Businessmirror december 28, 2016

SHIP selfie A resident takes a selfie with the passenger ferry Shuttle Roro 5, which rests by the shore after being swept by Typhoon Nina (international code name Nockten) a day after Christmas in Mabini, Batangas. AP/Bullit Marquez

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Expect 17th Congress to approve more people-centered bills in 2017–Alvarez

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By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

espite the “controversial” first five months of the 17th Congress, the House of Representatives will remain united and focused on passing important measures that deal with the welfare and interests of the Filipino people, according to Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez.

From July to December, Alvarez said the lower chamber “exemplified hard work and productivity” during the initial months of the 17th Congress, as the chamber adjourned on December 14 with a total of 63 measures approved in 56 session days.

“The number of measures processed by the House totaled 321, broken down as follows: 63 measures passed; 201 referred resolutions on inquiries; 53 measures substituted/consolidated; and four measures on the Calendar of Business,” he said.

“This means that for 56 session days, an average of six measures was processed per session day,” Alvarez added.

In five months, the Speaker said the House Bills and Index Division received a total of 6,029 measures, comprising of 5,360 bills and 669 resolutions.

The House also produced 46 committee reports and adopted 32 resolutions.

Of the 63 measures approved, 18 bills were passed on third and final reading; 11 bills approved on See “17th Congress,” A2

63

The number of measures approved by the House before it adjourned on December 14

Piñol hopes Duterte factor to help agri devt Studio1one | Dreamstime.com

By Jasper Emmanuel A. Arcalas

Agriculture has always been lagging among other sectors of the economy for three decades. Could Duterte bring a fresh wind of change to the sector?

PESO exchange rates n US 49.9080

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HANGE is the end result of all true learning, said American author Leo Buscaglia, popularly known as “Dr. Love”.

Since July 1, 2016, the new administration under President Duterte promised nothing but change.

That promise also tried to sweep Philippine agriculture, which still endures perennial problems: insufficient rice supply, smuggling and low farm produc-

tivity, among others.

Agriculture has always been lagging among other sectors of the economy for three decades.

Could Duterte bring a fresh wind of change to the sector?

“It is my moral obligation to provide affordable food for my people,” Duterte has said.

Old problems, new answers?

WHEN former Northern Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel F. Piñol was chosen by Duterte to take the helm of the Department of Agriculture (DA), he promised nothing but the

same: change.

“First, we will conduct nationwide orientation and mind-setting for all officials and employees of the DA to ensure they are guided on the priorities and the road map of the Duterte administration in agriculture and fisheries,” Piñol said before taking over the country’s agriculture department.

He was immediately faced with two pressing issues concerning the rice sector, the country’s staple.

First, there was rice self-sufficiency, which the previous administration promised but failed to achieve. Sec-

ond, the impending expiration at the World Trade Organization (WTO) of the waiver of the Philippines’s right to impose quantitative restriction (QR) on rice.

Despite a plan by the previous administration, Piñol initially maintained the country can achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2018. This target was pinned on the back of the Rice Productivity Enhancement Program, which would focus on distributing seeds and fertilizers to rice farmers greatly affected by the El Niño.

See “Piñol,” A2

n japan 0.4264 n UK 61.3569 n HK 6.4301 n CHINA 7.1824 n singapore 34.5026 n australia 35.8589 n EU 52.1738 n SAUDI arabia 13.3053

Source: BSP (27 December 2016 )

A2 Wednesday, December 28, 2016

News

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Duterte’s tough talk speeds up relocation of Yolanda survivors T

ACLOBAN CITY—President Duterte’s order to urgently address bottlenecks in the relocation of families severely affected by the 2013 super typhoon in this city has yielded good results in nearly two months.

The number of relocated families has drastically increased to 3,624 as of December 20, more than double the 1,564 families relocated to the northern part of the city before the President’s directive.

City Mayor Cristina GonzalesRomualdez noted that the Presi-

Piñol…

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However, when the finance team of the Department of Budget and Management deleted the P18-billion allocation for Piñol’s rice self-sufficiency program, he moved the target to 2019. Piñol further pushed back the target to 2020.

Masaganang Ani 6000

WITH the failed expectations on funding, Piñol crafted a public-private partnership farming scheme that would involve the DA, local government units (LGUs) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank).

Under the scheme called Local Government Unit Corporate Farming (LGUCF), LGUs would adopt a publicly owned or privately owned farm and finance the farmers in the said area for better productivity. The LGUCF would buy the rice output and sell or distribute these to concerned beneficiaries of the country’s conditional cash transfer scheme: the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

The DA’s intervention in the program will come in the forms of machineries and other technical assistance, while the LandBank would provide loans and other financial means.

Piñol announced recently he is confident the DA would achieve the country’s decade-long dream of rice self-sufficiency by 2019.

The DA chief said he is currently crafting a new farming scheme that would boost the country’s average yield from the current 3.9 metric tons (MT) per hectare to at least 6 MT per hectare.

Under the new scheme called Masaganang Ani 6000, the DA is targeting to plant hybrid-rice seeds in at least 1 million hectares of irrigated land across the country, according to Piñol.

“We are implementing programs, which we believed should have been implemented a long time ago in relation to rice self-sufficiency.”

Pilot testing

dent’s order on November 8 has compelled all concerned national government agencies to extend assistance in the relocation of thousands of families.

“The President is so focused and dedicated and it really pushed the speedy transfer of families

THE LGUCF, according to Piñol, has been undergoing pilot testing, while he hopes that the Masaganang Ani 6000 sees the green light by next year as it is yet to have its proper and final policy guidelines.

The DA has never changed its stance on the issue of the QR on rice even if a new chief agriculture minister has taken over: extend it.

Piñol, like previous DA chiefs, believes that the Philippines can achieve rice self-sufficiency in two years under his helm.

“The QR on rice must be extended for at least two more years [as] rice farmers need more time to prepare,” he once told the BusinessMirror, adding that the government was unable to prepare rice farmers to go head to head with its counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, like Thailand and Vietnam.

Upon its accession to the WTO in 1995, the Philippines was allowed to enjoy the rice QR for 10 years. Manila

was able to secure an extension when it lapsed in 2004.

After it lapsed in 2012, Manila again negotiated for an extension.

In 2014 the WTO gave its go signal to the Philippines to implement the QR for two more years, or until June 30 next year.

However, until now the Duterte administration has yet to come up with its firm and final position on the QR on rice. The economic managers of the Duterte Cabinet are pushing for the lifting of QR on rice and opt for tariffication, while the DA chief is left alone voicing out the sentiments of the Filipino farmers for a two-year extension.

“We have not talked about it [QR on rice] yet,” Piñol repeatedly said when asked whether the issue on QR has been discussed during Cabinet meetings in the past five months.

Total revalidation

ASIDE from the pressing issues surrounding the rice sector, Piñol also took efforts to address the continuous problem on smuggling in the country.

In mid-November Piñol released Memorandum Circular 5 (MC 5), which called on the total revalidation of all the existing sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPS-IC) on all agricultural commodities except rice and corn.

Under MC 5, a technical working group (TWG)—comprised of the Office of the Secretary, the Bureau of Animal Industry, the Bureau of Plant Industry and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources—will be the one facilitating the revalidation process.

MC 5 also put the application for new SPS-ICs to manual processing from the conventional online application.

More than a month after since the release of MC 5, Piñol said the DA now has a “clearer picture” of the smuggling situation in the country.

“I was right all along,” the DA chief confidently told reporters in a news briefing on December 20. “The issuance of SPS was so chaotic that we did not even have a correct figure on how many SPS clearances were issued previously.”

According to Piñol, as of the December 20 press briefing, the TWG has validated at least 12,000 SPSICs and it is anticipating 7,000 SPSICs more.

“There is a backlog of 7,000 more of SPS clearances, which are yet to be submitted for validation,” he said.

“And we are giving them until December 31 to submit all these SPS clearances for validation, or else, after that we declare the [invalidated] SPS clearances as canceled,” he added.

Drastic reforms

IN the first six months of the new administration, the Senate approved the additional P2.3-billion budget of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to subsidize the agency’s annual irrigation-service fees collection.

Piñol was one of the officials who pushed for Duterte’s promise of

from danger zones to permanent relocation sites in the north,” Romualdez told reporters.

The Philippine Army’s engineering brigade has been providing trucking services to beneficiaries of housing projects using military vehicles.

Water has been regularly provided by the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Leyte Metropolitan Water District, pending the completion of medium-term and long-term water-supply projects.

The Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Labor and Employment have lined up activities to generate livelihood activities of relocated families.

Two weeks ago the Leyte II Electric Cooperative completed power connections to transmission

lines near permanent houses.

The National Housing Authority reported that 3,624 housing units built by both the government and private sector have been turned over to beneficiaries from the city’s coastal communities. The target is to build houses for 14,433 families in 19 northern relocation sites.

The President had expressed disappointment over the slow pace of relocation efforts three years after the monster typhoon’s powerful winds and storm surges decimated the city.

“I am not satisfied. In three years only few families were transferred to their permanent houses.

The national offices, the respective departments, they’re only given one month to process the paper and it must be out. I will be coming

“free irrigation” during the election campaign period.

Piñol is also looking at boosting the productivity and viabilities of other commodities, such as the Adlai plant—a native indigenous plant found in mountainous areas—to serve as alternative to rice.

“The journey has been tough and hard for us, simply because some of our activities actually were constrained by the fact that the budget for the half of the year has been allocated already, designed by the previous administration,” Piñol said.

“We’re not saying that these programs are not relevant to the vision of the current leadership. This situation actually somehow tied our hands in really implementing drastic reforms in the agriculture department.”

and local banana growers. Japanese firm Farmind Co. is keen on importing 20 million boxes of Cavendish bananas annually, especially those from the conflict areas, according to Piñol.

Pernia noted that the opening of these new markets to Philippine agricultural products would benefit the country’s total trade performance.

“The country’s improving relationship with Russia will also spur growth in the exports sector, as Russia committed to import around $2.5 billion worth of Philippine fruits, grains and vegetables in the next 12 months,” Pernia said.

Old goods, new markets

THE country’s agriculture secretary has been keen on opening more markets for Philippine agricultural products to countries as near as South Korea and as far as Argentina and the Russian Federation.

Backed by Duterte’s wishes to improve ties with China, Piñol is also seeking a bigger share in the Chinese market for Philippine farm produce.

In mid-October, during Duterte’s state visit to China, Beijing lifted its importation ban on some Philippinebased mango and banana exporters.

According to documents from the DA, Duterte had earlier requested China to increase its purchase of Philippine products.

Aside from bananas and pineapples, China is also keen on buying locally produced mangoes, coconuts, dragon fruit, crabs, shrimps, prawns, tuna and milkfish (bangus).

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said that, apart from lifting the ban on Philippine bananas and mangoes, China signed $100 million worth of contracts for fruit exports to China.

As data show, China is one of the country’s top markets for agriculturebased and related exports. China accounted for 8.7 percent of the country’s total agricultural exports for the past six years. From 2010 to 2016, the Philippines exported a total volume of 5.375 million metric tons valued at $2.97 billion.

Uniform tariffication

DURING the state visit of Duterte in Japan, Piñol communicated with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of the world’s third-largest economy to discuss the possibility of imposing a uniform tariffication on its fruit importation.

Japan imposes a lower tariff— at least 8.5 percent—on fruit imports during its off-season harvest, while a higher tariff—at least 18 percent—is slapped during winter season, Piñol explained.

The DA chief said Japan was “receptive” to his idea of imposing a uniform tariff on fruit imports.

During the same trip, the DA brought home P2.3 billion worth of agriculture deal involving a Japanese firm

Old habits die hard

NOTABLY, before becoming the country’s agriculture minister, Piñol was known as a vocal supporter of Duterte.

During the election campaign period, Piñol would post on his Facebook page—almost on a daily basis— statuses championing the accomplishments of Duterte, then mayor of Davao City.

It seems this habit of Piñol will die hard.

When he took office as the country’s chief agriculture minister, the hashtags #Changeishere!, #PresRodyCares! and #DuterteDelivers! were born in his Facebook page titled “MannyPiñol.”

Today Facebook has become an extension of the Philippines’s agriculture department—may it be as a means of information dissemination or policy making.

From time to time, the DA chief would post statuses about his trips across the country meeting with farmers, fishermen and ordinary citizens and discussing their woes and aspirations for the agriculture sector—all of which are documented under the hashtag #BiyahengBukid.

Piñol shares to the 390,001 followers of his page updates on the projects and efforts of the DA, which, more often than not, would be welcomed by overwhelming praises from his followers. Piñol would also share in his Facebook page memorandum orders concerning the employees of DA officials, as well as trade dealings and agreements with certain personalities both locally and internationally.

“Naka-post na sa Facebook ko iyan. Nakita niyo ba?” he once told reporters when asked about the update on the government’s effort to address the coconut scale-insect infestation or cocolisap infestation in Basilan.

As the Duterte administration marks its first six months, has change come in one of the country’s vital yet ailing sectors of agriculture?

“I believe these things we have started will contribute to the realization of the commitment of the President of available food for all Filipinos,” he said.

To borrow the hashtags in the Facebook posts of the then newspaper reporter turned politico and now agriculture chief: We can only hope that #Changeishere!, #PresRodyCares! and #DuterteDelivers! in the agriculture sector.

up with rules that bind everybody, including government corporations,” said Duterte, eliciting applause from the crowd.

The Chief Executive directed Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino to closely monitor housing projects and ensure that electricity and water supply would be provided.

Dino also sent three Ceres Liner buses to Tacloban to help in the relocation of survivors. The buses have been used to shuttle the students and those working at the city center from their homes’ northern resettlement sites to the city for the next six months. This is a stopgap solution until new public vehicles are established in the relocation sites.

Recently, Malacañang appointed Presidential Assistant

Wendel Avisado to oversee the ongoing implementation of housing projects for Yolanda survivors.

The city government is putting up a satellite office in the north, some 13 kilometers from commercial centers, to provide muchneeded government services to the resettled communities.

The local government also started a weekly market day in the area to spur economic activities and make available basic goods and commodities.

On November 8, 2013, Supertyphoon Yolanda unleashed its wrath in central Philippines, killing around 6,300 people and leaving more than 4.4 million people displaced and homeless. The city, the regional hub of the Eastern Visayas region, was considered as Yolanda’s ground zero. PNA

17th Congress…

second reading; and two bills were enacted into law—Republic Act (RA) 10923 and House Bill (HB) 3408, or the 2017 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

The GAB provides for a P3.35trillion national budget for next year. According to President Duterte, the 2017 national budget—the first budget of his administration—embodies the “people’s clamor for real change and a compassionate government,” while RA 10923 postponed this year’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to the fourth Monday of October 2017.

Of the bills approved on third reading, nine are of national significance. These are:

n HB 335, which will authorize the court to require community service in lieu of imprisonment for the penalty of arresto menor;

n HB 1344, which prescribes stricter penalties on the crime of delivering prisoners from jail and infidelity in the custody of prisoners;

n HB 1400, which mandates colleges, universities and technical-vocational institutions to ensure the safety of their premises from internal and external threats;

n HB 3955, which mandates the government to pay the capital gains tax and the documentary stamp tax due, in addition to the just compensation, for the sale of real property in the exercise of the state’s power of eminent domain;

n HB 477, which calls for the declaration of January 23 of every year as a special working holiday to commemorate the declaration of the first Philippine republic;

n HB 416, which will allow home-economics graduates to teach home economics subjects and home economics-related technical-vocational subjects in all public and private elementary and secondary educational institutions;

n HB 336, which will exclude from the application of the indeterminate sentence to those convicted of criminal offenses against a minor;

n HB 64, which will strengthen compliance of firms with occupational safety and health standards;

n HB 4144, which will impose a two-tier excise-tax structure on cigarettes.

The 11 measures approved by the House on second reading include the long-awaited Joint Resolution 10, which increases the monthly pension of Social Security System (SSS) pensioners, with the first tranche of P1,000 to be given starting January 2017 and the other P1,000 to be given in January 2019.

Notable among the 32 resolutions adopted by the House is House Resolution 105, containing

continued from A1

Committee Report 14, about the investigation conducted by the justice committee, in aid of legislation, on the proliferation of drug syndicates at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP).

During the House hearings, the justice committee has invited high-profile inmates who testified about the proliferation of drugs in NBP. According to the inmates, Sen. Leila de Lima, former justice secretary and the No. 1 critic of the administration, allegedly received drug money for her senatorial bid.

PDP-Laban Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House Justice Committee, said the hearings led to the passage of the substitute bill on HBs 1, 16, 513, 3237, 3239, 3240 and 3418, which are all seeking to restore the death penalty for heinous crimes, including illegal drugs-related crimes.

‘Shift focus’

While recognizing the efforts of the Duterte administration and the House to curb criminality, the minority bloc in the lower chamber, headed by Lakas Rep. Danilo Suarez of Quezon, urged the President, as well as Alvarez, to focus on other issues, such as poverty, unemployment and the traffic crisis.

Earlier, Suarez said the decline in drug cases and the commitment of the government to rehabilitate addicts is “laudable”. “On the up side, more than 700,000 drug users have surrendered. The President signed an executive order to establish and support drug-abuse treatment and rehabilitation centers throughout the country.”

“It’s obvious that 2016 was about the war on drugs. 2017 should be about other concerns that are equally, if not more, urgent,” he added.

Suarez urged the President to give more attention to economic issues, such as the weakening of the peso.

“We wonder if the administration is adequately prepared to cushion the Philippines during these uncertain and challenging times. For example, the peso is trading at an all-time low, nearing 50 to a dollar,” he said

Citing reports, Suarez said this low rate was last seen during the global financial crisis in 2008.

“The continued fall of the peso will increase the cost of commodities. Unemployment, poverty and traffic are still serious problems.

Schools lack classrooms. Food security is at risk—all of these are issues that need the administration’s attention and urgent action,” he said.

“We have reiterated our request that the President give equal focus to other issues. 2017 is the time to do that,” Suarez added.

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The World BusinessMirror

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

A3

Outrage over the economy doesn’t explain surging global populism T he year belonged to people like Bill Heinzelman, a retiree from Wisconsin, and Lucien Durand, a farmer in southeastern France.

They helped propel the populist wave that swept across the western world in 2016, blindsiding pollsters and investors with how strongly they felt the status quo in politics must go. The conventional wisdom among election observers and establishment politicians is that widespread anger at being left behind by globalization compelled Britons to forsake the European Union and Americans to vote for Donald J. Trump.

Yet, the concerns of people from the US Midwest to Greece, where a populist, anti-austerity government has been in power for almost two years, are only partially rooted in a sense of abandonment in a global economy.

There’s a deeper discontent with the way they are governed that a fiscal stimulus program, import tariffs or a stockmarket rally won’t quickly soothe.

Unemployment where Heinzelman lives is 3.2 percent, matching the lowest level since 2000. His beef is with undocumented immigrants, so the retired small-business owner backed Trump. Durand, whose family farm is in a moderately prosperous region between Lyon and the Alps, said bureaucrats in Brussels who are “totally removed from the real world” have solidified his loyalty to France’s National Front party, which could help propel the anti-euro party under Marine Le Pen to power next spring.

“Whether they’re virtual or real, the reality is we’re going to see a world with more walls,” said Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, a New York-based risk consulting firm.

As a result, it might be years before policy-makers absorb the significance of the economic and political forces now playing out, let alone craft a case for globalization that secures broad appeal.

Measures of financial and trade globalization confirm that the integration that has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty in the developing world is fraying.

International bank lending has declined since the financial crisis, data published by the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, show. International bond issuance is stagnant.

And while the amount of trade in goods and commercial services was nearly twice as high in 2015 as in 2005, growth has shuddered to a near-standstill. The ratio of merchandize trade to world output fell sharply in 2015 and is now at roughly the same level as in 2005, World Trade Organization data show.

“Global trade is sliding into ever more gloomy territory,” according to Raoul Leering, head of international trade analysis at ING Bank NV in Amsterdam. Citing the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, Leering says global trade in volume terms “took a beating” in October 2016, and is heading for its worst year since 2009.

Journey into America’s manufacturing heartland, and you’ll meet plenty of people blaming their struggles on unfair foreign competition.

“It just sucks. It’s hard to find jobs, and the ones you can find don’t pay enough,” said Jeff Mansfield, 39, a Trump supporter in Youngstown, Ohio, who works for a firm selling satellite TV subscriptions. “It’s just living paycheck to paycheck.”

Market optimism

Meanwhile, US financial markets reflect the opposite of glum. The S&P 500 Index has risen more than 10 percent this year. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index is reaching new heights. The yield on 10-year Treasuries hit 2.6 percent on December 15, the highest since September 2014, as investors see stronger growth in the world’s largest economy.

To address the malaise of his supporters, Trump is signaling that he’ll keep a campaign promise to turn the US’s economic gaze inward when he takes office in January. On December 21 he named Peter Navarro, a fierce critic of China’s trade practices, as head of a newly created National Trade Council inside the White House.

The real-estate developer’s vow to “Make America Great Again” resonates in places like Youngstown, once a steel-making powerhouse immortalized in a Bruce Springsteen song. With its deep union roots, the town of about 65,000 people used to be considered a Democratic stronghold. But in Youngstown and elsewhere across the so-called Rust Belt, Trump’s message played especially well with white males with no college education, helping to flip counties that went to President Barack Obama four years ago.

Many workers can be forgiven for feeling they aren’t getting ahead. Since 2000, income per capita in the US has risen 2.9 percent to just under $32,000, which works out to an annual raise of less than 0.2 percent. Bloomberg News

A4 Wednesday, December 28, 2016

The World BusinessMirror

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Israel vows Advertising’s moral struggle: Atodefiant expand its settlements Is online reach worth the hurt? J

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Hilary Sullivan looks at her smartphone near the Parsons School of Design in New York on September 24, 2015. Amy Lombard/The New York Times

dvertising on the Internet has never been easier. Data and automation increasingly allow companies large and small to reach millions of people every month, and to tailor ads to specific groups based on their browsing habits or demographics.

Now, however, the marketing industry is facing a moral quandary in the face of a national debate over the role that fake news played in the presidential election, and the realization that many web sites that promote false and misleading stories are motivated by the money they can make from online advertising.

In the zeal to follow consumers wherever they may roam on the internet, advertisers now risk bankrolling sites that are toxic to society, whether by amplifying manufactured political stories or by spreading conspiracy theories virulent enough to drive a man to walk into a Washington pizzeria with a gun. That has inserted a new ethical cost into the automated advertising equation, which promises companies large, desired audiences at low prices with little need for human intervention.

“I would much rather pay a little premium as a brand and go for verified sites,” Raja Rajamannar, the chief marketing officer of MasterCard, said, noting that the company mostly advertised on sites it had evaluated and approved. “But it’s a question again of how much and where. And I think all brands are doing this soul-searching at this point in time.”

The problem is, most advertisers do not have the size or the financial wherewithal of MasterCard to simply opt out of the automated system as it now exists. And even if they do,

there are tantalizing financial incentives to stay put.

Much online advertising capitalizes on the lure of the so-called long tail of the Internet—sites that draw relatively small but attractive audiences, like blogs for new parents or forums for truck enthusiasts. Advertising on those sites costs a fraction of what it does on more prominent online destinations, which typically deal directly with advertisers.

Money is funneled to smaller sites through a complex system of agencies and third-party networks, which can resemble a stock exchange. This system, known as programmatic advertising, allows brands to collect many millions of impressions—an industry term that generally indicates that an ad has been displayed and can be viewed.

But the lack of human oversight in this nascent industry has also led to confusion and mistakes.

Technology has emerged to protect brands from showing up on sites that traffic in, say, pornography or spam, but those measures have been found wanting when it comes to disinformation. That kind of content is more difficult for security firms to detect than “open hate speech or nudity or violence or any of the normal stuff that you would stay away from,” said John Montgomery, executive vice president for brand safety at GroupM, part of the advertising giant WPP.

Joe Marchese, president of advertising products for the Fox Networks Group, said the system, set up to reward clicks and impressions, had fueled the growth of low-quality sites well beyond those focused on made-up political news.

“Honestly, the long tail is to advertising what subprime was to mortgages,” he said. “No one knows what’s in it, but it helps people believe that there is a mysterious tonnage of impressions that are really low cost. But low-cost impressions would mean low-cost human attention. How can any publisher of quality content survive on low-cost impressions?”

Marc Goldberg, chief executive of Trust Metrics, an ad safety vendor, said the effort to remove bad actors ignored the fact that many advertisers value impressions over everything else. They would rather not choose and monitor what websites they are appearing on, he said, because they worry they will miss out on potentially lucrative destinations.

“What they’re doing is introducing all of these bad sites into our ecosystem and not having the means to monitor them appropriately and effectively,” he said.

“The big problem in our industry is our expectations of scale are not aligned with reality.”

Relatively speaking, the money going to fake political news is minuscule, but it has taken on outsize significance because it reflects a world in which marketers are often not paying attention to where their ads show up.

Teenagers overseas and entrepreneurs in the US discovered this year that they could earn thousands of dollars a month by writing wholly fictionalized or wildly exaggerated partisan political news intended to be spread on Facebook. They then reaped money from Google Ads and other networks after credulous readers in the United States clicked

through to their sites.

“A lot of ad buying systems are trying to show the right ad to the right person at the right time, and you see that mantra of those three variables across the industry,” said Michael Tiffany, the chief executive and a founder of White Ops, an ad fraud detection company.

“Note how ‘on the right site’ doesn’t make the list.”

Workable, a software startup based in Boston, recently joined companies like Kellogg and Allstate in pulling ads from the hard right website Breitbart and blaming automated ad technology for their appearance.

It is also watching out for its ads on fake news sites, which can slip through the cracks. Workable has about 110 employees and 6,000 customers but advertises on more than 50,000 sites a month through Google.

“Typically, Google has done a good job of keeping us off of low-quality sites,” said John Short, vice president for demand generation at Workable.

Instead of using television networks, newspapers and magazines as proxies for reaching certain groups of people, many media buyers have been trained by automated advertising to use data and technology.

Andrew Casale, the chief executive of Index Exchange, an advertising exchange, estimated that all the titles owned by the top 50 traditional media companies, including The Washington Post, Hearst and Condé Nast, probably accounted for 5 percent or less of the trillions of ad impressions available for sale each day.

Overall spending on automated banner displays and video ads will grow to $18.7 billion this year worldwide, and the United States will account for half of that, according to Magna Global, a major ad-buying firm.

“The problem, I think, for marketers is they’ve been trained to value media universally,” Casale said. “Fake news sites have really, really low prices and rates and tons of scale, so it’s almost like a drug.”

He added, “With fake news sites, or whatever you would like to call them, we need to be more alert.”

Facebook and Google have both said they plan to target misinformation, Facebook announced this month that it was ex per imenting w ith a l low ing users to report false stories and forging partnerships with outside fact-checking organizations.

This month, Robert Thomson, the chief executive of News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal, described the digital ad market as “dysfunctional.”

Ad agencies, Thomson said at a conference held by UBS, should be “responsible for the audiences that they’re creating, and then what they’re serving those audiences and how they’re serving those clients, because we’ve sort of gone from the era of ‘Mad Men’ to mad metrics.” NYTNS

ERUSALEM—Undeterred by a resounding defeat at the United Nations, Israel’s government said on Monday it would move ahead with thousands of new homes in disputed areas and warned nations against further action, declaring that Israel does not “turn the other cheek.”

Just a few days after the UN Security Council (UNSC) voted to condemn Israeli settlements, Jerusalem’s municipal government signaled that it would not back down: The city intends to approve 600 housing units in the predominantly Palestinian eastern section of town on Wednesday in what a top official called a first installment of 5,600 new homes.

The defiant posture reflected a bristling anger among Israel’s pro-settlement political leaders, who not only blamed the United States for failing to block the council resolution, but also claimed to have secret intelligence showing that President Barack Obama’s team had orchestrated it. US officials strongly denied the claim, but the sides seem poised for more weeks of conflict until Obama hands over the presidency to Donald J. Trump.

P r i me M i n i ster B e nja m i n Netanyahu has lashed out at Security Council countries by curbing diplomatic contacts, recalling envoys, cutting off aid and summoning the US ambassador for a scolding. He canceled a planned visit this week by Ukraine’s prime minister even as he expressed concern on Monday that Obama was planning more action at the UN before his term ends next month.

The prime minister defended his retaliation. “Israel is a country with national pride, and we do not turn the other cheek,” he said. “This is a responsible, measured and vigorous response, the natural response of a healthy people that is making it clear to the nations of the world that what was done at the UN is unacceptable to us.”

The Security Council resolution that passed Friday condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a “flagrant violation under international law” and an obstacle to peace. The council approved it 14-0, with the US abstaining instead of using its veto, as it has in the past.

Trump publicly pressed for a veto of the resolution and has chosen a settlement advocate as his administration’s ambassador to Israel.

Palestinian leaders made clear Monday that they would use the resolution in international bodies to press their case against Israel. With the imprimatur of a UN finding of illegality, they said they would campaign to require that other countries not just label products made in the settlements, but ban them.

“Now we can talk about the boycott of all settlements, the companies that work with them, et cetera, and actually take legal action against them if they continue to work with them,” Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, was quoted as saying by the Palestinian news media.

He outlined other steps the Palestinians could take, using the resolution to press the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli leaders, file lawsuits on behalf of specific Palestinians displaced by settlements and urge Switzerland to determine whether Israel is violating the Geneva Conventions.

“We are looking to devise a comprehensive vision, and hopefully 2017 will be the year when the Israeli occupation ends,” Malki said.

Israeli officials said such pronouncements showed that the resolution undermined chances for a negotiated settlement because the Palestinians have less incentive to come to the table. By declaring Israeli settlements illegal, they said, the UN essentially took away the one chip that Israel had to trade, meaning land.

“The Palestinians are waging a diplomatic and legal war against Israel. That’s the strategy,” Ron Dermer, Israeli ambassador to the United States, said in a phone interview.

“Their strategy is not to negotiate an agreement with Israel because a deal is give and take. They want take and take.”

Israel’s settlement project, once a scattering of houses across the Green Line marking the borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, has grown exponentially over the years. In 2009, the year Obama took office, 297,000 people lived in West Bank settlements and 193,737 in East Jerusalem. That increased to 386,000 in the West Bank by the end of last year and 208,000 in East Jerusalem by the end of 2014, according to Peace Now, a group that opposes settlements.

Israel i of f ic ia ls note t hat when Netanyahu acquiesced to a 10-month settlement freeze sought

by Obama in 2009, the Palestinians still did not agree to negotiate until just before time ran out. But the addition of more than 100,000 settlers during Obama’s tenure convinced him that it was time to change approach at the United Nations, aides said.

The 618 housing units to be granted building permits in East Jerusalem on Wednesday have been in the works for a while, and the planning committee meeting agenda was set before the UN acted.

But the committee chairman said he was determined to go forward with 5,600 units.

“I won’t get worked up over the UN or any other organization that might try to dictate to us what to do in Jerusalem,” Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman, planning committee chairman, told the newspaper Israel Hayom. “I hope that the government and the new administration in the United States will give us momentum to continue.”

Although he did not specify which projects he had in mind, Ir Amim, a private group tracking settlements in East Jerusalem, said he was probably referring to projects in Gilo and Givat Hamatos. Betty Herschman, the group’s director of international relations and advocacy, said it was “defiance demonstrated after Trump’s election, now reinforced by the UN resolution.” NYTNS

Mall fights send postholiday shoppers scrambling for exits

B

EACHWOOD, Ohio—Fights broke out at malls around the country on Monday night sending shoppers, who were looking for postholiday deals, scrambling for the exits.

No one was seriously injured in the mall melees, which, during the panic, also prompted numerous false reports of gunfire.

The police in Ohio told Cleveland.com that officers used pepper spray to disperse a large crowd following a fight at an upscale shopping mall in Beachwood, just outside of Cleveland.

A report of shots fired was later

determined to be unfounded.

One male juvenile was arrested for allegedly trying to hit an officer during the incident, which the police said appeared to have been “loosely organized on social media.”

There were similar disturbances at malls around the country including in New York, New Jersey and North Carolina, where chaos erupted at a mall in Fayetteville and emergency medical personnel were called in to assist someone who had a medical episode while fleeing.

In Memphis, Tennessee, the police arrested several people

following fights at two malls there. No one was injured and no gunshots were fired, despite reports indicating otherwise.

“Somebody yelled ‘gun!’ and youths stampeded through the mall,” Deputy Chief Terry Landrum told The Commercial Appeal.

The police in Aurora, Colorado, near Denver, evacuated a mall due to multiple skirmishes.

The trouble reportedly began during an arrest when an unruly crowd surrounded the scene.

Aurora police spokesman Sgt. Chris Amsler said that as the suspect was being taking

into custody, the crowd, which mushroomed in size to about 500 people, advanced on the officer and fights broke out. Five juveniles were arrested. No one was hurt.

In Aurora, Illinois, outside of Chicago, a mall there was temporarily shut down due to a large disturbance. Videos posted on Twitter showed mall security trying to get the situation under control.

There was no official word on whether any of the fights, which were also reported in Arizona, Texas, Indiana and Connecticut, were connected. AP

Memphis police officers block off the entrances to the Oak Court Mall on Monday after a disturbance at the mall in Memphis, Tennessee. Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal via AP

The World Wednesday, December 28, 2016

A5

Investors bet on Vietnam as valuations top SE Asia

V

ietnam stocks are pricier than their Southeast Asian peers for the first time in two years— and they are about to become more expensive.

“There is room to grow,” said Dominic Scriven, Ho Chi Minh City-based chairman at Dragon Capital. “We are looking for 19-percent net growth for earnings next year,” as the economy expands and inflation remains stable, he said.

The benchmark VN Index is trading 15.9 times earnings, compared with the MSCI South East Asia Index, which is at 14.7. A 15-percent gain in the VN Index has led to its outperformance versus the MSCI Frontier Markets Index and the South East Asia benchmark gauge. The gauge rose 0.4 percent as of 11:38 a.m. local time mid-day break on Tuesday. The market’s “valuation is expected to continue rising in 2017,” because of upcoming listings of attractive companies, said Le Nguyet Anh, head of research at ACB Securities JSC. “Meanwhile, for the currently listed stocks, decent earnings growth will be the major price growth momentum.”

The strong premium this year is “due to its good macroeconomic performance and political stability, while the rest of the region went through political transformations and tougher economic times,” said Attila Vajda, managing director at Project Asia Research and Consulting Pte. in Ho Chi Minh City. President Duterte, elected earlier this year, has unnerved investors with his frequent outbursts against the US and violent war on drugs. Thailand has experienced deadly street clashes and tainted corruption trials since an army coup in 2014.

Economists predict Vietnam will be among the world’s fastest-growing economies in 2016, as it benefits from a manufacturing industry that has grown in importance over the years. Increased foreign-direct investment helped push the VN Index to an eight-year high of 688.89 on October 19. The government aims for GDP growth of 6.7 percent next year, which will be the fastest pace since 2007. Profit at companies on the benchmark gauge are projected to grow 23 percent in the next 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Liquidity issues

The market still faces the “hurdle of liquidity,” said Andy Ho, VinaCapital chief investment officer. He recommends the government lift the foreign ownership limit in the banking sector as one way to boost the market liquidity. Last year Vietnam allowed some industries to raise the foreign ownership limit to 100 percent, from 49 percent, however, the cap for the banking sector still remains at 30 percent.

Vietnam, which would have been the biggest beneficiary of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, may stand to lose the most as President-elect Trump prepares to quit the pact.

“Since Vietnam’s economy is export driven and the US is a significant export market, it is likely that we need to see how the incoming Trump administration will finally deal with trade barriers,” Vajda said.

The average daily turnover on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange—the main bourse—is just $109 million this year, compared with $768 million in Singapore, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Government plans

It’s a “great time” to invest in Vietnam now as the government has accelerated the divestment process in major companies, VinaCapital’s Ho said.

The Vietnam government’s planned stake sales of major companies, like Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp. and Hanoi Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp., next year is seen as “encouraging” for investors, according to Ho. “There are really good companies that the government is now allowing foreign companies, like institutional investors like ourselves, to put money into them,” he said.

State Capital Investment Corp., the government’s investment arm, raised about $500 million selling 5.4 percent of its stake in Vietnam Dairy Products JSC during the long-awaited December 12 sale.

Besides divestments, the government has also pushed companies to list shares on the exchange, which has made the stock market “more interesting,” according to Vajda.

The market will welcome the future listings of some major companies, including Vietnam Airlines Corp. and Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group.

Vietnam Airlines said in November it would start trading in Unlisted Public Company Market, or UpCom, before December 31 and Vinatex, as the textile group is commonly known, plans to list 500 million shares on UpCom on the first week of January.

“Some new listings will attract enough excitement that the index can grow moderately, if there are no external trade shocks due to protectionist policies from the US,” Vajda saidz. Bloomberg News

A6

Wednesday, December 28, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

On infrastructure

S

ome of us have lived in places where the state of public infrastructure is so bad that those who have the courage and the opportunity would readily leave the land of their birth and sometimes vow never to look back.

These are people who travel a dirt road merely 2.7 kilometers long but pockmarked with potholes so deep during the monsoon season and so unbearably dusty in the summer that one takes it as the normal state of things everywhere in this country. Some of us who live in more fortunate places with running water, for example, or with electricity available 24/7, often do not get it because the tap doesn’t run dry just as one rinses the shampoo or tap off the bath soap after a long work-weary day. One appreciates the electricity provider that moves quickly to erect power posts felled by 100-kilometer-per-hour winds and not this ogre of a service provider typically taking a month to replace busted step-down transformers as revenge for electricity consumers forced to pay an arm and a leg for a mere fraction of the kilowatt-hour stolen by his counterpart in Forbes Park. We’re talking here of consumers in Mobo, Masbate or Carrascal, Surigao del Sur, whose local government officials have since reported the 100-km stretch of highway slicing godforsaken hamlets in half as having been fully constructed within the allotted time and budget.

Now we hear that President Duterte and his no-prisoners approach to crime has approved some P900 billion worth of infrastructure projects and the promise to boost such spending significantly higher to as much as 7 percent of local output, or the GDP, starting next year till the end of his term. This all looks good on paper, but something tells us to hold back the clapping of the hands till the first time capsule of a power-generation project has actually been buried and the photo-op sent to the various newspapers, where the event is trumpeted as loudly as Mr. Martin Andanar can manage at the 6:30 p.m. newscast.

Everyone knows it typically takes 29 months for a particular proposal to muster the whole nine yards and finally awarded to some contractor, whom we hope has not been duly corrupted by thieving bureaucrats and their political patrons in the best and brightest places of the government. The good economist and bureaucrat Ernesto Pernia, the academician and current socioeconomic planning secretary and National Economic and Development Authority director general, previously vowed to cut the proverbial red tape down to a third of the time project approvals usually take. We have another promise here and, by the sound of it, is suspect. Don’t ask us if this is just force of habit.

Think Murphy’s Law. We have one other bureaucrat, another academician with a penchant for shoeboxes, who also vowed to speed up the construction of projects by pursuing them on a 24/7 basis if these are worth at least P10 million. We appreciate all these promises and are, in fact, encouraged that the latest word from Malacañang involved widening the year’s budgetary shortfall to as much as 3 percent of GDP, from only 2.7 percent originally. This means a budget deficit as wide as P478.1 billion this year, instead of the anticipated ceiling of just P388.9 billion.

Hopefully the additional spending is applied against long-standing public infrastructure projects and programs that benefit the most number of Filipinos. Hopefully also, the incremental spending happens in places that contribute the most to national well-being and not just in the pockets of influential politicians. Only then do we say here at the BusinessMirror that change truly has come.

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J

ONATHAN Blitzer, in The New Yorker, writes about meeting Javier Marias, the Spanish writer most likely to get the Nobel Prize. I know of Marias only as the writer of the unforgettable first page of the novel Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me—a spectral line from Shakespeare’s Richard III. Guy dates a woman, gets her into bed, and she dies there.

How to explain, and to whom.

For me, the nightmare date.

And it can happen. You always get far more than you bargained for, at least from my experience.

If something good can f —k up, it will. In Marias’s latest novel, Thus Bad Begins, a character berates his wife, not only for having an affair behind his back in the distant past, but for telling him about it in the present.

“If only you’d never told me,” he tells his wife; “if only you’d kept me in the dark. When you embark on a deception you should maintain it right until the end. What is the point of setting the record

straight, of suddenly telling the truth,” he chides the wife.

The novel is set in 1980. After Franco died in the 1970s, his lieutenants and the king set about legalizing everything bad they had done or allowed to be done by legalizing all opposition parties—especially the communist party—and granting a general amnesty that covered dissenters. And, of course, themselves, the fascists. This was known as the pacto del olvido, the agreement to forget.

“There was no other way to do it peacefully,” Marias said.

So why can’t we agree to forget about the Marcos dictatorship?

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It was robbery right and left—not an ideological vindication—and random murder at every opportunity. That is why there can be no agreement and never any assent to forget about it. Because all the honor was on one side, and no honor attached to the Marcos regime—its adherents then nor its socially undistinguished defenders today.

The reason is compelling.

Gen. Francisco Franco launched his mutiny against the democratic republic, because half of Spain was conservative Catholic and the other half were liberals and commies; a bunch of f —g atheists.

And as with Spaniards, it wasn’t just talk like it is with us and Americans. Blah, blah, blah…blah, blah. F—k it.

When they believe, they fight to the death for their belief.

They kill for it, too. Many priests and nuns were killed at the altar and in the convent. Churches were burned.

After Franco won everyone sus-

Autonomy and continuity in CHED

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Why not forgetting

Edgardo J. Angara

I

N 1994 the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) was created by virtue of Republic Act (RA) 7722 as an agency separate and distinct from what we now call the Department of Education (DepEd).

While it was attached to the Office of the President for administrative purposes, the CHED was envisioned to be an agency that would be imbued with autonomy and continuity, beyond the reach of politics. In fact, it is also for this reason that RA 7722 created the Higher Education Development Fund (HEDF), an endowment fund for universities and colleges, in order to precisely safeguard the fiscal autonomy of the CHED. The CHED was so structured under its organic law as to require much higher qualifications. Section 5 of RA 7722 requires that the chairman and the commissioners of the CHED: (1) have earned a

doctorate; (2) have been actively engaged in higher education for at least 10 years, and must not have been candidates for elective positions in the elections immediately preceding their appointment; (3) be academicians known for their high degree of professionalism and integrity who have distinguished themselves as experts in their chosen fields of learning; and, finally, (4) belong to different academic specializations.

In order to insulate the institution and higher education from shifting political tides, the law also specifically defines a fixed term of office for the CHED chairman and commissioners. In addition, apart from providing a

We must not allow divisive campaigns to leave a legacy of chaos, confusion and politics.

The CHED must be allowed to continue doing its difficult, often thankless, but invaluable work for the future Filipino leaders, scientists, artists and professionals. four-year term, without prejudice to one’s reappointment, it also included the following safeguards: (1) The chairman and commissioners were prohibited from appointing representatives to act on their behalf; (2) their terms of office were on a staggered basis; and (3) ensuring that there is no vacuum in leadership, they were to hold office until their successors shall have been appointed and qualified.

The creation of the CHED is part of broad education reforms formulated by the Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom)—an unprecedented effort made by both houses of Congress, which I chaired, to systematically review and reshape the Philippine education system. The Edcom Report laid the

pected of being a liberal or commie was shot. And women on the wrong side were fed sexually to the Spanish African Legion and mutilated. The long and the short of it: The Spanish Civil War was a real open war, between people of courage, with sincere, if murderous, combatants on both sides. There was honor in either side of the divide.

Martial law, on the other hand, was a sneak attack, totally without facts to explain it and legal foundation to justify it—until our Supreme Court, in an act of refined cowardice, declared it to be…not illegal.

Not legal—for that would eternally shame the Court beyond any hope of redemption. Just not illegal.

In short, there was no legal obstacle for martial law going into full force and effect.

After that, it was robbery right and left—not an ideological vindication—and random murder at every opportunity. That is why there can be no agreement and never any assent to forget about it. Because all the honor was on one side, and no honor attached to the Marcos regime—its adherents then nor its socially undistinguished defenders today.

There you go. Another confusion cleared.

groundwork for the many reforms being implemented today.

Col le ges a nd u n ive r s it ies around the country face a critical time of transition, as we fully implement K to 12 in basic education. The CHED and its capable chairman, Dr. Patricia B. Licuanan, have been at the helm of a nationwide effort to give stability and direction the sector needs at a time where low college enrollment threatens so many of our schools.

At the same time, the CHED is guiding these institutions through changes in curriculum at the college level and providing opportunities for faculty and staff to earn master’s and doctorate degrees, generating much-needed upgrading of knowledge in the sector, and increasing the country’s graduates’ competitiveness against their Asean peers.

We must not allow divisive campaigns to leave a legacy of chaos, confusion and politics. The CHED must be allowed to continue doing its difficult, often thankless, but invaluable work for the future Filipino leaders, scientists, artists and professionals.

E -ma i l: a nga ra.ed@g mail. com|Facebook & Twitter: @edangara

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

Sports BusinessMirror

HOPE’S HOPE

By Anne M. Peterson

The Associated Press

H

OPE SOLO said she hopes that someday she can return to the US women’s national team but, in the meantime, she vows to keep fighting for equal pay for the players.

The goalkeeper was handed a six-month suspension and her contract with US Soccer was terminated following the Rio Olympics, after she called Sweden’s team “cowards” for their defensive style of play against the Americans in the quarterfinals.

“Let’s be honest, it’s not my decision if I return to the national team,” she said. “I find it an honor and a privilege to represent our country at the highest level in a sport that I love, in a position that I love. And I would do almost anything to play at that level once again. I say almost, because at this point in time I believe our fight for equality is much bigger than being on the national team again.”

The 35-year-old Solo is not eligible for reinstatement to the team until February. She said it’s up to the US Soccer Federation (USSF) and Coach Jill Ellis to allow her to return.

Her comments come as the team’s players are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with US Soccer. The current contract expires on December 31, but according to the USSF neither side has filed a 60-day notice of termination, meaning that talks could continue into the new year.

Solo, a 17-year veteran of the team, is closely watching the negotiations, which have been

ongoing this month. In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, she said she “hopes and prays” players don’t back down in their ongoing fight to earn equitable salaries to the male national team players.

“I think many of the players are prepared to go all the way in,” she said. “When we’re supposed to have a new CBA by on January 1, now is the time you can be scared—you can be scared of going on strike, you can be scared of losing employment and a paycheck. And I think that I have been used as an example, and my firing instilled a lot of fear in the players. And I also know fear is what has held many movements back.”

That’s why she’s speaking out now—because she can.

“There’s no turning back for me,” she said. “I think with some of the player there are different intentions—because they want to play the game that they love. It’s easier for me to fight and put everything into it than it is for them.”

Solo’s year has been nothing if not eventful.

At the start, Solo and the national team were still basking in their victory at the 2015 Women’s World Cup. Solo allowed only three goals in seven games with five shutouts during the tournament—earning her a second straight Golden Glove Award.

But with the CBA due to expire, Solo and four of her teammates filed a complaint in late March with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging wage discrimination.

The players maintain they make far less than their male counterparts for the national team, despite outperforming them on the international stage. A decision by the EEOC is pending.

On the field, Solo became the first goalkeeper with 100 international shutouts before the Olympics when the United States defeated South Africa, 1-0, in Chicago. It also was her 150th career win. During the Rio Games she made her 200th appearance in goal for the United States, an international record.

But in the quarterfinals the defending champion US women were handed their earliestever exit from the Olympics when Sweden advanced 4-3 on penalty kicks following a 1-1 draw.

Solo’s infamous “cowards” quote came immediately following the loss. Sweden went on to play in the gold-medal match against Germany.

Solo said she spoke to Ellis and US Soccer President Sunil Gulati following the loss, and felt that the issue was put to rest. After she returned to the United States, she said she was blindsided by the announcement about her suspension.

She said she believes US Soccer wanted her off the CBA negotiations.

“Let’s call it what is, which is a firing,” she said. “It was a termination of my contract effective immediately with severance. That is a firing. It wasn’t a suspension, that’s what they told the media because it looked better. But I got fired. I got fired for what they say was using the word ‘cowards’ but in reality they got rid of an adversary in the fight for equal pay.”

US Soccer clarified that Solo was suspended following a culmination of actions, and separately her contract was also terminated with the team.

“As we have stated before, Hope was suspended for her cumulative actions over the course of time that reflected negatively on the

US Women’s National Team and US Soccer,” the federation said in a statement Thursday night. “Any indication that the suspension was only due to her comment after the Olympics, or because of current CBA negotiations, is completely inaccurate. We had numerous conversations with her in the past about her behavior and it was clear that any additional missteps could result in an additional suspension.”

Solo has at times during her career been dogged by a number of off-the-field controversies. Notably, a domestic violence case stemming from a 2014 altercation at a family member’s home in Washington state. The case is still pending and she cannot comment on the matter.

When asked if she’s had regrets, she said she wished she would have distanced herself and her marriage from people who weren’t healthy in her life.

“Ultimately it came at a price with my public image and that was very hurtful, and it still hurts to this day,” she said.

Solo wants to keep the focus right now on her

Wednesday, December 28, 2016 A7

HOPE SOLO talks about her future and her fight for equal pay. AP

future. Coming off shoulder replacement surgery this fall, Her status with the team going forward will largely depend on how Ellis chooses to develop players ahead of the 2019 World Cup. Solo said she will let history decide her legacy.

“Honestly, legacies are something people realize over time. I can’t tell you what people are going to say what my legacy is. I know what I stood for,” she said. “I know I never changed who I am: That I continued to fight for my teammates for better treatment, for better competition. I held everybody to higher standards and I think it made some people uncomfortable. But, at the same time, I believe in honesty and I beleive in truth.

And I’m proud to say I gave everything I am to goalkeeping, the game and the sport I love.”

Unexpected masterpiece L

ONDON—Toppling forward, Henrikh Mkhitaryan looked like he’d misjudged the rightwing cross as he surged into the box seeking a clinching goal for Manchester United.

What came next brought Old Trafford to its feet— and underlined Mkhitaryan as perhaps the next cult figure at the English giant.

With an acrobatic flick of his right heel, the Armenian somehow managed to turn a ball that was behind him into the far corner from 8 meters out, before plunging to the ground. Paul Pogba was the first United player to celebrate with Mkhitaryan and walked away shaking his head in disbelief.

It was a goal-of-the-season contender in the English Premier League, another piece of art from a player who is coming into his own after a tough start to life at United when he struggled to adapt to the fast pace of English football following a move from Borussia Dortmund.

Mkhitaryan sealed a 3-1 win for United over Sunderland on Monday and a fourth straight league victory for a side that’s beginning to motor under Jose Mourinho. United might still be 13 points behind Chelsea, which won a club-record 12th straight game to extend its lead to seven points, but a finish in the Champions League qualification places looks increasingly likely.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic provided the cross for Mkhitaryan’s goal, set up Daley Blind for United’s 39th-minute opener and scored the other goal for his 16th goal of the season in all competitions. Mourinho will be delighted to see his trio of high-profile off-season signings—Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and Pogba—looking the real deal. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 Wednesday, December 28, 2016

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

ALYSSA SAYS ‘YES’

By Lance Agcaoili

A

LYSSA VALDEZ has officially announced her acceptance for an offer to play for a commercial team in Thailand, saying the opportunity has opened doors for Filipino volleyball players to also strut their wares overseas.

“We are threshing out details as of now,” Valdez, a three-time University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Most Valuable Player (MVP) with Ateneo, said.

3BB Nakornnont tapped Valdez, the first Filipina to play as an import in a club league abroad, in its campaign for the remainder of the 2017 Women’s Volleyball Thailand League.

Valdez is expected to fly to Bangkok on January 15.

The “Phenom” of Philippine volleyball said she is upbeat about the opportunity and is ready to face the challenge of a higher level of volleyball action in Thailand.

“I am very excited about this and hope that this open doors for more Filipino volleyball players to get the chance to play overseas,” the popular 23-year-old wing spiker said. “This is a blessing that has been very

ALYSSA VALDEZ is completing her negotiations with Thailand club team 3BB Nakornnont.

timely as we celebrate the Christmas season.”

Valdez, a national team mainstay who has also won MVP trophies in the Shakey’s V-League, asked her fans, teammates and coaches, and her family for prayers, as she embarks on a different plane in her volleyball career.

“I’d like to request for your prayers and support since this is a challenge I’ve never

encountered before,” the pride of Batangas said. “I also like to thank my family, friends and fans for sticking with me through thick and thin.” Valdez will try to help 3BB Nakornonnt improve on its 3-2 win-lost record as it currently sits at the No. 4 spot in the Thailand League. Valdez is also expected to see action for the team in the Thai-Denmark Super League in April.

Four Philippine Superliga (PSL) stars, meanwhile, are being considered as guest players by Thai clubs in the Thai-Denmark Super League in March.

PSL President Ramon Suzara said Thailand Volleyball Association executives inquired on the availability of Jaja Santiago of Foton, Kim Fajardo and Aby Maraño of F2 Logistics, and Jovelyn Gonzaga of RC Cola-Army for the weeklong tournament among Thailand champion clubs.

Only Maraño, however, would be available for the March 23-to-28 tournament.

Santiago is still committed to National University in the UAAP, while Gonzaga, a Philippine Army personnel, will undergo an eight-month training at the Training and Doctrine Center in Capas, Tarlac.

“This [invitation to Filipino players] is the product of our very good relationship with our Thai counterparts,” said Suzara, a ranking Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) official who has close ties with AVC Secretary-General Shanrit Wongprasert, known as the Father of Thailand volleyball.

Dindin Santiago-Manabat is also being eyed by the Thais, but the former Lady Bulldog has to shape up in time for the tournament.

ORDER OF MERIT CHAMP

Chihiro Ikeda (left) receives her trophy from International Container Terminal Services Inc. Public Relations Head Narlene Soriano after clinching her first Order of Merit title in the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour. Ikeda earned P514,121 on one victory at Orchard and a slew of top-10 finishes in the 10-leg circuit, beating Symetra Tour campaigner Mia Piccio (P415,012) for the coveted individual crown.

GOLF DOUBLES TILT ON T

Federer still at it

Al Mendoza alsol47@yahoo.com

THAT’S ALL

W

AIT with bated breath for the return to action of Roger Federer, whose 17 Grand Slam singles titles is an all-time high.

That will happen next month, when he plays at the Hopman Cup team event in Perth, Australia.

That is a warm-up for him as he will next participate in the Australian Open in Melbourne, the first tennis major of the year.

Famously harsh due to Australia’s killing summer, the Aussie Open usually retires even the toughest of the lot due at times to extreme heat.

At age 35, Federer, also the winner of 71 lesser crowns, is old by tennis standards. Thus, he could be vulnerable by now, heat stroke being the most common reaper of casualties at the scorching Australian courts.

In today’s era when power and speed have become the game’s fixtures, the young usually upstage the veterans. The young ones now include the mercurial Nick Kyrgios of Australia, who will be joined by such powerhouse kids like Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and the fast-rising Japanese star Kei Nishikori.

And who could discount Federer’s fellow multiple Grand Slam champions like Stan Wawrinka, Andy Murray and the ever-dangerous Novak Djokovic—all very much younger than Federer?

How about Rafael Nadal, who, at 30, is also set to return in Melbourne, boasting that he is fully recovered from injuries and recharged with a new coach: Carlos Moya?

Also raring to crowd the favorites is Canada’s Milos Raonic, the last person to defeat Federer in a match that proved to be

Federer’s last outing for 2016.

That was on July 8, when Federer lost in five sets to Raonic in the Wimbledon semifinals that saw Federer fall on the grass awkwardly—giving his wife Mirka the big scare.

Just two months before, in February, Federer had knee surgery. And then this season-ending Wimbledon tumble, which somehow also forced him to skip the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The Olympic gold has been a lifetime dream for him. With the next Olympics happening in 2020 in Tokyo, Federer might just be too old for that. At 39, if by God’s grace he’d still be around four years from now, it would do Federer well playing social golf by then, if not bridge or chess, than smacking those yellow balls. One just can’t win them all.

But Federer himself is ambivalent—as many old fogeys tend to be.

“You have to maybe reinvent yourself or whatever you have to do,” he said. “But it’s nice to see that maybe it doesn’t always come so easy for everybody for so long.”

Then, saying “Mirka is totally committed, totally happy,” Federer concluded: “And the kids [he and Mirka have four] love it [watching him play the game]. And I’m still hungry, and now I’m even refreshed and rejuvenated.”

Indeed, it is hardest for some to stop when they feel they can still do it. Truly, only grandmasters know when to resign.

THAT’S IT I didn’t know my panyero, Roland Tulay, the jolly former secretary-general of the Philippine Football Federation, could play the drums with uncharacteristic virtuosity. He regaled the employees during the Christmas program of the Planters Products Inc. (PPI) with his Ringo Starr-like performance. His DA-Band provided the music for the occasion attended no less by PPI top brass, which included Domeng Duerme, Nap Liloc, Mayor Rodel Manara, Mitch Roa, Col. Yuri Pesigan, Llewelyn Fortuna and Pete Ferrer, among others. Roland, a brilliant lawyer who is also the PPI’s corporate lawyer, had as his fellow DA-Band members Annie Lopez, Earl Vegas, Emerson Yago and Glenn Estrada (vocals); Ricson B. Capili, Louis Albert M. de la Cruz and Erwin A. Soliva (guitars); Ernesto Cleope (keyboard); and, Jonathan B. Reformina and Kenneth Paalam (bass). Merry Christmas!... Happy birthday today to Raul Ferro Juvida! Inuman na!

HE sixth National Doubles Amateur Golf Championship unfolds today with World Junior Girls’ champion team member Harmie Constantino and the Legaspi sisters— Missy and Mia—spicing up the Division I field at Camp Aguinaldo Golf Club in Quezon City.

Constantino, who teamed up with Yuka Saso and Sofia Legaspi to capture the World Junior Girls’ diadem in Canada in September, will partner with Gabriel Macalaguim in the three-day championship serving as the final leg of the annual National Amateur Golf Tour organized by the National Golf Association of the Philippines.

The Legaspi siblings, on the other hand, are raring to prove their worth, together with the Kristine Torralba-Alex Etter pair, as they join the centerpiece event of the annual tournament that features the country’s top and up-and-coming players in the ranks.

Jobim Carlos and Iñigo Raymundo ruled last year’s edition of the event via comefrom-behind fashion over Ira Alido and Aidric Chan last year. But Carlos has joined the pro ranks, while Alido has tapped a new partner in Paolo Wong.

Former pro Eddie Bagtas is also in the fold and will team up with Bobby Iñigo, while Bagtas’s son Leandro has picked Alexi Garzon as partner.

The other fancied pairs in the premier division are the Adrian Romero-JP de Claro, Ryan Monsalve-Lanz Uy and Carlo Villaroman-Raymart Tolentino tandems. But

focus will be on Constantino, who scored a big victory on the local ladies pro circuit at the Mount Malarayat leg.

Yuto Katsuragawa, the spearhead of Manila Southwoods’s romp in big club tournaments, including the recent Fil-Am Championship, is linking up with Carl Corpus, while Jelbert Gamolo teams up with Gab Manotoc and Tomi Arejola partners with Nik Gatmaytan.

The field will slug it out under the fourball (best-ball) format in the first round, with action shifting to aggregate in the next before the two-ball foursome in the final round, according to the organizing NGAP.

The gift

tryouts that coming Saturday.

Cool, huh?

Well, I didn’t show up because, for one, I didn’t have a proper pair of spikes as we called our boots. I felt embarrassed that we weren’t as affluent as my other classmates or teammates. The following Monday, Brother Jess was back in my classroom asking for me. I divulged to a classmate of mine (and teammate), Paul Cuenca, why I didn’t go. Paul, bless his heart, gave me a pair of his spikes (I never forgot that act of kindness and made sure than many years later, I thanked him for it again).

I showed up the next practice, then made it playing fullback as I was bullish in defense. But I suspect that Brother Jess liked me for my free kicks that were pretty accurate.

Two years later, with my classroom just a few feet away from Brother Jess’s office, my parents bought me what I consider—at least back then—the “bestest” Christmas gift I could ever ask for—a football. I could be wrong, but I think the ball with the hexagons cost 50 bucks. That was pretty pricey back in the late-1970s. And I was so thankful to my parents. I remember sleeping

Rick Olivares bleachersbrew@gmail.com

Bleachers’ Brew

I

WAS in Grade 4 when I was invited to try out for the Ateneo Football Team by the late Bro. Jesus Oscariz, a Spanish Basque who introduced the football program in Ateneo.

The good brother saw me fight for the ball and blast a shot from outside the box that beat the keeper during an intramurals match.

I’ll never forget the following Monday when he went to our classroom and asked who wore No. 21. That was me and I sat in stunned silence. He said that he was inviting me to the

NBA RESULTS Orlando 112, Memphis 102 Washington 107, Milwaukee 102 Brooklyn 120, Charlotte 118 Detroit 106, Cleveland 90 Chicago 90, Indiana 85 Houston 131, Phoenix 115 Minnesota 104, Atlanta 90

New Orleans Dallas 104 NBA111,RESULTS Toronto 95, Portland 91 Denver 106, LA Clippers 102 Sacramento 102, Philadelphia 100

ALEX MALLARI, seen here being guarded

by Blackwater veteran Denok Miranda, rises to the occasion when Mahindra needed it most.

MALLARI RESCUES FLOODBUSTERS A

LEX MALLARI made sure Mahindra won’t end the holiday season winless.

The left-handed Mallari banged in a career-tying 23 points, hauled down 11 rebounds, dished out four assists and added four steals to gift the Floodbuster a thrilling 97-93 overtime win over Blackwater Elite on Christmas Day at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.

The Filipino-American wingman was at his best in the payoff quarter, firing nine points to help Mahindra stage a giant comeback from a 15-point deficit and force the extension period.

Mahindra then rode the momentum of its late-game fightback to finally barge into the win column after opening the Philippine Cup with five straight losses. Mallari’s scintillating performance earned him the last Accel-Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Press Corps Player of the Week for 2016, beating out the likes of Phoenix rookie Matthew Wright, Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar, Rain or Shine big man Jewel Ponferada and Blackwater freshman Mac Belo.

Known for his ability to slash to the basket, Mallari was on attack basket every time he sees a slight opening from Blackwater’s seemingly relaxed defense.

“The lanes were open so I kept attacking. Coach [Chris Gavina] kept telling me to attack so I attacked,” said Mallari, a four-time PBA champion who was traded to

with the football next to me that night and a few nights after until it got dirty for all mud and scrapings off our boots.

In these pre-Internet days, we only received our news via newspaper or the evening’s newscast. I would occasionally catch highlights on the news about the exploits of Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Neeskens, Kenny Dalglish and Gerd Muller, to name a few of the players who held me in thrall.

I memorized their moves in my mind and tried to mimic them on the pitch.

But the player I really tried to emulate was Brazil’s Roberto Rivelino—he of the devastating free kicks. And that is how I made my living—as a scoring defender.

Years later, when I had my eldest son, Matthew, a football was a great gift for him.

Seeing him play in the Ateneo Football Center (although he played goalkeeper) made my heart swell. And then my youngest son, Anthony, also fell in love with the sport.

We share many a weekend night watching matches.

Although I root for Liverpool, my youngest son’s fave team is Arsenal (although he does like Liverpool, as well). And in January, I

Mahindra in the off-season.

Mahindra will take a long break before swinging back to action on January 11 against Meralco at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

BEERMEN VS BOLTS

DEFENDING champion San Miguel Beer makes its move to sprint ahead of the standings as it battles Meralco, while GlobalPort goes for a share of second spot when it tackles Phoenix on Wednesday at the resumption of the Philippine Cup today at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City. The Beermen (4-1) are coming off a 10-day break when they tackle the Bolts (2-3) in the 7 p.m. main game. GlobalPort (3-2), on the other hand, takes on Phoenix (3-3), which is fresh from its 94-90 conquest of Meralco, at 4:15 p.m.

San Miguel Beer’s veterans waxed hot in a 26-point demolition of NLEX, 106-80, on December 17, with Alex Cabagnot catching fire by finishing with 18 points, and three-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo and one-time MVP Arwind Santos tallying 15 points apiece. The Bolts, meanwhile, are hardpressed to bounce back from that loss to the Fuel Masters last week, where they succumbed to a late-game meltdown and saw their 10-point advantage entering the final quarter disappear, as Phoenix rookie Matthew Wright delivered the goods in the stretch.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla bought him his first football jersey with a name on the back as a belated Christmas gift.

It was Olivier Giroud’s No. 12.

In 2011 I received two balikbayan boxes full of footballs, used spikes, training bibs and other football paraphernalia from some Australians. We distributed all of them to poor kids in Muntinlupa, Marikina and Tondo on Christmas Day that year. And I can remember how we were able to put smiles on many a kids’ face that day and afterward.

Last Christmas Day I gave away a football as a gift to a poor young kid who I have been helping out with his education. Right away he knew it was a ball. I felt a tinge of trepidation that he’d be disappointed that it wasn’t a basketball.

However, that was quickly dashed as he unwrapped it and saw the hexagons on them. There was an accompanying blue and white pinstriped jersey to go with it. All he said was, “Wow! Messi!”

Yes. Lionel Messi’s Argentina jersey. And the ball with those hexagons on them.

He put the jersey on and began kicking the ball around. The way his eyes lit up is all the thanks I will ever need.

Ah, the magic of a different Christmas ball.