the government in addressing the alarming maternal and infant mortality rates in the country.

“The total fertility rate has been going down, but poor women are still having twice

Mayon-Fuji sisterhood, major tourism marketing coup

by the international community, and even higher than the baseline of 192 mothers dying per 100,000 live births in 1990.

Santiago, who is running for president, claimed that the maternal-health index is an indicator that thoroughly demonstrates the wide gaps in health care and the remarkable inequality among women of differing socioeconomic classes. “Poor mothers in rural communities are more than five times as likely to die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

This reflects the inability of poor women to

access family planning—something that rich women take as a given,” she said. She added that the poor state of maternal health is linked to high infant and under-5 mortality. As of 2012, the Philippines posted a ratio of 24 infants dying per 1,000 live births.

Some 75,000 children also die before their fifth birthday.

Santiago’s running mate, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., meanwhile said he was delighted by the enormous support he got from netizens as his #TayoAngBukas trended to the No. 1 spot on Twitter’s

Philippine Trends on Wednesday.

This developed as Marcos was making the rounds in his Unity Caravan campaign in Mindanao, espousing the theme of national unity and a progressive tomorrow.

Tweeting back to his followers on the social-media platform, Marcos said he was “thrilled to hear that #TayoAngBukas trended as the No. 1 hashtag on Twitter while I was in Mindanao yesterday.”

“Maraming salamat sa inyong pakikiisa sa pagpapaabot ng aking mensahe ng pagkakaisa!” he said in another tweet.

AGHDAD—Filipinos working in Baghdad and other cities along the Tigris River floodplain were reminded on Friday to register with the Philippine Embassy, as part of the contingency measures that are being put in place in the event of a catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam in northern Iraq.

The Philippine Embassy resounded its call to the estimated 300 Filipinos in Baghdad and nearby cities, after the Iraqi government urged the almost 1.5 million people living along the Tigris to consider relocating to areas more than 6 kilometers from the river to ensure their safety in the event the dam collapses. “We reiterate our request to our kababayan, especially those in Baghdad, to please register with the embassy so that we would know where they are and how to reach them in case of an emergency,” Chargé d’Affaires Elmer G. Cato said. “As much as possible, we would not want to leave anyone behind.”

The embassy first issued an advisory in January, after the United States warned that the dam, one of the biggest in the world in terms of reservoir capacity, is in danger of collapsing owing to faulty construction.

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Sports BusinessMirror

Petron seeks sweep of PSL second round

KOREAN Lee Jeong-hwa gets the traditional douse from supporters after scoring a comefrom-behind win, as Princess Superal pitches from the edge of the green. ROY DOMINGO

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TREAKING Petron seeks a sweep of the second round when it tangles with winless New San Jose Builders on Saturday in the 2016 PLDT Home Ultera Philippine Superliga (PSL) Invitational Conference women’s volleyball tournament at the Batangas City Sport Center in Batangas City.

The Tri-Activ Spikers go for their thirdstraight win at 1 p.m., followed by a crucial showdown between Cignal and F2 Logistics at 3 p.m. in the last day of the second round of eliminations of the interclub tournament bankrolled by Asics, Mikasa, Senoh, Mueller and Grand Sports with TV5 as official broadcast partner.

Petron routed F2 Logistics, 25-14, 25-15, 25-16, on Thursday at the Filoil Flying V Arena. The two-time PSL champions will face a rookie team in New San Jose Builders, which is composed of University of Perpetual Help System Dalta mainstays in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Although their opponents have not won in five matches, Petron Head Coach George Pascua doesn’t want to be complacent.

“I told my girls that they are a young team and they will be up for the challenge,” Pascua said. “So we can’t afford to relax because if they will be given a chance, they will really take it. So we just have to maintain the high level of our game consistently.”

F2 Logistics, down to 3-2 won-lost, eyes a victory that would enhance its chances of advancing to the final round where the top 3 teams after the threeround encounter will collide, including a topnotch side from Thailand.

“This is our last game and this is our only chance to make the final round,” F2 Logistics Head Coach Rosemarie Prochina said. “Cignal is no easy foe. They are young, but already full of experience. We have to be at our best against them because they are our potential rival for a seat in the final round.”

The Cargo Movers will face an HD Spikers side which caught fire and found its composure after a rousing 25-20, 25-19, 25-18 victory over New San Jose Builders late Thursday.

“Precisely, the win was a morale-booster for us and it lessened the pressure and stress for us,” Cignal Coach Sammy Acaylar said.

Cignal bounced back from a loss to Petron on Tuesday for a 1-1 record but Acaylar stressed their match against the Cargo Movers is more important than their first two outings.

“Our game against F2 Logisitics will be crucial, it’s a must-win because only three teams will advance and so far [RC Cola] Army and Petron are undefeated,” he said. “In the end, it still depends on the character of the players if they want to win.” Lance Agcaoili

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KOREAN PREVAILS K

OREAN Lee Jeong-hwa pulled through in a nerve-wracking shootout, draining clutch birdies in the stretch to card a two-under 70, turn back Japanese Fumika Kawagishi and snare the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI Champion Tour presented by Champion and Taiwan LPGA crown by one at the Splendido Taal Golf Club in Tagaytay City on Friday.

Lee fought back from two strokes down with eight holes left, birdieing the par-5 11th for the third straight day and pouncing on Kawagishi’s bogey on No. 14 to draw level then rammed in birdies on Nos. 15 and 17 for a closing 34, clinching the victory on a 54-hole aggregate of eight-under 208 worth $15,000.

“Mission accomplished. My goal from the start was to win this tournament,” said Lee, whose hard-earned victory came four years after she beat Princess Superal by three in the Philippine Ladies Open at Manila Southwoods in 2012.

Kawagishi, who wrested a one-stroke lead over Lee with a solid seven-under 65 on Thursday and battled the Korean ace shotfor-shot and putt-for-putt to pad her lead to two after 10 holes, recovered from that costly mishap on the 14th a bit too late, her

final-hole birdie could only save her a pair of 36s-72 for a 209 and $7,500.

So upset was Kawagishi, whose superb second-round charge sparked hopes for a successful maiden stint on the local circuit sponsored by ICTSI, that the 21-year-old bet from Yokohama left as soon as she turned in her scorecard.

She actually moved eight holes away from achieving that feat but flubbed her birdie bid on the 11th and muffed a par-putt try from 6 feet on No. 14.

Forcing a tie, Lee birdied No. 15 to seize the lead then struck a solid 6-iron tee shot on the par-3 17th to within 5 feet for another birdie and the cushion she needed to thwart Kawagishi’s final-hole birdie.

“It was so hard for me to make birdies in the first nine holes as I was focusing more on the Japanese who is really good in short game than in my own game. But I was able to re-focus at the back and start making birdies,” Lee said.

Superal birdied two of the last seven holes to card a 71 and finish tied for third at 214 with Taiwanese Chen Yu-ju, who also shot a 71, and Taiwan LPGA Tour opening-leg winner Kanpahnitnan Muangkhumaskul of

the annual LBC Ronda Pilipinas, the biggest cycling race in the country today, came to be.

“I just took my chance and grabbed it,” the 23-year-old Oranza said.

Oranza, who hails from Villasis, Pangasinan, later admitted he was just a ploy to lure opposing riders away from Navy teammate and Mindanao Leg champion Jan Paul Morales.

“I was just playing decoy to help Jan Paul [Morales]. But when I realized I had the chance, I just didn’t waste time grabbing it,” he said.

Roque (1:09:24.082) and Lim (1:09:24.401) wound up second and third place, respectively.

LBC-MVPSF’s Ronald Lomotos finished

fourth in 1:09:26.012, while Navymen Daniel Ven Cariño (1:09:29.012) and grizzled veteran Joel Calderon (1:09:29.314) ended up Nos. 5 and 6.

Team ASG’s Richard Nebres, a 22-yearold neophyte from Matti, Davao Oriental, tried to snatch the stage win from out of nowhere and even led in the final two loops.

But Oranza and the lead pack caught up and when Nebres tried to get back on top, he accidentally hit the rear wheel of Lomotos and suffered a painful crash.

He went on to finish the race but will have to endure minor bruises and a damaged bike.

“I had my chance but blew it,” Nebres said.

Checking in the top 10 were Morales

pressure on the team, which has won three and lost five of its matches in Season 78.

Meneses has spent the last 17 years with Adamson University both as a player (setter) and member of the coaching staff. He took over from Dulce Pante in Season 75 and led the Lady Falcons to two Final Four appearances.

“Thank you for the opportunities, from being a student-athlete to Head Coach and for the professional and personal development that you have provided me during my 17 years of stay with the University,” Meneses furthered in his letter.

The Lady Falcons face the streaking University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

The Lady Spikers, meanwhile, are expected to be all fired up for their 4 p.m. match against the Tigresses, who beat them, 21-25, 22-25, 2125, at the close of the first round of eliminations last weekend.

“We prepared hard for this match and even doubled our preparation,” De La Salle Head Coach Ramil de Jesus said.

And UST Head Coach KungFu Reyes is aware of a De La Salle fightback.

“Definitely, La Salle would come for us so we have to [overcome] our mistakes,” said Reyes, who heavily banks on rising star Cherry Rondina, skipper EJ Laure and Mela Tunay in beating the Lady Spikers for a 4-4 won-lost record.

A victory would tie De La Salle with idle front-runner Ateneo at 7-2.

The men’s matches pit Far Eastern University against De La Salle at 8 a.m. and Adamson University against UST at 10 a.m.

Thailand, who rallied with a three-under 69, the best score in tough condition in the final round of the event which served as the kickoff leg of the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour and the fifth stage of Taiwan LPGA Tour. Chen and Muangkhumaskul split the combined purse of $7,650.

Lee’s triumph also ended Superal’s quest for an eighth straight victory but The Country Club ace still emerged the top Filipina finisher, and best amateur, as Symetra Tour campaigner Mia Piccio matched par 72 for the second straight and ended up joint ninth at 217 with Thai Chorphaka Jaengkit, who also had a 72.

First-day leader Mookharin Ladgratok and Korean Kang Ji-won shot identical 71s while Taiwan’s Chen Min-jou carded a 72 for joint sixth at 216 in the event organized

by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. and backed by adidas, Custom Clubmakers, KZG, TaylorMade, Champion, Summit Natural Drinking Water, Pacsports, Sharp and Rustans Supermarket.

Dottie Ardina, also priming up for the Symetra Tour, tried to rally with a two-under card after nine holes but the three-time ICTSI LPGT winner stumbled with a double-bogey on No. 11, birdied the next but dropped two strokes again on the closing par-4 hole to finish with a 73 for solo 11th at 218.

LPGA Tour campaigner Cyna Rodriguez birdied the first two holes but wavered with three bogeys against a birdie at the back and ended up with a 72 for joint 16th at 222 with Taiwanese Huang Ching and Huang Hsienwen, who both carded 72s, Yeh Hsin-ning, who hobbled with a 74, and last year’s ICTSI Ladies Open winner Hwang Ye-nah of Korea, who also struggled with a 74.

ORANZA TOPS BAGO CRITERIUM R

Meneses resigns as Adamson coach E LA SALLE clashes with first-round tormentor University of Santo Tomas (UST) but attention in Season 78 University Athletic Association of the Philippines women’s volleyball action was focused on Adamson University whose coach surprisingly resigned at midseason.

Sherwin Meneses filed his letter of resignation with Adamson University Fr. Marcelo Manimtim, CM, on Friday, rocking what looked like a stable situation within the Lady Falcons’ camp.

Meneses’s letter of resignation was circulated in the social media but the portion that indicated the reason for why he quit his job was rendered blurred.

Adamson University officials accepted Meneses’s resignation and announced the appointment of Domingo Custodio as interim coach. Custodio also coaches the school’s men’s volleyball squad.

“I am tendering my resignation as the Head Coach of Adamson Women’s Volleyball Team effective immediately,” Meneses said in his letter.

The BUSINESSMIRROR learned Meneses quit because of “too much mental and emotional”

CYCLISTS negotiate the 2.7-kilometer Stage One criterium loop on Friday.

ONALD ORANZA beat Navy-Standard Insurance teammate Rudy Roque and Rustom Lim of rival LBC-MVP Sports Foundation to reign supreme in the inaugural stage of the Visayas Leg of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2016 that started and ended in Bago City on Friday.

After pacing most of the race, Oranza went on attack mode in the final 100 meters to rule the 2.7-kilometer Stage One criterium with a clocking of one hour, nine minutes and 23.946 seconds, enough to earn him 15 general classification points and the leader’s LBC red jersey.

It was Oranza’s third stage victory after he took the first two stages of the Mindanao Leg in Butuan City and sixth overall since

Saturday, March 12, 2016 A7

(1:10:07.660), LBC-MVPSF’s Mark Julius Bonzo (1:10:08.943), Navy skipper Lloyd Lucien Reynante (1:10:09.935) and LBC-MVPSF captain George Oconer (1:10:11.899).

It was a dominating performance for Oranza, who also seized the two intermediate sprint races.

Team Iloilo’s Alejado Novendane emerged the best local rider after he submitted a time of 1:10:35.265.

The race resumes on Sunday, with another criterium in Stage Two in Iloilo City coinciding with the Iloilo Bike Festival celebrations.

Stage Three, a road race through the major arteries of Iloilo City, is set on Tuesday with the last two stages—Individual Time Trial and criterium—to be held on Thursday.

Spurs extend home-winning streak to 40

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AN ANTONIO—San Antonio stretched its home-winning streak to 40 games by downing an undermanned Chicago, 109-101, on Thursday to inch closer toward NBA pacesetter Golden State.

The Spurs, who won their last nine home games last season, are 31-0 on their home court in this campaign, and moved within three games of the Warriors. Both those teams have already secured their playoff berths with weeks remaining in the regular season.

Toronto also closed in on a playoff berth, boosting their lead in the Atlantic Division to five games by downing Atlanta.

San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard had 29 points, while LaMarcus Aldridge added 26 points and 10 rebounds. The Spurs have their best-ever record after 65 games at 55-10.

Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol had 21 points, each for the Bulls, who were without Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah and Cameron Bairstow due to injury.

Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan had 30 points in a 104-96 win against Atlanta.

Toronto turned the ball over nine times before the game was 13 minutes old, but did a much better job of holding onto it the rest of the way in winning its 14th of the past 15 at home.

Kyle Lowry had 19 points and seven assists for the Raptors.

Al Horford’s 20 points was top for the Hawks, who dropped one-and-a-half games behind Southeast Division leader Miami, and into a virtual tie with Charlotte.

Cleveland’s LeBron James came out on top

KAWHI LEONARD topscores for Spurs with 29 points. AP

in his last-ever competitive game against another all-time great in the retiring Kobe Bryant as the Cavaliers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 120-108.

Denver’s Emmanuel Mudiay scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Nuggets to a 116-98 win against Phoenix. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

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| SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.phsports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

TEENERS SHINE

I

NDIAN WELLS, California—Teenagers Frances Tiafoe and Brona Coric grabbed the center-court spotlight when the men joined the women for first-round play on Thursday in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Tiafoe outlasted Taylor Fritz, 3-6, 6-2, 3-6, in a battle of 18-year-old Americans, and Coric, a 19-year-old Croatian, beat Lucas Pouille of France, 6-2, 7-5.

Those two matches helped kick off a formful opening day for the men, with Nicolas Mahut of France, Leonardo Mayer of Argentina and Robin Haase of the Netherlands also advancing. Mahut beat qualifier Renzo Olivo of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4; Mayer ousted Sam Groth of Australia, 6-4, 6-3; and Haase toppled Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, 6-3, 6-4.

Daniela Hantuchova, a two-time tournament champion, lost to Daria Kasatkina of Russia, 6-2, 6-4, as the women completed their first round. It was the

ANDY MURRAY says he is careful to read everything that is relevant to him. AP

second straight first-round loss for Hantuchova, who won her titles in 2002 and 2007.

The women will begin second-round play on Friday with Venus Williams scheduled to play her first match at the tournament in 15 years in the afternoon and top-ranked Serena Williams on the schedule for the night session. AP ITALY’S Camila Giorgi reaches to return to Germany’s Julia Goerges during their match at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday. AP

‘BE CAREFUL’ I

NDIAN WELLS, California—Scottish tennis star Andy Murray reacted to Maria Sharapova’s failed drug test by noting that he’s careful to read everything that is relevant to him.

Sharapova said this week that she had tested positive for meldonium because she didn’t read the e-mail from the World Anti-Doping Agency that said the drug was on the prohibited list this year. The Russian called it a huge mistake.

“Everyone’s obviously different,” Murray said on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open. “Some people put a lot of trust in the people and the team around them, so it’s hard to say what’s the right thing for everyone, but I think it’s almost part of our job to know everything that’s going into our bodies and not just rely on what a doctor is saying or a physio is saying.”

Murray said since Sharapova’s announcement he has been reading about meldonium, too, and what he’s learned makes him wonder about those using it.

“The stories like this happen regularly,” he said.

“It seems like it’s almost a weekly occurrence, so I wouldn’t say it was shocking, really. Obviously, since then you try and read about it and learn as much as you can and try to understand what’s really going on. I read that 55 athletes have failed tests for that substance

since January 1. You don’t expect such high-level athletes, at the top of many sports, to have heart conditions.”

Meldonium, virtually unheard of in the United States, has been widely used in Eastern Europe and former Soviet countries for heart conditions. But it was placed on the banned list because it enhances oxygen uptake and endurance.

A study recently released by the British Journal of Sports Medicine said that during last year’s European Games, meldonium may have been used by almost 500 athletes and there were 66 positive tests.

“This study highlights the widespread and inappropriate use and prescribing of this prescription drug in a generally healthy athlete population,” the researchers said.

Murray thinks that’s a problem with more than just meldonium, too.

“I think taking a prescription drug that you don’t need just because it’s legal, that’s wrong,” he said. “If you’re taking a prescription drug and you’re not using it for what that drug was meant for, then you don’t need it, so you’re just using it for the performance-enhancing benefits that drug is giving you.”

That being the case, Murray said, the penalty should be obvious.

“If you’re taking performance-enhancing drugs and you fail a drug test, you have to get suspended,” he said. AP

RETESTS UNDER WAY

International Olympic Committee Medical Director Dr. Richard Budgett said athletes who competed in Beijing and are likely to be selected for Rio are having their stored samples reanalyzed to catch any violators who evaded detection eight years ago.

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The Associated Press

ONDON—Armed with enhanced techniques, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is retesting hundreds of doping samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics to weed out drug cheats before they can compete in this year’s Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

In an interview with The Associated Press (AP), IOC Medical Director Dr. Richard Budgett said athletes who competed in Beijing and are likely to be selected for Rio are having their stored samples reanalyzed to catch any violators who evaded detection eight years ago.

“We want to protect the clean athletes who are going to be competing in Rio,” Budgett said. “We are making sure that athletes who cheated back in 2008 don’t get to compete in Rio in 2016.”

The IOC stores blood and urine samples from each games so they can be reanalyzed years later with improved testing methods. Any positive tests can lead to retroactive sanctions, disqualifications and loss of medals.

The statute of limitations for retesting was extended in 2015 from eight to 10 years, meaning the Beijing samples remain valid through 2018.

“Many of the athletes who are likely to be selected for Rio will have their samples retested a couple of years earlier

Frenchman R wins Stage 4 of Paris-Nice THIS time there’s no controversy in Nacer Bouhanni’s stage victory.

B S W

OMANS-SUR-ISERE, France—French rider Nacer Bouhanni outpaced his rivals in a sprint finish to win the fourth stage of the Paris-Nice race on Thursday, while Australian Michael Matthews retained the overall lead.

Matthews beat Bouhanni in controversial circumstances on Tuesday’s second stage when Bouhanni was penalized for deviating from his line in the final sprint.

“This time there’s no controversy, I won,” Bouhanni said. “Of course I was a bit revengeful, what happened in Tuesday’s sprint upset me, and I slept badly that night.

It consumed a lot of my energy and I wanted this win to forget all of that.”

Bouhanni held off Belgian rider Edward Theuns and Andre Greipel of Germany to win the 195.5-kilometer (121-mile) trek from Julienas to Romans-sur-Isere at the foot of the Vercors mountain range in the Alps of southeastern France.

Matthews leads Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands by 14 seconds overall, with Patrick Bevin of New Zealand 19 seconds back in third place.

The standings are set for a shakeup on Friday, when Stage 5

than we need to,” Budgett told AP on the sidelines of the Tackling Doping in Sport conference in London. “There are some new analyses that are available. The samples are in the process of being retested.

It’s in the hundreds.”

“We’ve cooperated very closely with the international federations, finding out which athletes are still competing, finding out which athletes are likely to be selected for Rio,” he added.

“If we’ve got samples for them from Beijing, we’re doing that testing.”

Budgett said the process should be completed in the next few weeks.

“If we have any adverse analytical findings, there will be a sanctioning process and those athletes will be very unlikely to compete in Rio,” he said.

Noting that scientific techniques will continue to improve in the next two years, the IOC is keeping the other Beijing samples for retesting closer to the 2018 deadline, Budgett said.

It’s not the first time that samples from Beijing have been retested. A few months after those games, the IOC reanalyzed nearly 1,000 of the total of 4,000 samples with a new test for the blood-boosting drug CERA. Five athletes were caught, including 1,500-meter gold medalist Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain.

Budgett said some samples from the 2012 London Olympics are also being retested now on a targeted basis ahead of the Rio Games, although most are being saved for later reanalysis.

“We want to reserve samples for the expected advances that will happen over the next six years,” he said.

Nearly 500 doping samples from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin have already been retested. The IOC has not disclosed whether those retests had produced any positive cases.

Five athletes were caught in retests of samples from the 2004 Athens Olympics, including men’s shot put winner Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine.

On a separate issue, Budgett said he is confident that Brazil’s national antidoping agency will comply with World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) rules by next week’s deadline to prevent Rio’s drugtesting laboratory from being ruled ineligible for the Olympics.

The Brazilian agency has until March 18 to meet Wada’s guidelines. If it fails, the Rio lab would be declared noncompliant, meaning thousands of doping samples during the games would have to be sent out of Brazil for testing, posing major logistical and financial issues.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is scheduled to sign a decree on March 15 that would bring the agency into compliance.

“We’re very hopeful that it finally will be resolved,” Budgett said. “The laboratory itself is performing well and really is state-of-the-art. We always have a Plan B. Anything can happen. That’s there in case, but I do not expect to be using it.”

Budgett said the IOC plans to carry out a “similar number” of tests in Rio as the 5,000 conducted in London. An intelligence unit created by Wada is targeting athletes for testing in the lead-up to the games.

“We’re not talking about the numbers any more, we’re talking about the quality,” Budgett said.

takes the peloton up the famed Mont Ventoux, one of the most feared climbs on the Tour de France.

In Pomarance, Italy, Zdenek Stybar timed his attack to perfection to win the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico and move into the overall lead on Thursday.

The Czech rider went clear at the top of the tricky final climb, opening up a gap on the short descent and holding off the chasing pack to win the 207-km (129-mile) stage from Camaiore to Pomarance.

Peter Sagan of Slovakia was second, leading home an elite group of chasers finishing a second behind Stybar.

Edvald Boasson Hagen of Norway was third.

“We planned it a little bit two-anda-half weeks ago with [Etixx-QuickStep Sport Director Davide] Bramati that this could be a stage for me. So I was pretty focused for this stage,” Stybar said.

“I knew that the last 2 or 3

km were very technical, which is good for me. I tried to go.

I didn’t really plan to go there but I saw the opportunity, the space, and I thought ‘OK, the bunch will slow and I’ll go with everything I have.’”

Local favorite Diego Ulissi attacked on the slopes of Il Cerreto, which had gradients of more than 16 percent, but he was reeled in and passed by Stybar near the summit.

Vincenzo Nibali gave chase in the final kilometer, but was unable to bridge the gap and the Italian was swallowed up by the peloton in the sprint to the line.

American squad BMC Racing won the opening team trial stage on Wednesday to put Daniel Oss into the leader’s blue jersey but the 10-second stage winner’s time bonus saw Stybar take over the overall lead.

The Etixx-Quick-Step rider has an advantage of nine seconds over Oss’ teammates, Greg Van Avermaet and Tejay van Garderen.

The seven-day Tirreno-Adriatico continues on Friday with a 176-km (110-mile) ride from Castelnuovo Val di Cecina to Montalto di Castro. AP