Businessmirror august 21, 2016

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Sunday, August 21, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 316

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AMPHIBIOUS FOWLS An irrigation canal in Ambalatungan, Santiago City, Isabela, serves as a swimming pool for a paddling of ducks after grazing on an idle ricefield nearby. Salted-egg production is another cash earner in the city. LEONARDO PERANTE II

‘Widening trade deficit not that bad’ By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

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HE country’s widening trade deficit is not all that bad for the economy, as it may indicate preparation for capacity building and efficiency boosting, an analyst said. Export revenues have been declining owing to low global demand, while the import bill has risen consistently. In his most recent analysis of the local economic dynamics, Bank See “Deficit,” A2

THAT EVERYONE BE SAVED

God our Father, Your will is that everyone be saved and no one be lost. You draw us to Yourself by prayer and penance. Grant that we may so follow Christ in love that our lives may help others and our weakness never hinder them. We make this prayer in His name, Jesus, the Christ our Lord. We continue to ask You, Father, that everyone be saved so all of us Your children will have a place in heaven. Amen! Give Us This Day, The Glenstal Book of Prayer, Shared by Louie M. Lacson

Needed: Metro Manila rail-transport blueprint By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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@lorenzmarasigan

HE government must consolidate the numerous plans, studies and proposals that pertain to the construction of train systems to create a massive rail-network blueprint. Such a template should spell out the methods by which each project will be implemented.

Ferdinand G. Inacay, president of MRail Inc., said the government should consider sitting down with industry experts to flesh out the details of a comprehensive rail master plan. “We need to have a rail master plan for the Philippines, wherein we will put in the policy of what we want to do,” he told the BusinessMirror in an interview. “We have to put down the rail objective, then, with all of the studies that are around, develop the railway master plan that would correspond to the need of the city.” Continued on A2

Quezon province marks 138th birth anniversary of MLQ

Villar urges govt-private tie-up to save Manila Bay By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

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EN. Cynthia A. Villar on Saturday called on collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors to continue the Manila Bay’s upkeep before the timetable for the writ of continuing mandamus to protect it ends in the next two years. On December 18, 2008, the Supreme Court (SC) issued such order, directing 13 government agencies to clean up, rehabilitate and, eventually, preserve the world-renowned bayshore. These include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, departments of Education, Health, Agriculture, Public Works and Highways, Budget and Management, and Interior and Local Government, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine National Police Maritime Group, Philippine Ports Authority, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and Local Water Utilities Administration.

PESO exchange rates n US 46.3060

QUEZON Gov. David C. Suarez and his father, House Minority Floor Leader Danilo E. Suarez, read the message written at the foot of the monument of the late President Manuel Luis Quezon during the floral offering at the celebration of the former President’s 138th birthday celebration at the Perez Park in the capitol compound in Lucena City. JOHN BELLO

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IN celebration of the 53rd anniversary of the Land Bank of the Philippines, bank employees join employees of other government agencies in a cleanup drive on Saturday at the Manila Bay on Roxas Boulevard, Manila. ROY DOMINGO

“They were given 10 years to do it, so that’s until 2018. But, of course, we want everyone to continue beyond 2018,” she told reporters during the Land Bank of the Philippines-led Manila Bay Cleanup 2016 event and launch of Manila Bay Sunset Partnership Program Inc.’s (MBSPPI) “Adopt-an-Estero” on Roxas

Boulevard, Manila. The lawmaker lauded such kind of activity showing the private sector’s initiative to save the Manila Bay and, at the same time, the need for more Filipinos to realize the danger of not protecting the environment.

By John Bello | Correspondent

UCENA CITY—Quezon Gov. David C. Suarez and his father, House Minority Floor Leader Danilo E. Suarez, led Quezon officials in the simple floral-offering ceremonies to celebrate the 138th birthday of the late President Manuel Luis Quezon (MLQ). The event was held at the late President’s monument in the Perez Park at the provincial capitol compound here. “Without the late President Quezon, there would be no Quezon Niyogyugan Festival to celebrate. The festival showcases our excellence and creativity,” the young governor said on Friday in his brief speech near the monument of the late MLQ, as officials from various local and national government agencies listened. The coconut festival formally began on Thursday, with the opening of the agritourism fair and exposition showing competing makeshift huts offering the favorite hometown products of the 39 municipalities and two cities of the province. The governor cited his mother, former Rep. Aleta C. Suarez, the prime mover of the festival since it began six years ago to promote the province’s main agricultural products. He said the opening day of the festival drew 8,000 visitors, who flocked to see and buy homemade delicacies and coco-based products inside the various huts designed and built from coconut materials. See “Quezon,” A2

See “Villar,” A2

n japan 0.4637 n UK 60.9850 n HK 5.9728 n CHINA 6.9806 n singapore 34.5799 n australia 35.5862 n EU 52.5851 n SAUDI arabia 12.3519

Source: BSP (19 August 2016 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, August 21, 2016

Trade deficit…

Continued from a1

of the Philippine Islands (BPI) research officer Nicholas Antonio Mapa said, while a larger trade gap may be alarming as it becomes a threat to the country’s strong external position, careful analysis may indicate there is actually not that much to worry about. A trade deficit happens when the economy imports more goods than it exports, making the country expend more dollars than it earns in the international trade of goods. A wider deficit means the country has significantly more imports than exports given a period of time. While the Philippines may run on a chronic trade deficit owing to the country’s large import bill, economists and investors have expressed worry over the country’s falling exports in recent months due to the lackluster global demand. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that total trade deficit in the first five months of the year at $9.7 billion is only a bit away from surpassing the $12.24-billion trade deficit seen for the entire 2015. But Mapa said a closer inspection of the components of the country’s rising imports showed the trend of ballooning trade deficits may actually be reserves in the medium to long term. “The Philippines has long been a chronic trade-deficit country as imports outstrip exports. In the past, the gap was due to the sustained increase in consumer goods and fuel, but in recent months, the widening gap was driven in large part by raw-material buildup for eventual export and more important, the surge in capital-goods importation,” Mapa said. Capital goods importation—which includes machinery for expansion and higher productive capacity—has been noted by Mapa to see a growth close to triple digits over the past months. This is as corporations gear for potential increased economic activity in the coming quarters. Raw materials, meanwhile, are also increasing its share total in recent months. Bulk of these registered imported raw materials are components for potential exports of the country. “Capital machinery brought in by corporates and the government will go a long way to improving our efficiency and pushing out the production possibility frontier to higher levels, which will be beneficial to our medium-term growth trajectory,” Mapa said. Mapa added that, in the near term, the country’s widening trade deficit may still hurt the country’s external position, but may be a lesser drag on overall GDP prints in the near term. An improvement in the country’s overall efficiency and productivity will still be seen in the medium term, the analyst said.

Villar…

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Continued from a1

“The recent disasters have shown us that we are no match to the wrath of Mother Nature. But if we protect our environment, it will protect us,” she said. “The livelihood jobs and business opportunities are just a bonus. The most important of all is protecting the environment for our survival and the survival of the future generations.” While concerted efforts from the government and the business community have become apparent over the years, Villar still believes their cooperation will be more effective in arresting the further degradation of Manila Bay. “So we have to assemble the public sector composed of different agencies of the DENR, like the Pasig River Rehabilitation, Manila Bay Coordinating Council, Laguna Lake Development Authority and National Solid Waste Management Commission, to do their jobs of spearheading the cleanup of Manila Bay,” she said. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, she said they will pass a bill on protected areas in the country. “I will [also] ask the DPWH to be active to buy equipment for us so we can effectively clean Manila Bay,” she added. Together with top government officials and top corporate executives, the senator signed a memorandum of agreement for new partners of MBSPPI, in behalf of Villar Sipag at Tiyaga Foundation Inc., which she heads. The non-governmental organization joins the DPWH, the DENR Environmental Management Bureau, Maynilad Water Services and De La Salle University Manila in supporting the “Adopt-an-Estero Program,” complementing MBSPPI’s thrust to clean up and improve water quality in tributaries across the metropolis. “As the MBSPPI family continues to grow, so shall we endeavor to do more to forward our cause of protecting our coastal resources,” LandBank Executive Vice President Cecilia C. Borromeo said. The program introduces Bokashi Mud Balls, which use an effective microorganism technology from Japan to inhibit the growth of algae and break down sludge and silt in the water to help enhance clarity and water flow. The project’s pilot community is Estero de Abad in Barangay 720 in Adriatico, Manila, which leads to Manila Bay. MBSPPI President and LandBank First Vice President Catherine Rowena B. Villanueva told the BusinessMirror they initially intend to do a quarterly cleanup of the estuary and expecting its success, conduct it on a monthly basis and roll it out to other waterways in Metro Manila. “We will expand it to other sites if, at least, we can see there’s a significant decrease in the bacterial level and also an increase in the pH level of the waters of Manila Bay,” she said. Around 1,500 volunteers from LandBank, as well as its partners and stakeholders, joined in the annual Manila Bay cleanup near the US Embassy on Roxas Boulevard, Manila.

REMEMBERING FPJ Sen. Grace Poe sprinkles holy water on the tomb of her father Fernando Poe Jr. (Ronald Allan Kelley Poe) in celebration of his 77th birthday. Looking on is the actor’s widow actress Susan Roces and supporters at the Manila North Cemetery in Manila. ROY DOMINGO

Quezon…

Continued from a1

Also featured during the festival is the Binibining Niyogyugan pageant, talent competition and coronation night; hands-on demo on coco twinning/weaving, coconut sap and virgin coconut-oil processing; lecture on lambanog processing; Araw ng Pamilyang Magsasaka assembly and Teachers Convention at Quezon Coconut Center; various musical events featuring ABS-CBN’s Hashtags; grand parade and float competition; street dance and dance showdown competition. The festival ends on August 27. The governor and Suarez expressed their full support to the relentless anti-illegal drug campaign of President Duterte for a drug-free Quezon province. The governor said 59 provincial government employees lost their jobs when they tested positive during the random drug test conducted two years ago for all provincial government personnel. The father-and-son tandem quoted

famous words of the late Manuel L. Quezon, which were engraved on the cement wall at the back of his bronze monument. After they spoke, they headed to Queen Margarette Hotel for the awarding of outstanding Quezonians who manifested the virtues and excellence of the late president. Vice Gov. Sam Nantes and members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan stayed behind to acknowledge officials from various agencies in offering flowers at the foot of the Quezon monument before they proceeded to the program for the recipients of Quezon’s Medalya ng Karangalan awards. The five recipients were led by Rev. Msgr. Leandro Castro, who was awarded for spiritual leadership; Nestor Pestelos for public service and community development; Josephine Fabre for culture and arts-music; Milada Dealo Valde for arts and cultureculinary; and Ricardo Merin Salumbides for farming. A special award was given to the group Susi ng Tayabas for arts and culture.

Needed: Metro Manila rail-transport blueprint Continued from a1

There are a handful of rail plans for Metro Manila, such as the ones from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), the University of the Philippines, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and private groups. Previous administrations reviewed these studies, some of which resulted in the construction of four rail lines to date. “It is just sad to recognize that we have been left behind by our neighbors. If you look at who first had a mass transit system in the region, it was the Philippines, but look at where we are now,” Inacay lamented. The Philippines was the first country in the Asean to build an overhead mass-transit system, known as the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1, more than three decades ago. Data from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) showed the Philippines only has 79 kilometers of rails today. In three years, at the earliest, the total number of rail kilometers in the country will be bolstered by 37.64 kilometers to 117.64 km with the addition of a new line, and the extension of two existing ones. Compared to neighboring countries, the Philippine rail sector has been dragged by constant underspending. Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam have earmarked billions of dollars to improve their rail networks. Hanoi, Vietnam, in particular, only started the development of its railway network in 2012, and is envisioned to have 54 km of rails in three years. Jakarta is set to have a rail network of 108 km by 2018. Thailand already has a robust 4,346 km of rail network. It has planned to add 56.5 km of additional rail links in the next few years. Rail is seen by transport experts and government officials as the means to decongest Epifanio delos Santos Avenue in Metro Manila and its other clogged siblings. Goddess Hope Oliveros-Li-

biran, chief public information officer of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, said Edsa can only accommodate 6,000 vehicles per hour per direction. But at a daily average, the highway serves 7,500 vehicles per hour per direction. At least 90 percent of these are private vehicles. In order to free up Edsa and other arteries of private vehicles, Libiran said Filipinos must start shifting from using cars to utilizing mass-transit systems, such as trains. “We want to shift the behavior of motorists from using their private cars to utilizing public transport,” Libiran said. But the challenge is the need for efficient, safe and reliable masstransit systems. “The main challenge we have in converting people who use their cars is there is no certainty if they take the mass-transit system that they can get to their destination on time,” Inacay said. The four train lines now operating, which, according to the BusinessMirror, estimates work at 58.75-percent efficiency, are not interconnected with each other, much less connected to other modes of transportation. “The way to address traffic is really an interconnected transport system. Rail is one component. The others are buses, maybe taxis, jeepneys, tricycles or any vehicle used for public transport,” Inacay said. “That’s what we lack.” Without this, people will continue to be “discouraged to take public vehicles from their point of origin to their point of destination.” “We have to expand the capacity first, and improve the service. Then, we need to develop an integrated system for better transfer, and only then can you let people shift from their current mind-set,” Inacay said. He added: “We should bite the bullet and talk about an integrated-transport system. We have to integrate subways, bus-rapid transits, buses and any other vehicular transport that could act as a feeder to rail-transport systems.” Transportation Undersecretary

Noel Eli B. Kintanar acknowledged this, saying the government is faced with more than a decade’s worth of challenge. “We want to build a lot of rail. But we have constraints in financing. We can borrow from banks, or from other government agency, but we will be constrained by the budget,” he said. What the government can do now is to tap private-sector funding via the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. “We can use a PPP approach and build more and amortize the payments over a period of time,” Kintanar said. “Building a rail network requires an interface of rail with buses, jeep, tricycles and other public-transport modes.” Today, the government is eyeing to build and develop right railway lines in Luzon, costing roughly P692.68 billion over a six-year period. These are LRT Lines 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6; Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 7; and the extension of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) to Clark and to Los Baños, Laguna. Inacay, whose company is a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., said this list may be viable, given the government’s strong political will. This, however, should be backed by sound contracts to make projects bankable and commercially viable. Likewise, the culture of creditgrabbing should end, as this only limits the government from building much-needed infrastructure, thus placing the common Filipino at the losing end of the bargain. “The egotistical attitude of people who want to have credit for everything that is put in place— this has to end. If it is a good idea, follow it through, don’t drop the baton. Now if it needs refinement, then refine it for goodness’s sake,” Inacay said. Metro Manila loses P2.4 billion a day from traffic costs and, according to Jica estimates, this figure will balloon to P6 billion daily should traffic congestion remain at its current level.

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

BOI gives incentives to another coal power project By Lenie Lectura

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@llectura

HE coal-power project of Redondo Peninsula Energy Corp. (RP Energy) has been issued a certificate of registration by the Board of Investments (BOI), entitling the project to certain investment incentives. “The BOI has just issued a certification that entitles RP Energy to duty-free importation of equipment, materials and spares for five years from date of registration. Also including four-year tax holiday from commercial operation,” RP Energy Project Development Manager Joselito Lantin said. RP Energy is developing a 2x300megawatt (MW) project on a phased basis. The engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) bids for the first 300-MW circulating fluidized bed (CFB) coal-fired power plant at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in the province of Zambales have been received and evaluated. RP Energy is a joint venture among Meralco PowerGen Corp., Aboitiz Power Corp. and Taiwan Cogeneration Corp. “We are currently negotiating with preferred EPC contractor for the first phase of the project. We will also include an option for the next phase, also a 300-MW unit,” Lantin said. The target start of construction for Phase 1 is in the last quarter of this year, with expected commercial operation in late-2019 or early-2020, Lantin added. RP Energy would sell the electricity generated from the proposed power project to Meralco and Aboitiz. “For the off-take, it would be Meralco,” said Lantin, explaining that 225 MW of electricity to be generated from the power plant is covered under a separate powersupply agreement (PSA) with the distribution-utility company. The remaining 75 MW would be sold to Aboitiz Energy Solutions Inc. (AESI). RP Energy signed PSAs with Meralco and AESI in April. RP Energy also signed an amended power-plant site lease agreement and transmission line right-of-way (ROW) lease agreement with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority in February last year. Recently, the Energy Regulatory Commission approved the transmission-line interconnection for the project. The line will be from the RPE site to Hermosa substation. Moreover, the ROWs for the transmission line for Phase 1, or from RPE site to Hanjin, was secured.

CPP-NPA declares 7-day unilateral cease-fire

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By Marvyn N. Benaning | Correspondent

HE Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP-CC) and the National Operational Command of the New People’s Army (NPA-NOC) late on Friday declared a seven-day unilateral cease-fire, in time for the formal peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) in Oslo, Norway. In a joint statement, the CPP-CC and the NPA-NOC said the unilateral cease-fire will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on August 21 and end at 11:59 p.m. on August 27.

The formal talks between the negotiating panels of the NDF and the government are scheduled from August 22 to 26. “This cease-fire declaration is encouraged by the government’s

facilitation of the release of nearly all NDF consultants who are set to participate in peace negotiations in the course of the next several months,” the CPP-NPA said in a statement. Earlier on Friday, the government released NDF consultants Benito Tiamzon and Wilma Austria Tiamzon, who were leading members of the CPP and key consultants of the NDF when they were arrested in March 2014. “The CPP anticipates the release of the rest of the NDF consultants, so that everyone can participate in the peace talks,” but cited the case of Eduardo Sarmiento, who was arrested in February 2009, slapped with murder charges and convicted in December 2013. He is currently serving a life sentence at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City. The CPP reiterated its appreciation for the efforts of President Duterte to push forward and accelerate the government-NDF peace negotiations.

Bill grants tax amnesty for unpaid estate taxes By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@joveemarie

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LEADER of the House of Representatives on Wednesday filed a bill seeking to grant tax-amnesty for all unpaid estate taxes. In House Bill 3010, Deputy Speaker Romero S. Quimbo said his bill grants full amnesty for net estates of P3 million and below. “The proposal provides for a graduated tax rate, which is only a fraction of the property being transferred. The proposed rates under the estate tax-amnesty bill are also much lower than those in the National Internal Revenue Code [NIRC],” he said. Under the bill, if the net estate is P3 million but not over P6 million, the heirs will pay fixed estate tax of P20,000, with additional 5 percent of the excess over P3 million. If the net estate is P6 million but not over P12 million, the heirs will pay fixed estate tax of P200,000, with additional 8 percent of the excess over P6 million. Also, if the net estate is P12 million, the heirs will pay fixed estate tax of P650,000, with additional 11 percent of the excess over P12 million. Currently, under the law, if the net estate is P200,000, the heirs are exempted from estate tax but the P10 million above will pay P1.2 million plus 20 percent of the excess of over P10 million. The measure said the tax amnesty granted shall cover all unpaid estate taxes as of the time this act shall have taken effect, and those that shall be due within three years henceforth. The bill also directed the secretary of finance to promulgate the necessary rules and

regulations for the effective implementation of the provisions of the act. “The current policy on estate taxes creates a double whammy: The government is not able to derive revenue from the decedent’s property due to the heirs’ nonpayment of taxes; and the heirs are not able to productively use it. Thus, the economy is at a losing end with diminutive tax collection and stagnant properties. It is a stalemate we want to immediately unlock through the proposed bill,” Quimbo said. “With the estate tax-amnesty bill, we hope to instantly resolve the impasse in noncompliance, low tax collection and idle properties. This can be done even while we are working on restructuring the current estate-tax rates in NIRC,” he added. After deducting the registered estate taxpayers from the total deaths in 2013, Quimbo said data show that 94 percent did not file the required estate-tax return. Even if the estate is exempt from taxes, the filing of a return is still required under the NIRC, he said. Quimbo, a member of the Liberal Party who represents Marikina City in the House, added that the complicated scheme of filing estate taxes is also seen as one of the reasons for taxpayers’ noncompliance. “It disincentivizes the heirs to comply. The failure in filing estate tax also subjects the taxpayer to penalties and interests under the NIRC,” he added. Quimbo also said that apart from the grief of losing a family member, the heirs are faced with the obligations of complying with the filing of returns and payments, especially for the family home.

DOE sees further NGCP seeks ERC OK fuel-price increase of Navotas substation

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Sunday, August 21, 2016 A3

OCAL pump prices are on the rise again, as traders bet on an output freeze during next month’s meeting of oil producers. The Department of Energy (DOE) said that, based on its monitoring during last week’s first four trading days in the international oil market, “domestic prices may increase.” The agency did not say how much, but said this will be brought about by the possibility of an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) production freeze. Separately, Director Melita V. Obillo of the Oil Industry Management Bureau said the price increase could reach “more than P1 per liter” on gasoline, diesel and kerosene. The impending oil-price increase is on account of a speculation that there could be a production freeze when Opec and non-Opec member-countries meet next month. The last time oil producers met, they failed to reach a deal aimed at cutting production. With no agreement reached, this resulted in lower oil prices the following trading week. Oil companies will announce on Monday their respective price adjustments. The impending oil-price increase will be the second time for the month. Last week oil companies implemented a price increase per liter of P0.55 for gasoline, P0.70 for diesel and P0.65 for kerosene. After the price increase on August 16, the year-to-date price-increase adjustment for gasoline reached P0.64 and P3.33 in diesel. The price of liquefied petroleum gas remains at a net decrease of P8.48 per kilogram. Lenie Lectura

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HE National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has sought the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approval for its 230-kilovolt (kV) substation project in Navotas City. The project, which costs P4.26 billion, will provide “the muchneeded physical space” for future capacity expansion simultaneous with load growth, the company said. This will be linked to the existing Marilao-Quezon 230-kV transmission line, and will complement the three other substations currently serving the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco). “Due to the continuously increasing power demands of the Metro Manila, the substations serving the region suffer from spatial limitations, as well as heavy loading conditions,” the company said in its filing. The installation of additional transformer or development of new substations is essential in order to meet its transmission-capacity requirements,” NGCP said. The grid operator said that existing substations within the area could no longer be expanded to accommodate additional transformers. As such, building new substations is the only feasible solution to address the increasing power demands of Metro Manila. It added that without a new substation, there will be overloading issues. The ERC, in its 21-page order, approved NGCP’s application, provided its project shall be subject “to optimization and proper classification based on its actual use and implementation.” Further, NGCP was required to conduct a competitive bidding for the purchase of major materials in the implementation of the proposed project; and to pay a permit fee of P31,879,130. Lenie Lectura

“We hope that this cease-fire declaration will be reciprocated by the government as a show of all-out determination to move forward with peace negotiations,” the CPP said. The party clarified that the ceasefire declaration will take effect even without government reciprocation. “With or without reciprocation by the government, the NPA must maintain a high-level of alertness against enemy troop movements,” the CPP said. “Even while ready to engage in defensive action, the NPA will exert efforts to carry out early countermaneuvers to avoid armed encounters during the specified cease-fire period. The CPP anticipates the upcoming Oslo peace talks to discuss the recommendation for Mr. Duterte to issue a general amnesty to pave the way for the release of all political prisoners. “To further bolster peace negotiations, the CPP and the NPA are also open to discuss the possibility of a

longer cease-fire upon completion of the release of all political prisoners,” the CPP said. Speaking on behalf of the NPA, Jorge Madlos said the NPA will cease operations against the Armed Forces, the National Police, the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Units and paramililtary units “in support of the resumption of the formal peace negotiations.” Madlos said the NPA-NOC is open to the declaration of a longer ceasefire in case the CPP and the NDF declare it in order to facilitate the release of more political prisoners and hasten the peace talks. The release of NDF consultants has been welcomed nationwide, Madlos said, and added that he hopes the negotiations would proceed in earnest, “even as we know that it would not be easy to achieve a comprehensive agreement. We hope the two parties would be open to such an agreement for the best interest of the Filipino people.”

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A4 Sunday, August 21, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

The time is ripe to act vs drought

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By Monique Barbut | Inter Press Service

INDHOEK—Let us start with some good news. Sort of. The strongest El Niño in 35 years is coming to an end. In 2015-2016, this “El Niño effect” led to drought in over 20 countries. There were scorching temperatures, water shortages and flooding around the world. Worst hit were eastern and southern Africa.

To understand what that means for people, you just have to look at the numbers about food insecurity. About 32 million people in southern Africa were affected by food insecurity as a result. Across Africa, 1 million children required treatment for severe acute malnutrition. And though the worst of the drought is coming to an end, predictions are high (at about 75 percent) that La-Niña will arrive later in 2016. La Niña—El Niño’s opposite number—is known for the flooding it brings. There may not be much relief for policy-makers and people across Africa before the end of the year. But then, it will be over, we can breathe again. We can go back to business as usual—right? Well, if you will allow me. For Albert Einstein, one of the definitions of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Going back to business as usual fits this definition of insanity very well. We know the next El Niño droughts are likely to return regularly, probably as often as every two to seven years. We know the extent and severity of droughts will increase. This is because of climate change and unsustainable land use. Scientists have estimated the fraction of the land’s surface regularly experiencing drought conditions is predicted to increase from less than 5 percent today to more than 30 percent by the 2090s. We know we will miss our targets on water scarcity under the sustainable development goals. We know poor people, who tend to be wholly dependent on natural resources, like water and land, to provide for their families, will suffer. Unless we change our approach, when drought comes and the rains fall, the future of the 400 million African farmers who rely on rain-fed subsistence agriculture, for example, is put in jeopardy. Rain-fed agriculture accounts for more than 95 percent of farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa. And water scarcity alone could cost some regions 6 percent of their GDP. Unless we change our approach, people are going to be increasingly forced to decide whether to ride out a drought disaster and then rebuild. Or simply leave. It is a form of madness that we force our people to make these difficult choices. Progress is starting to happen. Mexico, Brazil, Vietnam and Morocco, to name just a few countries, are now implementing drought plans with a strong emphasis on risk mitigation and preparedness.

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F President Duterte wants an airtight case against former Justice Secretary and now Sen. Leila M. de Lima, he must summon two ranking career officials of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) who were unceremoniously and mysteriously dismissed from the service in 2014 in clear violation of the Constitution.

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Two ranking NBI officials are privy to de Lima’s illicit activities

Database

By Cecilio T. Arillo

At that time, NBI Deputy Directors Reynaldo Esmeralda, chief of the intelligence division, and Ruel Lasala, head of the investigation division, were removed from office by then-President Benigno S. Aquino III, while they were quietly investigating de Lima’s illicit activities with her driver, the drug lords’ illegal operations at the Bureau of Corrections and the selective application of justice on the Janet Lim-Napoles case. “No investigation, no charges filed against us and no due process at all, before we were culpably terminated by [former] President Aquino upon the recommendation of de Lima,” Esmeralda said in an interview with this writer. It can be recalled that when the Philippine Daily Inquirer asked for reasons the two were removed from their post, de Lima said in a text message on March 13, 2014, that, “They are presidential appointees; hence, they serve at the pleasure of the President. No need to cite a particular reason.” Esmeralda and Lasala appealed their case with the Office of the President, but their appeal landed only on deaf ears. The two deputy directors, both Federal Bureau of Investigationtrained and multiawardees, rose from the ranks, having joined the NBI in the 1970s. As expert investigative lawyers, Esmeralda and Lasala discovered in the Napoles probe, which was ignored by their superiors, that the choice of the non-governmental organizations (NGO) as the implementing service or supply contractors is the responsibility of the agency head, not the senator

or representative. Under the rule, a contract cannot also be provided to an NGO, even if the lawmakers or head of the implementing agency (IA) insist. Regarding requests made by legislators, it is the responsibility of the head of the IA in the Office of the President to advise them that it can’t be done, since it would also violate existing rules, mainly the Government Procurement Reform Act. Besides, a report as required under the General Appropriations Act on fund releases must indicate the names of NGOs, including the name of the government agencies concerned, duly audited by the Commission on Audit (COA), and the report shall be submitted to the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Appropriations, either in printed form or by way of electronic document. The rule requires that the head of the IA shall see to it that funds are audited by the COA and not by any private auditor or firm. Esmeralda explained a selective investigation would surely compromise the integrity of the NBI. As it happened, the implementers of the funds in the Office of the President were not prosecuted. At the height of the Napoles investigation, Esmeralda revealed that NBI Director Nonnatus Rojas and NBI Deputy Director for Regional Services Rafael Ragos met with Napoles before her arrest. Rojas argued the meeting with Napoles happened before any warrant was issued for her arrest. To rebut Rojas, Esmeralda presented three CCTV videos that showed Napoles allegedly meeting with Rojas and Ragos. Esmeralda said one video showed a woman in black, identified as Napoles, waiting at the office of Rojas with another NBI employee. Earlier, Rojas admitted he met with Napoles only for the purpose of getting her side about the serious illegal-detention case filed against

her by Benhur Luy, her relative and pork-barrel scam whistle-blower. Esmeralda said Napoles should have gone straight to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and not at the NBI, since the case was already with the DOJ. He said two lawyers, Fred Villamor and de Lima’s former husband Plaridel Bohol, accompanied Napoles to the NBI. Esmeralda said NBI agents Jun de Castro, Jun Dongallo and Eli Tiu witnessed Napoles’s visit to the NBI. Rojas later resigned from the bureau and, a few months after that, Esmeralda and Lasala, while looking into reports of drugs activities at the Bureau of Corrections and de Lima’s illicit relationship with her driver, were rudely dismissed from the NBI. Esmeralda and his men were credited for the seizure of 289 kilos of shabu in 2000 in Pasay City and the arrest of Sandra Lim, a high-profile drug lord who was subsequently captured and sentenced to life in jail. Lasala, his men and the police were honored for the seizure of 498 kilos of pure-grade shabu, worth more than P1 billion in 2001, and the arrest of Panukulan, Quezon, town Mayor Ronnie Tena Mitra; Willie Yao of Fookien, China; and Mitra’s two security aides, Javier Morilla and Roel Dequilla. The illegal drugs, in 15 sacks, were found inside an ambulance being driven by Morilla, with Mitra and Yao as passengers. A van, with a special license plate marked “Mayor” and driven by Dequilla, was escorting the ambulance. At first, the two vehicles refused to stop at a police checkpoint set up in Barangay Kiloloran in Real town, Quezon, triggering a long chase that eventually led to the arrest of the suspects and the seizure of the contraband. A court subsequently convicted the suspects and sentenced them to life imprisonment. To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com

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essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, August 21, 2016 A5

Ugly Americans win gold in Rio

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By Mac Margolis | Bloomberg View

PORTS fans boo for many reasons. Brazilians, maybe more than most. Jeers, catcalls and heckling have been staples of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and the habit has stirred a storm of comment and consternation.

The barrage from the bleachers has brought a Russian swimmer to tears, unnerved a French pole vaulter and targeted a Vietnamese marksman (booing at a shooting match?). Thomas Bach, the International Olympics Committee president, has made his disapproval public. “This is unacceptable,” he said. That may be so, and the boors from Brazil deserve a dressing down. But now a quartet of US Olympians may have won the competition for most galling behavior. Swimmer Ryan Lochte and three of his teammates told the police earlier this week they’d been robbed at gunpoint by men posing as police officers after leaving an all-night party in Rio’s tony south zone. The more they elaborated on their saga, however, the more rococo the tale be-

came. The swimmers couldn’t agree on how many assailants there were nor the color of the taxi they’d hired. They told the police the thieves took some cash, but inexplicably left them their wallets, phones and Olympic passes. Lochte left Brazil earlier in the week, but after pulling two of his teammates off a US-bound plane and confiscating their passports, Brazilian police are now reporting the swimmers were not robbed at all. Instead, they had gotten into a scuffle with employees at a gas station. In a press conference on Thursday, Rio state Civil Police chief Fernando Veloso said a security tape and testimony from witnesses revealed the athletes had vandalized the convenience store and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. In the ensuing confrontation over paying

for damages, a security guard had brandished a weapon. If the police version is confirmed, the swimmers could face possible criminal action, though the police declined to say what kind of punishment that might be. Brazilians understandably take such reports seriously. After all, the run-up to the Rio Games was a nonstop drip of disparaging news, including a brutal recession, the devastating Zika virus, escalating crime and a suppurating corruption scandal that exposed the political establishment as shameless freebooters. On top of that drubbing came a relentless blitzkrieg by media and scientists questioning whether Rio was fit to host the world’s most revered sporting event and safeguard the world’s champions and their fans.

All the fun is going out of hedge funds

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By Barry Ritholtz | Bloomberg View

Y now, almost every finance aficionado knows about the problems in the hedge-fund industry. With almost $3 trillion in assets under management, the industry has been bedeviled by complaints of underperformance and high fees. Large institutions that put money into hedge funds are now reversing course, led by endowments and pension funds. Redemptions totaled $20.7 billion in the three months through July, with $5.7 billion withdrawn by investors last month. As high-profile firms have suffered outflows, they have begun cutting employees.

Steve Eisman, profiled in Michael Lewis’s book The Big Short, said the next big short is hedge-fund fees. Two and 20—industry parlance for a 2-percent management fee, plus 20 percent of any capital gains—is leading to big investor defections. Amid the outflows, many fund managers are cutting those fees. Paul Tudor Jones told investors he would reduce fees by 10 percent; other funds are following suit. Although the recent focus has been on two and 20, this doesn’t encompass all of the costs of investing in a hedge fund. Less attention gets paid to the third part of that equation: operating charges. Fees and expenses, including for travel and entertainment, are a less visible cost of being a hedge-fund investor. These can add up in a way that is neither transparent nor well understood and, therefore, ripe for abuse. A brief explainer: Hedge funds, along with private-equity and

venture-capital funds, are private partnerships, typically with a general partner as the manager of the fund and investors as limited partners. The 2-percent management fee is paid to the general partner managing the fund. Much of the rest of the cost structure is shared pro rata by the limited partners. Some of these costs are fairly obvious: audits, commissions, custodial and prime brokerage costs. However, lots of other fees charged to the investors are more subjective. Passing along the costs of nonessential expenses, such as first-class travel, entertainment and consulting arrangements, has caught the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As far back as 2013, the SEC has been concerned about these, according to the Wall Street Journal: Many managers of hedge funds and private-equity funds—collectively called “private investment advisers”—had long

been largely unregulated and, therefore, had less oversight in how they billed their investors. As part of the Dodd-Frank financial law, the SEC now oversees more than 1,500 additional such advisers that were required to register with the agency. In that capacity, the SEC is checking to ensure they are charging their investors reasonable expenses. “Reasonable” is certainly a subjective word, and there is lots of room for disagreement there. One attorney who specializes in hedge funds told me that privateplacement memorandums and a hedge fund’s founding documents typically contained boilerplate language that used to give the fund a lot of discretion regarding expenses and fees. So long as the investor signed off on the document, the manager was pretty much free to charge whatever they might for expenses.

Clinton’s liberal White House takes shape W

ILL Hillary Clinton be a standard-order mainstream liberal Democrat if she is elected in November? That view received some supporting evidence this week with the announcement of the leadership group for her transition planning team.

Bloomberg View

By Jonathan Bernstein

If personnel is policy—and it most certainly is—then Clinton's choices matter. Based on the eight people she named to her transition team, she’ll fill her administration with governing professionals who have strong ties to the party, including some with strong ties to the current president. The team consists of Chairman Ken Salazar; cochairmen Tom Donilon, Jennifer Granholm, Neera Tanden and Maggie Williams; policy wonks Ed Meier and Ann O’Leary; and chief economist Heather Boushey. Several have worked for Clinton in the past. The one most closely associated with her is Williams, who was Clinton’s chief of staff in the W hite House, and was called in, in the late innings of the 2008 Democratic primary, to run Clinton’s campaign. The two first worked together in the 1980s,

when Williams was communications director at the Children’s Defense Fund. Williams is also a former chief of staff to Bill Clinton at the Clinton Foundation. B e fore t he C l i nton W h it e House, Williams had a career in Democratic politics, working for former Rep. Mo Udall and Robert Torricelli, the Democratic National Committee, and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. Salazar, a former senator and secretary of the Interior, and Granholm, former governor of Michigan, have plenty of Democratic Party experience, but aren’t known particularly as Clinton people. The same is true of the economist, Boushey. Altogether, the group has deep ties to the Democratic Party. That’s typical of recent White House staffs. But it hasn’t always been that way. John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon staffed their White Houses with loyalists who had few ties to the president’s party. Perhaps, the best example was Nixon’s chief of staff, HR Haldeman, a former advertising executive who had never worked for another Republican. Later, presidents typically empowered close aides from home, such as Jimmy Carter’s Georgians (Hamilton Jordan and Jody Powell), Ronald Reagan’s Californians (Michael Deaver, Ed Meese), George W. Bush’s Texans (Karen Hughes, Karl Rove) and Barack Obama’s Chicago team (David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett). In recent years, such aides were more likely to have had separate careers and connections. Rahm Emanuel may have been from the same city as Obama, but he had a very separate

career before and after serving as Obama’s first chief of staff. Presidents who rely on party loyalists to staff their administrations are much less independent of their parties. They are constrained to run what the political scientist Richard Skinner calls “partisan presidencies.” If she wins in November, Clinton is likely to incorporate in her administration a full range of groups aligned with the Democratic Party. After all, she ran her campaign based on winning their support. And her transition team has deep ties to those networks. (Here’s a nice analysis from Vox’s Matt Yglesias.) Of course, staff can become fiercely loyal to a politician regardless of their previous biographies. And presidents are not entirely constrained by the people they hire. Still, a candidate who surrounds herself with mainstream liberal Democrats is going to find that her policy choices strongly tend to reflect mainstream Democratic liberalism. All of which makes a Clinton administration relatively easy to predict. She’ll be a mainstream liberal. The only one who does not appear (from a Web search) to have party ties is Meier, a lawyer who had a career outside of politics before working for the Clinton State Department, and then ran an education think tank before signing on to the Clinton campaign last summer. The turning point was actually Carter. Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all had White Houses with relatively weak ties to their parties; that began to change with Carter, and by George H.W. Bush White House staffs had become strongly party-connected.

In response, authorities went to Olympian lengths to make the Games secure, assigning 85,000 cops, soldiers and security snoops to the task. So word of the world’s greatest athletes assaulted on their watch would be not just an embarrassment, but a testament to host country incompetence. So Brazilians haven’t taken kindly to Lochte’s shifting account. In the local interpretation, here were sports idols who’d had their glory and, suddenly, were trying to play the cops and the public. The police are still investigating the incident, which has tapped into some abiding stereotypes of arrogant Americans who think they’re above the law. Rest assured that aggrieved Brazilians will be following the play by play with more than passionate interest.

That is less the case now than it was not too long ago. Funds have started to rein in these expenses, especially among the big funds that must register with the SEC. Today there is more concern about complying with the newest interpretation of DoddFrank rules, even among funds that may be small enough to escape specific SEC regulations. There have been a number of reviews and best practices published by various accounting, consulting and law firms on how to treat expenses (see this, this, this, this, this and this). Market forces and underperformance have been driving down the most visible part of privateinvestment cost structure. It looks like market forces, along with the SEC, are also putting pressure on the less-visible portions. It’s one more sign that the hedge-fund industry is a little less rewarding, and probably a lot less fun, than it used to be.

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A6 Sunday, August 21, 2016

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Dick to Duterte: Asking China to stop drug shipments to PHL

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By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

EN. Richard “Dick” J. Gordon over the weekend prodded President Duterte to send a diplomatic communication to Beijing officially requesting China to help block shipments of the highly addictive illegaldrug methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, to the Philippines.

“The Duterte administration should formally ask China, through a note verbale, to stop sending drugs here,” Gordon told reporters following a public hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Safety and Illegal Drugs, chaired by Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr. “They [Chinese authorities] should tell their people to stop the drug shipments [to the Philippines].” Gordon said authorities already admitted obtaining “empirical data,” proving that the illegal-drug shabu supply being sold by pushers here all came from China. “ T hey [concer ned C h i nese

officials in Beijing] should act now, check their customs people and tell them to stop shipments of shabu coming from there.” Gordon said. He clarified he was “not saying it [shabu shipments from China to the Philippines] is state-sponsored, but many of the drugs come from them.” In a separate interview, Director General Ronald dela Rosa, National Police chief, who also appeared as resource person in Lacson’s committee hearing, confirmed to reporters that Duterte had earlier affirmed his intention

to do what Gordon had suggested. “The President already said he would ask China to stop the illegal-drug shipments to the Philippines,” dela Rosa said, adding he will “remind the President about it” and check if a note verbale has been sent to Beijing. At the same time, Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, who pushed for added air assets for the National Police in last year’s budget, pledged to support police efforts to secure fresh funding for the procurement of “modern surveillance equipment in relation to the government’s allout war on drugs.”

Congressman eyes Mindanao’s Enchanted River, ‘Little Niagara Falls’ as protected parks

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WO of the country’s fastestgrowing ecotourism havens— Enchanted River and Tinuy-an Falls—are being eyed for tagging as “protected natural parks” to preserve their unique physical and biological features, and shield them from potentially destructive human exploitation. PDP-Laban Rep. Johnny Pimentel of Surigao del Sur has filed House Bills 1903 and 2116, proposing to add the two wonders of nature, both in his home province, to the national registry of protected areas. So far, the country has 240 protected areas. “No effort must be spared to conserve the magical river and the majestic falls, both of which are now clearly in danger of degradation on account of unchecked human activities, spurred mainly by the growing number of local and foreign visitors,” said Pimentel, a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources. “We want the proposed Enchanted River and Tinuy-an Falls natural parks to become the focus of highly aggressive conservation efforts, so that future generations of Filipinos may delight in their marvels,” said Pimentel, a former three-term provincial governor. Enchanted River is a scenic, deep spring tributary in Barangays Talisay and Cambatong in the town of Hinatuan. The river got its name from the late Modesto Farolan, the country’s first tourism commissioner (now the equivalent of tourism secretary),

who was captivated by the waterway’s natural beauty and splendor during a tour, inspiring him to write a romantic poem, “Rio Encantado.” The extraordinarily clear blue, 270-meter river flows into the Philippine Sea and the Pacific Ocean through Hinatuan Bay. Dubbed the country’s “Little Niagara Falls” after the great chutes that straddle the Canada-United States border, the multitiered cascades of Tinuy-an Falls are 55 meters high and 95 meters wide—the broadest falls in the Philippines. Located in Barangay Burboanan, Bislig City, Tinuy-an Falls has a highly diverse ecosystem that includes 235 varieties of plant and animal life, many of which have been marked “vulnerable” or “endangered.” Under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (Nipas) Act of 1992, portions of land and water may be reserved as “protected areas,” by law or by presidential proclamation, to safeguard and enrich their exceptional qualities. The Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau oversees all protected areas, mostly with the help of local governments, or the state-run corporation that owns or controls the area. Thus far, the bureau’s list of 240 protected areas already covers 35,700 square kilometers, or around 12 percent of the country’s total land area. The country’s largest protected area is the 761,416-hectare Palawan Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary, while the smallest is the 3.2-hectare Hinulugan Taktak in Antipolo City, Rizal.

FAREWELL FAITHFUL SOLDIER President Duterte salute the remains of Army Cpl. Josel P. Miravalles at the Camp Siongco Mortuary Chapel in Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao, after conferring a posthumous award and promotion to the next higher rank to the late soldier who was killed in an encounter with members of a lawless armed group in Midsayap, North Cotabato. PNA

NPA rebels wound three militiamen

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HE militiamen were wounded when New People’s Army (NPA) rebels fired at their detachment in Laiya Aplaya, Batangas. A report sent on Saturday by 2Lt. Xy-zon Meneses, Second Infantry “Jungle Fighters” Division (2ID) Public Affairs Office chief, said the incident took place at 10:45 p.m. on August 18. Injured were Sherlack Contrera, Honorio Rosales and Rodelito

AIM relaunches Master in Entrepreneurship Program

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HE current business environment in the Philippines has become challenging. Competition is more cutthroat, and the marketplace is cluttered and noisy. Remaining relevant and timely has become increasingly difficult, because the local market is quick to favor what is “new and fresh.” Business owners may tend to adopt short-term strategies to turn a profit. However, only the sharpest entrepreneurs recognize the value of adopting sustainable long-term strategies to cultivate and grow their businesses. In response to these market rea lities, the A sian Institute of Management (AIM) has relaunched the Master in Entrepreneurship (ME) Program, an 18 -mont h prog ra m desig ned to help entrepreneurs leverage their time and resources, grow their business, and balance business and personal goals. Classes are held twice a week every two weeks, allowing students to have more time to apply learnings to their businesses. “The ME Program combines academic rigor with real-life application. This is accomplished by using your actual business as your laboratory. Instead of simply creating theoretical frameworks, you directly apply your learnings to your business, then you study and analyze the results,” explained

AIM Prof. Maya Baltazar Herrera, head of the ME Program. The ME Program is intended for those who already have existing businesses, as these will be used to apply classroom learnings over the course of the program. Open to owners, presidents, general managers and heads of strategic business units, the ME Program focuses on developing high-impact organizational leadership skills and realistic approaches to value creation and growth. “Each cohort of the ME Program is managed by a core faculty that includes professors in the areas of marketing, finance, operations, organizational management and strategy. Students will also be able to consult functional area ME mentors, as well as experts in specific concerns, such as marketing in the digital space, systems thinking and negotiations,” Herrera said. First offered in 2000, the ME Program has helped shape an generation of entrepreneurs who are behind of the Philippines’ well-loved brands. These include: Mary Grace Dimacali, founder of Mary Grace Café; Eduardo Tuviera, chief executive officer of Lightscape Inc.; Raphael Juan of Centro; Rommel Juan of Binalot; Jose Magsaysay Jr. of Potato Corner and Rowena Matti of Galileo Enrichment Program. “The ME program taught me

how to run a business and how to lead an organization. It made me aware of the internal and external factors that you have to take into consideration. Some of the things I brought back to the organization include: developing that sense of anticipation; reading the environment; being able to identify both threats and opportunities; knowing what I lack; and thinking outside of the box,” explained Magsaysay. “It’s not true that you don't need education to be a successful entrepreneur. When you don’t have that additional knowledge, you will find it difficult to take your enterprise to the next level. You have to study to sustain your business.” The ME program does not use traditional methods such as examinations and essays to gauge a student’s capabilities. Instead, a student’s knowledge base and skills will be strengthened and evaluated through practical applications to both individual and business goals. At the end of the program, students will be required to produce a five-year plan for their business, detailing potential for growth and development. “ We i nc u lc ate i n no v at ion and value creation to our entrepreneurship students, enabling them to create enterprises that grow and evolve. This is the difference created by the ME program,” said Herrera.

Contrera. All three are undergoing treatment, as authorities hunt down the insurgents. Meneses said the attack “was a desperate attempt of the NPA to show that they are still a major threat to the government, and for them to collect ‘revolutionary taxes’ from businesses in Laiya.” Maj. Gen. Romeo G. Gan, 2ID commander, said “the attack manifests the insincerity of the NPA in achiev-

ing lasting peace and sustainable development in the country.” “But this harassment will not hamper our earnest desire to attain our mission of serving the people and securing the land,” he added. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has declared a unilateral cease-fire until August 27, following the temporary release of Benito and Wilma Tiamzon so they could join the peace talks in Norway. PNA

Republican state is a government of laws, not of men–Elepaño

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ETIRED Court Administrator Zenaida N. Elepaño said on Friday a Republic state, such as the Philippines, is a government of laws and not of men. During the “Uncovering the Courts: Media Training on Monitoring the Judiciary,” held at the De La Salle University in Manila, Elepaño said in a republican state, the rule of law means no individual—president or private citizen— stands above the law. Elepaño, the first female court administrator, added that the rule of law is the absolute predominance or supremacy of ordinary law of the land over all citizens, no matter how powerful. The Office of the Court Administrator, that is under the Supreme Court, administers all lower courts in the country. She noted that a republican government is one that observes separation of powers. Likewise, Elepaño said the new Code of Judicial Conduct provides for independence, integrity, impartiality, propriety, equality, competence and diligence for judges and justices in the country. Citing an example, she said Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Gregory Ong was dismissed from the service owing to impropriety for his involvement with Janet Lim Napoles. Napoles is the alleged “brains” behind the P10-billion pork barrel and the P900-million Malampaya fund scams. Elepaño stressed that a judge should not only be perceived as a person with integrity, but should be seen with integrity in the dispensation of justice. The training was conducted by the non-governmental organization Hustisya Natin in cooperation with the Ateneo Human Rights Center and funded by the European Union. PNA

Asia-Pacific technical services to grow with Manila as 3M hub

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SENIOR executive of a global diversified company believes that more business growth is expected in the next six years for the Philippines, since Manila is now the center of its business in the Asia-Pacific region. Hak Cheol Shin, who visited the multimillion 3M Asia-Pacific Global Service Center (GSC) at the Bonifacio High Street in Taguig, said the company expects its business to grow exponentially fast, since all its clients would be able to benefit from a more improved postsales services the center would give them. Shin is 3M’s executive vice president for international operations. Only the third 3M GSC after Wraclaw in Poland and Belen in Costa Rica, Shin said they choose Manila as their Asia-Pacific hub because of the Philippines’s strategic advantages, such as a well-qualified work force and GSC expertise. “With Manila at the very center of Asia-Pacific operations, we will be able to partner with our other GSCs to provide a truly 24/7 global service,” Shin added. The Philippine GSC will be responsible for critical processes in finance, sourcing and procurement, and human resources. It will also provide information-

technology support for quality, reporting, analytics security and database management. In recruitment alone, 3M expects to hire more than 880 professionals in the succeeding years. 3M’s clients, which includes major firms at the top 1,000 corporations in the Philippines and retail customers, would now be able to get a faster and more effective service, since operations of the GSC would be “round the clock ” and responsive to the needs of not just Manila-based firms but also those from countries in the Asia Pacific, like Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and even Oceania. Manila’s GSC operations are linked with those of the two other GSCs of 3M in Europe and the Americas. With the linkage, 3M services will be felt in 65 countries around the world. “With this move, the global firm expects to become the world’s leading science and manufacturing growth company, and a provider of services at the global level,” said Reggie Pulumbarit, general manager of 3M GSC in the Philippines. 3M is a $31.8-billion diversified global technology company, which manufactures 55,000 products throughout the world, rang-

With Manila at the very center of Asia-Pacific operations, we will be able to partner with our other GSCs to provide a truly 24/7 global service.”—Shin

ing from adhesives, abrasives, laminates, passive fire protection, dental and orthodontic products, electronic mater ials, medical products, car-care products (sun films, polish, wax, car shampoo, treatment for the exterior, interior and the under chassis rust protection) and electronic circuits and optical films. 3M has operations in more than 65 countries, including 29 international companies with manufacturing operations and 35 companies with laboratories. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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Editor: Jun Lomibao • mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Dad’s full support

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IO DE JANEIRO—Kirstie Elaine Alora’s dad Pablito and mom Marilou and sister Kathlyn would be at the stands cheering for the Philippines’s last hope for a medal at Rio 2016 on Saturday. And the Aloras are proud. “Yes, we are very proud of our daughter. These are the Olympics and not every athlete could qualify for these Games,” said Pablito, who flew in with his wife from Alaska, where they work in a fish-canning factory called the Peter Pan Seafoods Corp. “Everywhere me and my wife go in Alaska, we look like stars ourselves. Everybody wants to shake our hands,” he said. “In fact, our production and plant managers printed picture of Elaine and posted it everywhere in the cannery.” Before they left for Rio, the elder Alora said wellwishers swamped them. “Left and right, our coworkers wished us good luck. Left and right, hands were extended to shake ours. And they were Americans and even Mexicans,” he said. Elaine squared off with a former Olympic and world champion Maria Espinoza in the first round of the +67 kilograms class of women’s taekwondo on Saturday morning. “[Elaine] already loved taekwondo even when she was in elementary school. So we supported her in her sport in high school all the way to college,” the elder Alora said. “It makes us very proud and happy as parents to have a daughter as an Olympian,” added the elder Alora, who also revealed that their boss at the cannery were as proud that he paid for their fare from Alaska to Seattle and to Texas, where they took a flight to Rio on Thursday. It took the Alora couple a six-hour bus ride from Alaska to Seattle. They spent another six hours on the bus to Texas before their 12-hour flight to Rio. It’s no surprise that Pablito Alora loved to see his daughter get involved in sports. Now 52 years old, the elder Alora played one year as a varsity basketball player for Lyceum of the Philippines University in Biñan, Laguna. Elaine needed all the morale support she could have against Espinoza. All the other athletes on the 13-member Team Philippines have left Rio, the last of whom were long jumper Marestella Torres and hurdler Eric Cray who flew to Manila and Texas, respectively, on Thursday night. Left to cheer for Alora were chief of mission Jose Romasanta and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Jose Cojuangco Jr., Secretary General Steve Hontiveros and Treasurer Julian Camacho, as well as POC Administrative Officer Lisa Ner and Philippine Sports Commission Chief Accountant Merle Ibay. Jun Lomibao

‘FIGHT OF HER LIFE’ R

By Jun Lomibao

IO DE JANEIRO—It all boiled down to the last woman standing on the taekwondo mat for a lean Team Philippines whose 11 of 13 athletes were peeled off one after the other in a campaign at Rio 2016 that was earnestly saved by Hidilyn Diaz’s women’s weightlifting silver medal. And the woman in whose kicks lie the Philippines’s last hopes for its best haul since the 1932 Los Angeles Games was soft-spoken Kirstie Elaine Alora, who battled an accomplished opponent from Mexico, former world and Olympic Champion Maria Espinoza, in the +67 kilograms class on Saturday morning at the Carioca Arena 3 inside the sprawling Olympic Park here. Espinoza’s credentials could easily make her rivals’ legs wobble, but the usually reserved jin from Biñan, Laguna, stressed all’s equal on the mat. “I am ready and I am focused. I’m very confident that I will do all my best to win and deliver a medal,” Alora said, after having dinner with her Coach Roberto Cruz at the Olympic Village on the eve of what she called “the biggest fight of her life.” Tough words from Alora, who is ranked 16th and last in the weight division. Espinoza, with her colorful career, is the top seed. “I feel this would be my most difficult fight, but I’m taking it like any other fight. I’m climbing the mat pressure-free,” she added. Alora and Espinoza have fought before, right after the Beijing Olympics, where the Mexican won the gold medal. The Mexican won, 3-2, a score that motivated the Filipina about her chance at stunning her illustrious foe. “I had no idea that she was the Olympic champion then.

I was shocked,” she said. “But looking at the score, and the way the fight went—and now that I have more experience—I have a shot at an upset.” At 10:30 a.m. here on Saturday, which should be about 9:30 p.m. in Manila, Filipinos would be glued on their television sets, watching Alora fight a seasoned Espinoza, a sports heroine in Mexico and a taekwondo ambassador of a giant global credit-card company. The tale of the tape revealed both fighters are almost even, physically. Both are 5-foot-8 and Espinoza is only three years older than the Filipina. But when it comes to accomplishments, the Mexican has a lot—an enviable lot. The world and Olympic gold medals are laced with gold medals from the PanAmerican Games and Championships. The Mexican also has never been eliminated before the third round of all tournaments she took part in.

PAJON, FIELDS RULE BMX R

IO DE JANEIRO—Mariana Pajon of Colombia raised her BMX bike triumphantly in the air, another Olympic gold medal securely in hand. Minutes later, American rider Connor Fields fell to his knees after crossing the finish line first in the men’s final. The United States isn’t used to winning gold in this event, even if BMX traces its roots to Southern California. BMX racing at the Rio de Janeiro Games came to a close on Friday, with Pajon successfully defending her gold and the United States claiming its first Olympic title in the unpredictable action sport. “There was kind of a point where I exited the last corner and realized I was winning,” said a smiling Fields, his new medal draped around his neck. “I was like, ‘Get to the line! Get to the line!’ I crossed that finish line and dropped to my knees. I couldn’t believe it.” American riders had already claimed a podium finish when Alise Post took silver behind Pajon. The United States had been shut out from the medal stand in 2012 in London. Stefany Hernandez of Venezuela won the bronze on Friday. Pajon had an impressive run in Rio, winning all three of her semifinal heats.

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She finished the nearly quarter-mile course filled with bumps and turns in 34.093 seconds, beating Post by .342 seconds. “My first gold was huge. But two is amazing,” said Pajon, struggling to find words after the race. A legion of vocal fans wearing Team Colombia shirts or waving Colombia’s yellow, blue and red flags filled in any blanks. “Mariana! Mariana!” cried out fans elbowing each other for Pajon autographs near the finish line. She’s a star in Colombia, so much so that a BMX track has been named in her honor. She won a world title on that course in May. Pajon will take home a bigger prize when she returns to Medellin. “I felt like I was home. I felt like I was in Colombia,” Pajon said. Fields was looking forward to returning to his mother’s house in Las Vegas to make room in the garage for another prize. On the wall is a goal he wrote out as a teenager, written with a Sharpie. It reads: “One day, I’ll become an Olympic champion.” “If only my 14-year-old self could see this now,” Fields recounted. Fields completed the course in 34.642 seconds, holding off

Alora’s profile is highlighted with bronze medals from the 2010 Guangzhou and 2014 Incheon Asian Games. She owns three gold medals from the Southeast Asian Games, but these are the Olympics and the multisport competition among 11 Southeast Asian countries is never in the radar. Alora also felt she has Espinoza’s number, in terms of their fighting style. “We are similar in many [fighting] ways. We fight the same style and we don’t adopt the new style where the front of the legs are frequently used [to take advantage of the electronic scoring system],” Alora said. “But I have a way of figuring out her moves and anticipate her kicks.” A flaw in Espinoza’s style and power was revealed in London 2012, where she had to go through the repechage to share the bronze medal with Russia’s Anastasia Baryshnikova. Espinoza, the top seed, lost her quarterfinal match to seventh-seeded Serbian Milica Mandic, who also upset third seed Baryshnikova to move to the finals. Mandic beat France’s Anne Caroline Graffe in the goldmedal fight. Espinoza vented her ire on Samoa’s Talitiga Crawley by point gap, 13-0, to make the podium. Diaz won the 10th medal for the Philippines, which started competing in the Olympics in 1928 in Amsterdam Games. None of those medals, however, is gold. If Alora bags at least a bronze medal, the country’s campaign at Rio 2016 would match Jose Villanueva’s boxing silver and Simeon Toribio’s men’s high jump bronze at the 1932 Los Angeles Games. But even if Alora clinched a silver, the Philippines would still lag sixth and last among the

rio olympics medal tally

Alora

Sea Games countries that have landed on the medal tally board at Rio 2016. Malaysia annexed the men’s doubles silver medal to the mixed doubles of badminton and the women’s sychronized 10-meter platform of diving and the men’s keirin bronze in cycling for a 0-3-1 gold-silver-bronze tally at 57th overall. Thailand had a 2-2-2 haul at 28th place, followed by Indonesia with 1-2-0 at 42nd, Vietnam with 1-1-0 at 46th and Singapore with 1-0-0 at 50th place. Diaz clinched a silver medal many thought she couldn’t win at Rio 2016 and the 25-yearold from Zamboanga City who competed in her third-straight Olympics is now savoring the fruits of her labor back home—P5 million from the Athletes’ Incentive Act and another P2 million from President Duterte, who was more than happy that an athlete from Mindanao shared the limelight on the globe’s biggest sporting stage. Diaz was also rewarded with a house and lot and it would be easy to imagine that life after Rio would now be totally different from when she was still a child who helped her family of nine fetch water almost heavier than she was from a well in her home in Barangay Mampang. It’s only been barely two weeks since she was on the podium and Rio 2016 won’t be over until Sunday, but expect Diaz to be the cover girl for Philippine sports, reaping more from endorsements and, perhaps, an offer for her life story to be featured in a movie.

Connor Fields (right) and Nicholas Long, both of the United States, compete in the men’s BMX cycling finals. AP Dutch rider Jelle van Gorkom by .674 seconds. It had been a trying few months for Fields, who broke a bone in his left hand in the spring. He only returned to the bike in June, and needed a special brace to compete in Rio. In the final, Fields said he got off to the best start of his career, going 1-2 with Long out of the important first turn before breaking ahead. “I would be lying if I said there weren’t any dark times,” Fields said about coming back from injury. “They say adversity makes you stronger if you let it.” There was a photo finish for third, with Carlos Ramirez Yepes of Colombia just edging out the United States’s Nic Long for the bronze. Officials went to a video replay to determine that medal. Still, it was a banner day for the United States. “Connor is the first [American] gold medalist in BMX. And I’m very, very proud, this is the top women’s result,” Post said, holding up her silver medal. “I think we can only go forward from here and be proud of our team.”

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United States’s DeAndre Jordan (6) celebrates after scoring against Spain’s Pau Gasol. AP

G 38 24 22 14 13 12 9 8 8 8 8 7 6 6 5 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 0

S 35 22 18 8 16 8 14 11 11 6 3 3 2 1 5 5 2 8 3 5 2 2 1

B 32 14 25 13 19 21 14 10 6 4 8 4 3 2 5 0 1 4 14 9 4 3 0

T 105 60 65 35 48 41 37 29 25 18 19 14 11 9 15 10 8 16 21 17 9 8 1

SPORTS PLUS

ARCILLA-TIERRO ON

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OP seed Johnny Arcilla and doubles partner No. 2 Patrick John Tierro forged another title showdown in the Olivarez Cup Tennis Championship, bundling out their respective Final Four rivals in similar fashions at the Olivarez Sports Center in Sucat, Parañaque, late Friday. Arcilla, who copped the men’s Open singles crown in the 2013 edition of the annual event, when Tierro retired in the fifth set due to cramps, imposed his will against third seed Elbert Anasta, scoring a 6-3, 6-2 triumph to clinch the first finals berth. Not to be outdone, Tierro ended Bryan Otico’s giant-killing spree, fashioning out a 6-2, 6-3 victory over the 13th-ranked De La Salle-Zobel standout who upended the likes of No. 4 Fritz Verdad and fifth seed Ronard Joven to barge into the semis of the premier event sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and backed by Milestone Guaranty and Assurance Corp. and Slazenger as official ball.

ATENEO IN SEMIS

D BMX power Australia had a disappointing showing. Medal favorite Caroline Buchanan didn’t make the final after slipping in the first turn of her third women’s semifinal heat. Teammate Sam Willoughby, the 2012 silver medalist, finished sixth in the men’s final. Willoughby and Post are engaged, with a wedding date set for April. “My heart is with Sam...But it’s BMX. It’s one of those sports where anything can happen,” Post said. “I guess we’ll go home and discuss it over dinner with the dog.” AP

U.S. BEATS SPAIN, PLAYS SERBIA FOR GOLD MEDAL IO DE JANEIRO—Gone was the all-offense, allaction play that turned the last two gold-medal games into classics. To get by Spain again, the US Olympic men’s basketball team would have to win ugly, so unusual it’s practically unAmerican. “It was just a real different game today,” Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. Same result, though. The US advanced to its third straight gold-medal game win an 82-76 victory on Friday, another tight matchup between the teams that met in the last two championship games. Klay Thompson scored 22 points for the Americans, who will play Serbia on Sunday for their third consecutive Olympic title. Serbia beat Australia 87-61 in the second semifinal. “This is where we wanted to be,” Kevin Durant said. “We talked about it all summer and to be here for the final game, to win the gold, for all the marbles, we like our chances.” The Americans pulled away to win 118-107 in

1 United States 2 Great Britain 3 China 4 Germany 5 Russia 6 Japan 7 France 8 Australia 9 Italy 10 Netherlands 11 South Korea 12 Hungary 13 Spain 14 Jamaica 15 Brazil 16 Keyna 17 Croatia 18 New Zealand 19 Canada 20 Kazakhstan 21 Cuba 22 Colombia 67 Philippines

2008 and held on for a 107-100 victory in London, but the defenses made their mark in this one. The US was just good enough again against Spain, with bodies falling more than shots and several technical fouls keeping the teams from finding an offensive flow. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but Olympic gold never loses its luster. “It’s an amazing feeling now,” center DeAndre Jordan said. “We really want to accomplish this.” It was the lowest-scoring game for the Americans in the Olympics since the 2004 semifinals, when they managed 81 in a loss to Argentina. But Jordan made his presence felt in the middle with 16 rebounds and four blocked shots to go with his nine points. Durant added 14 points on the day he moved past LeBron James into second place on the US Olympic career-scoring list. Kyrie Irving had 13 for the US. Pau Gasol scored 23 points for Spain, which made it tough on the Americans for the third straight Olympics, but again had to settle for coming close against the world’s No. 1 team. “I think the key of the game was their defense,” Spain Coach Sergio Scariolo said. “Their athleticism,

their size, they made our offense get difficult during most of the possessions,” Gasol said, after he believed Spain missed its best chance to beat the US. “They are not playing as well as other times they’ve played, but they are still a very talented team individually,” Gasol said. “I just [feel] like if we had been a little sharper with our shots, if we would have moved the ball a little better, if we would have boxed out more, and make it a two- or three-possession game, then you’re talking about a whole different story.” Spain shot just 39 percent and couldn’t get any consistent option other than Gasol, who played with a wrap covering his sore right calf. It was the kind of defense the Americans thought they could play but hadn’t much in the tournament. Serbia and France both surpassed 90 points against them and Australia scored 88, as the team with 10 Olympic newcomers took longer than hoped in grasping international offenses. This time they contained a team that was as explosive as themselves over the last four games, as Spain had averaged 97.3 points and won by more than 25 per game after dropping its first two in Brazil. AP

EFENDING champion Ateneo de Manila clinched semifinals seat after beating University of Santo Tomas (UST) in straight sets, 25-16, 25-15, 25-21, in the second season of Spikers’Turf Collegiate Conference on Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City. No player from the Blue Eagles side hit double figures, as Head Coach Oliver Almadro managed to draw contributions from everybody en route to their fourth straight win and now a victory away of sweeping Group B. Marck Espejo once again led the way with eight points in a limited action, while former skipper Isay Marasigan, who is suiting up for the first time this conference for Ateneo, finished with seven hits all in the third set. Joshua Villanueva also had seven markers, while Rex Intal and rookie Tony Koyfman added six apiece for Ateneo. “I’m always telling my players that we need to be consistent no matter who we’re facing,” Almadro said. “We need to practice whatever we need to win games. Also, we need to focus for practices to translate to wins.” The Tigers absorbed their first loss in the tournament but remain second in Group B with a 3-1 win-loss card. Earlier, Madz Gampong and Bryan Bagunas combined for 42 points to power National University (NU) past College of Saint Benilde (CSB), 25-16, 24-26, 25-11, 25-21, to grab the solo second spot in Group A. Gampong and Bagunas had 21 points apiece to help the Bulldogs improved to 3-1. Fauzi Ismail chipped in 11 hits with eight excellent receptions, Kim Malabunga added 10 markers, while Kim Dayadante dished out 33 excellent sets including five markers for NU. Lance Agcaoili

BIG BLOW FOR BEDA

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HE National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) title race has become more wide open. San Beda’s title campaign has hit a snag after its Cameroonian slotman Donald Tankoua tore his right anterior cruciate ligament during the early part of its 90-82 victory over Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) at The Arena in San Juan City on Friday. No less than San Beda Coach Jamike Jarin and Manager Jude Roque confirmed the news yesterday. “We already knew last night [Friday],” Jarin said. “Yes, it’s true,” Roque said. The loss of Tankoua left the Lions with a huge void inside as their 6-foot-6 import averaged 16 points, 11 rebounds and 1.5 blocks before he sustained the season-ending injury.

Sports BusinessMirror

GERMANY CLAIMS GOLD R

IO DE JANEIRO—With her arms raised in victory, Coach Silvia Neid ran onto the field to join the celebration of Germany’s first Olympic gold medal—even jumping onto the players’ dogpile. What a way to go out. Dzsenifer Marozsan scored early in the second half on Friday and Germany went on to give Neid a 2-1 victory over Sweden for the nation’s first Olympic title in women’s soccer. Neid, a two-time International Football Federation (Fifa) Women’s Coach of the Year, is stepping down following the Olympics. The win at the iconic Maracana Stadium gave her one more championship to cap her 11-year career as Germany’s coach. “What I felt was pure joy, because I know that was what we had earned and what we have worked so hard for,” Neid said. Sweden, which upset the three-time defending champion United States on penalties in the quarterfinals, earned the silver medal for its best finish in the Olympic tournament since the sport joined the program in 1996. The Swedes also defeated Brazil on penalties in the semifinals, disappointing the host nation’s fans. “I think we actually won the silver medal rather than losing the gold,” Sweden Coach Pia Sundhage said. Earlier in the day, Canada defeated host Brazil, 2-1, for the bronze medal in São Paulo. The Canadians also won the bronze at the London Games. Germany and Sweden were Jamaica’s Usain playing in the gold-medal match for the first time. Bolt displays the No. 3 sign It was also the Olympics’ after winning his third first all-European gold medal in the men’s final. AP 4x100-meter relay. AP

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unday, August 21, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Bolt gets gold No. 9 with another runaway win

TRIPLE TREAT! R

IO DE JANEIRO—Usain Bolt kneeled down and gave the track one final kiss, then flattened his hand, reached to the ground and slapped the white No. “3’’ painted at the starting line. Three Olympics, three races at each, three gold medals every time. He could have just as easily slapped the No. “1.”That would need no explanation. The man who transcended track and became a world-class celebrity bid a blazing-fast farewell to the Rio de Janeiro Games—and, he insists, the Olympics altogether—on Friday night with yet another anchor leg for the ages. He turned a close 4x100-meter relay race against Japan

and the United States into a typical, Bolt-like runaway, helping Jamaica cross the line in 37.27 seconds. “There you go,” he said. “I am the greatest.” Japan won the silver medal, finishing .33 seconds behind. The US finished the race third, but endured yet another relay debacle—disqualified (DQ) because leadoff runner Mike Rodgers was ruled to have passed the baton to Justin Gatlin before the start of the first exchange zone. That promoted Canada to the bronze medal. The Americans were protesting the ruling, and as 1:30 a.m. on Saturday approached in Brazil, there was no word on the outcome. “It was the twilight zone. It was a nightmare,” said Gatlin, who, along with his teammates, found out about the DQ while parading the US flag around the track. “You work so hard with your teammates, guys you compete against almost all-year long. All that hard work just crumbles.” If the ruling stands, it will mark the ninth time since 1995 the US men have been disqualified or failed to get the baton around at the Olympics or world championships. (They blew a 10th medal, the silver at the London Games, after Tyson Gay’s doping positive.) The disqualification will cause more handwringing in the States. In Jamaica they’ll party. Less pressure when you know you’re the fastest man out there. “As soon as I got the baton, I knew I was going to win this one,” Bolt said. His record in Olympic finals improved to nine victories over nine events. Nobody’s done that before, and nobody’s on the horizon to do it again soon.

Along for his final trip down the track were Nickel Ashmeade, training partner Yohan Blake and the Jamaican elder statesman, former world-record holder Asafa Powell. When Bolt received the yellow baton from Ashmeade for his final run down the straightaway, he was even, or maybe a step behind Aska Cambridge of Japan and Trayvon Bromell of the United States. That lasted about four steps. With 70 meters to go, it was over. Bolt looked at the clock—same as he did when he won the 200 the night before. No world record, but he still has a piece of that one, too—it’s 36.84 seconds, set four years ago at the London Games. He also owns the records in the 100 (9.58) and 200 (19.19). “I am just relieved. It’s happened. I am just happy, proud of myself. It’s come true,” said Bolt, who overcame a hamstring injury earlier in the summer, then shined throughout a seven-day, seven-race stint in Rio, counting all the heats. “The pressure is real. I look at it as an accomplishment.” Musical selection for Bolt’s final parade around the track: Bob Marley’s “Jammin.” With most of the other debates over about greatest this, greatest that, a new one might be whether Bolt has surpassed Marley as the most famous person from the country known for sea, sun and sprints. “Usain has done so much,” Powell said. “It’s hard to explain. He’s just a great athlete. He’s a legend.” Counting all the preliminaries, finals and his approximately nine-second blast down the stretch in Friday’s final race, Bolt has spent 325 seconds—a

tad less than five-and-a-half minutes—running on the track at the Olympics since he made his debut in Beijing eight years ago. Every tick of the clock has been a treasure. And while he may not close things out with 23 golds, the number Michael Phelps left Rio with earlier this week, it’s hard to argue there is anybody more successful or electric—or important to his sport, and the Olympics themselves. The anchor sport of the Olympics has been mired for decades, but especially over the past year, in a cesspool of doping, cheating and bad characters. When Bolt’s on the track, everyone forgets. “A great sprinter,” said Gay, who, once upon a time, was Bolt’s biggest challenger. “Nine gold medals, words can’t even describe what he’s done for the sport.” So much of that is because the show isn’t over when he’s through running. After crossing the line for the last time, Bolt pumped his fist in the air, slowed down and took off those famous gold spikes. He huddled with his teammates and they prayed. Then, a final, luxurious lap around the track. “I’ll stay up late tonight,” Bolt said, when asked how he’d celebrate. All week, when asked a hundred different ways if this really is his last Olympics, he kept saying yes. He said it once more as Friday night turned into Saturday morning. “Yeah, this is the last one, guys,” said the champion, who turns 30 on Sunday, the same day the Olympic cauldron is extinguished. Going so soon? It leaves the world to ponder: Without Bolt on the track, how will things ever be the same? AP