Businessmirror August 21, 2018

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A2 Tuesday, August 21, 2018

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Palace refutes ‘Duterte in coma’ talk by Joma

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ALACAÑANG on Monday debunked talk spread at the weekend by Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison that President Duterte is in coma, and urged him to stop wishing the Chief Executive ill.

On his Facebook account, Sison claimed sources have told him that there was a “darkness” in Duterte’s face during the national convention of fraternity Lex Talionis Fraternitas of the San Beda Law School last Saturday (August 18).

Sison said the President was in coma since Sunday night, although the report is still being verified.

Under the Constitution, the public should be informed of the President’s state of health.

Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. shrugged off Sison’s remark, stressing that Duterte

showed up in events, and that the communist leader should not make comments about the President’s health since he has been in self-exile in the Netherlands since 1987 and is “not a doctor.”

“Contrary to what Joma Sison said, the President is fine and well in Davao participating in Kadayawan [festival]. He will have a public appearance tomorrow [Tuesday] with the League of Cities in Cebu City,” Roque said in a Palace briefing.

“As usual, Joma Sison does not know what he talks about. How will

he know about the state of health of the President when he is far away in the Netherlands?” he added.

Roque said perhaps during the event, Duterte was simply pictured without wearing face powder.

“Maybe he’s not wearing powder. The President normally wears powder. Maybe it was just a photo taken of him without powder. I don’t see anything extraordinarily different from the President’s face,” Roque said.

“Sison is a revolutionary and not a doctor. Let’s not listen to him as far as medical condition is concerned,” he added.

Here to stay

Roque also appealed to Sison, as well as other critics of the President, to stop wishing Duterte ill, warning that attributing a disease to a person could be libelous.

“That’s always wishful thinking on his [Sison’s] part. But the President is here to stay. I don’t know if he can say the same thing about

himself and about his movement,” Roque said.

“Sasabihin ko lang po doon sa mga kritiko ni Presidente [I just want to address the President’s critics], stop wishing him ill as far as his health is concerned. Every time you wish him ill, lalong lumalakas [he gets stronger],” he added.

Asked if the Palace would release Duterte’s medical records to put the rumors to rest, Roque stressed that the President’s public appearances were enough proof that he is in good health.

“Every time he appears in public, we’re debunking reports that he’s in coma so why do you need a document to show that he’s in perfectly good health? Tomorrow, he will be there [at the League of Cities event] and that’s proof that he’s not in coma,” Roque said.

Roque insisted that there was no need to make public the President’s health records because “there’s no information that the President is sick.”

Briones orders probe of torching of students’ bags

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DUCATION Secretary Leonor M. Briones has ordered the Department of Education’s Region 5 office to immediately conduct a thorough investigation of the torching, allegedly on orders of a school owner in Libmanan, Camarines Sur, of the bags of senior highschool students who failed to comply with the school’s no-bag policy for the day.

Briones said that they are well aware of the incident at Bicol Central Academy (BCA) in Libmanan town.

The initial report submitted by Regional Director Gilbert Sadsad to Briones confirmed partial details of the incident.

Sadsad visited the school on Monday (August 20), along with guidance counselors who will provide psycho-

BOP. . .

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However, the country’s BoP performance in July brought the economy to its seventh consecutive month of BoP deficit, meaning the country is losing more dollars than it is earning for the entire year.

The BSP blamed the deficit on the payments made by the national government (NG) for its maturing foreign-exchange obligations and

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and Clark international airports are developed and operated as an integrated system with the two airports complementing each other, ideally with an express rail link in place. Under this dual airport system, the Naia should be upgraded expeditiously, preferably undertaken by the private sector, including a possible close-in parallel runway for emergencies, such as the recent closure of the main runway,” MAP said.

“The upgrade should realize the optimal safe capacity of the Naia. The Clark International Airport should be expanded to relieve the current demand pressure on the Naia and, more important, meet future demand growth,” it added.

Other countries

“We strongly object to the closing of the Naia, which we consider as a very drastic and counterproductive move.

The Naia is a strategically located air gateway supported by a road system already in place and with proximately located rail and future subway lines to serve the needs of air travelers in Mega Manila and southern Luzon,” the group declared.

In citing other countries where two or more premier airports are maintained, MAP pointed out: “Their old city airports, instead of being phased out as previously intended in favor of newer large-capacity airports in the suburbs, are being upgraded. For example, Tokyo Haneda is being expanded to supplement

social first aid to the affected students.

While the school administrator of BCA called the Schools Division Superintendent (SDS) of Camarines Sur to explain the incident last August 18, a written response, which the education chief demanded, has yet to be submitted.

Briones noted that if the school administrator’s accountability for the incident is established, the DepEd has regulatory tools for private schools at its disposal: a possible suspension or revocation of the school’s permit to operate; or disqualification of the school to participate in the Education Service Contracting and Senior High School Voucher Program; or nonissuance of favorable recommendation for tax exemption, like import duties.

While the DepEd’s Child Protection

Policy requires a complaint for child abuse or violence to be filed with the school head of private schools, parents of the affected students are advised to file complaints or administrative charges against the school administrator with the proper authorities.

The DepEd further recommended that the school board advise the school administrator to go on leave—to pave the way for an impartial investigation and to allay the students’ fear of reprisal.

“The department is committed to the full and strengthened implementation of the Child Protection Policy, and to ensuring that learners are in a school environment that does not make light of their rights, safety and dignity,” Briones said.

She assured the parents that the DepEd wants an investigation to be ”just and fair,” adding that, “we will not hesitate to impose the necessary sanctions on those who are proven to have violated the said policy.”

A tweet of a certain Earl Vincent dated August 17 said the “head” of his alma mater, BCA, ordered the destruction of the students’ bags that contain valuable items, such as gadgets like mobile phones and laptops.

The no-bag policy, according to Earl Vincent, was part of a rule implemented for a school event that day called “Tasumaki day,” where some high-school students were asked to fill in for teachers who were having a conference at the time. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

foreign-exchange operations of the BSP. The Central Bank said that the deficit could have been larger, if not partially offset by net foreign currency deposits of the NG and income from the BSP’s investments abroad during the month. Foreign-exchange operations were also earlier blamed for the falling gross international reserves (GIR) of the country. The BSP earlier vowed to keep its presence in the foreign exchange market to smoothen out any volatilities that may be detrimental to the economy.

On Monday the local currency still traded

in the 53 territory, closing at 53.38 to a dollar from the 53.425 to a dollar close on Friday.

In the same month last year, BSP data showed the peso averaged trade at 50.875 to a dollar.

The BSP also blamed the higher seven-month BoP deficit of the country on the widening merchandise trade deficit for the first half of the year that was brought about by the sustained rise in imports of raw materials and capital goods to support domestic economic expansion.

The BSP earlier announced that it was

expecting the BoP to incur a cumulative deficit of $1.5 billion for 2018.

The BSP said the reported BoP position is consistent with the final GIR level of $76.72 billion as of end-July 2018. At this level, the GIR represents more than ample liquidity buffer and is equivalent to 7.4 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It is also equivalent to 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.1 times based on residual maturity, the BSP said.

Narita; Shanghai has its [Hongqiao] in addition to Pudong; London City airport at the Canary Wharf; Reagan airport in Washington; La Guardia in New York City; [and] even Bangkok is keeping Don Muang with Suvarnabhumi,” it added.

“The Naia and Clark require only upgrades while a new airport complex, from the ground up, will require an exhaustive study and a well-considered approach as seen in projects of such nature abroad.

In particular, aside from its financial viability, a credible environmental impact assessment must be made,” MAP said.

airport authorities needed to remove the stalled aircraft from the runway.

“We require two airports as our main international gateways. The Naia can serve South Metro Manila and Southern Luzon to Bicol, and Clark can address the needs of passengers from North Metro Manila and northern Philippines. Both hubs may share handling of travel and logistics flow to the Visayas and Mindanao,” Pimentel noted.

The underutilized airport in the former US military base at Clark has an area of 2,367 hectares, compared to theNaia’s 700 hectares. With its single runway, flight delays averaging to 45 minutes are a daily occurrence at the Naia aside from traffic jams to and from the airport.

Pimentel said that Clark could eventually service “flight transfers of international passengers, such as our OFWs, who need to go home to their families in the Visayas and Mindanao.”

“If you’re going to the province anyway via a connecting flight and you don’t need to stay in Manila, Clark International could be a better transfer point. Proposals such as these can work and should be tried,” Pimenel said.

“An integrated transport system is needed to fully realize Clark’s potential. We require a convenient, high speed rail network from Pampanga to Manila, as well as more flyovers and wider Nlex lanes. At present, P2P buses are not enough to give the speed and comfort of a world-class hub,” said Pimentel.

Pimentel pointed out that a low-

cost international carrier has already chosen Clark as its center of operations. Domestic flag carrier Philippine Airlines has, likewise, committed to boost its operations in Clark, as well as in Cebu and Davao.

‘Decongest Naia, develop Clark’

Also on Monday, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” L. Pimentel III renewed his two-year call to “go full blast” with the development of other air transport hubs, notably the Clark International Airport, where some of the flights were diverted in the wake of Friday’s Naia runway blockage.

“We can’t dillydally anymore. I made the same call in 2016. Let’s not wait for another airplane incident, which hassled thousands of passengers, to realize there should be an urgent and comprehensive government plan to decongest the Naia,” Pimentel said in a statement.

A Xiamen Airlines passenger plane slid off a Naia runway during a heavy downpour late Thursday night, August 16. All 157 passengers and eight flight crew were safely removed from the aircraft. The incident, however, led to flight delays and cancellations for two consecutive days because

Why not Subic?

This developed as Sen. Richard J. Gordon, Blue Ribbon panel chairman, said the Naia incident drove home the need to fast-track the reopening of the Subic Bay airport.

“If the SBIA was already operational, flights could have been diverted to both SBIA and Clark International Airport which would have mitigated the effects of the closure of Naia’s main runway last August 17,” Gordon said on Monday.

A former secretary of tourism, Gordon stressed that airports are “the country’s doorway to tourism, trade and investment.”

“Thus, when flights are delayed or canceled, it incurs cost, not only to passengers who are stressed and inconvenienced because they miss their work, classes or other appointments, but also to the airlines and companies doing trade and commerce,” he added.

Gordon recounted a similar incident in December 1995, when he was chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), and a China Airlines jumbo jet bound for Taiwan was ditched in the Naia runway and international flights had to be diverted to the then newly opened SBIA. “During the time, I was having lunch with the then Hong Kong Gov. Chris Patten, who was visiting Subic. SBMA

“I will ask but the President already said that he was already given a clean bill of health. So that’s actually making public the results of his medical tests,” Roque said.

“He’s healthy. I talked to former Secretary Vit[aliano] Aguirre who was at the fair, he was fine.

He stayed till 12. He was in high spirits. He enjoyed the company of his [fraternity brothers] in Lex Talionis,” he added.

Roque, however, said Duterte has complained about his migraine in public but “that’s about it.” Duterte earlier said he suffered from back aches he acquired from a spinal injury.

Robust health

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo, for his part, described Sison’s remark as “absolutely false.”

“Perhaps that is the wish of Joma Sison, hence, when he is fed with the wrong information on PRRD’s

health he easily believes in it. Unlike Joma Sison, the President is in robust health,” Panelo said.

“I wish him good health that he may live long enough to see the dawn of peace that has remained elusive between the communist insurgents and the Armed Forces,” he added.

Roque, meanwhile, said Duterte is still open to peace talks with the CPP as long as they were held in the Philippines and conditions were met.

“Hindi ko po sinasara ang pinto pero habang nagkakaroon ng mga guni-guning ganyan si Joma Sison, napakahirap naman makipag-usap sa kanya [I’m not closing the door, but while he makes hallucinations like that, it’s difficult to talk to him],” Roque said.

On July 22 Duterte underwent his routine medical checkup at Cardinal Santos Hospital, a day before he delivered his third State of the Nation Address where he was reported to be “in good health.” PNA

Nueva Ecija raid yields P200M worth of fake cigarettes, arrest of 17 Chinese

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

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ustoms and police operatives arrested 17 Chinese who were caught manufacturing fake cigarettes worth P200 million inside a warehouse in Nueva Ecija over the weekend.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) reported the foreigners were arrested during an inspection conducted by agents of the Customs’ Enforcement and Security Services (ESS) on Valmonte Street in Barangay Pambuan, Gapan City, over the weekend.

Also intercepted were fake cigarettes of assorted brands, six cigarette-making machines, cigarette raw materials and fake Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) tax stamps stacked inside three boxes.

The raid stemmed from a directive issued by Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña to inspect a warehouse owned by a Chinese suspected to be storing fake cigarettes and cigarettemaking machines.

“It was subjected to a three-week surveillance by our Customs police following a tip from a reliable source that counterfeit

was hosting a luncheon at the old Officers Club. As we could see the Subic Airport from across the bay, he asked me if Boeing 747s could land there, I said of course, as the former airport used to land C-5 military aircraft. Then suddenly, I was surprised to see an actual Boeing 747 land at the airport and a few minutes later, followed with more 747s. I suddenly thought it was my lucky day. I was later informed that the Naia was closed and was diverting flights to Subic.”

Gordon recalled that despite “the short notice, I immediately put together hundreds of volunteers and staff to the airport. They helped unload 1,490 passengers, including their baggage, from four 747 jumbo jets [Singapore Airlines from Taiwan and Singapore; Qatar Airlines from Bangkok] pending transfer and departure. We worked late into the night to take care of and secure the stranded passengers.”

It is time, he said, to complete the rehabilitation of the SBIA to enable it to return to full operation by the second quarter of 2019, calling on the Department of Budget and Management to facilitate the bidding for airport equipment “as soon as possible.”

The Naia runway mess last Friday forced domestic airlines to cancel and divert dozens of flights, forcing tens of thousands of passengers to wait in uncertainty. Flag carrier Philippine Airlines had to cancel 68 trips and divert 21 flights, while budget carrier Cebu Pacific reported 151 flights were affected, according to a previous report.

cigarettes are [being] manufactured inside the warehouse,” Lapeña said.

Nabbed inside the warehouse were 16 males and one female, from Hu Bei, Fu Jian, An Hui and Xi An, China. They are now under police custody for violating Republic Act 8293, or the Intellectual Property Code.

“We are still conducting follow-up investigation to confirm the identities of the suspects and the origin of the raw materials and cigarette-making machines,” Lapeña said, adding the fake cigarettes and tax stamps will be seized in favor of the government.

“Aside from the ESS, the operation was coordinated with the elements of the Gapan PNP, Office of the City Mayor, and a product specialist from the Japan Tobacco Industry,” he added.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III ordered both the BOC and BIR to intensify its anti-smuggling campaign against the proliferation of fake cigarettes and cigarette-making machines.

“These operations are in response to the call of the President and Finance Secretary Dominguez to intensify the anti-smuggling campaign,” he added.

Poe panel probe

The airport paralysis will now be investigated by lawmakers.

Sen. Grace Poe pressed on Monday for a “full-blown” probe into the system breakdown that paralyzed operations at the Naia.

Senate Resolution 852 filed by Poe Monday directs the Senate Committee on Public Services, which she chairs, to “conduct a full-blown investigation, in aid of legislation, anent the airport, aeronautical and non-aeronautical, and aviation authority’s apparent and seeming broken systems of regulations as can be gleaned from the recent runway cataclysm-mishap involving Xiamen Airline, which led to airport paralysis and affected thousands of passengers and substantial flight cancellations anathema to rendering basic efficient public services.”

Poe’s resolution mandates a review of “airport operations and management, assessing tourism, economic and investment impacts, and protecting the interests of passengers and the country as a whole.”

Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, when asked to clarify, said Poe may need to wait until August 28 resumption of sessions for the required plenary referral of her Resolution 852 before the Public Services panel which she chairs can start hearings.

“Yes. Only the Blue Ribbon Committee can conduct a hearing without a resolution or referral. Motu propio,” Sotto told the BusinessMirror, citing Senate Rules.

With a report by Joey Pavia