BusinessMirror November 7, 2015

BusinessMirror

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Saturday, November 7, 2015 Vol. 11 No. 30

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GROSS INTERNATIONAL RESERVES ROSE TO $81.14B IN OCTOBER, HIGHEST IN ALMOST 2 YEARS

Higher GIR to cushion shocks from Fed hike

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HE rise in gross international reserves (GIR) in October, as reported by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), has armed the Philippines with better insulation from potential shocks coming in— especially with the impending US Federal Reserve (the Fed) rate hike seen to trigger capital outflows.

INSIDE

ISNER BOOTS OUT FEDERER

SPORTS

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On Friday the central bank announced that the country’s GIR rose to $81.14 billion as of endOctober this year. This is the highest GIR of the country in almost two years, or since December 2013, when the GIR hit $83.19 billion.

In particular, the October GIR was higher by $590 million, compared to the $80.55-billion level seen in end-September this year.

Compared, meanwhile, to its yearago levels, the increase was more sizable, as the end-October GIR in 2014 was only at $79.41 billion.

The central bank manages the

Pacific Rim trade deal: Job creator or job killer?

TOYOTA INVESTS $1B IN A.I. IN U.S.

T WORLD

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NERUDA MIGHT HAVE BEEN KILLED

HE sweeping Pacific Rim trade deal now being debated would cover everything, from Vietnamese labor unions to copyright protections to trade in sockeye salmon. With the details having been released on Thursday, a furious dispute is expected in the US and some of the 11 other countries that negotiated it.

Supporters say the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would promote economic growth and provide protections for workers on both sides of the Pacific. Critics say it contains giveaways to drug manufacturers and other multinational companies, and exposes American workers to unfair competition with low-wage labor in countries like Vietnam.

Some questions and answers:

What is the TPP?

WORLD

reserves, and uses them to underwrite obligations. The GIR also serves as a cushion for the economy against unexpected imbalances that stem from external pressures and global developments. Gold reserves, special drawing rights, foreign investments and foreignexchange reserves comprise the country’s GIR.

An ample level of reserves means that the country has the capacity to repay its obligations and has enough buffer against risks to global imbalances.

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IT’S an ambitious and labyrinth trade agreement involving the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Those countries account for nearly 40 percent of global economic output.

The pact would erase most tariffs and other trade barriers between the countries, whose

OBAMA: “The TPP includes the strongest labor standards in history, from requiring a minimum wage and worker-safety regulations to prohibiting child labor and forced labor.”

trade ministers agreed to the deal a month ago. And it would clarify and standardize trade rules, making it easier to sell goods and services across the Pacific Rim.

China isn’t mentioned; why?

THAT’S right. China, the world’s No. 2 economy, is conspicuously missing. In fact, the deal was designed, in part, to counter China’s influence in the Pacific Rim. US Trade Rep. Michael Froman says it was critical for the US, not China, to write “the rules of the road for trade in the Asia-Pacific region....

After all, this isn’t everyone’s

‘TANIM-BALA’ CONTROVERSY NONISSUE FOR U.K., EUROPEAN TOUR OPERATORS

FOREIGN participants and exhibitors at the World Travel Market 2015 in London make a beeline every afternoon to the ice-cream cart at the Philippines’s booth. STELLA ARNALDO

B M. S F. A Special to the BusinessMirror

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ONDON, United Kingdom—The outlook for inbound tourism in the Philippines continues to remain positive, as local hotels and resorts participating in the World Travel Market (WTM) in London reported deals landed with major tour operators in the United Kingdom and Europe, to send tourists to the Philippines.

They add that concerns on tanim-bala (bullet planting) and other security issues have not been brought up in any of their meetings with these foreign tour operators and travel agents.

Most of the questions asked were about accessibility to their designations, and what the resorts can offer tourists.

This developed as Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. told the BusinessMirror that it will “leave the investigation of these tanim-bala cases to the relevant government agencies,” i.e., the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

He also estimates that “the incidents of confiscated bullets will not have a great impact on visitor arrivals to the Philippines. The experience here at the WTM shows that there are many foreigners—both individuals and tour operators/travel agents—who already have the Philippines on their radar, and are eager to visit.”

From January to August 2015, foreign visitor arrivals in the Philippines grew by some 9.9 percent to 3.6 million year-on-year.

Laglag-bala or tanim-bala is the term coined

by Philippine media for some reported attempts allegedly by officers of the Office of Transportation Security (OTS) to insert bullets in the luggage of arriving or departing passengers at the Ninoy

Aquino International Airport (Naia) to extort money from them. Naia and the OTS are under the management of the DOTC. In separate interviews with representatives of Philippine hotels and resorts with booths at the WTM, they confirmed that the tanim-bala appears to be a nonissue with the tour operators and foreign independent tourists (FITs).

Joey Bernardino, director of sales for El Nido Resorts, said: “In the recent meetings that I’ve had, this hasn’t actually been brought up. It’s surprising. Normally, they pick up on the bad press, like typhoons, coups d’état and all things, however, it seems it’s been overlooked.”

He added that the resort group’s attendance at the WTM has always been positive. In the first two days of the WTM, “we didn’t only close contracts or arrangements with companies based in the UK, but in other European countries, as well. We had inquiries coming all the way from Spain, Turkey, the Middle East. Other contracts that came into the WTM, as well, were from tour operators and individuals who know the resorts by word of mouth, and have been reading about our achievements, such as ‘the best island in the world’ and ‘the most beautiful beach in the world,’ according to Condé Nast Traveler. So when they search these words, it showcases not only our properties, but also the Philippines.”

Bernardino said that, of the 30 tour operators he met with in the first two days of the WTM, about 30 percent to 35 percent of those meetings resulted in closed deals. This means, “they will now include you in their programs. It may not even be for next year; some are willing to do it this year.

That’s a very positive outlook.”

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S “P R,” A

China, Japan face off in new Asian infrastructure race

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HEN the Japanese and Philippine governments ink a $2-billion loan agreement later this month for a major rail project, it will mark the biggest expenditure of its kind between the two nations.

More important, it will signal the latest phase in Asia’s infrastructure boom.

Across the region, lenders, including the governments of China and Japan, are promising hundreds

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 46.9060

LAGARDE: Asia needs “improved governance— well-designed and transparent regulations, and an intolerance of corruption.”

of billions of dollars in spending to upgrade and construct roads, ports and railways. The anticipated face-lift should be a boost to Asian economies seeking new growth engines, especially as China heads for its slowest annual expansion in 25 years.

Yet, the countries are grappling with how to ensure that the projects are delivered in a region dogged by everything, from corruption and dubious governance to inhospitable

terrain and complicated land rights.

Asia needs “improved governance— well-designed and transparent regulations and an intolerance of corruption,” International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a speech in Jakarta on September 2.

“This kind of investment is inherently difficult and challenging,” said Matthew Goodman, senior adviser for Asian economics at the Center for Strategic and Interna-

tional Studies in Washington. “The fundamental problem in Asia is the lack of bankrollable projects and the ability to execute, rather than a lack of money.”

China push

THE new infrastructure drive is, in part, led by the China-backed $100-billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Officials in Beijing also are establishing a $40S “I,” A

■ JAPAN 0.3854 ■ UK 71.3346 ■ HK 6.0517 ■ CHINA 7.3907 ■ SINGAPORE 33.3613 ■ AUSTRALIA 33.5378 ■ EU 51.0478 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.5080 Source: BSP (6 November 2015)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, November 7, 2015

Higher GIR to cushion shocks from Fed hike   A

In a response to the BusinessMirror’s queries, Bank of the Philippine Islands economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said the Philippines—like other emerging economies—was able to replenish its reserves due to the rebound in Asian currencies during the month.

Data from the BSP showed that the local currency averaged at 46.36 to a dollar in October due to the appreciation of the currency in the earlier part of the month, as the Fed effectively telegraphed its

potential moves to the market. The October peso average is an appreciation from the 46.75-to-a-dollar average seen in September.

“The replenished reserves give us a little more cushion and confidence going into the first Fed rate hike in nearly a decade,” Mapa told the BusinessMirror.

The central bank attributed the higher GIR mainly to the National Government’s (NG) net foreign-currency deposits, revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings, as well as its income from

Infrastructure...

component declined to $888 million from the $1.1 billion in the previous month.

The BSP said the GIR is still “ample” to finance 10.4 months’ worth of imported goods and payments for services and income. It is also equivalent to 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity, or 4.4 times based on residual maturity.

Net international reserves— or the difference between the GIR and total short-term liabilities— also increased during the period.

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billion Silk Road infrastructure fund to overhaul creaking roads and bridges along the ancient trading route and have spearheaded the $50-billion BRICS Bank, another development lender.

China’s development-funding push has spurred a riposte from Japan’s government. Last month Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited five Central Asian nations over five days, accompanied by construction and engineering executives in a bid to make progress in an area targeted by China’s Silk Road initiative.

Abe vowed in 2013 to expand infrastructure exports to ¥30 trillion ($248 billion) from ¥10 trillion, by 2020.

“Asia is looking at a new infrastructure race,” said Ben Simpfendorfer, founder of research firm Silk Road Associates in Hong Kong, which advises multinational companies on expansion strategies in Asia and the Middle East. “The bigger unknown is to what extent politics will play a role in big-ticket infrastructure deals.”

Large commitment

investments abroad.

The GIR could have been higher had it not been partially offset by payments made by the NG for its maturing foreign-exchange obligations.

Data from the central bank showed that the gold holdings of the central bank hit $7.178 billion in October, up from the $7.014 billion seen in the previous month.

Inflows from foreign investments also increased from $70.8 billion in September to $71.44 billion in October, while the foreign-exchange

THE Chinese and Japanese funding comes alongside the usual list of infrastructure lenders, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which earlier this year overhauled its development fund to boost annual lending and grant approvals by 50 percent. The World Bank in May pledged as much as $11 billion in new financing for Indonesia, and said it was one of its largest financial commitments anywhere.

“The infrastructure needs in Asia are gigantic,” said Shang-Jin Wei, chief economist at the ADB in Manila, which has estimated around $8 trillion is needed. “All of the multilateral banks put together can only hope to supply a fraction of it.”

Indonesia, for example, needs 5,519.4 trillion rupiah ($409 billion) over the next five years to finance its infrastructure needs, Indonesia’s then planning minister Andrinof Chaniago said in November last year.

WORKERS lay concrete on a road as traffic stands congested in Manila. President Aquino is set to decide this month on whether to approve seven projects worth P170 billion, including an upgrade to Manila’s airport, a road connecting two expressways in the Philippine capital and a gas pipeline. JES AZNAR/BLOOMBERG

30 dams

INDONESIA’S planning ministry said then that its plans included 30 new dams and 33 hydroelectric-power stations; rehabilitation of 3.3 million hectares of irrigation networks; construction of two 300,000 barrels-per-day oil refineries; lifting the electrification ratio to 96.6 percent; 2,650 kilometers of new roads; 15 new airports, 24 new ports and 3,258 kilometers of railway in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan.

These plans face significant obstacles, such as acquiring land on which to build large-scale projects. Construction of a $4-billion coal-fired power plant in Batang by Japan’s Electric Power Development Co., Itochu Corp. and a unit of Indonesia’s PT Adaro Energy has been long delayed as farmers held out against selling their land.

New highways

IN Vietnam the government wants to increase the distance of its highways to about 2,000 kilometers by 2020 from about 700 kilometers

currently, according to the Vietnamese transport ministry’s web site. Authorities on October 25 started building a $69.5-million road in Ho Chi Minh City to connect the country’s economic hub to a national highway and help ease traffic congestion at the city’s southwest entrance, according to a posting on the website.

President Aquino is set to decide this month on whether to approve seven projects worth P170 billion ($3.6 billion), including an upgrade to Manila’s airport, a road connecting two expressways in the Philippine capital and a gas pipeline.

The scale of financing needed for these projects means governments will increasingly look to Asia’s biggest powers for assistance.

“China and Japan tensions are likely to increasingly play out as governments lobby for bigticket infrastructure deals,” Simpfendorfer said.

“But that’s a healthier source of tension than armed territorial conflicts, and still leaves the door open to private-sector collaboration.”

Bloomberg News

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Tour operators...

El Nido Resorts is owned and operated by Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp. The resorts are composed of four islands—Miniloc, Pangalusian, Lagen and Apulit.

In a separate interview, Isabel Garcia, assistant vice president for sales-Boracay area of the Henann Group of Resorts, said the foreign tour operators don’t ask questions about security in going to the Philippines, or about the tanim-bala cases. “I didn’t hear questions about security issues, or ‘Is it safe to come to your country?’ No. For the past two days, I have never encountered questions like that.

They normally ask me more, ‘What do you offer; what is best in the Philippines; how do we get to your destination; what can your destination offer me, to my tourists?”

She added, “Every time we come to the WTM, it’s always like that. They are curious about us having 7,107 islands!”

Garcia stressed that 17 tour operators she’s met in the last two days are “serious clients. We may not get a positive confi rmation a year or two after, but defi nitely they will include us in their packages, which is very important. Our aim here is to get FIT bookings and MICE [meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions]. Our main target is to get the bulk market, which is MICE; but since Europeans are not yet ready to come as a big group, the individual travelers are perfect for us.”

The Hennan Group operates three resorts on Boracay Island, with the Boracy Regency Resort & Spa as its flagship property, and the Hennan Resort Alona Beach in Bohol.

Eight hotels and resorts, and 11 tour operators are among the

Pacific Rim...

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exhibitors in the Philippine booth at the WTM 2015 from November 2 to 5 at the ExCel London.

Meanwhile, Jimenez emphasized that the job of the Department of Tourism (DOT) is to “sell the Philippines,” in reaction to questions about what his agency is going to do about the tanim-bala incidents.

“The job of the DOT, as you can see, is that the world’s gaze is on a more positive and larger perspective. What I’m doing is selling the Philippines! It’s not our job to investigate [these incidents]. We will wait for their investigation results [of the DOTC]; let’s give them space to do this,” he stressed.

He also pointed out that tourists wrapping their luggage with cellophane was not unique and has been a longtime practice. “The fact of the matter is, you go anywhere in the world, there are people who really wrap their luggage in cellophane. In fact, in the United States, people actually pay [service providers] to have their expensive luggage wrapped in cellophane, so these won’t be scratched when transferred from the conveyor belts to the airplane.”

Reports of sporadic incidents of tanim-bala have blown up on social media, with some victims posting about their experiences on Facebook. There have also been photos circulating on social media of foreign backpackers with their bags wrapped in cellophane, purportedly at Naia.

According to the DOTC, of the 53 million passengers who traveled through the country’s airports in 2014, only 1,813 passengers, or less than 1 percent, were apprehended by the OTS in involving bullets found in their luggage.

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approach to trade. Other countries, such as China, are already moving forward with deals that don’t reflect our interests and our values.”

Still, China could eventually join the TPP.

keep drug prices too high.

“The TPP will keep affordable medicines out of the reach of millions around the world,” said Judit Rius Sanjuan, an adviser to Doctors Without Borders.

How does this deal compare with others, like Nafta?

What’s the likely economic impact?

THE Pacific deal was negotiated in the shadow of 1994’s North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).

That deal, among the US, Mexico and Canada, failed to deliver the big job gains its supporters predicted, and was blamed by critics for wiping out many US factory jobs.

In a statement on Thursday, President Barack Obama conceded “that past trade agreements haven’t always lived up to the hype.”

But the president added that “the TPP includes the strongest labor standards in history, from requiring a minimum wage and worker-safety regulations to prohibiting child labor and forced labor.”

The TPP would require even authoritarian Vietnam to allow independent labor unions.

So what’s the case against it?

TO start with, critics are unconvinced of the labor standards Obama was eager to tout.

Vietnam, for instance, will get five years to update its labor policies. John Sifton, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, told reporters on Thursday that Vietnam might change its labor laws, but “we are concerned that Vietnam will not change its practices. They will continue to lock up union dissidents and punish people who challenge the government.”

Sifton said he doubted the US would “have the desire and the will to enforce the terms of the agreement.”

Opponents also complain that the agreement includes giveaways to business lobbies. For instance, the deal gives drug companies about eight years of protection from cheaper competitors for biologics, which are ultra-expensive medicines produced in living cells.

The deal also stresses each country’s “right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all.”

But critics say that provision would

FOR the US, it probably wouldn’t wipe out as many jobs as critics fear or create as many as supporters predict. Peter Petri, professor of international finance at Brandeis University, has estimated that the impact on US jobs would probably be minimal: Jobs created by expanded access to Asia-Pacific markets would likely be offset by jobs lost to increased competition.

Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific chief economist for IHS Global Insight, says Vietnam would be a big winner, as tariffs on garment exports to the US would disappear. Malaysian manufacturers would also benefit from easier access to the US and Canadian markets.

What’s next?

ON Thursday Obama formally announced his intention to sign the deal. He now must wait at least 90 days before he can do so: Once the US and other countries have signed on, their legislatures must ratify the agreement, which isn’t guaranteed.

The debate is expected to be especially contentious in the US. Obama faces resistance within his own Democratic Party from union supporters who fear that foreign competition would kill jobs and depress wages.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, has said she’s against it. Her opposition may make it harder for Obama to round up votes. The deal has more support among pro-business Republicans.

Under a trade law passed earlier this year, Obama must give the public time to review the text before he signs the agreement and turns it over to Congress for approval. US lawmakers can’t nitpick the deal with amendments. They must simply vote yes or no. Congress will likely take up the issue next year in the heat of the presidential election campaign. AP

Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo• news@businessmirror.com.ph

News BusinessMirror

Generation-charge increase T prompts power-rate hike

Saturday, November 7, 2015

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Abac to push PHL growing labor force in Apec summit

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ONSUMERS will pay for higher electricity rates this month after the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) announced on Friday that overall rates have gone up

by P0.13 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P8.55 per kWh. The upward adjustment comes after six straight months of reduction. Still, this month’s overall rate is lower by P1.51 compared to November 2014’s P10.06 per kWh. For a typical household consuming 200 kWh, the P0.13 per kWh rate increase is equivalent to P26 in additional payment.

Meralco said the upward adjustment was mainly on account of higher generation charge, which makes up close to 50 percent of a Meralco bill. Other bill components also shoot up.

Generation charge for October supply month stood at P4.08 per kWh, up by P0.09 per kWh from September. Generation charge is reflected in the power bills of Meralco

consumers the following month.

Meralco reiterated that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as the generation and transmission charges. Payment for the generation charge goes to the power suppliers, while payment for the transmission charge goes to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.

Meralco sources power from the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM); independent power producers (IPPs); and power supply agreements (PSAs). It said that charges from the WESM registered an increase of P1.19 per kWh. This was mainly due to increased outages of a number of power plants during the October supply month.

The average rate of the plants under the IPPs, meanwhile, increased by P0.10 per kWh. This was primarily due to lower dispatch of the plants, which was partly offset by lower natural gas prices.

Plants under the PSAs, on the other hand, registered a reduction of P0.02 per kWh, mainly due to the higher dispatch of the Sual power plant, which logged a shorter outage duration for the October supply month compared to the previous month. The share of PSAs, IPPs and WESM to Meralco’s total power requirements stood at 49.5, 45.6, and 4.8 percent, respectively.

In addition to the generation charge, transmission charge registered an increase of P0.02 per kWh owing to the higher ancillary service charges. There was also a combined increase of P0.02 per kWh in taxes and other charges, such as system loss and subsidies, following the increases in the generation and transmission charges.

Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges remain unchanged after it registered a reduction last July.

HE Phi lippines’s A sean Business Advisory Council (Abac), the private-sector voice in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) group, aims to advance people-to-people connectivity to take advantage of the country’s growing labor force and the growth of the global economy.

This will be among the key topics in Abac’s premier business leaders’ event coinciding with Apec economies’ leaders meeting.

Abac Chairman Doris Magsaysay-Ho said that enhancing crossborder mobility has long been part of the business community’s recommendations to the Apec economies, and will be tackled in one of the sessions in the Apec leaders summit.

“Abac Philippines has for quite a long time made recommendation for the need for Apec to create a new framework for the management of mobility of people around the region, and this has become important for business because of the demographic changes that are causing shortage in labor,” Magsaysay-Ho said.

People-to-people connectivity is a specific pillar under the Apec Blueprint for Connectivity, the 21-member economies’ main document, containing initiatives to improve connectivity-related issues.

Abac is proposing to advance the this specific pillar, which encompasses the travel of business individuals, cross-border education exchange, tourism facilitation, and professional and labor mobility.

This is especially pressing as the

Philippines is said to be entering an economy-boosting demographic dividend, a stage of a country’s development when a larger percentage of its population are in the working force as against the dependent sectors (youth and retired).

Moving the initiative of peopleto-people connectivity will also bolster the significance of trade in services, which has taken the backseat in Apec meetings compared to trade in goods.

“Up to now, most of the Apec system has been focused on the trade in goods, and not so much on trade in services. With a country of ours,

with such a huge human potential, the services trade could be an important human initiative. We’ve worked in putting this agenda on the table,” Magsaysay-Ho said.

Impediments to trade in services must be identified, she said, adding that the recent creation of a 12-economy “Services Coalition” is a step toward this direction.

Still on connectivity, Abac is proposing a new area under the institutional connectivity pillar which they hope will gain traction among Apec economies: upholding the rule of law in cross-border investments.

A4 Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

It’s crime that is killing us

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ver 2 billion people live in the 20 leastpeaceful countries in the world, compared to less than 500 million in the 20 most peaceful,” so says the Institute for Economics and Peace in its report “Global Peace Index 2015.”

For the 2015 study, the Philippines dropped in ranking, from 134th in 2014 to 141st in 2015. Critics of the Aquino administration were quick to point out that for 2009, the Philippines ranked 118th in the world. Defenders of the administration were as equally rapid to note that this was due, in large measure, to the problems of local rebel movements, particularly the Muslim separatists.

Both points of view and interpretations are factually correct. However, as American author Mark Twain wrote—the idea has actually been attributable to many others—“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

There are three major areas for consideration in determining the scores and rankings. These are “Militarization,” “Society and Security,” and “Domestic and International Conflict.” Therefore, if, for example, your nation is next to a country in a civil war, which occasionally spills over the border, causing domestic-security problems and you have to increase your military budget, you will have a low score and ranking.

In those three areas, the Philippines scores, respectively, a good 1.5 out of 5 (5 being the worst score possible), a relatively poor 2.98 out of 5 and a medium 2.6 out of 5. In other words, contrary to a report in several local newspapers and news web sites, it is not the domestic rebels or the dispute with China that is the biggest peace problem for the Philippines. It is old-fashioned crime.

While apologists for the government would not like to admit it, this is also not just a perception problem. Although the “Perceptions of Criminality” score is a dismal 4 out of 5; “Violent Crime,” based on statistics, is also a poor 4 out of 5. Also included in the “Society and Security” score is what they call “Political Terror,” defined as violations of physical- and personalintegrity rights carried out by the state or its agents. Examples of political terror include extrajudicial killings, torture, disappearances and political imprisonment. Needless to say, on a similar Political Terror scale, the Philippines scores 4 out of 5.

But all this is just numbers, and we have become numb to the human cost.

What does it really matter if a journalist, or two, is gunned down every few months? The government says the economy is in great shape, and the best is yet to come as we march into the “First World.”

It costs money to contain violence. The Philippines’s “National Cost of Violence” is estimated at $25,386,657,471 in 2014. That equals 4 percent of the GDP, or P12,126 for every Filipino.

The Philippines now has the worst peace score (next to North Korea) in Asia. But, according to the government, it is really great that Manila’s international gateway airport is no longer the worst in the world.

How to predict the stock market John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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very day, long before trading begins at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and as the sun rises over the eastern horizon, I prepare an audio forecast for the coming day’s trading.

Reviewing the previous night’s financial and asset markets in the West and local business news, I make fearless predictions for the day. Usually, I am wrong.

Unfortunately, I am not wrong frequently enough to be able to bet against my own stock-market prophecies. Foretelling the short-term future for the stock-market is a fool’s game, as I have said frequently. I might, as well, flip a coin—heads, the market goes up; tails, the market goes down.

Daily “trends” are all static and noise, except as how they fit into the longer trend picture, and it is the longer trend that is important to make money. However, what are valuable in the short daily trend are the possible scenarios that might occur. Not only will understanding the possible scenarios keep you out of trouble by warning you of potential “fake” moves, but they can provide opportunities.

Nonetheless, everyone who watches the stock market closely wants to be able to “call the market.” Further, there are so many other potential events in the geopolitical and financial world which

influence the markets that we would also like to understand to be able to actually predict.

Earlier this year, a book by Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner, called Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, was published. Tetlock is a politicalscience writer and creator of the Good Judgment Project (GJP), which held forecasting tournaments between 1984 and 2003.

The forecasters were 284 experts.

Superforecasting is a detailing for the results from the GJP. The results showed that expert or amateur, almost everyone, gets it wrong from when the Federal Reserve (the Fed) would raise interest rates to whether it would rain the following day. However, there was a good group that emerged from the tournaments that Tetlock called “superforecasters,” and these people were as likely to be amateurs as “experts.”

So what does it take to be a

superforecaster? After the first year of a “prediction tournament,” 59 people out of 2,800 emerged with a record of accuracy intact. The group outperformed the rest by more than 60 percent by the fourth year, and 70 percent of them kept their edge from one year to the next. Tetlock says they’re not geniuses and their skills can be learned.

Warren Hatch, the chief investment strategist at Catalpa Capital Advisors and one of the group, said this in a recent interview.

“Start with an outside view.” Do I dare say that you should think “outside the box”?

One common trait of the nonsupers is that they get caught up in details and too many details. In other words, the winners are inclined to focus on the bigger picture.

Instead of listing every reason why or why not the Fed would or would not raise interest rates at a particular time, look instead at what the other central banks are doing as a base-case-scenario.

If all the other banks are not raising rates, then that is where you start the prediction. This is sort of like, if all the other stock markets are down, regardless of great earnings by Filipino companies and the Philippine government heading us into the “First World” soon, “the PSE is going down” is where you start.

Then you look at the details to fine-tune your decision about the future. For example, what happened to local stock prices a few weeks before the last release of quarterly economic/inflation data? Did lower-

than-expected earnings from a major local company negatively impact the market before and vise versa? Are there any particular longer-term trends on major issues that could lead the PSE higher or lower?

Finally, superforecasters are ready to change their outlook with the addition of new information.

As I said a couple of days ago, I liked the upside potential of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) three weeks ago. But seeing the stock-market price move of PLDT, my forecast has changed.

Superforecasters make better initial guesses, and then press their advantage by updating predictions regularly.

Unlike some of our local stock market “gurus,” I do not consider myself even close to being a superforecaster in any way, shape or form. But I do know this truth, as was shown in the GJP results.

The biggest problem with forecasting is human bias. This is the No. 1 reason as to why forecasts fail.

Tetlock concludes that much of superforecasting seems to come from a particular state of mind and attitude. The “winners” are cautious and humble, and believe they can always improve their results.

E-mail me at mang un@ g m a i l.com. Visit my web site a t w w w. m a n g u n o n m a r k e t s . c o m . Fo l l o w m e o n Tw i t t e r @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

Maybe financial markets have been wrong all along

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By Noah Smith | Bloomberg View

s the value premium disappearing? The answer to that question could shake the foundations of the asset-management industry.

First, for the uninitiated, a little background. In the late 1970s and 1980s, a lot of investors and researchers confirmed what market analysts had claimed for a long time—that certain stocks seemed cheap relative to their value on paper. These stocks tended to perform better, on average, than the stock market as a whole. That was a bit of a puzzle, since basic finance theory says that it shouldn’t be that easy to beat the market. If you can just buy stocks that are cheap relative to their book value, and wait for them to go up, the market isn’t very efficient, is it?

To beat the market that easily and that consistently, the strategy should incur some kind of systematic risk— risk that you can’t get rid of with diversification. In the early 1990s future Nobel-winning finance researcher Eugene Fama and his longtime coauthor Kenneth French came up with a partial answer to the puzzle. Some stocks, they said, were so-called value stocks that tended to trade at prices below their book values. During certain periods,

these stocks all tend to rise in value, but other times they tend to all fall together. Over a long period of time, the rises outweigh the falls, so that these value stocks earn a premium. But if you invest in value stocks and you get caught in one of the bad periods, you’re in trouble. Hence, the value premium persists, because trading against it— by simply loading up on all the value stocks you can grab—incurs some risk.

That answer wasn’t completely satisfying. Why do value stocks all tend to rise in certain periods and fall in others?

One possibility, described here by assetmanagement mogul Cliff Asness, is that value stocks are “crappy companies.”

Shaky companies might find themselves suddenly squeezed for credit under certain conditions, while other companies are still able to borrow. That might explain the value premium. But it turns out that the times when value underperforms and outperforms are not clearly tied to the business cycle. The mystery remains.

Fama and French’s model of a risk–

based value premium has become standard throughout the asset–management industry. But there’s another, more disquieting possibility. It may be that the value premium is caused not by risk, but by systematic inefficiencies in the financial market.

There are many reasons other than risk why investors might choose to avoid cheap–looking stocks. One reason is herd behavior—if investors think that other investors are avoiding a certain stock, they might assume that stock is bad, and similarly avoid it. Some stocks might simply be boring and unglamorous. Some might be obscure companies in overlooked industries, or information about them might be more difficult and costly to obtain.

These factors all might have been more prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s, when data was sparse and expensive, trading costs were much higher, and the number of professional investors was more limited. As financial markets improved, we may have seen the entrance of more investors who are willing to do the hard work of digging up obscure and boring companies, and who are willing to go against the herd. If the value premium really was a systematic underpricing rather than a true risk premium, then the gradual development of

financial markets would be expected to shrink this premium over time.

There are signs that this is happening. Although value stocks did well in the early 2000s, they have dramatically underperformed since the crisis, even though the market has boomed. Of course, that might simply be a particularly long period of underperformance -- we might expect to see value bounce back soon enough. But, in fact, the decline has been going on for quite a bit longer than that —the value premium has been falling since the mid-1990s.

Coincidentally, that is exactly when the Internet and computerized trading systems made it possible to invest in stocks much more cheaply, and to gather information much more easily.

That would mean that markets are getting more efficient—at least, in this one particular way. But it would also mean that market efficiency takes a very long time to establish itself. If big, systematic mispricings such as the value premium can survive for decades before they are finally traded away, it means that other flaws in the market might be equally long-lived. For example, the momentum factor —another mainstay of standard finance theory—might also be a market flaw that will eventually be shown the exits.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Russian huckster mines for Bitcoin gold

Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

Note: We continue the reprint as a series of the Holy Father Pope Francis encyclical Laudato Si (On Our Care for Our Common Home).

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uman beings, too, are creatures of this world, enjoying a right to life and happiness, and endowed with unique dignity. So, we cannot fail to consider the effects on people’s lives of environmental deterioration, current models of development and the throwaway culture.

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he recent spike in the price of Bitcoin may have been aided by the rise of a Russian Ponzi scheme in China. If so, it should be a reminder to those who believe a currency decentralization revolution is in the offing that Bitcoin largely remains a medium for illicit exchanges and that the revolution is nowhere in sight.

On Wednesday Bitcoin reached $441, its record for a year. It was down to $389 on Thursday, but still up 63 percent since the beginning of October. For more than two years, most of the trading in the cryptocurrency has taken place in Chinese exchanges, in renminbi.

So it’s safe to say that the price spike probably has its origins in China. Indeed, trading volume surged to more than 3 billion yuan a day in late October, from less than 700 million yuan ($110 million) a month ago. On Wednesday it reached 5 billion yuan ($787 million), compared with $300 million worth of dollar trades.

One theory is that Chinese investors are looking for new assets after the stock market bubble burst. That makes little sense: Volatile, relatively thinly traded Bitcoin is no haven. The more likely explanation is the growing popularity of MMM Global, the latest brainchild of Sergei Mavrodi, the Russian mathematician who has been building pyramid schemes since 1994. According to Alexa. com, which ranks sites by traffic, mmmglobal.org started rising in late September, just before the Bitcoin spike. The geography of the rise: India, South Africa, China, the Philippines and Brazil.

“We can’t deny that MMM, to a certain extent, pushed the recent spike of Bitcoin price,” Astrid Tao, an executive at Huobi, one of China’s biggest Bitcoin exchanges, told Bitcoin magazine. “The new investment model of MMM attracted a lot of investors, however, it is unsustainable.”

That’s an understatement. The global version of the MMM site offers returns of 100 percent a month. The Chinese one is more modest—a mere 30 percent. Both versions stress that MMM is “not a HYIP”—the modern term for a Ponzi scheme. Whatever it is, Mavrodi has constructed it to be practically unassailable from a legal point of view.

The original, 1994 iteration of MMM presented itself as an investment company that offered huge monthly returns from investing in privatization-era Russia. Mavrodi was the biggest buyer of ads on Russian TV at the time. MMM even paid all fare on Moscow subway for a day. People flocked to MMM with their life savings, and some even sold their homes to invest. But the buyers of MMM “shares” were paid with the money newcomers supplied, and the scheme went bust after six months. It was impossible to establish how much Mavrodi owed his “investors,” but the figure was estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

After a brief attempt at a political career, mainly in order to get parliamentary immunity, Mavrodi vanished. As he lay low in Moscow, he ran a global Ponzi scheme known as Stock Generation, which was structured as an exchange trading shares of virtual companies. It went bust. The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s attemps

to prosecute died in the courts.

In 2003 Russian police finally apprehended Mavrodi, and he served three and a half years in jail. While in prison, he wrote books. One of these, a fictional rendering of the MMM story, was even made into a modest Russian movie hit.

By 2011 Mavrodi was back in business. He had perfected the scheme: MMM-2011 did not have a corporate center but operated as a kind of social network where a virtual commodity, called the Mavro, was traded. Participants were divided into “cells” run by early investors. Mavrodi himself “quoted” the Mavros and collected a percentage for advertising and other expenses required to keep the scheme going. The MMM-2011 site even contained an explicit warning that it was a pyramid scheme. When it collapsed, there were criminal investigations in several post-Soviet countries. But Mavrodi’s site clearly stated that it offered no guarantees and that participants were gambling with their money.

T he latest iteration is his masterpiece. It also is a social “mutual assistance network ” in which people trade “Mavros,” but it now involves Bitcoin and social networks, especially Facebook.

Participants accumulate Mavros by “helping each other”—transferring Bitcoins—and they increase their Mavros’ payoff rate by advertising the scheme on Facebook, posing testimonials on the MMM site and performing other “tasks.” It’s watertight: Bitcoin isn’t a currency (the People’s Bank of China even issued an official notice to that effect in 2013), the organization itself is decentralized and the participants have an incentive to promote the scheme. According to Alexa, Facebook is a top traffic source for mmmglobal.org.

What makes this latest scheme near perfect is the use of Bitcoin and the lack of any government affiliation. It’s not Mavrodi ’s problem if people are willing to trade money for a noncurrency and then send it to each other in exchange for another noncurrency. No one is likely to be punished for running the scheme.

And when it goes bust, Mavrodi can just start a new one: If his career has taught him anything, it’s that there’s never be a shortage of suckers and gamblers.

He has a serious grudge against the authorities, and backs up his schemes with a kind of quasiMarxist ideology that attracts people angry at fat cat bankers and government.

This isn’t what Bitcoin enthusiasts had in mind when they launched and maintained the system throughout its tribulations. But good technology is only a tool; Bitcoin’s blockchain—its method of registering transactions—can be used by Nasdaq or

by MMM. Keeping it in unregulated territory invites the second kind of user.

A5

Decline in the quality of human life and the breakdown of society SERVANT LEADER

By Leonid Bershidsky | Bloomberg View

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Nowadays, for example, we are conscious of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy to live in, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation, and visual pollution and noise. Many cities are huge, inefficient structures, excessively wasteful of energy and water.

Neighborhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space.

We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature.

In some places, rural and urban alike, the privatization of certain spaces has restricted people’s access to places of particular beauty. In others, “ecological” neighborhoods have been created which are closed to outsiders in order to ensure an artificial tranquillity. Frequently, we find beautiful and carefully mani-

cured green spaces in so-called safer areas of cities, but not in the more hidden areas where the disposable of society live.

The social dimensions of global change include the effects of technological innovations on employment; social exclusion; an inequitable distribution and consumption of energy and other services; social breakdown; increased violence; and a rise in new forms of social aggression, drug trafficking, growing drug use by young people and the loss of identity. These are signs that the growth of the past two centuries has not always led to an integral development and an improvement in the quality of life. Some of these signs are also symptomatic of real social decline, the silent rupture of the bonds of integration and social cohesion.

Furthermore, when the media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to

think deeply and to love generously.

In this context, the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload. Efforts need to be made to help these media become sources of new cultural progress for humanity and not a threat to our deepest riches. True wisdom, as the fruit of self-examination, dialogue and generous encounter between persons, is not acquired by a mere accumulation of data, which eventually leads to overload and confusion, a sort of mental pollution.

Real relationships with others, with all the challenges they entail, now tend to be replaced by a type of Internet communication which enables us to choose or eliminate relationships at whim, thus giving rise to a new type of contrived emotion, which has more to do with devices and displays than with other people and with nature. Today’s media do enable us to communicate and to share our knowledge and affections. Yet, at times, they also shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences. For this reason, we should be concerned that, alongside the exciting possibilities offered by these media, a deep and melancholic dissatisfaction with interpersonal relations, or a harmful sense of isolation, can also arise.

To be continued. nnn

Caritas Manila continues to strengthen its donations in kind program through the opening of its 23rd charity outlet on November 6 at Simbayanan ni Maria in Taguig City. Bishop of Pasig Most Rev. Mylo

Marcos’s unmatched legacy: Education Cecilio T. Arillo

database

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Part Two

ICE, Roads and ’Rithmetic was President Marcos’s battle cry during his first term in office. By ’Rithmetic, he meant school building where arithmetic is learned. In this area, he again outperformed the five Presidents after him. Here are some of the state colleges and universities founded under his administration, in alphabetical sequence: 1. Abra State Institute of Science and Technology in Abra, founded in 1983; 2. Adiong Memorial Polytechnic State College, founded in 1970s; 3. Basilan State College, 1984; 4. Bicol University, established in 1969; 5. Cagayan State University, established 1978; 6. Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges, established in 1983; 7. Capiz State University, 1980; 8. Central Mindanao University, established in 1965; 9. Cotabato City State Polytechnic College, established 1983; 10. Cotabato Foundation College of Science and Technology, established in 1967; 11. Davao del Norte School of Fisheries, established in 1969 (now known as Davao del Norte State College); 12. Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University in La Union, founded in 1981; 13. Guimaras State College, 1968; 14. Isabela State University, established in 1978; 15. Kalinga-Apayao State College in Tabuk Kalinga, founded in 1970; 16. Leyte Normal University, 1976; 17. Malita Agri-Business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology, founded in 1966; 18. Mariano Marcos State University in Ilocos Norte, founded in 1978; 19. Mati Community College (MCC), founded in 1972 (now known as Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology); 20. Mindanao State University- General Santos City, founded in 1971; 21. Mindanao State University-Iligan City, founded in 1968; 22. Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology-Calapan City, established in 1966; 23. Misamis Oriental State College of

Agriculture and Technology, established in 1983; 24. Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology, established in 1971; 25. Northwestern Mindanao State College of Science and Technology, established in 1971; 26. Occidental Mindoro State College, established in 1966; 27. Palawan State University, established in 1965; 28. Pampanga Agricultural College, established in 1974; 29. Pangasinan State University, founded in 1979; 30. Philippine State College of Aeronautics, founded in 1969; 31. Quirino State University, established in 1976; 32. Rizal Technological University, established in 1969; 33. Southern Leyte State University (SLSU)-Sogod, 1969; 34. SLSU-Bontoc, 1983; 35. SLSU-Hinunangan, 1975; 36. SLSU-San Juan, 1983; 37. SLSU-Tomas Oppus, February 1, 1986; 38. Southern Philippines Agri-Business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology; 39. Sulu State College, founded in 1982; 40. Surigao Del Norte School of Arts and Trades, founded in 1969, (now known as Surigao State College of Technology); 41. Surigao del Sur State University, founded in 1982; 42. Tawi-Tawi Regional Agricultural College, founded in 1975; 43. Technological University of the Philippines, established in 1971; 44. University of Northern Philippines, founded in 1965; 45. University of Southeastern Philippines, established in 1978; 46. West Visayas State University,

became established as university in January in 1986; 47. Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) became a university in 1978 followed with building the satellite campuses in: a. WMSU Curuan, Zamboanga City b. WMSU-Alicia campus, Zamboanga del Sur c. WMSU-Aurora campus, Zamboanga del Sur d. WMSU-Diplahan, Zamboanga Sibugay e. WMSU-Imelda, Zamboanga Sibugay f. WMSU-Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay g. WMSU-M abuhay, Zamboanga Sibugay h. WMSU-Malangas, Zamboanga Sibugay i. WMSU-Molave, Zamboanga del Sur j. WMSU-Naga, Zamboanga Sibugay k. WMSU-Olutanga, Zamboanga Sibugay l. WMSU-Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur m. WMSU-Pitogo, Zamboanga del Sur n. WMSU-San Ramon, Zamboanga City o. WMSU-Siay, Zamboanga Sibugay p. WMSU-Tungawan, Zamboanga Sibugay Some of the high schools built under his leadership: 1. Amlan Municipal High School was established in 1972; 2. Amparo High School was established 1979; 3. Aplaya National High School was established in 1969; 4. Balayan National High School (BNHS), established in 1985; 5. Balibago National High School, established in 1970; 6. Bayugan National Comprehensive High School, established in 1980; 7. Buenavista National High School, established in 1972; 8. Dalupaon National High School established in 1972; 9. Dasmariñas National High School, 1971; 10. Don Emilio Macias Memorial National High School, established in 1982; 11. Doña Francisca Lacsamana de Ortega Memorial National High School, established in 1972; 12. Dr. Juan G. Nolasco High School, established in 1966; 13. Eastern Samar National Comprehensive High School, established in 1969; 14. Francisco P. Felix Memorial National High School, (FPFMNHS),

Hubert Vergara, DD, joined me in blessing the new outlet. Vice Mayor Ricardo Cruz Jr. led the Taguig City officials who attended the event. We also thank Taguig City Mayor Maria Laarni Lopez Cayetano for her support in this endeavor.

Segunda Mana are used and preloved items, such as apparel, footwear, and accessories, among others, that may benefit others; slow- and nonmoving inventories that may still be used; and goods that consume space in one’s closets, cabinets and garages which are still reusable or recyclable. These items are donated by generous companies, organizations and individuals, and are offered at friendly prices in stalls. Caritas Manila’s Segunda Mana advocates the 3Rs: reuse, reduce and recycle. These 23 charity outlets, likewise, provide employment to almost 6.7 percent unemployed from the urban-poor sector, and livelihood to families who make trading as their source of income.

Proceeds of Segunda Mana help sustain Caritas Manila’s flagship program Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program, which focuses on education for the underprivileged youth, supporting 5,000 scholars nationwide.

To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www.caritasmanila.org.ph. For your donations, call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857.

Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph.

For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@ gmail.com.

established in 1973; 15. Gen. T. de Leon National High School, established in 1969; 16. Ismael Mathay Sr. High School, formerly called the GSIS Village High School, established in 1971; 17. Jose Borromeo Legaspi Memorial National High School, established in 1981; 18. Kaong National High School, 1974; 19. Lawang Bato National High School, established in 1967; 20. Liloy National High School, established in 1974; 21. Mag-aba National High School, established in 1977; 22. Makati Polytechnic Community College-Technical High School, founded in 1972; 23. Mandaluyong High School, established in 1977; 24. Navotas National High School, established in 1983; 25. Parañaque National High School, Main Campus (formerly known as Parañaque Municipal High School), established in 1969; 26. Pasay City North High School, established in 1969; 27. Pedro E. Diaz High School, established in 1977; 28. Philippine High School for the Arts, established in 1977; 29. Pinagtongulan National High School, established in 1967; 30. Punta National High School, established in 1971; 31. San Juan National High School, established in 1968; 32. San Mateo National High School, established in 1985; 33. San Pablo City National High School, established in 1969; 34. San Pedro Relocation Center National High School, established in 1970; 35. San Ramon National High School, established in 1967; 36. Tabon M. Estrella National High School, established in 1981; and 37. Tomas Cabili National High School Iligan City, 1971.

Another stellar achievement of the Marcos administration in education is the creation of the National Manpower and Youth Council to meet the growing needs of the labor sector for skilled workers.

Years later, it was renamed and rebranded as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to deliberately erase the Marcos name. To be continued

A6

News BusinessMirror

Saturday, November 7, 2015

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Embassy, local cops rescue 10 Pinay trafficking victims in Iraqi Kurdistan

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By Recto L. Mercene

EN Filipina trafficking victims are now en route to Manila after they were rescued a few days ago by officials from the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad and authorities in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

In a statement, the Embassy expressed its appreciation to the Kurdistan Regional Government for the successful rescue of the 10 Filipinas, as well as for the arrest of their employer and the closure of his establishment.

“Our 10 kababayans are now on their way home because of the strong support and cooperation extended to us by the Kurdistan Regional Government of the Republic of Iraq,” Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Elmer G. Cato said.

At the same time, the Embassy expressed its appreciation to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for the crucial role it played in the repatriation of the victims, who were subjected to exploitative and abusive conditions at a spa in Erbil owned by a Lebanese national.

Citing statements given to the Embassy and Kurdish authorities, Cato said the 10 Filipinas worked 12 hours seven days a week with only three hours off once a week. They were paid only $300 monthly of the $500 that was promised them and get deductions ranging from $100 to $500 for infractions, such as smoking, taking naps or even failing to clean the toilet properly.

Cato said the women were also subjected to what is tantamount to debt bondage. “For the small amount they were making, there was no way these women would have been able to raise the $10,000 their employer wanted them to pay if they return to the Philippines before the end of their two-year employment contract.”

The Embassy said it has been monitoring the establishment as early as June

this year when two Filipinas ran away and reported the exploitation and abuse they suffered from their employer. The two were eventually repatriated after the Embassy sought the assistance of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

In the latest case, the Embassy approached the Ministry of Interior of the Kurdistan Regional Government which immediately brought the 10 Filipinas to a shelter, closed the establishment, arrested the employer and filed a case against him in court.

“We want to send a strong signal to everyone that here in Kurdistan, we follow the law and will not tolerate the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers,” said Sami Jalal Hussein, directorgeneral of the Ministry of Interior, who was personally directed by Interior Minister Karim Sinjari to resolve the case.

Cato said Hussein and his team from the Directorate for Combatting Violence Against Women played a crucial role in the swift resolution of the case. “They showed great concern for our nationals and we are very grateful for their help,” he said.

Cato also thanked the IOM for its support. “We very much appreciate the assistance that IOM extended to our kababayans,” he said. “The IOM was instrumental in ensuring that the 10 trafficking victims would be repatriated smoothly to the Philippines.”

“IOM is pleased it could assist the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Philippine Embassy in Iraq to ensure the safe return of these vulnerable migrant women,” said Thomas Weiss, IOM chief of mission in Iraq.

POLICE Capt. Flamina Wahid Fakhri of the Directorate for Combating Violence Against Women shows DirectorGeneral Sami Jalan Hussein of the Ministry of Interior of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq the passport of one of 10 Filipina trafficking victims who were rescued recently from an establishment operated by a Lebanese in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous northern region. Philippine Embassy Elmer G. Cato

Philippine Red Cross’s housing program for Yolanda survivors completed soon

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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ORE than 66,000 families now have safer, more disaster-resilient homes in Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan)-affected areas, as the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has already completed 86 percent of its target number of homes to be built in its shelter project under its Haiyan recovery program.

As of this week, a total of 66,011

families have been provided with homes. The Red Cross aims to provide homes to 80,203 families. The homes are scheduled for completion until the end of 2016.

This is the largest-ever shelter assistance that the Red Cross has provided in any postdisaster operations locally and globally, in terms of number of houses built and amount of shelter assistance provided. The shelter project covers the provinces of Aklan, Antique,

Capiz, Cebu, Eastern Samar, Iloilo, Leyte, Palawan and Western Samar, as well as the cities of Bogo, Ormoc and Tacloban.

“We aim to do more for the Yolanda victims, and this would not be possible without all the kind-hearted corporations and individuals, and our Red Cross and Red Crescent partners and other organizations worldwide, who donated to the effort,” PRC Chairman Richard Gordon said in a news conference at the

PRC headquarters on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Mandaluyong City.

In building shelter, the PRC involves the community in all aspects of the building process. The beneficiaries themselves were part of the consultations regarding designs and plans for the shelters that the Red Cross and its partners built for them.

Beneficiaries were even involved in the actual building of the houses.

Houses built through the PRC housing project were built employ-

ing the “build back better” principle for disaster resilience and have been proven to withstand some of the strongest typhoons that came after Yolanda.

The housing project is supported by PRC’s partners in the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, composed of the International Committee of the Red Cross, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and several national societies.

PHL’s first urgent care facility launched

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SAINT Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) President Edgardo R. Cortez (from left), Association of Health Maintenance Organizations of the Philippines Inc. Executive Director Carlos D. da Silva, SLMC Senior Vice President for Marketing Marilen Tronqued-Lagniton and SLMC Vice President for Industry Relations and Special Projects Josephine C. Aguilar lead the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the launch of Saint Luke’s Urgent Care Clinic.

AINT Luke’s Urgent Care Clinic is the country’s first out-patient facilit y that provides immediate care for nonemergency conditions or cases that are not critical, but need prompt medical attention.

The clinic provides medical consultation and prescription, treatment of minor injuries and management of minor surgical procedures—all at the patient’s convenience.

Opened to the public on October 29, Saint Luke’s Urgent Care is operational daily from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight.

It offers a unique range of services geared toward serving Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), corporate accounts and paying private individuals.

These services are Primary Care, wherein the gap between consulting at a doctor’s clinic and receiving treatment at the Emergency

Room is filled with the availability of ancillary services (laboratory and diagnostic tests); Occupational Health Care that espouses overall health and productivity of employees in the workplace through a range of comprehensive medical exam packages (pre-employment, annual physical and fit to work certification) that employers of small companies and even large corporations can choose from; and Urgent Care or “Fast Track” for patients who need immediate care for minor or acute medical conditions.

Innovation and convenience for its patients is among the driving forces in providing quality, world-class health care, and Saint Luke’s Medical Center has taken yet another step to affirm its position among the best in the world by establishing the Philippines’s first-ever urgent care facility that is accessible and available to patients all day, all night.

Albay wows London tourism event

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XPECT Albay to draw more and more worldwide attention in travel and tourism from now on.

Albay Gov. Joey S. Salceda’s strong pitch for his province as a genuine top global tourist destination when he received the 2015 Pacific Asia Travel Association (Pata) CEO Challenge’s Top Destination Award in formal rites at the Stationers’Hill on Ave Maria Lane in London on November 2, instantly drew enthusiastic raves and response.

The Pata award has made Albay the Philippines’s foremost bet in the travel and tourism industry now. Following Salceda’s speech at the awards rites, giant travel and tourism players approached and assured him they will henceforth put Albay on their top priority destination lists.

One immediate proof of this emerging trend is the dramatic surge in the registration attendance for the 2015 Pata New Frontiers Forum, which Albay hosts from November 25 to 27 this year.

From an initial 191 confirmed registered participants, the number has more than doubled and needs to be capped at 460, even as interested registrants are projected to surpass 600.

Addressing the Pata advocacy dinner, which was attended by some 151 travel and tourism CEOs from all over the world, Salceda highlighted the strong points why Albay was chosen as a foremost global destination and why travel agencies should now put it in their list of priority spots. The dinner aims to enhance tourism development of emerging destinations in a sustainable manner.

Albay won the 2015 Pata CEO Challenge’s Top Destination Award in the regional-provincial category and shares half of the $1 million prize with Thekkady, Kerala, India, which won in the second or third tier towns and cities category.

Salceda projects tourist arrivals in Albay will further surge after Pata’s partner TripAdvisor shall have worked out the province’s tourism marketing strategy, where Albay’s share in the Pata CEO Challenge $1 million prize will be invested.

Pata CEO Mario Hardy presided over the London awards rites along with Martin Verdon-Roe, vice president of Global Display Sales of Trip Advisor, CEO Challenges partner and UN World Tourism Organization Secretary General Taleb Rifai who was guest of honor.

Pata, the premier travel organization in the Asia Pacific, has close to 1,000 associate groups, education and hospitality agencies, tourism destinations, as well as corporate, government and industrial links; and about 70 aviation carriers as partners. PNA

PHS Class ’65 celebrates golden jubilee

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HE Class of 1965 of Pampanga High School (PHS) will hold “Tula ampong Saya” for its 50th anniversary reunion on December 29 and 30 in the City of San Fernando.

Organizers have scheduled three major events: Bisperas on December 29, a fun day (9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) at the Diaspora Farm Resort in Santa Barbara, Bacolor, Pampanga; Kapiyestan on December 30, a simple Capampangan luncheon (11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) at the Mulang Galang in San Antonio, Mexico, Pampanga, and Terakan on December 30, a gala dinner-dance (6:30 p.m. to 12:00 midnight) at the Fortune Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant in the City of San Fernando.

The golden jubilee organizing committee is publishing a book after the events. It also asks that all PHS Class ‘65ers attend the events, invite classmates, and make a donation to finance the events and the commemorative book.

Details on preparations, events and venues can be found on “Tula ampong Saya,” on Facebook. Contact persons on the reunion organizing committee are Joseph Deang (0927-228-8588); Erlie Aquino Estandarte (0929-219-0248); Corazon Cunanan (0939-118-2888); Cecille Morales Bernas (0932-509-2646); Marcial Morales (0918915-9095); and Dan Galang (0929-427-9308; 045-966-0764).

Sports BusinessMirror

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | sports@businessmirror.com.ph

Saturday, November 7, 2015 A7

PINOYS ROUT THAIS B

ATANG Gilas vented its ire on Thailand and scored an easy 81-46 victory in their consolation match in the 2015 International Basketball Federation (Fiba) Asia Under-16 Championship on Friday at the Britama Arena inside the Sportmall Kelapa Gading in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Less than 24 hours after absorbing a 66-73 loss to Japan in their knockout quarterfinal match on Thursday, the Filipino dribblers of Head Coach Mike Oliver needed a strong start that was missing in their previous game to seize control. They advanced to the battle for fifth spot against the winner of Kuwait-Bahrain duel.

Juan Gomez de Liano, who was averaging 6.5 points per game prior the game, topscored for the Philippines with 16 points on fiveof-11 shooting from the floor.

Ralph Matthew Escalona added 11 points, while team captain Samjosef Belangel and Sean Dave Ildefonso each had 10 points for Batang Gilas, which missed the medal round for the first time since the tournament started in 2009.

No Thai finished in double figures with Natthaworn Banchathon hitting a team-high nine markers. The Thais, who

were demolished by Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals, 39-88, had a miserable shooting game, hitting 17 of 61.

After a 23-16 first-quarter lead, Batang Gilas exploded for 33 points in the second quarter, while limiting Thailand to just nine, to carry a 56-25 cushion going to the break.

The Filipinos scored the first six points of the third quarter for a 62-25 advantage and finished the period with a 70-36 lead.

The Philippines, which bagged silver in the 2013 tournament to qualify in the 2014 Fiba U-17 World Championship, erected its biggest lead at 39 points on Ildefonso’s jumper, 77-38, with 5:34 remaining. Oliver opted to rest his starters and let the second unit finish the one-sided match.

Though relegated to the consolation round, the Filipinos got the distinction as the first country to beat three-time champion China in the tournament with a mighty 78-72 upset on Tuesday in their preliminary match.

But their all-out effort against the Chinese took the toll on them as Batang Gilas had a flat start against Japan and their fourth-quarter surge fell short to bow out of the medal phase for the first time in the history of the competition.

PSC organizes Spike For Peace at PhilSports

Chinese Taipei, the remaining unbeaten team in the tournament, and Japan faced off in the semifinal match, with China battling South Korea in the other final-four duel on Friday.

The finalists and bronze medalist will advance to next year’s Fiba U-17 World Championship in Spain.

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HE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will stage the six-day Spike For Peace Invitational Tournament at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City, from November 29 to December 3, with the goal of reviving the national pool for beach volleyball.

Twelve countries from the Asia Pacific, Americas and Europe, composed of Pro Tour circuit veterans, have signed up for the inaugural tournament backed by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI). Top-flight teams China and Brazil have yet to confirm their participation.

Among the teams to beat are Becchara Palmer and Sarah Bettaglene of Australia, Aleksandra Wachowicz and Aleksandra Wolak of Poland, Karin Lundqvist and Anne-Lie Rinisland of Sweden, and Ester Ribera and Amaranta Fernandez of Spain.

Also on the roster are Roos van der Hoeven and Mexime van Driel of the Netherlands, Akiko Hasegawa and Uchida Ayumi of Japan, and Emily Stockman and Amanda Dowdy of the United States—all veterans of the pro tour circuit.

Joel Orellana

Diego de la Paz

Cignal vs Air Force in ‘Liga’

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Alaska puts to test will, character in hectic 2-game sortie in Dubai

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LASKA’S will and character will be put to a big test when the Aces play a wellrested Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings side less than 24 hours after a tough encounter with Mahindra in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup’s sortie at the Al Wasl Sports Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday.

The Aces have staked their fine start in the Philippine Cup when they agreed to play two straight games in Dubai.

“We’ll have really essentially no practice to get ready for them [Gin Kings], then they’ve had a week to prepare for us. So it’s going to be a challenge,” said Compton on Friday, hours before their scheduled meeting with the Enforcers.

“We’ll have less than 24 hours [to prepare].

Our prep time basically is, eat after Mahindra game, sleep and get our minds right before we talk about Ginebra. Then the next morning, about 10 hours before the game, we’ll have our walk-through and watch video,” Compton added.

Dubai lags the Philippines by four hours, which means that the 8 p.m. Alaska-Mahindra tussle was played midnight Friday in Manila.

Banged-up—and either victorious or otherwise—the Aces return to the hard court at the same time on Saturday, hoping they could still bring their A-game and be successful on both ends of the court.

“We’ll just see if we can bring our A-game and hopefully we’ll be successful,” added Compton, admitting the Gin Kings are scary, who could “click” on any given day. “They’re definitely scary. Greg Slaughter is playing great.”

The Gin Kings have dropped their first two outings, as they continued to struggle under a new system and a new coach in Tim Cone.

SBP-Passerelle twin tourneys in Bacolod City

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EVEN teams will try to join two Ateneo de Davao squads in the national finals of the Small Basketeers Philippines (SBP)-Passerelle twin tournaments when the Visayas regional finals of the Basketball Efficiency Scientific Training Center event, sponsored by Milo, fires off on Sunday at the University of Saint La Salle Gymnasium in Bacolod City.

Competing in the SBP regionals are Ateneo de Iloilo, University of the Visayas for Cebu, Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion for Roxas City and Saint Oh’s Institute for Bacolod.

Competing for the regional Passerelle crown are Sun Yat Sen High School of Iloilo, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, College of Saint John of Roxas City and the Bacolod Tay Tung High School.

The twin tournaments are organized by Kristoffer Recio (Iloilo), Enrico David Navarro (Cebu), Ronnie Degala (Roxas City) and Joane Soto (Bacolod City).

Ateneo de Davao won the SBP and the Passerelle crowns in the Mindanao regionals at the Almendras Gym recently. The Luzon qualifiers will be held on November 28 and 29 at the University of the Assumption in San Fernando, Pampanga, while the National Finals will be in Baguio in December.

WILL ALLEN GOZUM is fouled as he attempts for a basket. FIBA .COM

IGNAL HD and Philips Gold shoot for comeback victories against separate opponents in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix that goes out of town anew on Saturday at the Malolos Sports and Convention Center in Malolos City.

The HD Spikers will try to end a two-game losing streak when they face the skidding RC Cola Air Force Raiders at 3 p.m.

The Lady Slammers, on the other hand, seek redemption when they take on winless Meralco in the first game at 1 p.m.

Cignal swept the first round but dropped its first two matches in the second round against Petron and Foton to be at second place with a 5-2 win-loss record. RC Cola Air Force, on the other hand, is on a five-game skid to be at fifth spot with a 1-5 slate.

Philips Gold will also try to recover from its loss to streaking Foton, 14-25, 2225, 25-18, 18-25, on Thursday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

After that setback, the Lady Slammers strung four wins, but were stopped on their tracks to be at No. 3 with a 4-2 card.

The Power Spikers, meanwhile, are still searching for the spark to win their remaining three matches in the eliminations to stay alive in the tournament.

Meralco is also groping for form and has lost all its six assignments.

Lance Agcaoili

ALTAS-MOLINO TRIUMPH

Members of the Perpetual Help Altas-Molino of Head Coach Phelot Levita strike a championship pose after beating Saint Dominic College of Asia Pikemen, 63-56, to rule the 2015 Cavite School Cultural and Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament on Thursday at the Saint Dominic College of Asia Gymnasium in Talaba, Bacoor City. Jayvee Tigas was named Most Valuable Player, while Noriel Glen Francisco and Mark Calawigan made the Mythical Team.

TAMS EYE FINAL 4 INCENTIVE F

AR Eastern University (FEU) goes for a twiceto-beat incentive in the semifinals against University of Santo Tomas (UST), in what could be a finals preview of the Season 78 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The league-leading Tamaraws (10-1) square off with the Growling Tigers (9-3) in the main game at 4 p.m., with FEU trying to cement its spot in the top 2 in the next round.

University of the East (UE), on the other hand, hopes to stay alive in the Final Four race as it battles ousted Adamson University (2-10) at 2 p.m. The Red Warriors are coming off a 91-77 upset of UST to

improve to 4-7 won-lost and remain in the mix for the last spot in the semifinals.

The Tamaraws are fresh off an 82-69 victory over the Soaring Falcons to close in on the twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals.

“UE really played well in that game.

My concern now is my team, on how we can bounce back from that loss and continue improving,” UST Head Coach Bong de la Cruz said. “I hope I can see improvements in my players in our next game.”

The Growling Tigers are already in the Final Four but they need to win two of their remaining three games to deny streaking Ateneo de Manila (8-4) of tying them at No. 2.

FEU Head Coach Nash Racela admitted that his team is peaking, but dismissed their game against UST is a preview of the championship.

“We’re not thinking about that. As of now, we are not there yet,” Racela said.

UE, meanwhile, guns for a crucial victory against Adamson University to stay in the race for the No. 4 spot. Right now, the Red Warriors are in sixth spot, behind defending champion National University (5-7) and De La Salle (5-6), two teams still in a good position to make the Final Four.

Standings: FEU 10-1, UST 9-3, Ateneo 8-4, La Salle 5-6, NU 5-7, UE 4-7, UP 3-8, Adamson 2-10.

INAUGURAL REXONA FITNESS FESTIVAL SET AT MOA

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EXONA refreshes its annual fitness event iced by the Rexona Run with the first Rexona Fitness Festival, dubbed the RXN FitFest, on November 14 at the SMX Mall of Asia Hall 1.

Rexona has collaborated with top fitness clubs in the country for a one-of-a-kind fitness event that offers different ways for people to get fit and stay fresh, as they engage in the best and most fun workouts offered by 360 Fitness for Circuit Training, Barre-Cardio-Yoga and Fitness First for Body Jam. Led by top trainers and dedicated Fitness Squads, festival participants will have access to workouts designed exclusively for diverse

impact and maximum results.

To kick off with a good warm-up, BarreCardio-Yoga will pump participants’ heart rate up with their cardio-infused yoga workout that stretches the limits of flexibility and balance with Gretchen Ho and Nicole Andersson as members of their Fitness Squad.

For high intensity, 360 Fitness, together with its Fitness Squad members Dominic Roque, Drew Arellano and Janina Manipol, will lead a 60-minute circuit training class designed to enhance strength and awareness of the body.

Finally, Fitness First will get the party started with a dance-heavy workout that

challenges coordination and stamina.

The festival will feature classes from each of the three partner-gyms. Participants could either sign up per class for as low as P300 or get the all-day festival pass that gives them access to all three classes at P750.

All participants will be receiving festival kits specialized per class with lots of freebies! Passes are now available at any SM Ticket outlet or online at smtickets.com.

FITNESS Coach Chappy Callanta coaxes actress and fashion icon Janina Manipol to sweat it out.

Joel Orellana

PLDT squares off with Navy

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LDT Home Ultera and Philippine Navy clash on Saturday in a key matchup for teams gunning for at least a playoff for a semifinal berth in the Shakey’s V-League Season 12-Reinforced Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.

Relying heavily on the power-hitting pair of Gretchel Soltones and Janine Marciano, the Ultrafast Lady Hitters turned back the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons, 25-12, 22-25, 25-15, 25-17, last week to tie their victims at second at 2-1.

The Lady Sailors, on the other hand, blasted the Kia Forte, 25-18, 25-23, 25-21, on October 25 but fell to the league-leading unbeaten Army Lady Troopers, 14-25, 17-25, 14-25, last week to fall a 2-2 (win-loss) slate.

That makes their 12:45 p.m. encounter crucial, with the winner closing in on one of the semifinals seats in the season-ending conference of the league, sponsored by Shakey’s and presented by PLDT Home Ultera.

The loser will fall in a mad scramble with Coast Guard and Kia Forte for the fourth and last semis berth.

“We will go for it [win] but we have to continue to play aggressive,” said PLDT Coach Roger Gorayeb, seeking to become the first coach in league history to complete a personal grand slam after steering PLDT to the Open Conference title and National University to the Collegiate Conference crown.

The PLDT-Navy match will be shown live on GMA News TV Channel 11, kicking off another weekend volley festival where fans will be treated to live coverage of the matches, including Sunday’s games pitting Army against Coast Guard at 12:45 p.m. and Kia against UP at 3 p.m., according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Spikers’ Turf semis race on

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IGNAL TV Inc. seeks to join unbeaten Philippine Air Force in the semifinals as it tackles a struggling Philippine Navy side on Saturday in the Spikers’ Turf Season 1-Reinforced Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.

Fueled by Red Christensen’s 16-point exploit, the HD Spikers turned back the stubborn Santa Elena Active Smashers, 23-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-17, on Wednesday to assure themselves of at least a playoff for a semis slot with a 3-1 card.

But the HD Spikers will be going up against a team in need of a win to stay in the semis hunt, guaranteeing another slam-bang action in the 5 p.m. duel in the tournament, presented by PLDT Home Ultera.

With a 1-2 slate, Navy needs to sweep its last two games to get a crack at the last Final Four seat.

Santa Elena and Instituto Estetico Manila, meanwhile, boot each other out in the semifinals race as they tangle in the 3 p.m. opener. The Wrecking Balls tote a 1-3 card, while the Volley Masters have dropped their first three games.

Air Force took the first semis spot with four straight wins while PLDT is in third with a 2-2 mark heading to the last four playdates of the single round elims of the league organized by Sports Vision.

Sports NOBLE OFFER BusinessMirror

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| SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Adidas says it will provide free design resources to schools looking to shelve Native American mascots, nicknames, imagery or symbolism.

The German company also pledged to provide financial support to ensure the cost of changing is not prohibitive.

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B A M. P The Associated Press

ORTLAND, Oregon—Adidas is offering to help high schools nationwide drop Native American mascots.

The athletic shoe and apparel maker said on Thursday it will provide free design resources to schools looking to shelve Native American mascots, nicknames, imagery or symbolism. The German company also pledged to provide financial support to ensure the cost of changing is not prohibitive.

Adidas announced the initiative in conjunction with the White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, which includes leaders from the 567 federally recognized tribes.

The company, which has its North American headquarters in Portland, Oregon, also said it will be a founding member of a coalition that addresses Native American mascots in sports.

According to the group Change the Mascot, there are about 2,000 schools nationwide that have Native American mascots.

The advocacy group says about a dozen schools have dropped Native mascots over the past two years and another 20 are considering a change.

Eric Liedtke, adidas head of global brands who was at the Washington conference, said sports must be inclusive.

“Today’s announcement is a great way for us to offer up our resources to schools that want to do what’s right—to administrators, teachers, students and athletes who want to make a difference in their lives and in their world,” Liedtke said in a statement. “Our intention is to help break down any barriers to change—change that can lead to a more respectful and inclusive environment for all American athletes.”

Speaking to young Native Americans attending the conference, President Barack Obama applauded adidas.

“I tell you, for adidas to make that commitment, it’s a very smart thing to do,” Obama said. “Because those schools now really don’t have an excuse. What they’re saying is one of the top sports companies in the world, one of the top brands in the world, is prepared to come and use all their expertise to come up with something that’s really going to work; and that the entire community can feel proud of and can bring people together and give a fresh start.”

The voluntary program would give schools

access to the company’s design team for logo redesign and uniform design across all sports. It seeks to be a collaborative effort with schools.

Adidas emphasized the initiative only involves high schools, and that the company is not mandating that schools change mascots and nicknames. The program does not involve its other agreements or sponsorships with professional or college teams, or with individual athletes.

The company said it embarked on the initiative because it became clear that schools “wanting to make a change had very little avenues to do so.”

“Ultimately, it’s the teams, athletes, coaches and fans who decide what changes they want to make. And if they want to make a change and we can help, then we want to help,” the company said.

The use of such mascots has drawn increased attention and controversy in recent years. The NFL’s Washington Redskins have resisted appeals by Native American and civil-rights groups to change their name and mascot. Maury Lane, an outside team spokesman for the Redskins, issued a statement criticizing adidas’s move.

“The hypocrisy of changing names at the high-school level of play and continuing to profit off of professional like-named teams is absurd.

Adidas make hundreds of millions of dollars selling uniforms to teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and the Golden State Warriors, while profiting off sales of fan apparel for the Cleveland Indians, Florida State Seminoles, Atlanta Braves and many other like-named teams,” the statement said. “It seems safe to say that adidas’s next targets will be the biggest sports teams in the country, which won’t be very popular with their shareholders, team fans, or partner-schools and organizations.”

Adidas has had a sponsorship agreement with Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III since before he was drafted into the National Football League. Adidas also currently provides team uniforms for the National Basketball Association, and will outfit the National Hockey League starting in the 2017-2018 season.

On the college level, the National Collegiate Athletic Association warned schools in 2005 that they would face sanctions if they didn’t change Native American logos or nicknames. Some colleges kept their nicknames by obtaining permission from tribes, including the Florida State Seminoles and the University of Utah Utes.

Some states have taken action at the high-school level. Last month California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that prohibits schools from using the term “Redskins.”

In Oregon the state Board of Education in 2012 ordered high schools to ban such mascots or risk losing public funding. The schools have until 2017 to comply.

ROGER FEDERER loses to big-serving John Isner (right) in the third round of the Paris Masters. AP

GIANT-SERVING ISNER

BOOTS OUT FEDERER P

ARIS—Roger Federer finally cracked under the unrelenting serve of John Inser, losing, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (5), to the 13th-seeded American in the third round of the Paris Masters on Thursday.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion looked like he might grind out a win, saving all six break points and fighting back from 6-2 down in the decisive tiebreaker. But the Swiss star’s resistance ended when Isner—who had 27 aces—hit a looping serve to his backhand.

“It’s tough going out of a tournament without losing your serve,” the third-seeded Federer said.

Fourteen-time major winner Rafael Nadal, seeded seventh, almost followed him through the exit door, saving a match point in a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2 win against 11th-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

“Very tough match, he served amazing. I feel very lucky to be through,” Nadal said. “This type of match a couple of months ago I would not have had chances to win. In terms of mentality I [am] more calm.”

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic was not at his best, either, advancing to the quarterfinals by beating 14th-seeded Gilles Simon, 6-3, 7-5.

But Federer’s defeat came as a genuine surprise.

Having won his sixth title of the season and 88th of his career at the Swiss Indoors on Sunday, and after racing past Italian Andreas Seppi in just 47 minutes on Wednesday, he was full of confidence.

Federer held a 5-1 career lead over Isner, beating him in the US Open fourth round this year.

“I thought he did very well today when he needed it,” Federer said. “I thought he served great.”

Federer briefly needed treatment at the start of the second set because of a sore arm, but quickly recovered, insisting “it didn’t affect me in the third set and it’s not serious.”

Isner called it one of the “top 5” wins of his career.

“He’s an incredible player, obviously. My favorite player and the greatest of all time,” Isner said. “It was a huge win for me. I’m very proud.”

Isner saved a break point in the fifth game of the third set with a deft backhand volley.

“That arguably saved the match for me,” said the 30-yearold, who next faces No. 8 David Ferrer of Spain after he rallied to beat Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4.

On Wednesday night Anderson finished his secondround, three-set match against Austrian Dominic Thiem at 12:26 a.m. after spending two hours and 45 minutes on court.

This time he finished just as the clock struck midnight after two hours and 27 minutes on court.

But it could have been over quicker.

At 6-5 up in the tiebreak, and with Nadal on second serve, Anderson failed to finish a long rally concluded by Nadal’s risky yet brilliant forehand winner into the top left corner.

The Spaniard celebrated with a yell and a fist pump, clinched the set when a rattled Anderson sent a forehand into the net, and immediately broke Anderson in the third set before holding for 2-0.

Anderson fought back, however, and Nadal needed to save six break points in a grueling fourth game lasting 12 minutes.

That proved to be the end of Anderson’s resistance.

After Nadal broke him again for 5-2 and clinched victory with a crisp forehand winner, the relief was evident as he tilted his head back before shaking hands with the South African.

Nadal next faces No. 4 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, who beat Serbian Viktor Troicki, 6-4, 7-5.

Earlier, Djokovic extended his winning streak to 19

VENUS WILLIAMS advances in Elite Trophy. AP

matches despite dropping his serve five times.

“In sport there are days when you just lose your rhythm.

You’re trying a bit too much and you lose a bit of confidence,” Djokovic said. “It was frustrating.... It hasn’t happened to me for a long time.”

The 10-time Grand Slam champion now plays No. 5 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who beat No. 9 JoWilfried Tsonga of France, 6-3, 6-4.

No. 2 Andy Murray had the easiest path to the last eight, routing David Goffin, 6-1, 6-0, in a prelude to the Davis Cup final later this month.

Murray, who lost only eight points on his serve and broke the 16th-seeded Belgian five times, opens Friday’s quarterfinals against No. 10 Richard Gasquet.

The Frenchman advanced when Kei Nishikori of Japan retired while trailing 7-6 (3), 4-1. AP

Venus lives up to lofty billing Z

HUHAI, China—Top-seeded Venus Williams rallied to beat Saisai Zheng of China, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, and advance to the semifinals of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Elite Trophy on Thursday.

Williams hit six aces and saved two of four break points against Zheng, who entered the tournament on a wild-card berth.

Zheng raced to a 5-1 lead in the first set with aggressive groundstrokes. Williams caught up to 5-4 before the Chinese player closed the opening set after 44 minutes.

“You could see that she played amazing and she really is a future champion,” Williams said of Zheng.

“First set, wow, she played so well until the last point. She definitely deserved to get the wild card into this tournament. She has a lot of talent and there are definitely great things for her in the future.”

The win extends Williams record to 2-0 in Group A. Svetlana Kuznetsova kept alive her slim chances of reaching the semifinals when fifth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki retired from their round-robin match. After Kuznetsova won the first set 7-5, Wozniacki quit at 2-2 in the second with a left-wrist injury.

Third-seeded Karolina Pliskova beat sixth-seeded Sara Errani, 6-0, 6-3.

The tournament brings together 11 of the top players who did not qualify for last week’s WTA Finals in Singapore, including Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic and Roberta Vinci.

The qualifiers compete in a four-group round-robin format, with the winners of each group advancing to the semifinals.

One player from the field can move into the top 10 on Monday. Williams is in contention for that spot with Carla Suárez Navarro, Karolina Pliskova and Vinci. AP

Rose, Butler deliver goods as Bulls bring down Thunder

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HICAGO—Derrick Rose scored 29 points and Jimmy Butler added 26 to lead the Bulls to a 104-98 victory over Oklahoma City on Thursday night in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Rose scored 10 points over the final threeand-a-half minutes to lift the Bulls after they blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Oklahoma City tied it with just over five minutes left in the game. But Rose’s performance down the stretch helped offset Durant’s 33 points

and lifted the Bulls after they got blown out at Charlotte two nights earlier.

Russell Westbrook had 20 points and 10 assists, and Serge Ibaka scored 17 points for the Thunder, who lost their third straight.

Chicago was clinging to a 98-96 lead when Rose hit consecutive jumpers to make it a sixpoint game with just over a minute remaining.

After Durant hit a jumper, Pau Gasol nailed a sweeping hook with 38.4 seconds left, sealing the win for the Bulls.

Also on Thursday, it was Miami 96, Minnesota 84; Charlotte 108, Dallas 94; Utah 96, Denver 84; and Portland 115, Memphis 96.

In Minneapolis Dwyane Wade, showing no ill effects from a migraine headache two days ago, scored 25 points to lead Miami.

Chris Bosh had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat, who were playing one day after reserve guard Gerald Green was hospitalized for unspecified reasons. Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said Green’s condition had improved by Thursday,

but it remained unclear why he was hospitalized and how long he will be away.

Shabazz Muhammad had 14 points and six rebounds on a brutal shooting night for the Timberwolves, who shot just 35 percent from the field. Andrew Wiggins was five-for-18 and Karl-Anthony Towns made just three-of-13 shots.

Goran Dragic added 18 points, as all five Heat starters scored in double figures.

Wade suffered a migraine in the third quarter against Atlanta on Tuesday, but he was able to finish

the game. He showed no ill effects on Thursday and helped Miami close the first half in a flash.

Al Jefferson scored a season-high 31 points on 15-of-18 shooting and Marvin Williams added 17 points and 12 rebounds for Charlotte, which pulled away in the third quarter.

Deron Williams led the Mavericks with 15 points, while Dirk Nowitzki, Zaza Pachulia and Dwight Powell added 14 each.

The victory was the first in Dallas following 11 defeats for the franchise that began as the

Charlotte Bobcats in 2004-2005. The Mavericks had run off 14 straight home wins over Charlotte’s two NBA teams since the original Hornets won at Reunion Arena in January 1998.

Charlotte led 54-53 at halftime, thanks in great measure to a 30-20 advantage on points in the paint. The Hornets outscored the Mavericks 24-14 in the third quarter, shooting 50 percent, while Dallas hit 22.7 percent and missed on all eight of its three-point attempts.

Jefferson had nine rebounds. AP