Businessmirror February 01, 2019

FAKE GOODS HAUL IN 2018 AT RECORD HIGH OF P23.6B

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Deep into the Blue ‘C’

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

HE government captured P23.6 billion of pirated and counterfeit goods last year—an all-time-high record—on the back of strong police operations against fake cigarettes and alcohol.

The total haul of the interagency National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) in 2018 increased nearly 188 percent to P23.6 billion, from P8.2 billion in 2017. According to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), this was the best performance of the NCIPR since it was formed in 2008.

Confiscated fake cigarettes and alcohol amounted to P20.25 billion and

P3 million, respectively, and accounted for the lion’s share or almost 86 percent of the total haul.

Further, authorities captured P1.2 billion worth of counterfeit pharmaceutical and personal-care items, as well as knockoff handbags and wallets valued at P821 million. They were also able to seize P790 million of pirated optical media.

According to the IPOPHL, the case was far different in 2017, when consumer electronics made up bulk of the P8.2 billion of captured items.

Among enforcement agencies, the Bureau of Customs hauled in the largest stash of goods at P11 billion,

A broader look at today’s business n

Friday, February 1, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 114

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

B

@alyasjah

USINESS leaders are amenable to shelving the passage of the second fiscal reform bill until the next Congress, but said the reduction of corporate income tax (CIT) to 20 percent must be completed by 2024.

In interviews with the BusinessMirror, onshore and offshore investors conceded it will be a Herculean task to hurdle the proposed Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-quality Opportunities bill past the Senate under the 17th Congress. The measure,

called the Trabaho bill, could be put aside by legislators, as a number of them will need to focus on their campaign for reelection. Business leaders said they approve of delaying the passage of the Trabaho bill—even up until the 18th Congress—as long as enhancements are

introduced in the measure.

George T. Barcelon, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), wants the next set of legislators to hasten the reduction of CIT to five years from the proposed 10 years. If this proposal is heeded, CIT in the Phil-

“This [currentt version of the Trabaho bill] is supposed to be 10 years of reduction, [but we hope] when they [lawmakers] pick it up again, maybe they can accelerate the reduction and shorten the period in parity with other [Southeast Asian] countries.”—Barcelon

ippines should be at 20 percent as early as 2024, not 2029, as provided under the Trabaho bill.

“This [current version of the Trabaho bill] is supposed to be 10 years of reduction, [but we hope] when they [lawmakers] pick it up again, maybe they can accelerate the reduction and shorten the period in parity with other [Southeast Asian] countries,” Barcelon said.

He argued this is crucial if the government intends to put the country on a par with the tax and incentives regime of its Southeast Asian competitors. Firms in the Philippines pay the highest corporate tax in the region at 30 percent.

“Ten years [of CIT reduction] seems to be too long because the other [Southeast Asian] countries are making headway,” Barcelon added.

Citing the recommendation of his group, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Senior Advisor John D. Forbes said elected lawmakers of the next Congress should revamp the Trabaho bill. The CIT should be trimmed upon passage of the measure to 25 percent, and gradually down to 20 percent over the next five years, he asserted.

See “CIT,” A2

Bicam panel agrees on ‘re-prioritization’ funds’ cap at ₧200B

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

O break the impasse on the proposed P3.757-trillion General Appropriations Act of 2019, the Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to increase the cap of lawmakers’ fund “re-prioritization” to P200 billion from P50 billion.

House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. said February 6 is the deadline for the passage of the 2019 national budget.

Congress will take a break from February 6 to May 19, 2019, for the midterm elections.

“February 6 is the deadline. Contrary to some rumormongers on a reenacted budget. We have been saying since Day One, we are going to have a new budget” said Andaya, a cochairman in the bicameral conference panel on the 2019 budget.

According to Andaya, the two cha-bers are now working out where to source the P200-billion realignments in the budget, as well as the beneficiaries of the adjustments.

Andaya also assured the public that their respective realignments will be open for scrutiny, as several

₧10B

The unutilized Comelec funds and other savings from which, said Sen. Loren Legarda, the budget for the May election will be funded

critics branded their insertions as pork barrel.

Earlier, Andaya bared that senators introduced almost P190 billion in so-called insertions while the lower chamber has P51 billion under the proposed 2019 budget.

Abandonment

ANDAYA also proposed the abandonment of the one-year cashbased budgeting system as proposed in the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

Several lawmakers have expressed their opposition to the cash-based budget system of the Department of Budget and Management as it slashed budgets of key agencies under the proposed P3.757trillion national budget for 2019.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.3520

See “Bicam,” A8

2017 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 24 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

Delayed ‘Trabaho’ bill fine, but CIT must be cut faster–PCCI

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See “Fake goods,” A2

BusinessMirror

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followed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) at P5.3 billion and the Philippine National Police (PNP) at P1.4 billion. The Optical Media Board seized all of the pirated optical media, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) netted P5.8 million of goods.

Joint operations of the agencies, on the other hand, brought in P5 billion to the total haul.

The NBI, PNP and FDA filed a total of 143 cases in operating against pirated products. This was coupled with 82 arrests in relation to counterfeiting carried out by the PNP and FDA.

TAXPAYERS file income-tax returns at the Bureau of Internal Revenue District Office in Makati City. Key business leaders have said that, while they are open to suggestions to shelve the passage of the second fiscal reform bill until the next Congress, they want the timetable for the reduction of corporate income tax to 20 percent, in 2024, followed. FILE PHOTO

January inflation rate likely lower–BSP

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

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HE Philippines likely welcomed the New Year with a lower inflation rate, as consumer prices may have stabilized in January, according to the projection made by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

In its monthly statement on inflation outlook, the BSP’s Department of Economic Research said the January inflation rate may have settled within the 4.3 percent to 5.1 percent range.

The government will release official data on inflation and the consumer price index next week. If the rate falls within the BSP’s projection, it would be the third consecutive month that inflation decelerated after accelerating for 10 months in 2018.

In December, inflation slowed to 5.1 percent after November’s 6 percent and the peak of 6.7 percent seen in October and September last year.

The BSP said domestic oil-price hikes due to higher global petroleum prices, as well as the second tranche of the excise tax adjustment from the tax-reform law were the likely primary drivers of inflation for the month.

Also, higher fish and vegetable prices due to colder weather conditions and the annual adjustments in the excise taxes of alcoholic beverages under the “sin” tax law could result in additional upward pressures, it added.

However, the BSP noted that the upward pressures of these factors are likely to be partially offset by lower rice prices, downward adjustment in electricity rates and the slight appreciation of the peso.

“Looking ahead, the BSP will remain watchful of evolving inflationary conditions to ensure that the monetary-policy stance remains consistent with the BSP’s price stability mandate,” it said.

In its December monetary-policy meeting, the BSP Monetary Board decided to lower its inflation forecast to 3.18 percent for 2019 and 3.04 percent in 2020. The BSP also said it expects inflation to fall below 4 percent “around the end of the first quarter of 2019.”

The lower inflation path was the basis of Monetary Board officials to leave key policy rates unchanged during their December meeting.

The BSP’s target range for this year’s inflation is at 2 percent to 4 percent.

Palace confident Congress will pass 2019 budget

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

M

@BNicolasBM

ALACAÑANG is holding on to the promise of lawmakers that they will be able to approve the proposed 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA) by next week, as Congress is aware of the “dire” economic consequences of a reenacted budget.

The Palace also opposed calls to just stick to a reenacted budget, as this would hurt the economy and “severely” affect its infrastructure program dubbed “Build, Build, Build” (BBB).

Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said on Thursday that the failure of Congress to approve the P3.757-trillion budget

for 2019 would affect the government’s other social programs.

“This would translate to lost opportunities for higher growth as our economic managers are estimating a loss of 1 to 2.3 percentage points in the full-year GDP in the event that the 2019 budget will not be passed,” Panelo said in a statement.

“Our BBB infrastr ucture

projects would be affected. The ordinary Filipino would be the one greatly affected as there would be fewer openings of employment for him or her, not to mention lesser work productivity for those employed as a result of delays in the completion of badly needed transport and road network,” he added.

See “Budget,” A2

n JAPAN 0.4806 n UK 68.6125 n HK 6.6748 n CHINA 7.7956 n SINGAPORE 38.8598 n AUSTRALIA 37.9500 n EU 60.1053 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9594

Source: BSP (31 January 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, February 1, 2019

Govt eyes pre-allocation of sugar import volumes to keep prices low

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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

N a bid to reduce the production cost and prices of goods, the government is looking at preallocating import volumes per industry under its plan to liberalize sugar, the country’s trade chief said on Wednesday.

In a text message to the BusinessMirror, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said he is strongly in favor of overhauling the government’s import policy on sugar. He said industry users must be allowed to directly procure the staple from overseas to ensure stability of production cost and supply.

“We just have to manage the volume [of sugar imports], but approval and who can import must be liberalized to include end users and retailers,” Lopez said.

One mechanism the government is eyeing to put in place is the pre-allocation of import volumes per industry, according to Lopez, wherein the annual requirement of end users will be submitted before the year begins. However, he made clear this proposed scheme will still be discussed in the Cabinet.

Economic managers are planning to remove importation fees on sugar and strip the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) of its powers to control shipments in a move seen to bring down the cost of the sweetener.

Candy and biscuit makers on Wednesday agreed with this proposal, as they intend to win back their share in the local confectionery market. The Philippine Confectionery Biscuits and Snacks Association (PCBSA), a group comprised of 19 candy and biscuit producers, told the government now is the right time to permit manufactur-

CIT. . .

ers to freely import sugar.

Sales of confectioneries in the Philippines is valued at P30 billion annually, of which imported goods now account for 30 percent, or P9 billion, from 5 percent in 2010, according to PCBSA President Kissinger S. Sy. Sy argued that domestic producers are losing their market share largely due to the high retail price of sugar, which makes up 60 percent of a confectionery item. He also claimed sugar was priced P2,200 per 50 kilogram bag last week, almost 50 percent higher than the landed cost of the imported item at P1,500 per bag.

“For the last couple of years, PCBSA has been petitioning the government to allow its members to directly import sugar to be used exclusively to produce confectionery items,” Sy said.

“Food producers do not mind paying a 5-percent duty [the tariff rate of sugar imports from Southeast Asian economies], as the landed cost of imported sugar will still be very much lower than the price of domestic sugar.

This import duty can also be allocated and utilized by [the] government to solely fund pro jects and programs that will help sugar farmers,” he added.

Further, Sy said the liberalization of sugar will augment the sales of local candy and biscuit makers, which, in turn, will generate the

Continued from A1

Forbes also said legislators should redesign the Trabaho bill in such a way that it eliminates the risk of economic zone firms downsizing or leaving the country due to the overhaul of tax incentives.

“As with other important reform bills that have not been approved by the 17th Congress, the risk of delay [in passing the Trabaho bill] is slower improvement of the investment climate and the economy. When the 18th Congress convenes, there will be time to pass the Trabaho bill—hopefully, with enhancements being discussed between the DOF [Department of Finance] and BOI [Board of Investments],” Forbes said.

“Our recommendation is to reduce the CIT to 25 percent quickly and then gradually to 20 percent, so that 20 percent is reached over five years,” he added.

Euro firms agree EUROPEAN firms are also in favor of a faster reduction of CIT, according to the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP).

ECCP Executive Director Florian Gottein insisted, however, that the Trabaho bill be approved within the 17th Congress.

“Further delays in the passage of the Trabaho bill will prolong investors’ uncertainty in the Philippine market, [and] this may affect the competitiveness of the country both regionally and worldwide,” Gottein argued.

“Furthermore, we believe that the CIT reduction should be implemented as soon as possible—shorter than the 10-year timeframe that is provided under the current proposal. We, however, [maintain] that the passage of the Trabaho bill should be done immediately to address investors’ concern,” he also said.

The Trabaho bill will, on one hand, gradually lower CIT to 20 percent in 2029 from 30 percent, and will rationalize tax perks for locators on the other.

The measure was approved by the House of Representatives in September of last year, but has yet to make significant progress in the Senate. Senators have yet to deliberate on the bill again, as they are too occupied with approving the national budget for this year.

This, coupled with the upcoming elections that are expected to take up the time and attention of lawmakers, compelled Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez to concede it will be difficult to pass the Trabaho bill under the 17th Congress.

“Frankly, it looks unclear now. And if [the measure is] rushed, they might not be able to consider all the fine-tuning of provisions, and end up with a not-so-good law,” Lopez told the BusinessMirror.

Legislators resumed session on January 14, and will go on break again on February 8 to make way for the midterm polls.

The 17th Congress will then commence session for the last time on May 20. Sine die adjournment begins on June 8.

8 kilograms

The annual sugar consumption of each Filipino household needed funds for expansion and generation of employment.

The PCBSA chief also argued local confectionery items are largely purchased by low-income groups, who do not have the financial capacity to buy imported products.

This, Sy asserted, is enough reason to liberalize the staple, “as it is the masses that will ultimately benefit from reasonable sugar prices in the country.”

‘Bigger picture’

THE Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc. (Confed) said, however, that liberalizing the local sugar market would not benefit Filipino consumers, as industrial users will get the lion’s share of imports and use it to their advantage.

Confed Spokesman Raymond Montinola said household users only consume about 13 percent of the domestic sugar requirement, while the remaining volume goes to industrial users, such as beverage makers, and institutional consumers like pastry shops.

“So, if you look at the bigger picture, who benefits the most in liberalization? And household consumption is just around 7 to 8 kilograms a year per household,” Montinola said in a news briefing in Makati City on Thursday.

“So who is complaining the most? It is the industrial users because they account for a bigger chunk of sugar consumption. There is a misdirection of concerns on who benefits the most,” he added.

Citing the massive utilization by beverage makers of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) a few years ago, Montinola said the price of their products did not go down even if the raw material was way cheaper than local sugar. “So,

Comelec. . .

Continued from A8

Specifically for companies, which provided Internetrelated services, they will be required to inform Comelec EID on advertising agencies or candidates, who placed online political advertisement in their web sites.

While CR 10488 imposes reporting requirements for such Internet firms, it currently has no limitation as to the number or frequencies of political ads such companies could accommodate, unlike for traditional mass media like television, print and radio.

‘Right direction’

LEGAL Network of Truthful Elections (Lente) Executive Director Rona Ann Caritos lauded the release of the resolution since it will finally allow Comelec to properly monitor social-media spending for the elections.

Budget. . .

Continued from A1

The government is operating under a reenacted budget, at least for the first quarter of the year, as Congress failed to pass the proposed GAA before the end of 2018.

Panelo said the Executive branch has already done its part in the budgeting process as they “eagerly” await Congress to complete the process.

“The honorable members of Congress know of the dire consequences of a reenacted budget and we are appreciative of the statement made by some members of the bilateral committee that it will endeavor to pass the General Appropriations Bill next week,” Panelo said.

Fake goods. . .

Continued from A1

IPOPHL Director General Josephine R. Santiago attributed the NCIPR’s record-high capture to brand owners who were vigilant in going after manufacturers of fake products.

“In terms of enforcement, 2018 has proven to be a banner year with the NCIPR, spearheaded by [the] IPOPHL and [the] DTI [Department of Trade and Industry], capturing record levels of counterfeit goods. Consistent with the trend

nothing will change. Only [the companies’] profits.”

SRA board member Dino Yulo, who represents the planters’ sectors, opposed Secretary Lopez’s proposal to pre-allocate the volume of sugar to be imported among industrial users.

Citing the entry of an additional 150,000 metric tons of sugar last year, Yulo said the volume did not even make a dent in the retail prices of the sweetener because the imports were cornered by the industrial users.

“The importation program is part of the regulatory powers of the SRA. When prices shoot up, importation of sugar is one of the schemes being used to protect consumers so that prices will trickle down,” he explained.

“But prices will not go down if you will give the volume [of sugar] to biscuit makers, beverage makers and manufacturers,” he added.

The SRA and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol stood their ground and argued that any move to deregulate the agency would kill the local industry.

The SR A issued Resolution 2019-22, which reiterated the agency’s role in regulating the release of imported sugar in the domestic as a mean of protecting the local sugarcane farmers.

The SRA also clarified that it is also mandated to ensure stable sugar prices at a level “reasonably profitable to the producers and fair to consumers by balancing local production and the country’s sugar requirement.”

This mandate is exercised by the SRA by establishing domestic, export, and reserve allocations of sugar supply.

The government-owned and -controlled corporation attached to the Department of Agriculture noted that the Supreme Court has upheld the Court of Appeals’ decision that the SRA is not regulating the entry of sugar from abroad but only the release of imports to the domestic market.

“This is a good start. What is important is it [socialmedia spending] will now reflect in a candidates and political parties’ SOCE [Statement of Contribution and Expenditures],” Caritos told the B usiness M irror via SMS. She noted the timeliness of the release of the guidelines, especially since the rules were issued amid the increasing role of social media in determining the outcome of elections.

Some election observers and experts have attributed the victory of President Duterte in 2016 to his strong socialmedia following.

Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms Executive Director Ramon Casiple also welcomed the initiative of Comelec to regulate social-media use in elections, but he noted it could still be improved.

A major limitation of the new Comelec, he said, is that it is limited to domestic companies.

“They cannot regulate any foreign web sites. So they may have the authority but not the capacity,” Casiple said via SMS.

Despite global headwinds and the failure of Congress to pass the proposed budget in December, the government said it will continue to shoot for a GDP growth of 7 to 8 percent in 2019. The country’s economy registered a slower-thanexpected GDP growth in 2018 at 6.2 percent, below the government’s revised target of 6.5 to 6.9 percent.

Economic managers are on the lookout this year for risks from the trade tension between the United States and China, slowing global demand, higher tariffs, and protectionist policies that stifle investments and disrupt global value chains.

Other risks include tighter financing conditions in emerging markets due to the strengthening of the US dollar and rising risk premiums, as well as heightened geopolitical tensions. The Duterte administration is also targeting to reduce poverty to 13 to 15 percent by 2022.

we’ve seen all year, fake cigarettes and alcohol led this record haul—the formula for which we believe is the firm determination and vigilance of brand owners to pursue these counterfeiters,” Santiago said in a news release.

She said it was expected that counterfeiters will shift to the production of fake cigarettes and alcohol with higher taxes on sin products in place. The target this year, Santiago declared, is to charge in court these illegal traders. She said “bringing them to justice, coupled with the public’s active rejection of counterfeits, will complete the formula to sustain this crusade in 2019.” Elijah Felice E. Rosales

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Panelo: PHL must be thankful China built center on WPS

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

M

@BNicolasBM

ALACAÑANG on Thursday expressed gratitude after knowing that China constructed a maritime rescue center in the Philippine-claimed Kagitingan Reef in the West Philippine Sea. Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a Palace briefing that maybe the Philippines should be “thankful” since this will be “helpful” to those in distress.

“Maybe we should be thankful. I share the sentiment of Secretary Delfin [N.] Lorenzana that, ‘that could help seamen in distress in that area.

It can help everybody,’” Panelo said in a mix of English and Filipino. “That is why the position of the Department of National Defense is it will do nothing because, it will be helpful. It’s a distress center, meaning that will help to those who need help in that region.”

Panelo added that he “personally” believes “establishing a distress center is bad.”

According to a Chinese state media report, China’s Ministry of Transport opened the center to “better protect navigation and transport safety” in the South China Sea as well as to “offer better support to maritime rescue operations.”

While Panelo initially said this will not affect the country’s claim in the Kagitingan Reef, he also later on said that the government will always protest anything if it found that the maritime rescue center is being used

by China for other purposes.

But, for now, according to the government official, the government will give China the “benefit of the doubt” when asked if it believes that what China built was indeed a maritime rescue center.

These statements from the highest office in the land did not sit well with Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio and maritime law expert Prof. Jay L. Batongbacal.

Both urged the government to protest this move by China because

government’s inaction to this “will mean that the Philippines agrees to what China is doing in our territory.”

“We should protest because Fiery Cross Reef is part of the geologic features we claim in the Kalayaan Island Group,” Carpio said in a statement. “If we do not protest, then we impliedly consent to China’s act of putting up a maritime rescue center there. This means we are recognizing that China has a right to occupy and use Fiery Cross Reef.”

“Occupation and use are acts of sovereignty. This contradicts our claim that we have sovereignty over Fiery Cross Reef,” he added.

For his part, Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines’s Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said Panelo “falls openly and completely buys into China’s strategy.”

“He is looking at the maritime rescue center in isolation, overlooking that it is an integral part of China’s effort to establish effective civilian control and administration of the South China Sea. This is how China gains Philippines’s acquiescence,” he said in a text message to the BusinessMirror. “ The Philippines should protest this as a matter of principle because it is still a way by which China is unilaterally and incrementally taking away the rights and jurisdictions of other littoral states,” he added.

Beijing had also installed missile systems and electronic jamming equipment on the Spratly Islands.

As part of its independent foreign policy, the Duterte administration has since sought closer ties with China amid the territorial dispute. Critics have since pointed out that the administration are following this tack in exchange for investments and funding for its infrastructure projects.

The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration backed the Philippines when it issued the landmark decision invalidating China’s claims to the West Philippine Sea in 2016.

Pag-IBIG Fund wants to hike contribution of members

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

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HE Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) said it plans to increase its minimum member contribution rate from P100 to P150 by 2021, in line with addressing the financing gap between member savings and home loan takeouts.

In a news briefing on Wednesday night at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), HDMF, commonly known as Pag-IBIG Fund, said it believes the increase would also help its members save more funds.

Pag-IBIG Fund CEO Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said the financing gap is currently at P25 billion, coming from the P40.27 billion member savings and P75.31 billion home loan takeout recorded for 2018. Moti added Pag-IBIG Fund officials are still reviewing the move, taking into consideration the openness of members to an increase.

“If Chairman [Eduardo D.] del Rosario and my fellow members of the board of Pag-IBIG [Fund] will approve it, we can also encourage members to support an increase in monthly contribution because the monthly P100 contribution rate was set in 1982,” he explained. “So if it’s increased from P100 to say P150 or P200, there’s a counterpart savings; this is not premiums: it goes to each and everybody’s account.”

Del Rosario reiterated that the increase in contributions is to further strengthen the savings of its members, first and foremost, assuring the public that the proposal still takes into account the well-being of PagIBIG Fund members.

“Actually, we have discussed this during our previous board meeting and, if ever the demand will be so high [for home loans], then we might increase from P100 to P150; it depends,” Moti said.

“But remember, if ever we will increase from P100 to P150, it means savings for the members. It’s not a loss but actually a gain for them.”

He said they also do not see a problem “if we will make it P150, just to ensure that we can maintain the interest rate and we

can provide the best services that Pag-IBIG can offer.”

Pag-IBIG Fund data showed that member savings for 2018 indicated an increase of 11 percent, or P40.27 billion, from P36.27 billion in 2017. The fund also reported its highest home loan takeout for the year of about P75.31 billion, increasing by 16 percent from P65.1 billion in 2017.

Del Rosario said the implementation of the contribution rate increase, if there is a need, is being eyed to take place in 2021.

“We are thinking about 2021 if ever. We will see how the market grows and the demand and we will watch the trend for the housing sector. Maybe we will have some triggers and, if that happens, we will be ready by 2021 or 2022,” Moti said. “I think it’s better that we open this in the meantime so all the members will be aware of the possibility and they won’t be surprised.”

He explained that the increase in contribution rates to P150 will mean additional savings of P100 for members, with P50 coming from the members contribution and another P50 from employers, as the increase will also affect employers.

“For every peso [members] save it goes to their account with a counterpart,” Moti added. “So the additional P50 has a counterpart of P50 from employers. So it’s an instant P100; it doubled already.”

Meanwhile, Private Employees Representative Pedrito G. Angeles said the timing of the increase would be crucial in terms of implementing the contribution hike.

“Practically, it [Pag-IBIG Fund] serves efficient; so increasing the contribution, I think, is not yet the right time,”Angeles said.

“We are preparing for it, but not so soon because right now the fund is operating on its own funding efficiency.”

Crisostomo G. Gotladera, also a private employee representative, said he, likewise, favors increasing the rate since the mandate of the agency is to promote savings and housing funding availability.

“I think it’s all for good. One thing that can be a challenge to that are the employers, but when we explain to them the benefits on all sides for the whole economy of the Philippines, I think they will go for that small increase,” Gotladera said.

The Nation BusinessMirror

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BI readies charges against American linked to Davao pyramiding scam

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HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Thursday announced the arrest of an overstaying American allegedly behind a pyramiding scam syndicate operating in Davao City and other areas in Mindanao.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the suspect as James Edward Booyer III, 36.

Booyer was arrested in his residence at the plush Fairlanes Subdivision in Damosa District, Davao City, based on a mission order issued by the BI at the request of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

Duterte sought the immediate arrest of Booyer after receiving numerous complaints from Davao City residents whom he allegedly defrauded of large sums of money through his pyramiding scheme.

“We also received a report from the anti-scam unit under Mayor Duterte’s office regarding the results of its investigation into the nefarious activities of this American and his cohorts in the syndicate,” the BI chief said.

Morente said the Davao City government is expected to drag before the court the other members of the syndicates after it has gathered more evidence and built up its cases against them.

The BI chief said Booyer’s depor-

tation will have to wait until criminal charges are filed and resolved by the court. “He [Booyer] will be deported after he is convicted and has served his sentence,” Morente said.

Based on initial investigation, Booyer and his cohorts have formed several nongovernment organizations which they have used as fronts to dupe their victims of their hard-earned money.

Based on the complaint of one of the victims, the syndicate asked them to pay a P300 membership fee to one of the nongovernment organizations so they could purportedly avail themselves of P50,000 worth of groceries after two months.

They said other victims were duped to pay P650 each to the group after being promised with P50,000 worth of groceries, P35,000 cash and a motorcycle.

Another report also revealed that Booyer and his cohorts also deceived several members of the lumad tribe in Davao who were promised during a meeting that their lands would be explored for mineral deposits if they paid professional fees to the scammers.

Booyer has been found to be overstaying in the country for more than two years, as he failed to extend his stay since he arrived in August 2016. Joel R. San Juan

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, February 1, 2019 A3

Palace cites benefits of Manila Bay land-reclamation projects

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

M

@BNicolasBM

ALACAÑANG shrugged off calls from different groups to reject pending reclamation projects in Manila Bay, saying the country will stand to benefit from the project because it will create more jobs and generate bigger income for the government.

Seven party-list lawmakers have filed a resolution on Tuesday urging the government to suspend the Manila Bay rehabilitation program, as this could be prelude to the 43 reclamation projects covering more than 32,000 hectares in the bay under President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program.

The resolution was signed by

Rep. Ariel B. Casilao of Anakpawis, Carlos Isagani T. Zarate of Bayan Muna, Emmie A. de Jesus and Arlene D. Brosas of Gabriela, Antonio L. Tinio and France L. Castro of ACT Teachers, and Sarah Jane I. Elago of Kabataan.

But Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo sees no prob-

lem with the reclamation projects, as the government will even get a bigger share from the income that it will generate.

“When you cleanup Manila Bay, certainly all of us will benefit. Now with respect to reclamation, even the government will benefit from that because we get...65 percent, that is big. That will generate income to the government because of the sharing.

And that will generate jobs because they will be establishing structures there,” Panelo said in a briefing.

Moreover, Panelo said, most likely it is the businessmen who will volunteer to find a place for resettlement for squatter dwellers.

“Most likely, they [businessmen] will, because my experience is, if there is a problem with land ownership, they do not rely on the government anymore, they offer to resettle them. It is because it is profitable for them instead of letting the informal settlers file cases and prolong the process while the projects were on hold,” he said in a mix

of English and Filipino.

According to the lawmakers, the 265-hectare Pasay Harbor City joint venture involving Davaobased businessman Dennis Uy is included among the list of reclamation projects.

Uy was one of the campaign contributors of President Duterte.

Fernando Hicap, national chairman of Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya (Pamalakaya) also earlier criticized the government’s plan to relocate thousands of fishermen along Manila Bay. Pamalakaya has accused the government of “turning a blind eye” to the chemical and toxic wastes being discharged by industrial and commercial structures on a regular basis, as well as other government projects that are destructive to a marine ecosystem.

The group has also since called for genuine rehabilitation of Manila Bay in a form of mangroves restoration and rejecting all destructive projects such as land reclamation.

House aims approval of fare discount, ‘habal-habal’ bills next week CMMA to host dinner concert

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

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HE House of Representatives is aiming for the final approval next week of measures that will provide more affordable transportation for students, senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) and a bill that seeks to allow the use of motorcycles as an alternative public-utility vehicle.

The lower chamber has approved on second reading House Bills (HBs) 8884, 8885 and 8959.

These measures are expected to be approved on third and final reading next week.

HB 8884 seeks to expand the coverage of travel-tax exemption and provide a 20-percent traveltax discount to senior citizens and PWDs.

It provides that senior citizens and PWDs will be granted 20-percent discount on travel tax imposed on first class and economy class passages.

Meanwhile, HB 8885 shall institutionalize likewise the grant of 20-percent student fare discount privileges on public transportation.

The measures intend to provide additional benefits to these sectors of society.

Students, athletes, academic participants and pageant contestants, who bring honor to the country, shall also receive incentives through travel-tax discounts.

The measure on student fare discount seeks to empower students by enabling them to pursue education, helping to them acquire gainful employment, thereby

MMDA eyes another Edsa traffic experiment with ‘road diet’ proposal

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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HE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is eyeing to allocate a lane in Edsa exclusive to motorcycle riders, right next to the yellow lanes currently being used by public-utility buses.

Jojo Garcia, MMDA general manager, said this would be made possible once the so-called road diet proposal pushes through.

The road diet proposal seeks to reduce the width of the lanes along Edsa by up to 3 meters to create a new lane for motorcycles. At present, Edsa has five to six lanes, with an average of 3.5 to 3.7 meters width per lane.

“Even if we narrow the roadways, it is still safe for the motorists,” said Garcia after the Metro Manila Council (MMC) meeting in Thursday.

The existing motorcycle lane or blue lane along Edsa is nonexclusive, which means that private vehicles

may also use them.

During the MMC meeting, Metro Manila mayors approved the drafting of a resolution to study the road diet proposal.

The MMDA was tasked to conduct traffic evaluation studies to determine the appropriate speed for the proposed 3.05 meter lanes.

“A technical working group will be created. We shall also invite the stakeholders to know their take on the road diet plan,” Garcia said.

Based on the studies of the Department of Public Works and Highways, roads can be reduced to 3.05 meters.

Under the plan, Garcia said, Edsa roadways will be segregated accordingly: two lanes are exclusive to passenger buses, one lane for motorcycles and three remaining lanes for private vehicles.

Other ideas considered for the creation of new lane are wider sidewalks, pedestrian islands, crossways, bike lanes and green space.

securing their future.

The bill will amend Presidential Decree 1183, stipulating that traveltax exemption will now also include the following individuals: (a) students who represent their schools and the country in international sports tournaments and academic competitions, as well as (b) Philippine representatives to academic conferences and competitions, to international sports competitions, and to international beauty pageants.

Meanwhile, students shall receive 20 -percent discount on regular domestic fares of all public transportation utilities, including land, rail, sea and air. This will be granted upon the presentation of a duly issued and validated

identification card or current validated enrollment form that is supported by proof of identity.

The bill specifies that any individual who uses falsified identification documents shall be denied of these privileges and may be subject to civil and penal liabilities prescribed by law.

The privilege may be availed of during the entire period that the student is enrolled, including weekends and holidays.

Meanwhile, HB 8959 will amend Republic Act 4136, or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, to address the tremendous daily suffering of commuters because of the traffic congestion.

If approved into law, the ride application Angkas and habal-habal will be permitted.

with Cardinal Tagle on Feb. 4

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N line with the yearlong celebration of its 40th year, the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) is hosting a fund-raising dinner concert, entitled Dinner with the Cardinal: Sharing a Moment of Grace, on February 4, Monday, 6 p.m., at the Citystate Tower Hotel on 1315 A. Mabini Street, Ermita, Manila.

Manila Archbishop and CMMA Honorary Chairman Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle, together with the CMMA board of trustees, headed by Acting Chairman D. Edgard A. Cabangon, will welcome guests to the event, which will feature the Philippines’s premier soprano Rachelle Gerodias and her husband, Korean baritone Byeong-in Park.

Also performing at the fund-raising event are the One Voice Choir of

Back to square one on police hunt for suspects behind Sulu blasts

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

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HE Philippine National Police (PNP) said on Thursday that the four men earlier tagged by the government as “persons of interest” in the twin bombings in Jolo, Sulu, on Sunday have been removed from the list of possible suspects following their voluntary surrender on Wednesday to clear their names. “ The four men seen in the CCTV footages as persons of interest have been removed from the persons of interest [list] in relation to the bombings in Jolo, Sulu. They voluntarily went to the police and freely gave their sworn statements,” said PNP Spokesman Senior Supt. Bernard Banac during a news briefing on Thursday. “[That] shows they are not involved and they denied they have anything to do with the bombing of the cathedral in Sulu. Their

identities were verified and after investigation, it was proven that what they were telling [us was] true. They freely left the police station,” he added.

The four identified as Alshaber Arbi, 18, Grade 11 student at the Kalingalan Caluang National High School in Kalingalan Caluang, Sulu; Gerry Isnajil, a teacher from the same school; Alsimar Mohammad Albi, 24, resident of Purok 6, Barangay Bus-bus, Jolo; and Julius Abdulzam Albi, 17, resident of Zone 3, Barangay Takut-Takut, Jolo, voluntarily yielded to police and military officials in Sulu.

Arbi and Isnajil sought the help of Sulu Gov. Sakur Toto Tan II and Kalingalan Caluang Mayor Peping Halun, who accompanied them to the Sulu Provincial Police Office on Wednesday which took their statements.

Alsimar and Julius, on the other hand, sought the assistance of Hadi Undog, barangay chairman

of Bus-bus, who accompanied them to the headquarters of the Army’s 6th Special Forces Battalion, and which later turned them over to the provincial police.

The four were initially considered as persons of interest by the PNP after they were shown in the footages that were taken by a CCTV camera near the Jolo cathedral running away from the scenes.

Alsimar and Julius, however, told military officials that they went to a pharmacy to buy medicine for Alsimar’s mother who is confined at a hospital in Sulu.

The two claimed they ran away after hearing the initial explosion, which was followed by another blast, both of which killed at least 21 people and wounded more than 90 others.

Banac said that police and military forces were continuing their operations to get the perpetrators of the bombings, including an alias Kamah, who had been

QCPD releases sketch of killer in barangay chairman’s ambush slay

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UTHORITIES on Thursday released a facial composite illustration of one of the suspects in the killing of Barangay Bagong Silangan Chairman Crisell Beltran, who is seeking a congressional seat in Quezon City.

Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Director Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel, said the suspect was described to be in his 40s and has a height of 5’4” to 5’5.”

Santo Niño de Paz Greenbelt Chapel in Makati City, and the Light Side Movement Choir of San Felipe Neri Parish in Mandaluyong City.

Proceeds from the ticket sales of the dinner concert will be used to fund the Soup Kitchen for the Poor project of the CMMA, which aims to help our less fortunate countrymen.

The CMMA was established in 1978 by the late Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, then archbishop of Manila, and is considered the longest-running and most prestigious award-giving body in the country today.

T hou sa nd s of m a ss -med i a workers in the fields of print, radio, television, cinema, music and the Internet have received the award over the years.

The suspect is believed to be slim with fair complexion, black hair, and is clad in long sleeves, black jacket and long pants.

Esquivel said the illustration was based on eyewitnesses who were interviewed by police investigators.

He added that authorities are reviewing other closed-circuit television (CCTV) recordings that may help establish the identities of the suspects.

Meanwhile, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) head, Director Guillermo Eleazar, said Beltran’s killing can be considered as election-related violence (ERV).

“We all know that we are in the election period now, and Chairwoman Beltran was an elected barangay official and was running for congresswoman of the Second District of Quezon City. So we consider that electionrelated violence incident. Still, we have to

check what really is the motive for the killing,” Eleazar said in Filipino during a radio interview. He said the killing of Beltran was the first election-related violence in Metro Manila as no such incident has been recorded in the region in the past election periods.

While politics remains as the primary angle, Metro Manila’s top cop said they are not ruling out other motives as part of their investigation. PNA

tagged as the primary suspect.

Kamah is a member of the Ajangajang group of the Abu Sayyaf, the group that the military claimed was responsible behind the blasts.

“Our manhunt operation is continuing against those responsible in the bombing, especially against the ASG,” Banac said.

Banac also said the PNP initially believed that the first of the twin bombings, which occurred at the entrance of the cathedral was a suicide bombing.

“For now, there is no crater on the ground, it is up from the ground, that is why there is a possibility [that it is a suicide bombing],” the PNP spokesman said, citing the results of the initial probe. The investigation is continuing, Banac said.

President Duterte said the twin bombings were perpetrated by a couple, who were identified by reports as Yemenis, but Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said this is still being validated.

A4 Friday, February 1, 2019 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

Govt readies orders to revise customs fees rules, normalize container usage

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By Elijah Felice Rosales

HE government will issue a joint administrative order (JAO) that will overhaul rules on customs fees and charges in a move seen to reduce operating costs and improve logistics efficiency.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry, the JAO will be released in mid-February after subjecting it to public hearings. A joint memorandum circular between the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) will also be drafted to issue new rules intended to normalize the utilization rate of container depots in the Port of Manila back to 70 percent.

Under the JAO, the BOC will regulate and monitor all fees on empty container returns and charges of shipping lines.

Shipping lines will also be prohib-

ited from imposing fees in the Philippines. All charges will instead be listed under their freight and other origin charges.

BOC Deputy Commissioner Edward James Dy Buco said that they plan to make charges of container depots on a par with other countries to prevent shipping lines from abandoning their empty containers in the yards.

For laden containers, the JAO will remove the provision requiring the submission of Equipment Interchange Receipt (EIR) as a basis for the implementation of the 90-day rule.

Instead, the discharge date will

CAB may lower passenger surcharges amid decline in jet-fuel price, Arcilla says

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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@lorenzmarasigan

mid an anticipated continuous decline in the price of jet fuel this year, Philippine regulators are studying the possibility of lowering fuel surcharges currently being imposed by local carriers.

Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo L. Arcilla said there is a possibility that the fuel-surcharge component that airline charge per flight—now computed through a matrix set by the government—may be lowered by another level in February.

“There’s a possibility because fuel prices are going down. But we are monitoring the fuel prices every two months, so we’re going to get the average price for that period to determine the fuel surcharge. The next advisory is set to be released on February 15,” he said.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, the airline regulator lowered down the fuel-surcharge level from Level IV to Level III for the months of January and February, as jet-fuel prices averaged to $88.2 per barrel.

There are seven levels in the fuel-surcharge matrix, each defining how much the airlines can charge on a per-kilometer basis. Once jet-fuel prices averaged at P21 per liter and below, the fuel-surcharge component may once again be removed from airline charges.

A fuel surcharge is a temporary relief granted to airlines to help them recover losses incurred from higher jet-fuel prices. Fuel accounts for over 60 percent of the expenses of carriers.

Data from the International Air Transport Association showed jet-fuel cost was at $76.8 per barrel as of January 25, 9.7-percent less than the year-ago price. Jet-fuel prices averaged at $86.1 per barrel in 2018.

Jet-fuel prices last year reached it peak in September and started a downward trajectory through December. It increased slightly by the start of 2019.

“Hopefully, it will continue to decrease as fuel affects airfares,” Arcilla said. “Although it is erratic in the sense that sometimes fuel prices go up, the general trend is going down.”

be used as the start date.

The group is also looking into using abandoned containers for low-cost housing, evacuation centers, and cold storage facilities for fish ports.

To reduce the number of containers entering the port and improve efficiencies, the JAO will also allow shipments to pass through Batangas and Subic Ports, closer to their destination or consignees. This will also help locators of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) find a more efficient option than the port

of Manila.

After the issuance of the order, Secretary Lopez said that the DTI and concerned agencies will work on a roadmap for the logistics sector and provide a long-term plan to improve efficiencies and costs.

“Our ports, roads, and other infrastructure should be able to handle the added capacity brought about by our robust economic growth. Thus, we enjoin all concerned government agencies and stakeholders to share their insights to formulate a longterm solution.”

THE Port of Manila as seen in file photo. NONIE REYES

House panel questions delay on award of Parola land to squatter dwellers

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House panel is urging the Philippine National Railways (PNR) to waive its claim over a 1,000-square-meter property in Parola, Tondo, Manila, in favor of squatter dwellers.

Following an oversight hearing, House Committee on Housing and Urban Development Chairman Alfredo Benitez of Negros Occidental said the committee is now finalizing a resolution strongly urging the PNR Board to issue a waiver over its property in favor of urban poor residents at the Parola compound in Tondo, Manila.

Meanwhile, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in a news statement, asked the housing committee to see why 15 years after she issued Proclamation 581 which allotted a parcel of land in favor of residents in Parola, titles have yet to be awarded to qualified residents through the National Housing Authority (NHA).

The House panel intends to summon PNR Chairman Roberto Lastimoso to take part in the scheduled proceeding of the committee to explain his agency’s position on the matter.

According to Arroyo, the delay was mainly caused by the contention

on some parts of Parola that are said to be overlapping with the properties of the PNR and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

NHA District Manager Luz Evangelista told the committee that they were only waiting for the PNR to issue a waiver giving up its claim over the land.

But lawyer Anne Rachel Miguel of the Philippine National Police said the agency still has ongoing discussions with the Philippine Ports Authority on the Parola land issue.

“I have heard that response before, but when is the plan coming up?

That discussion has been going on for months, because every time somebody requests for something, it’s always been said that it’s being discussed,” Arroyo told NHA and PNR. On the part of the GSIS, Atty.

Jennifer Jimeno-Atienza noted that the agency still has to determine the socialized pricing of their property in Parola prior to its conveyance, which is a mandate of GSIS on property disposition for the benefit of their members.

For his part, Benitez directed the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council to finally come up with the pricing requested by GSIS.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

House adopts Senate’s Magna Carta of the Poor measure

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he House of Representatives has adopted a Senate Bill (SB) on Magna Carta of the Poor that seeks to alleviate poverty across the country with the help of the government and the private sector.

To fast-track the legislative process, the lower chamber has adopted SB 2121 as an amendment to House Bill 5811, or the proposed Magna Carta of the Poor, seeking to uplift the standard of living and quality of life of the marginalized and provide them with sustained opportunities for growth development.

The bill defines poor as families or individuals whose income fall below the poverty threshold as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and/or cannot afford in a sustained manner to provide their minimum basic needs of food, health, education, housing or other essential amenities of life.

Under the measure, the government shall establish a system of progressive realization or implementation to provide the requirements, conditions and opportunities for the full enjoyment of the rights of the poor, which are essential requirements toward poverty alleviation.

These rights comprise the Right to Adequate Food; Right to Decent Work; Right to Free, Relevant and Quality Education; Right to Adequate Housing; and Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Mental and Physical Health.

The bill mandates government agencies to formulate the National Poverty Reduction Plan, a comprehensive and convergent plan to set the thresholds to be achieved by the

government for each of the basic rights of the poor. The NPRP shall consider the regional and local development plans of provinces, cities and municipalities.

It said the Nationa l A ntiPoverty Commission, with the technical assistance of the Neda, shall be tasked to compile and harmonize these plans, while the Department of Budget and Management shall review the NPRP for inclusion in the budget of the implementing agencies.

Private sector

The bill said private-sector participation is highly encouraged in the financing and implementation of poverty-alleviation programs and projects.

It said the government agencies implementing these programs shall be authorized to accredit development partners, who may accept donations, aids or grants, in cash or in kind, from duly accredited sources, to meet the demands of and uphold the basic rights of the poor.

Acceptance and use of donations, aids or grants shall be transparent and subject to government applicable regulations, it added.

The measure emphasizes that the government shall implement these provisions in accordance with a system of progressive realization or program of progressive measures over time.

Programmatic standards shall be set by the government and shall be achieved over time, taking into consideration the availability of necessary resources and economic constraints. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

No money-making schemes during bay rehab, DENR exec reminds employees

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) official on Thursday warned department employees against engaging in money-making schemes amid the ongoing massive rehabilitation of Manila Bay. Environment Undersecretary Benny D. Antiporda said DENR employees should thoroughly inspect commercial, industrial and residential establishments and identify those that fail or do not meet environmental standards.

Aside from violators of the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, the Manila Bay Inter-Agency Task Force is set to enforce the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 and Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999.

“Let us admit it. It is during this time that unscrupulous employees will try to engage in extortion activities. I am warning them now.

Don’t. And to those who are being victimized by these unscrupulous government employees, just let the task force know and we will act on it. Personally, they can also inform me and I will make sure that these employees are arrested,” Antiporda, DENR’s undersecretary for solid waste management and local government units told the BusinessMirror.

On Wednesday, the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) dispatched 14 teams of inspectors to gather water discharge samples in Pasay and Manila.

Aside from implementing Republic Act 4850, or the LLDA law, the agency is also of the implementing agencies of the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004. Its jurisdiction, the Laguna de Bay region, overlaps with that of Manila Bay, because of its mandate over establishments that discharges wastewater in various rivers, creeks and esteros.

LLDA General Manager Jaime C. Medina said the teams, all armed with mission orders, have been given instructions to get water samples from the outfalls to determine whether an establishment’s effluent

passes environmental standards.

Specifically, for the Manila Bay rehabilitation, the effluent must pass the SB level water quality, the parameters of which include at most, a 100 most probable number (MPN) per 100 milliliters when it comes to fecal coliform.

New DENR field offices

ENVIRONMENT Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, meanwhile, has bared the creation of four new field offices to strengthen the enforcement of various environmental laws in Metro Manila.

Cimatu said the move is aligned with the Duterte administration’s effort to make government services more accessible to the people, particularly in the National Capital Region (NCR), which is home to about 12 million people.

“The creation of the four field offices in the DENR-NCR aims to strengthen the enforcement of environment and natural resources laws and promote focused and area-based operations,” Cimatu said in a news statement.

“Thus, this brings the programs, projects, and services of the Department closer to the public,” he added.

At the same time, Cimatu said the new field offices would enhance coordination between the DENR and other agencies, including local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila, which were tasked by the Supreme Court to clean up the heavily polluted Manila Bay. Each field office would have separate jurisdiction over the region’s 16 cities and one municipality.

The DENR-North Metro Manila Field Office would cover the Camanava area, or the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela. The South Metro Manila Field Office would have jurisdiction over the cities of Taguig, Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Muntinlupa, and the lone municipality of Pateros.

Quezon City, Marikina City and Pasig City would fall under the East Metro Manila Field Office, while the cities of Manila, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati and Pasay would be covered by the West Metro Manila Field Office.

The World

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Friday, February 1, 2019

A5

Xi’s tough talk on Taiwan backfires

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AIPEI, Taiwan—Chinese President Xi Jinping sought to push Taiwanese closer to unification with a New Year speech mixing carrots and sticks.

That hasn’t panned out. Instead, his independence-leaning Taiwanese counterpart, Tsai Ingwen, has enjoyed a surge in support following a brutal drubbing of her political party in local elections last year, according to public opinion surveys and interviews.

The residents of this self-governing island, with its vibrant and well-established democracy, are as much inclined as ever to resist China’s demands despite rising political, economic and military threats from Beijing.

X i ’s offer to Taiwan “ is a to tal scam,” said Kuo Lin-han, 26, a Chinese Cu lture Universit y student in Taipei.

Kuo was referring to China’s proposal of a “one country, two systems” arrangement that Xi renewed in his January 2 speech, under which Taiwan would accept Chinese sovereignty while being allowed to retain its own economic and legal systems.

That’s based on the framework Hong Kong was granted when it reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, an arrangement that has become increasingly frayed as Beijing expands its political influence in the former British colony.

Jarringly for many Taiwanese, Xi mixed his outreach with a reminder that Beijing had no intention of dropping its threat to use military force to bring the island under its control.

Xi’s speech was seized on by Tsai, who went on a four-day media blitz in Taipei that appears to have significantly bolstered her support among voters.

In a telephone survey published on January 21 by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation, 34.5 percent of the 1,074 respondents gave her a thumbs-up, an increase of about 10 percentage points from after the November elections. Two-thirds said they want Taiwan to continue its self-rule or declare formal independence.

Separately, the Taiwan gover n ment ’s M a i n l a nd A f f a i rs Council found in a January 17 survey of 1,078 people that 75.4 percent oppose “one country, two systems,” 74.3 percent dispute

the “one China” condition for formal dialogue and 77.2 percent oppose China for holding pledges that it could use force against Taiwan if needed.

Both polls had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

“The most important thing is that Xi Jinping made the speech on Taiwan and Tsai Ing-wen gave a rare response, which received a high level of support,” foundation chairman You Ying-lung said. “The China factor helps her come out of a trough.”

Younger Taiwanese have a firm sense of local identity that stands in the way of China’s idea for unification, said Wu Yi-hsuan, 27, an energy science and engineering doctoral student.

“We want to be Taiwanese Taiwan rather than Chinese Taiwan,” Wu said, referring to the terminology Beijing often uses for the island that many consider condescending. “Regarding the fact that the People’s Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan for a second, this [two systems] policy of China’s is more an invasive, aggressive and offensive one.”

China ruled Taiwan loosely under the former Qing dynasty and the island was made a Japanese colony in 1895. Handed over to Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists at the end of World War II, it split again from the mainland in 1949 during the civil war with the Communist Party under Mao Zedong.

The Communists have regarded Taiwan since then as a breakaway territory that must eventually be brought into the fold. Many commentators say they believe Xi sees that as his historical mission, prompting major increases in China’s military budget and renewed pressure on the island, including cutting off contacts with Tsai’s government.

China’s huge economy and global clout may have some effect, but most Taiwanese are unimpressed with how Beijing has followed through on its earlier pledges, said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of the think tank Chinese Council of Advanced

Policy Studies.

“Hong Kong is totally controlled by mainland China,” Yang said.

“Even though they have their autonomy, they have limited freedom, and certainly there is no democracy in Hong Kong, as far as Taiwanese are concerned.”

“I feel that the China government is unpredictable, especially after Lee Ming-che was taken away by them,” said Catta Chou, 30, a worker in a nongovernment organization, referring to a Taiwanese citizen sentenced in China in 2017 to five years in pr ison for spread ing pro democracy information.

“China is definitely crazy,” Chou said.

Despite such sentiments, China is unlikely to come up with a new proposal in the immediate future, said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate with the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, D.C. Beijing’s leaders “know how unpopular the proposal has been and will be,” Sun said. “But before they have a good alternative, this is and will be the biggest deal for them.”

Voters had complained before the November 24 midterm elections that Tsai had either grown too distant from China to build economic ties or hadn’t stood up enough to Beijing’s military and diplomatic pressure.

Though she won the presidency by a landslide in 2016—largely due to concerns about China’s influence—and her Democratic Progressive Party received its first-ever legislative majority, Taiwanese voters have in the past shown a willingness to try new approaches.

Many in the business community are already urging Tsai to climb down from her refusal to meet Beijing’s “one China” demand, largely as a way of easing pressure on the island. “‘One country, two systems’ could bring more people in and out, and this is good,” said dried fruit merchant Yu Chen-ching, 65. “Otherwise, no one wants to visit Taiwan, and it’s not good for the economy.”

Economic concerns could cause Tsai’s popularity to fade before her party faces the 2020 presidential race, said Alex Chiang, international relations professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

“Because she’s president, she has to be firm on her position toward China, but in reality, Taiwan still has to do business with China,” Chiang said. AP

PROTESTERS FILL STREETS OF VENEZUELAN CAPITAL

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ARACAS, Venezuela—Venezuelans of every age, class and profession poured into the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that President Nicolas Maduro step down and to express their support for the young opposition leader who has declared himself interim president.

Dressed in suits, scrubs and jeans, they waved the national flag, displayed signs and chanted slogans. One disgusted vendor threw devalued national currency into the air.

Protesters who made an appearance were heeding a call from opposition leader Juan Guaido to stage mass demonstrations despite crackdowns on previous protests.

Marching outside an office building on the eastern side of the city, Evelyn Melendez carried a red-and-white sign that read, “No more dictatorship,” and sang songs opposing Maduro.

Melendez said she lives in a working-class neighborhood at the opposite end of the city, but she is too afraid to protest near her home, because in her neighborhood she has already been beaten up by government supporters for canvassing for an opposition party.

“Things are very tough here,” said the 23-yearold Melendez, who wore a black T-shirt and baseball

cap. “People are dying of hunger and over the lack of medicines. We hope that Maduro, the usurper, steps down from the presidency and stops causing harm to our people.”

Leyda Brito turned up at one of Wednesday’s protests wearing a red helmet with the number 647. It stands for the number of days that have passed since a group of pensioners was gassed by Venezuelan police during a protest in 2017.

Brito, 60, said she is struggling to live off her pension, which is roughly $10 a month. She said she was particularly frustrated by the Venezuelan government’s refusal to accept international humanitarian aid.

“Maduro is a tyrant,” Brito said. “We need a transition here and we need free elections.”

A woman who identified herself as Josefina arrived at one of the protest points in Caracas holding a thick wad of bolivar bills.

The notes were issued early last year by Venezuela’s Central Bank but hyperinflation has rendered them worthless. Josefina, who lives in a hillside slum and works as a street vendor, threw the green bills up in the air in protest, as she screamed out chants against Maduro’s government.

“This money is worth nothing,” said Josefina, who declined to give her last name for fear of

repercussions from the government.

“Our military needs to man up and take the peoples’ side,” she said, referring to the military’s ongoing support of Maduro.

Josefina is hopeful that the economy will improve if Guaido becomes the country’s president.

“Maduro has no support in my neighborhood,” she said.

Construction company owner Pedro Cruz attended a walkout on Wednesday with a halfdozen of his employees.

Carrying a large Venezuelan flag, Cruz said further repression of protests was likely in the upcoming days, but he is hopeful that the United States and more than two dozen other countries supporting Guaido will be able to put pressure on Maduro and force him to hold transparent elections.

“We have been under the occupation of Cuba for too long,” Cruz said, referring to the country’s close ties to the communist-run island. Cuba’s late president Fidel Castro traded favors and sustained a long friendship with the late socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

“But we have to be optimistic,” Cruz added. “We have the support of many countries, and that could help us reach a solution.” AP

A6 Friday, February 1, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Japan: PHL’s most important ally?

W more crucial.

HILE most of the emphasis has been on foreign relations with the United States and China—and to a lesser extent with Russia—relations with Japan may even be

Last year, President Rodrigo R. Duterte made statements to the effect that regarded Tokyo as Manila’s friend—“closer than a brother.” This was a bit of a follow-up to a 2017 event when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Davao City. Further, this was followed

by President Duterte’s Japan visit in October 2017, where the landmark Philippines-Japan Joint Statement on Bilateral Cooperation for the Next Five Years was read. That year, Duterte also visited the Imperial Couple, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

Much conversation followed the loan agreements with Japan that offered virtually “zero” interest rate, in comparison to the rate charged by China. While this was an inaccurate comparison because of the difference in the size and terms of the loans, it nonetheless made an important point. However, a week ago, loan agreements were finalized worth P98.7 billion for two projects that seek to improve flood-control management in Metro Manila and integrate a three-way commuter rail system.

Each nation has a vested interest in the other and can mutually benefit from closer ties. Over the years, bilateral trade between the two nations has been volatile, but Japan is our second-largest buyer after the United States. Japan is the third-largest seller of goods to the Philippines.

Trade, though, is only one factor in international relations these days against the backdrop of global politics. This week a Japanese destroyer docked in Manila. Under the Duterte administration, there seems to be more courtesy calls by foreign navy ships, and each call is important. Capt. Mardonio Navarro of the Philippine Navy said that both countries are looking to take their bilateral relationship “to the next level.” Capt. Ryoko Azuma, commander of the Japanese Escort Division One, said a joint military exercise will improve ties and “contribute to regional stability.”

Azuma also said that Japan’s visit and meetings with the Philippine Navy have nothing to do with China. She continued: “We have no specific message to any nation. Japan is now committed to the vision of freedom and opening of the Pacific.” That is obviously a polite way of reaffirming that Japan does stand with the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea situation. We need that.

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said: “America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.” That concept may seem rude and ruthless. But that came from British statesman Lord Palmerston, who wrote, “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual.”

The Philippines’s best long-term interests are served by cultivating strong relationships with neighbors in the region, as well as foreign powers across the seas. The Philippines has always had one foot in the West and one in Asia. It is time to recognize that as one of our strengths.

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Let users sell their data to Facebook Leonid Bershidsky

BLOOMBERG

I

T’S easy to be outraged by the revelation that Facebook has been paying users between the ages of 13 and 35 up to $20 a month to allow practically unlimited access to their smartphone usage data. But outrage about the social-media giant is so 2017. The latest dubious practice could be an opportunity to consider a more finely tuned business model than the one Facebook uses today.

According to an investigation by Josh Constine for TechCrunch, the young users are paid for installing an app called “Facebook Research,” offered through the beta-testing services Applause, BetaBound and uTest, not directly by Facebook. The app asks users to install a root certificate, which gives Facebook access to pretty much everything the phone contains, from private message exchanges to location data. This sounds like spying on young people who may not understand what they’re allowing, and appears to contradict Apple’s app store policies. After the TechCrunch report came out, Facebook said it would remove the app from the store; it would still be available for Android phones, though.

In a statement, Facebook said the users knew what they were doing; they’d given their permission and taken the money, and the 5 percent of the participating users who were teens had all provided signed parental consent forms.

I’m not going to split hairs about

whether Facebook made crystal clear to the users (and to the parents who signed these forms) what level of access they’d be providing. Facebook has a poor record of explaining how much data it collects and how. That, however, is a moot point for what I’d like to suggest.

In the wholesale market for personal data, companies trade or use our information to target advertising. The average value of an active user to Facebook, based on its most recent earnings release, reached about $2 per month in the third quarter of 2018; in the United States and Canada, it was about $9.20. The more precisely data can be targeted to a user, the more that user is worth.

Clearly, a person’s data can’t be worth more to an ad-driven business than the ad revenue that person can bring in. So $20 a month shouldn’t seem a paltry sum for running the Facebook Research app, even if the highly granular data that is collected don’t just improve targeting precision but also help the giant find

start-ups to acquire or outcompete.

The problem is that, while a wholesale market for personal data exists, a retail one doesn’t. That’s a shame.

The actual owners and real-time producers of data—we the people —should have a say in how much our information is worth.

Companies that make money from online advertising should give us an explicit opportunity to sell them our data. The incentive for companies would be that users who sell their data would sign away their privacy through a simple waiver. Like the participants in the Facebook research program, they’d knowingly let the social-media site get everything it can from their phones. I, imagine quite a few people would agree because they already police their phone use so as to have few secrets. Many employers install tracking apps on company phones.

Young people, too, might attach relatively little value to their routine communications, Internet and app use data.

Such contracts, of course, would make it necessary for other users to be able to cut off communications on the platform with people who are giving up their data for cash: Message exchanges with them would be exposed. That, however, can be solved with a single checkbox in the settings.

With a broader base of paid users giving up all their data, Facebook could fine-tune its ad-targeting techniques, make better inferences about its entire universe of users and perhaps even run behavioral experiments that otherwise would be considered unethical. It would have

blanket permission for all that in exchange for a fee that would, in the end, be determined by the market.

The users who don’t want to participate could remain in the free layer, based on the same rules that determine Facebook’s data collection today. They would still give up some data—as much as Facebook can trick them into releasing. And they’d see more or less precisely targeted ads based on their settings.

I’m also in favor of introducing a third, subscription-based layer, for which Facebook would guarantee no data collection and no ads. The subscription fees could offset the money paid to people selling their data; theoretically, the point at which this happens would set the market-clearing retail price of our Web privacy.

Introducing the three layers would go a long way toward fixing Facebook’s regulatory problems: It would be hard to argue with a market-based mechanism for setting privacy levels. At the same time, it would allow the company to retain an advertising-based business model, which Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has said he prefers to a subscription-based one. Many users, after all, would prefer to stay in the free layer on today’s terms.

Facebook has often objected to regulation, arguing that it would stifle innovation. The company should take a more innovative approach both to people’s privacy preferences and to its business model. Instead of apologizing for one privacy invasion after another, it should give users a way to decide how much they value their data.

Stop hating on the modern weather forecasts

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By Faye Flam | Bloomberg Opinion

EOPLE love to hate weather forecasts, though it’s getting a lot harder to find fault. Forecasts gave plenty of advance warning that Chicago would see a bitter high of around -12 on Wednesday, and lows on Wednesday night comparable to a bad day in Antarctica. Public officials closed schools and issued warnings, and police saved lives by combing the streets for homeless people before the worst hit.

Today, a five-day forecast is just as accurate as a one-day forecast was in 1980, giving us more time to prepare—or overreact and panic. Weather watchers in the Northeast have seen this week’s cold snap coming for days. Storms are now forecast within a range of 50-some miles and timed to within a couple of hours. An icy storm that hit the Northeast on January 20 was in the forecast before it even existed anywhere, said Richard Alley, a geosciences professor at Penn State University and coauthor of a

new paper in Science on weather prediction. There’s even more room to improve, he said. Better forecasts save money—on plows and road salt, on crops and on making sun and wind energy more predictable.

Sometimes forecasts can have even bigger consequences.

Historians say D-Day might have gone very differently if weather had followed the German forecast for storms rather than the Allies’ more accurate forecast of fair skies and calm seas. Bad weather thwarted Napoleon and later Hitler in attempts

to defeat Russia. Lost explorers over the ages might have planned differently. Ernest Shackleton might have avoided getting his ship locked into the Antarctic ice.

A century later, I take advantage of forecasts those early explorers couldn’t have dreamed of. I plan many of my weekends around sailboat races, and here in Rhode Island, there are at least four venues where people race all winter. Even a week ahead of time, I can get a reasonable estimate of temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction. We don’t go out if the forecast shows anything life threatening.

It makes sense that weather is inherently more predictable than, say, the economy. Ultimately, weather does reduce down to basic laws of physics—Newton’s laws, the Coriolis effect and the like, said Alley. The limiting factor is the complexity of the system: To build a good model you have to take into consideration,

where there’s ocean, where all the mountains are and even where corn fields grow in the Midwest.

And even then, there’s a problem, which was laid out in James Gleick’s 1987 book Chaos. Mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz discovered that while the physical world is in principle deterministic, in reality minuscule changes in initial conditions can lead to big differences in weather.

Consider Lorenz’s famously titled 1972 talk: “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”

Alley said that, indeed, there’s a limit on the accuracy and range of weather forecasting, but since the 1970s, it went from mediocre to amazing. He chalks up the improvements to additional satellites and other data-collecting devices, more powerful computers to crunch the data, and improved models.

See “Flam,” A7

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Friday, February 1, 2019 A7

The Fed’s global fear that Online technology and things that were once there dares not speak its name

C

By Daniel Moss | Bloomberg Opinion

Tito Genova Valiente

HINA has gone from a boon to world growth to a source of fragility. The policy response, driven mainly by Beijing and the Federal Reserve, is likely to be equally global in nature.

The Fed took a big step on this front on Wednesday, scrapping a preference to hike interest rates, citing global economic and financial conditions and waning price pressures. The principal worry is China and the weakness and deflationary pressures it’s exporting. China isn’t mentioned directly in the Federal Open Market Committee’s statement; it’s there in all but name.

Slackening conditions are seen in a raft of manufacturing and trade measures, especially but not exclusively in Asia. More bad news came on Thursday with a gauge of Chinese manufacturing again showing a contraction. South Korea’s factory sentiment number, released earlier in the week, tumbled.

The emerging policy result, chiefly in the monetary arena, maps out as a long pause or tilt toward easing from the Fed, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan. In China itself, officials have undertaken about 60 easing steps since the middle of last year, according to Cornerstone Macro Llc. Unlike an open-slather cut in interest rates such as the ones China unleashed from 2014 to 2015, these have been targeted at striking at least some kind of balance between stimulus and debt sustainability. Lately, they have erred more on the side of stimulus. They’re not exclusively monetary, either, encompassing tax cuts, lender reserve relaxation and so on. They do add up.

Outside China this means greater attentiveness in central bank statements to “global” factors, which seems like a euphemism for Asia’s biggest economy. Just look at the Fed’s evolving use of the word: The Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) abandoning of “some further gradual increases” in favor of mere “adjustments,” was preceded by the clause “in light of global economic and financial developments and muted inflation pressures.” (I wrote here in December about how the term has figured in Fed verbiage over the years.)

A look at the FOMC’s previous

Flam. . .

continued from A6

He uses the game show Wheel of Fortune to show how forecasts work in the face of the butterfly effect.

The wheel is divided unevenly into segments, so right off, you can calculate how often over many spins it will hit, say, the skinny milliondollar-jackpot segment. That’s why long-term climate patterns are easier to forecast than the weather on any given day.

A single spin, or a single day, is hard to predict, but as the wheel starts to slow down, you can start to guesstimate where it will land—just as the weather forecasts for a particular race day are more accurate as the day comes closer. The models are so good, he said, that once you figure in all the topography, the atmospheric density and Earth’s rotation, you don’t have to add in the gulf stream.

The laws of physics predict there will be a gulf stream. They also predict there will be a semi-periodic current pattern called El Niño, as well as long-term global warming. (Alley also sings about the concepts here in a music video.)

In his book The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver discusses the same idea using a coin toss, which is essentially a deterministic physical phenomenon. If a machine flips a coin exactly the same way, it will get a dependable outcome. But when we humans toss a coin, it behaves randomly because the outcome depends on tiny variations in its trajectory. His weather chapter was

statement shows a stark contrast.

On December 19, the Fed said it would “continue to monitor global economic and financial” conditions.

In the space of about six weeks, this has gone from something relatively passive to almost a justifying clause.

And what’s being justified is a big shift, an effective declaration that rate cuts are just as possible as hikes.

Monetary fraternities are reluctant to openly criticize each other or be seen to finger fellow members of the club. Sure, Brexit (sigh) and Italy often come up in remarks, but given China contributes about 27 percent of global growth, make no mistake about what’s really important.

These steps don’t appear to be the product of some secret accord. This isn’t a 2008-style crisis; more like policy responding to some shared concerns.

The 2015 and 2016 period is more instructive because there are signs we are replicating it: China is easing and conditions are pushing the Fed to shelve rate hikes that had been penciled in only last month. The Fed went into both 2015 and 2016 projecting four increases apiece. It eked out one each, in December of both years. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has spoken, almost with nostalgia, about the risk management during that period.

Don’t central banks have domestic mandates? Of course. They also have come to see more clearly that what happens in China ricochets through the commercial life of their home country.

China’s woes could slice world growth to 2.3 percent, according to Oxford Economics, the slowest since the financial crisis and in the territory generally defined as a global recession. The IMF reckons that red line is about 2.5 percent.

For context, latest IMF numbers project growth of 3.5 percent this year and 3.6 percent in 2020. We are quite a distance from the precipice.

Central banks, however their stances are presented, want to keep the ship from steering close to the edge. excerpted in a New York Times magazine story called “The Weatherman Is Not a Moron.”

That was back in 2012, but already there were huge improvements. Silver attributed this to better computers and more data, as well as better estimates of uncertainty. Sometimes the weather people are sure, sometimes not so sure. But saying so, he laments, has its cost: In a time when forecasters of all types make overconfident proclamations about political, economic or natural events, uncertainty is a tough sell. It’s much easier to hawk overconfidence, no matter if it’s any good.

That’s a long-standing problem for many kinds of scientists. People might wrongly equate honesty about uncertainty with being wishy-washy.

But there are objective tests of predictions. So-called superforecasters (who win forecasting tournaments) say that understanding their own uncertainty is critical.

People probably won’t stop complaining about the weather forecasts, said Alley, because even missing the mark by a degree or so can mean the difference between snow and rain. It’s also improved so slowly that it’s been hard to see. What’s all this worth in dollars and cents?

Alley cited several papers, listing the benefits of weather forecasting and estimating that spending on weather forecasting technology can deliver a much greater return on investment. But to get specific there, you’ve got to factor in humans and the economy, which are not nearly so predictable.

ANNOTATIONS Loss is a magical preservative.—Eva Hoffman

T

HERE is a closed group online, which bears the name: Memories of Naga and Bicol. It was set up by Alfred Vergara Yrastorza, with Maria Clara Badong Archeta, Francis Peña and Itos Gavino as moderators.

The invite to the group is simple: “Welcome to Memories of Naga and Bicol.” It asks members to recall, to remember events, places, people.

“Share relevant pictures, memories of places that were once there.”

Loss, like the concern of those who write about the past, runs like an inspired verse across the pages of the group site. The past is the charming key to the discussion in this site.

A photo of a group of doctors of medicine in the few years before the Second World War creates a long thread fueled by memory and love.

Who is that man in dapper suit and bow tie? Wasn’t he our great-grandfather? a young Filipina living across the ocean asks the question. But in asking, she pulls in another cousin and an aunt to help in the remembering. Mistakes are made but members laugh over them: yes, that one in dark suit must be my grandfather.

Another photograph is posted; the year has moved from 1935 to 1945.

For someone not having any relation to anyone in the photo, the curiosity is never diminished. Oh, they are all well-dressed. Was this near the end of war? Or, has the war ended.

Old photos of old churches abound. Wooden homes when wood was a favored element in architecture tells us the world has changed indeed.

Dirt roads and cowpaths meander across towns whose identities will never be revealed unless there are markings on the frames. The images disclose how fast many of our monuments, structures and artefacts deteriorate. The obverse is also true: there are many sites that have remained the same all these years.

What makes the closed group interesting (and this is what is keeping me in the site) are its rules. Ads are not allowed and the members are asked not to post links to commercial sites. That is the first rule.

The second rule is: No promotions or spam. The administrator speaks: Give more to the group than what you take from it. The third says: No politics or endorsement of any sort.

The last rule is basic: No bad words; no obscene photos.

There had been questions posed against the rules. In another domain, the questions can be true or basic— what is bad to you may not be bad to others. Some would contend that the past was not exactly rosy for many or for some. No one disputes this. I

don’t think the closed group would even counter against that but here lies the wellspring of charm (and enchantment) for this closed group: the past does come through memories. Each one has a right to his or her own memory. But if you allow the old politics to play itself in the most gruesome way, then members will pit their memories of one event or a person against the memories of another or others of that same event or person.

What I thought would make this site boring is what makes it terrific and outstanding: the absence of debates and disputes. Again, there was one or two instances, I believe, where one member questioned one member about the “grammar” of his post but that disappeared in the buoyancy and festivity of the undertaking. If one, therefore, wants to grapple with other self-declared online experts, one can always go to the many sites of culture and engage in mighty and mean discussion there. Here in this group of Memories of Naga and Bicol, one simply remembers. And shares the memories.

The rules are not that rigid. For example, a discussion brought up the name of Socorro Federis-Tate, a national writer who was based

in Naga and who influenced many scholars and writers of the late ’60s and ’70s. The mention of her photo (if there is) and her stories (if there are compilations) encouraged me to post a cover of a book published by her family and a selection released by the Ateneo de Naga University Press. The intention was not to sell but to show that there were indeed those stories.

When one sees a photo of what a member claims to be an uncle who was a famous writer, the image stops there. You either like or you just look at it. You do not question the credibility of the one who has posted it. Those who celebrate the man or woman can go to town praising the one in photograph and you wait for another photo or a narrative of an event that will touch you.

The feeling in this group is that of kin gathering in a celebration. Only the good words are necessary. One, as the administrator gently chided members, must respect another person’s memory.

Eva Hoffman, the scholar on nostalgia and diasporic remembrance, is right about loss as a magical preservative. Loss is the prime mover behind most of the member’s desire to know and to make sure one keeps an event, an object, a person, a place in one’s heart and mind. Those which are not around, when remembered, are certain not be lost.

A week ago, an image of a particular fruit was posted on the site.

The member who did so posed a challenge: if you are indeed from the province, then you must remember or know this fruit. It was a yellow fruit, when ripened, but unripe, it stayed hidden in what appeared to be green shell covered with hairs. Thereupon, a member responded: kurumbot. Another responded with “passion fruit,” without telling directly the member

preceding he was wrong. One unique post was “mirinda” or a kind of orange. More posts followed and they were all saying the fruits in the photograph were kurumbot. Indeed, it was the “Passion flower” or “bush passion flower,” with the scientific name Passiflora foetida. Common in the Bicol region, the image and the recollection confirmed one’s memory. But it was not merely the fruit that was not recovered, for with it were memories of childhood when one was adventurous and knew one’s environment. The bragging rights of those who knew the fruit: We had a unique youth!

For Eva Hoffman and many other writers who lost their homelands, memory stops at a certain point.

Nothing happens after that. The world—and its time—stops with certain memories.

The lack of hubris or arrogance among the members of this closed group makes it a vote of confidence about culture being dependent on its bearers. In the case of Memories of Naga and Bicol, culture and history and arts depend greatly on the memory of those who would like to think of the past. And because there are no gatekeepers in the persons of formal historians and social scientists who favor landmarks and monumental places and events, the site celebrates the quotidian, the ordinary and the personal. In place of the extraordinary, the small church on the hill, the birthday party in the home of dear grandparents, the bus terminal where there is now a mall— these miscellany of the simplest of lives are all graded grand memories among these members who refuse to lose the past and thus remember and post about what they could save from what were there before.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com.

Is there a job waiting for senior high-school graduates?

Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

A

MONG poor families, the graduation of a child from senior high school is a much-celebrated event. This is a blessing for the entire family because a senior high-school graduate is supposed to be prepared to join the ranks of the gainfully employed.

Which begs the question: Are the youth truly ready to be employed just after senior high school? Is there a career or a job waiting for them?

Senior high-school students in our country are being prepared by our education system for college and their respective careers. Most senior high-school students who graduate hope to find a job, especially those who come from poor families.

There is a 2018 study by the advocacy group Philippine Business for Education stating that even if most of the senior high-school students are ready to work, the market is not as prepared to receive or employ them.

Only 20 percent of the 70 leading companies in the country are open to hiring these graduates.

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies also has a research

on the country’s senior high-school program, the graduates, as well as the hiring companies. Their research showed that many graduates are not satisfied with the jobs they get after graduating from senior high school.

Companies, however, want to hire graduates armed with the skills the job market needs.

We still have so much to do to achieve the promise of the country’s senior high-school program. However, the goal can only be achieved if the Department of Education and other stakeholders would find time to validate the results of studies made on the senior high-school program.

The senior high-school program was rolled out with the intention of making all graduates become productive and employable. But the DepEd alone can’t make this program succeed. It needs the support of other stakeholders. Hiring companies must also trust the program, which needs all the support it can get from the private sector.

There are jobs waiting for senior high-school graduates, my brothers and sisters, if we organize the program so that the “strands” of the senior high-school program effectively prepare students to be competent and ready to work. That’s the best way to get the support of the private companies, and that’s also the way to make the job market open its doors to senior high-school graduates. Preparing our youth for the future is everyone’s responsibility. The execution of our principle of “solidarity,” according to the Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, is what we need because “we must have a strong and relentless determination to take action for the goodness of most, because we are responsible for the goodness of all.

Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 Ang Radyo ng Simbahan in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph and follow its Twitter and Instagram accounts @veritasph and YouTube at veritas846.ph. For your comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Friday, February 1, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Comelec issues social-media spending rules

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By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start regulating social media and web site use for election campaigns this month, but the poll body will monitor only the cost and not the content.

The Comelec finally published on Thursday its latest campaign rules and regulations, which now contain for the first time provisions on social-media use.

C o m e l e c R e s o l u t i o n (C R ) 10488 defines “social media”

as the collective of online communication channels, including web sites and applications, that enables users to create and share content, collaborate and interact with each other. The resolution will take effect seven days after

“What we will do is to ensure whenever you put something out in social media, it will be regulated in terms of cost and platform used.”—Jimenez

being published.

The latest issuance now requires political parties and candidates to register the web site name and the Web address of the official blog and/ or social-media page they will use for their campaign to the Comelec’s Education and Information Department (EID).

The Comelec said even unregistered social media and web sites,

which it would deem as “[having] the primary purpose of endorsing a candidate, whether or not directly maintained, or administered by the said candidate or his or her official campaign representatives,” will be counted to its beneficiary.

‘Cost not content’

COMELEC Spokesman James B. Jimenez earlier assured their new rules will not regulate the content of social media, but only its cost.

“What we will do is to ensure whenever you put something out in social media, it will be regulated in terms of cost and platform used,” Jimenez said in a previous forum.

Classified as lawful election propaganda in CR 10488 are

DOT sees 27% surge in Japanese tourists in 2019

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

T

HE Department of Tourism (DOT) is targeting an influx of Japanese tourists this year, reaching some 800,000 visitors.

DOT Spokesman and Undersecretary for Tourism Development Planning Benito C. Bengzon Jr. made this bold prediction on the heels of Tuesday’s announcement by ANA Holdings Inc. of its purchase of a 9.5-percent stake in Filipino legacy carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL). ANA HD, the parent firm of All Nippon Airways, will be acquiring the stake for $9.5 million.

Bengzon told the BusinessMirror: “The investment of All Nippon Airways in Philippine Airlines is a welcome development, as it bodes well for the tourism industry. We foresee an increase in arrivals, not

only from Japan, but from other source markets, as such partnership will boost our connectivity.”

Japan is the fourth-largest source market of tourists for the Philippines, with arrivals last year rising by 8.15 percent to 631,801.

This was slower, however, than the 9.14-percent growth in Japanese arrivals to 584,180 in 2017. The target for 2019 is nearly 27 percent higher than the last year’s figure.

Bengzon said the optimistic target for 2019 stems from the implementation of the DOT’s “more focused and strategic marketing strategy, especially targeting the Joshi Tabi, or the women’s travel market.” Also, he said, with the investment of ANA HD in PAL, “more local destinations will be more accessible to Japanese travelers.”

PA L cur rently operates 84 f lights weekly on nine routes to Japan, and ANA operates 14 flights weekly on two routes to

TAIL-END OF A COLD FRONT AFFECTING MINDANAO NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING THE REST OF THE COUNTRY as of 4:00 am - January 31, 2019

the Philippines. The two carriers have codeshare operations on Japan-Philippine routes and domestic routes within Japan and the Philippines, linking a total of 16 Japanese and 11 Philippine destinations, according to PAL in its news statement on Tuesday, following ANA’s announcement of its investment.

In a text message, Samie Lim, chairman of the Tourism Committee of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was enthusiastic about ANA’s investment in the Filipino flagcarrier, describing it as a “good partner.”

He added, “ANA is one of the best-run airlines now. It has great service, food, and pricing.

Good timing [of the investment] as Japan is preparing to hold the Olympics and the World Fair soon. So heav y international air traffic will flow to and from Japan. We w i l l get not on ly

the Japanese but some of the international travelers.”

He disclosed that Japan’s Kyushu province, which is the nearest to the Philippines, “is looking closely at us for two-way trade and tourists. They sent a delegation here last week to do initial research.”

But other local tourism stakeholders have long been warning of a stagnating Japanese market, although they believe safety and security concerns are no longer an issue like before. “Peace and order, I think is a nonissue,” said Rajah Tours President Jose C. Clemente III. “I think it’s more of us not being able to present something new to that market…. As you know, the Japanese want something to anchor on to promote destinations.”

This was echoed by Arthur Lopez, president of the Philippine Hotel Owners Association, citing former Tourism Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz’s view during the recent consultation meeting of the agency with the private sector. “[He] did mention that one of the possible reasons for the decline or stagnant figures with Japanese and Korean visitors could be the lack of product development or new packages to offer to them.”

He added, “these markets have matured, and we need to offer something different. It may also have something to do with their internal economy.”

The DOT has been pushing its marketing in Japan, such that Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat even visited the country twice last year, trying to convince more Japanese to visit the Philippines. The agency has especially targeted the Joshi Tabi, and tapped popular female celebrities as Philippine Tourism Fun Ambassadors, as “our arrivals from Japan are still largely male,” Romulo Puyat said. (See, “PHL seeks to attract more Japan women travelers,” in the BusinessMirror, July 2, 2018.)

In a viber exchange, Tourism Attaché to Japan Verna C. Buensuceso said the DOT will sustain the Joshi Tabi campaign this year.

Also, “we are focusing on more consumer awareness and building activities in the market to drive demand further.

We are also strengthening our presence in online platforms, since the younger set of travelers are more tech-savvy and are able to make bookings through online travel agents and other booking platforms.”

While last year’s growth in Japanese tourists was just 8.15 percent, Buensuceso averred that this was a higher growth rate than the 7.2percent average in the previous five years. She added, “we do see a bigger diversity and mix of Japanese travelers to the Philippines,” although she acknowledged that they are still waiting for detailed statistics for 2018.

“social-media posts, whether original or reposted from some source, which may either be incidental to the poster’s advocacies of social issues or which may have for its primary purpose, the endorsement of a candidate only.”

Also allowed are paid advertisements in broadcast, Internet, mobile, print or outdoor media, which are compliant to election regulations.

Requirements

AS a form of mass media, socialmedia firms involved in election campaign will also be required by the Comelec to submit records of their transactions.

“All broadcast and digital massmedia entities shall preserve their

broadcast logs or analogous records for a period of five years from the date of broadcast for submission to the Comelec, whenever required,” the resolution read.

The affected mass-media entities will be mandated to submit at least four reports to the Comelec.

Mass-media entities with promotion dealings with national candidates are required to submit their reports on March 5, March 26, May 6 and May 17.

For those with transactions with local candidates, their schedule of submission will be on April 5, April 12, May 17 and May 20.

The Comelec said it will prescribe the schedule of submission of reports in subsequent polls.

See “Comelec,” A2

‘SENATE’S BUDGET BILL EXEMPTS PUBLIC INFRA FROM SPENDING BAN’

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

& Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

S

ENATE President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto, backing Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno’s plea, moved to exempt all ongoing “Build, Build, Build” projects of the Duterte administration from the upcoming ban on governmentfunded activities seen to influence voters during the campaign period for the May 13 midterm elections.

Recto confirmed on Thursday that he had earlier introduced a provision to this effect in the 2019 budget bill.

In fact, Recto said the Senate version of the 2019 national budget already contains this General Provision, which he sponsored, specifically stating that: “Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, infrastructure projects funded under this act shall be exempt from the prohibitions against release, disbursement or expenditure of public funds and against construction of public works and delivery of materials for public works.”

The senator noted most infrastructure projects were already behind schedule, lamenting that “instead of alleviating the delay, we aggravate it by suspending work simply on account that it is the season for candidates to shake hands and kiss babies.”

He wondered how a beneficial enterprise that involves construction of schools and hospitals can be placed in the same category as the carrying of firearms and other prohibited activities.

Recto lamented that“both people and progress lose if the building of facilities that they need will stop during the campaign period, more so if the latter coincides with summer—which is the best time, weatherwise, for construction.”

Recto added: “That this forced work interruption happens every 36 months

Bicam. . .

Continued from A1

He said abandoning the cash-based budgeting is one of the issues that House members have asked him to bring out during the bicameral meeting.

“There is actually no legal basis for it, and from an implementing agency’s standpoint and view, it will actually cost more harm than good,” Andaya said.

He said the Commission on Audit pointed out in its official statement on the matter that cash-based budgeting will cause more problems and will effect like what is happening now, the ballooning of accounts payable.

“That kind of system opens the doors for corruption dahil bago ka mabayaran, maglalagay ka pa [because before you get paid for services rendered, you have to bribe someone],” Andaya said.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, a member of the Senate contingent, expressed his approval and inquired how the proposal can be implemented.

Andaya said the abandonment of the one-year cash-based budgeting can be implemented by proposing that the life of the appropriations cover for capital outlays and maintenance and operating expenses (MOOE) be extended for two years.

Sen. Loren B. Legarda, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, said she will have to

speaks of how elections delay the delivery of vital projects. We should be working on projects round the clock. But we stop the clock during the elections.”

According to him, election laws allow work on projects to continue provided these commenced before the start of the campaign period and provided no funds are disbursed when the ban is in effect.

He, however, pointed out that during the period of 45 days before election, the delivery of materials for public works is prohibited, except on exempt projects like those built with foreign assistance.

“The effect is that it is almost impossible to roll out projects one and a half months before the elections,” Recto rued.

“And even when projects qualify for exemption, government employees would rather err on the side of caution, fearful of being haled to court, which is a possibility in a highly-charged political atmosphere.”

‘Reforms’

HOUSE Committee on Appropriations Chairman Rolando G. Andaya Jr. on Thursday said the Executive departments must no longer be allowed to pass their procurement and bidding activities for big-ticket projects outside their offices once the 2019 General Appropriations Act is approved.

“This is one of the budget reforms that House conferees on the bicameral committee will push when the discussion on the 2019 budget resumes next week,” Andaya said. “The reform, which I proposed and the House panel approved, aims to stop the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management from conducting the bidding of multibillion-peso infrastructure projects allocated by DBM to various executive offices,” he added.

consult with the other members of the Senate regarding the proposal to give way completely or to hybrid it.

Legarda, author of the budget reform measure, said that although she is in favor of fiscal discipline and a cash-based budget, she wants the budget to pass.

House Minority Leader Danilo E. Suarez said that during presentation of the budget by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) at the House of Representatives, he questioned the cash-budgeting proposal of Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno.

Elections, pay hike

HOWEVER, Andaya said Legarda was assured by the DBM that it will source the fund for salary increase for government workers and midterm elections’ budget from the government savings if the national budget will not be approved by next week.

According to Legarda, the budget for the May election will be funded by P10billion unutilized Comelec funds and other savings, while the budget for salary increase for teachers and other civil servants in the government will be sourced from Micellaneous Personnel Benefit Fund (MPBF).

Earlier, Andaya said under the 2018 reenacted budget, P100 billion is allocated for salary increases under the MPBF. Congress has approved a joint resolution extending for another fiscal year the 2018 appropriations for MOOE and CO.

Companies BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Megaworld allots ₧121B for Parañaque City devt

P

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

ROPERTY developer Megaworld Corp. said it is increasing to P121 billion the planned investments in Andrew Tan’s integrated resort and casino Westside City at the Entertainment City in Parañaque.

in time for the initial opening of the casino complex in 2021. These are the 529-room Kingsford Hotel and the 685-room Grand Westside Hotel, that will be linked to the gambling area and have views of Manila Bay. “We give our all-out support to the country’s growing tourism industry. Providing more hotel options will further boost tourist arrivals, especially in this growth area,” Canuto said.

Aside from the hotels, Megaworld is also building the 15-tower Bayshore Residential Resorts, and the four-tower Gentry Manor.

So far, Westside City has around 4,000 units of residential inventory worth around P50 billion.

Megaworld has also picked Megawide Construction Corp. to build Gentry Manor.

The project involves the construction of a podium and four 16-level towers, with a total contract price of P4.36 billion.

Initial works started in January and completion is targeted for January 2023.

With Roderick Abad

In a statement, the company said it is investing an additional P54 billion over a period of 10 years, more than five times the initial P10 billion allocated in 2015, mostly for residential and hotel projects.

Tan’s gambling arm Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., the developer and operator of the Resorts World Manila, has already committed to invest $1.1 billion, or about P57 billion, to build the 31-hectare Westside City Resorts World complex.

This brings the total capital expenditure

for the township to P121 billion.

“While a big portion of Westside City will be handled by Travellers International, Megaworld is pouring in a huge amount of money to expand our residential and hotel offerings within the township. The demand is high and we want to tap every available opportunity in this booming side of the Metro,” Megaworld Senior Vice President and Treasurer Francis Canuto said.

The company is set to build two new homegrown hotel brands in Westside City,

ISM SHAREHOLDERS OKAY BACKDOOR ENTRY OF DENNIS UY’S UDENNA CORP.

Grab eyes features to improve service in PHL

S

HAREHOLDERS of ISM Communications Corp. on Thursday approved the share-swap agreement between the company and Dennis Uy’s holding firm Udenna Corp.

The deal involves the issuance of 24.05 billion ISM shares for the 2 billion shares of Udenna being held by Uy and wife Cherlyn in exchange for 100-percent stake in Uy’s firm.

ISM will now be renamed Udenna Corp. The company is also increasing its authorized capital stock to P75 billion consisting of 75 billion common shares, from the previous P2.8 billion at 2.8 billion common shares.

These new ISM shares are being issued at P3 per share.

“Also, minority shareholders unanimously approved the waiver of the requirement to conduct a rights offer required under Part A Article V of the PSE Listing Rules,” the company said.

“The company will proceed to file its application with the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] for the approval of the amendments to its articles of incorporation and the listing application with the Exchange,” it added.

Udenna is the holding company of Uy’s businesses including his distribution and retail of petroleum products and lubricants under the Phoenix brand. It is also engaged in shipping and logistics through its wholly owned subsidiary, Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp.

“The continued expansion of the group in the recent years has allowed Udenna to grow exponentially and diversify its business portfolio to include real estate and property development, education, leisure, gaming, and tourism and infrastructure,” it said earlier.

ISM, a company once led by businessman Roberto Ongpin, was originally a mining company incorporated in March 1925, under the name Itogon-Suyoc Mines Inc. In the early 2000s, ISM was transformed to a company engaged in information technology, multimedia telecommunications and other similar industries. On November 11, 2016, the approved amendment of the articles of incorporation of ISM aims to reflect its primary purpose as a holding company. VG Cabuag

G

RAB Philippines is exploring new business verticals it could venture into with the aim of partnering with “smaller” start-up companies that have “huge potential,” as it pushes for the development of the digital ecosystem in the Philippines.

Brian P. Cu, the company’s president, said his group is evaluating its next corporate move after venturing into the food-delivery and digital-payments industries in the Philippines. It is considering grocery deliveries as its next expansion move.

“One of the mindset changes we are trying to do is for Grab to be an inclusive platform.

That means not just launching products of our own,” he said. “To help the Philippine digital ecosystem, we at Grab, being one of the larger start-ups in the region, have this responsibility to help other start-ups.”

Cu said Grab could become a platform for start-ups to gain a foothold on their respective industries, noting its huge base of 27 million downloads in the Philippines and 135 million downloads in the Asean.

“If there are any start-ups that come into the radar, we will partner with them. It’s giving them access, and later on, let’s say they proved their product market fit access to that against our customer base, then later on we may discuss potential investment or acquisition,” he said.

Grab has transitioned into an everyday super app from being a transport platform, adding new services, such as parcel delivery, food delivery and digital payments into its portfolio of services.

Cu said the company aims to “serve its clients better everyday” through digital innovations and the development of new features in the Grab application.

On Wednesday night, Cu unveiled eight

new features aimed at strengthening the company’s commitment “for a better everyday.” For transport, Grab introduced six new features that will “redefine customer experience in the ride-hailing industry,” namely, cancel anytime before allocation, saved places, rewards for passengers who were canceled on, change destination, lost and found, and passenger timeout.

These features allow passengers to cancel their booking request before being allocated a driver, save frequent pickup and drop-off points, get 30 GrabRewards points for being canceled on by the driver, change their dropoff point while in transit and directly contact to recover items left inside their Grab rides.

The passenger timeout feature will temporarily ban passengers with excessive cancellations, with Cu noting that driver feedback showed there are passengers who cancel their booking requests even if the driver is already on his way to the pick-up point.

For GrabExpress, the company will soon integrate two new features, namely: multi-stop delivery and multiple concurrent bookings.

The multi-stop delivery feature essentially allows users to send deliveries to five different recipients and locations using one single rider.

The multiple concurrent bookings feature will allow social sellers and micro-entrepreneurs to send a maximum of 10 parcels using different delivery partners at the same time.

“As an everyday app, we continue to use our technology to provide solutions that will improve the daily experience of our fellow Filipinos. Our goal is to serve our consumers better everyday with the challenge to always go above and beyond what is expected,” Cu said. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Kephilco keen on pursuing coal plant project in Sual, Pangasinan

K

EPCO Philippines Corp. (Kephilco) is keen on pursuing its multibillionpeso 2 x 500 megawatt (MW) coal power project in Sual, Pangasinan.

Kephilco’s power project was earlier listed by the Department of Energy (DOE) as one of the indicative power projects in Luzon. The target commissioning and commercial operation of the power project is September 2023.

The project cost is estimated at $1.834 billion or P91.7 billion.

Based on its filing, Kephilco said there is a “need for the project based on national regional/local economic development in terms of contribution to sustainable development agenda or current development thrusts.”

“The proposed project will ensure the reliable delivery of electricity supply in Luzon in the year 2020 and beyond. It will be a key infrastructure in sustaining the development of the country,” it said.

“In as much as coal is still the cheapest source of power generation, the project will

help in maintaining the current price levels of electricity which is the second highest in Asia,” the company said.

Moreover, the proposed project is seen to bring progress in the municipality since it will generate additional taxes; the local residents will be given priority for employment by the proposed project; and the plant will provide cheaper and more reliable electricity to meet future demands. Coal-power plants remain the most reliable and affordable base load plants in the Philippines.

“Without reliable and affordable electricity, the economic development may not be achieved,” Kephilco added.

Kephilco said the planned power project had been scheduled for public posting.

The public scoping is an early stage in the Environmental Impact Assessment Process where the proponent aims to provide an overview of the proposed expansion project, present proposed action, gather issuances and concerns, and other relevant informa-

tion to provide the scope of work and terms of reference for the purpose of environmental impact statement (EIS).

All interested parties, organizations and agencies are encouraged to provide inputs during the public scoping and public review period and provide comments.

The originally planned power plant proposal involved a 3x300 Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) coal-power plant at the same site.

The original proponent was Tans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. (TA Oil).

However, under a memorandum of agreement between TA Oil and Kepco, the project was turned over to the latter.

The original project has undergone the initial stages of EIS process with the submission of the EIS draft report and acceptance thereof by the EIAMD (Environmental Impact Assessment and Management Division) up through the second Review/Technical Screening when TA Oil decided to turn over the project to Kephilco. Lenie Lectura

Friday, February 1, 2019

B1

CebuPac 2019 capex reaches $700 million

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

B

UDGET carrier operator Cebu Air Inc. is ramping up its capital expenditures for 2019 to as much as $700 million (about P37.73 billion), as it embarks on a growth path unseen in the last two years through route expansion and a massive refleeting program.

Lance Y. Gokongwei, the company’s president, said his group plans to allocate $650 million to $700 million for the year’s capital outlays, as it takes delivery of 12 new jets throughout 2019, most of which will be used to up-gauge existing routes, and introduce new routes in India, Russia, Northern Japan and Australia.

“The year 2019 is the year we accelerate growth. On average, we will be receiving one brand-new aircraft per month that we can use to increase capacity in key markets or even launch new routes. For 2019 we expect capacity to grow from the low- to the mid-teens,” he said in a media briefing on Thursday.

Cebu Pacific is set to receive 12 brand new aircraft in 2019 — six Airbus A321neos, five A320 neos and one ATR 72-600.

Through 2022 the company will engage in a massive refleeting program that will upgrade old aircraft and add more fuelefficient ones to end 2022 with 83 jets.

Gokongwei said this program is designed to help Cebu Pacific regain its lost market share due to the lack of supply to meet passenger demand.

“We haven’t been growing as fast in the last two years, as we just had not been able to grow as much as passengers demand. We’ve lost a bit of market share particularly outside Cebu and Clark, where we did not grow as fast as we wanted to,” he said.

Its market share dipped to a low 52 percent last year, but it was able to retrieve it to end at 54 percent currently.

“I think in the next three years you’ll see us claw back a lot of the share we lost. We also wanted to introduce a lot of other routes we wanted to launch,” Gokongwei said.

As part of its refleeting program, Airbus delivered this month includes Cebu Pacific’s first Airbus A321neo, which essentially has 31 percent more capacity than its older sibling, the Airbus A320.

This will be initially deployed to Bali, Indonesia and Tokyo, Japan.

Gokongwei said the new jets that will be delivered this year and through 2022 will help the company address the infrastructure limitations in Manila.

“We know that slots are limited, but at the same time, the Philippine economy and demand for aviation seats continue to grow. The basic strategy for us is to employ the Airbus A321 in Manila, as they offer 31 percent more seats versus our basic A320s, and deploy the A320s as well to additional routes like Clark, which will be seeing a lot of growth for us, and other provincial airports,” Gokongwei said.

He noted that the incoming jets will help Cebu Pacific realize its vision of flying 200 million passengers by 2020. It hit the 150-million passenger mark in late 2017, and flew an additional 20 million passengers more in 2018.

For 2019 it targets to serve as many as 23 million passengers to meet its target.

Cebu Pacific and subsidiary Cebgo fly to 36 domestic and 26 international destinations, with over 107 routes spanning Asia, Australia, the Middle East and United States. Cebu Pacific currently has a fleet of one Airbus A321neo, 36 Airbus A320s, seven Airbus A321ceos, eight Airbus A330s, eight ATR 72-500s and 12 ATR 72-600s.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, February 1, 2019

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

January 31, 2019

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS

ASIA UNITED 59.1 59.45 59 59.5 59 59.5 11350 670150 BDO UNIBANK 134.9 135 136.1 140 135 135 5543800 762018213 BANK PH ISLANDS 90.8 91 91 92.7 90.55 91 2515690 230703998 CHINABANK 28.2 28.3 28.6 29 28.2 28.2 135700 3859130 EAST WEST BANK 12.4 12.42 12.5 12.5 12.3 12.42 310000 3847104 METROBANK 82.5 84 83.8 84 82.1 84 3795400 317998236.5 PB BANK 14.08 14.1 13.68 14.4 13.68 14.1 309300 4343658 PBCOM 20.95 22.85 21 21 21 21 1000 21000 PHIL NATL BANK 44.9 45 44 45 44 45 127800 5746455 PSBANK 58.3 58.5 60 60 58.5 58.5 14440 846325.5 PHILTRUST 115 120 116 120 116 120 330 39280 RCBC 25.85 26 26 26 25.6 26 447000 11584875 SECURITY BANK 178.8 179 176.5 182 176 179 1421070 255542687 UNION BANK 64.5 64.55 64.55 64.6 64.35 64.55 43100 2781107 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.41 1.44 1.39 1.46 1.39 1.41 172000 243850 BDO LEASING 2.16 2.17 2.17 2.17 2.16 2.17 108000 234330 COL FINANCIAL 17 17.02 16.8 17 16.2 17 275000 4649976 FERRONOUX HLDG 4.7 4.84 4.88 4.88 4.67 4.87 13000 61350 FILIPINO FUND 7.77 8.88 7.78 7.78 7.78 7.78 8600 66908 MEDCO HLDG 0.45 0.465 0.475 0.475 0.45 0.465 460000 209700 MANULIFE 785 800 785 785 785 785 200 157000 NTL REINSURANCE 1.09 1.1 1.09 1.15 1.09 1.09 1585000 1749890 PHIL STOCK EXCH 183 185.8 185.8 185.8 185.8 185.8 310 57598 SUN LIFE 1800 1810 1800 1800 1800 1800 105 189000

INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS 1.34 1.38 1.33 1.39 1.33 1.39 318000 423830 ABOITIZ POWER 38.4 38.8 38.25 39.5 38.25 38.4 1867300 72537140 BASIC ENERGY 0.25 0.255 0.255 0.255 0.245 0.255 7000000 1758310 FIRST GEN 20.4 20.45 20.05 20.45 20.05 20.4 2041500 41573230 FIRST PHIL HLDG 72.8 73 73.9 73.9 72.75 72.8 60700 4421910 MERALCO 365.8 368.2 371 374.4 365.6 365.8 454250 167705962 MANILA WATER 27.05 27.5 27.5 27.5 27 27.5 473000 12983025 PETRON 7.48 7.49 7.62 7.67 7.48 7.48 5283600 39879314 PETROENERGY 3.63 3.67 3.6 3.7 3.6 3.63 36000 132670 PHINMA ENERGY 1.27 1.28 1.27 1.28 1.26 1.28 17244000 21870050 PH RESORTS GRP 5.98 6.06 6.17 6.17 5.92 6.06 780300 4677126 PHX PETROLEUM 10.66 10.74 10.74 10.74 10.66 10.74 29200 312060 PILIPINAS SHELL 48 48.15 47.95 48.2 47.8 48 971000 46619580 SPC POWER 6.42 6.46 6.48 6.48 6.46 6.47 2000 12940 VIVANT 16.02 16.98 16.98 16.98 16.98 16.98 100 1698 AGRINURTURE 16.16 16.36 15.96 16.44 15.5 16.38 599400 9769000 CNTRL AZUCARERA 16.8 17.04 17.2 17.2 17 17 60000 1024276 CENTURY FOOD 15.92 15.96 15.92 15.96 15.9 15.92 940800 14986526 DEL MONTE 6.5 6.6 6.6 6.61 6.45 6.6 15700 102900 DNL INDUS 11.32 11.34 11.58 11.68 11.28 11.34 5278100 60249994 EMPERADOR 7.5 7.51 7.37 7.51 7.37 7.5 2230900 16712589 SMC FOODANDBEV 94.9 95 94 95 93.5 95 392970 37058256.5 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.01 1.02 1.02 1.02 1 1.02 5001000 5056620 GINEBRA 26.2 27.75 27.2 27.95 26 27.8 521000 14055555 JOLLIBEE 316 318 317 320 315 316 1041850 332073624 MACAY HLDG 9.55 10.48 10.2 10.2 10.2 10.2 3700 37740 MAXS GROUP 12.3 12.34 12 12.72 12 12.3 8522000 104589360 MG HLDG 0.175 0.178 0.175 0.177 0.17 0.177 830000 145150 PEPSI COLA 1.34 1.36 1.36 1.37 1.31 1.34 5744000 7679510 SHAKEYS PIZZA 12.18 12.28 12 12.2 12 12.18 140600 1704576 ROXAS AND CO 1.87 1.89 1.86 1.9 1.84 1.9 503000 941180 RFM CORP 4.8 4.85 4.84 4.85 4.8 4.8 4020000 19296690 SWIFT FOODS 0.122 0.13 0.121 0.121 0.121 0.121 120000 14520 UNIV ROBINA 147.8 148.1 146 149 145.6 148.1 1409320 208531925 VITARICH 1.67 1.68 1.85 1.85 1.57 1.67 36597000 61754530 VICTORIAS 2.48 2.49 2.4 2.63 2.4 2.48 1755000 4370550 CEMEX HLDG 2.67 2.69 2.64 2.8 2.59 2.67 76402000 204398250 DAVINCI CAPITAL 6.12 6.3 6.11 6.4 6.08 6.3 43900 267634 EAGLE CEMENT 15.9 16 15.56 16.02 15.5 16 1024000 16285750 EEI CORP 8.08 8.14 8.02 8.14 7.99 8.08 678200 5455871 HOLCIM 8.57 8.59 8.3 8.71 8.27 8.57 4553400 39138778 MEGAWIDE 18 18.1 18.28 18.28 18 18 2819100 50783712 PHINMA 8.9 9.37 8.91 9 8.91 8.91 2400 21429 TKC METALS 0.9 0.92 0.93 0.94 0.9 0.93 89000 81120 VULCAN INDL 1.4 1.41 1.46 1.46 1.38 1.4 6597000 9305230 CHEMPHIL 140 145 140 140 140 140 390 54600 CROWN ASIA 1.74 1.78 1.75 1.79 1.74 1.75 111000 195280 EUROMED 1.57 1.62 1.58 1.58 1.57 1.57 15000 23610 LMG CHEMICALS 4.28 4.5 4.3 4.3 4.28 4.28 161000 690390 MABUHAY VINYL 3.15 3.26 3.28 3.28 3.18 3.27 10000 32030 PRYCE CORP 6 6.01 6.02 6.02 6 6 404900 2429404 CONCEPCION 40.05 40.2 40.2 40.2 40.05 40.05 1500 60180 GREENERGY 2.98 2.99 2.42 3.36 2.39 2.99 267107000 810703350 INTEGRATED MICR 12.34 12.38 12.06 12.48 12.06 12.38 779700 9617434 IONICS 1.6 1.61 1.67 1.68 1.56 1.61 1461000 2345700 PANASONIC 6.01 6.45 6 6.6 6 6.6 14200 87321 SFA SEMICON 1.33 1.34 1.4 1.4 1.34 1.34 305000 412430 CIRTEK HLDG 29.95 30 30.4 30.4 30 30 105000 3169930

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.64 0.6 0.62 19050000 11724820 ASIABEST GROUP 26.55 27.8 28.8 29.3 26.8 27.8 141400 3950740 AYALA CORP 923 927 924 927 915 927 423480 390741755 ABOITIZ EQUITY 64.25 64.3 64.4 66.55 64 64.25 1924040 125152786.5 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 13.7 13.78 13.64 13.94 13.64 13.7 13581800 187069336 ANSCOR 6.5 6.54 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 62600 406900 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.76 0.79 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77 102000 78540 ATN HLDG A 1.43 1.45 1.46 1.46 1.43 1.43 5996000 8640140 ATN HLDG B 1.46 1.47 1.47 1.48 1.46 1.46 360000 527400 COSCO CAPITAL 7.38 7.39 7.45 7.45 7.38 7.39 513700 3804333 DMCI HLDG 12.38 12.58 12.38 12.58 12.38 12.58 5326300 66459074 FILINVEST DEV 12.36 12.5 12.28 12.78 12.2 12.5 2088500 26167140 FORUM PACIFIC 0.215 0.225 0.227 0.227 0.227 0.227 10000 2270 GT CAPITAL 1067 1068 1021 1068 1021 1067 105595 112203420 HOUSE OF INV 5.79 6.1 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 300 1845 JG SUMMIT 64.65 64.9 64.9 65.9 63.8 64.65 1594720 103289287.5 LODESTAR 0.58 0.61 0.62 0.62 0.58 0.6 134000 79110 LOPEZ HLDG 5.2 5.23 5.2 5.32 5.15 5.2 1918000 10049203 LT GROUP 15.32 15.5 15.26 15.56 15.26 15.5 1085000 16782806 MABUHAY HLDG 0.57 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.56 0.57 711000 405470 METRO PAC INV 4.86 4.93 4.94 4.99 4.86 4.86 25155000 123535450 PACIFICA 0.038 0.039 0.039 0.039 0.038 0.038 13000000 494800 PRIME ORION 2.53 2.58 2.45 2.58 2.45 2.58 1266000 3207760 PRIME MEDIA 1.15 1.22 1.16 1.16 1.15 1.15 416000 479340 SOLID GROUP 1.34 1.35 1.33 1.35 1.32 1.35 43000 57090 SYNERGY GRID 440 464 464 464 440 440 40 17840 SM INVESTMENTS 990 992.5 979.5 997 975 990 478750 474649130 SAN MIGUEL CORP 164 165 165 167 163.8 165 365770 60341975 SOC RESOURCES 0.77 0.8 0.78 0.78 0.77 0.77 125000 96550 TOP FRONTIER 271 278.8 278.8 278.8 278.8 278.8 100000 27880000 WELLEX INDUS 0.248 0.25 0.26 0.26 0.247 0.25 1130000 282840 ZEUS HLDG 0.231 0.245 0.229 0.249 0.227 0.231 5390000 1257070

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.87 0.89 0.89 0.89 0.86 0.89 1634000 1422500 ANCHOR LAND 10.54 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 11.1 200 2220 AYALA LAND 44.4 44.55 43.75 44.75 43.75 44.4 20312100 902824200 ARANETA PROP 1.7 1.73 1.7 1.7 1.69 1.7 106000 180040 BELLE CORP 2.43 2.44 2.45 2.5 2.42 2.43 1719000 4191950 A BROWN 0.8 0.81 0.81 0.82 0.8 0.8 2125000 1712470 CITYLAND DEVT 0.87 0.89 0.87 0.87 0.87 0.87 1000 870 CROWN EQUITIES 0.245 0.247 0.239 0.25 0.238 0.247 11310000 2764810 CEBU HLDG 6.1 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.1 6.2 27100 165435 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.3 4.16 4.16 528000 2229000 CENTURY PROP 0.475 0.48 0.48 0.49 0.475 0.475 18270000 8763250 CYBER BAY 0.385 0.39 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.38 70000 26600 DOUBLEDRAGON 20.4 20.45 20.6 20.95 20.35 20.45 1647900 33726655 DM WENCESLAO 8.98 9 9.12 9.12 8.9 9 1673700 14966244 EMPIRE EAST 0.485 0.5 0.49 0.49 0.485 0.49 510000 249650 EVER GOTESCO 0.119 0.123 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 280000 33600 FILINVEST LAND 1.49 1.5 1.47 1.53 1.46 1.49 13581000 20306790 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.16 1.18 1.16 1.19 1.16 1.16 407000 473470 8990 HLDG 9.64 9.65 9.7 10 9.65 9.65 3418500 33551096 PHIL INFRADEV 2.3 2.31 2.22 2.44 2.21 2.3 16347000 38112730 CITY AND LAND 0.8 0.82 0.82 0.82 0.82 0.82 10000 8200 MEGAWORLD 5.16 5.24 5.16 5.29 5.16 5.16 21511700 112299590 MRC ALLIED 0.435 0.445 0.445 0.445 0.435 0.435 20360000 8940800 PHIL ESTATES 0.455 0.465 0.46 0.47 0.45 0.46 2090000 954450 PRIMEX CORP 3.16 3.2 3.2 3.24 3.12 3.2 548000 1729000 ROBINSONS LAND 22.05 22.2 22.55 23 22.05 22.05 2952400 66071670 PHIL REALTY 0.43 0.44 0.435 0.44 0.43 0.44 490000 213100 ROCKWELL 1.97 1.98 2 2 1.98 1.98 65000 128730 STA LUCIA LAND 1.34 1.37 1.38 1.38 1.33 1.37 401000 540680 SM PRIME HLDG 38.1 38.45 39.1 39.6 38.1 38.1 11119400 429915690 STARMALLS 5.82 5.88 6 6 5.8 5.82 546400 3189355 PTFC REDEV CORP 46 46.05 44 49.5 43.9 46.05 3600 163864.5 VISTA LAND 5.81 5.84 5.84 5.88 5.8 5.84 2337100 13633457

SERVICES ABS CBN 22.75 22.8 22.8 23 22.75 22.75 264100 6037085 GMA NETWORK 5.79 5.8 5.78 5.85 5.77 5.79 64600 375280 GLOBE TELECOM 2020 2030 2084 2086 2020 2020 92925 189283770 PLDT 1290 1310 1310 1324 1290 1290 184135 239997135 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.039 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.039 0.039 6800000 265500 DFNN INC 7.02 7.25 7.27 7.27 7.08 7.08 4600 32682 IMPERIAL 1.85 1.96 1.85 1.95 1.82 1.95 57000 106310 ISLAND INFO 0.122 0.124 0.122 0.127 0.121 0.124 5190000 640340 ISM COMM 6.74 6.75 6.46 7.35 6.32 6.75 71089800 487417474 JACKSTONES 3.13 3.25 3.18 3.25 3.11 3.25 19000 59640 NOW CORP 3.3 3.31 3.43 3.45 3.05 3.3 9195000 30161120 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.455 0.46 0.47 0.475 0.445 0.455 50600000 23161600 PHILWEB 2.99 3.03 3.05 3.07 2.98 2.99 1503000 4506170 2GO GROUP 13.04 13.06 13.38 13.38 13 13.06 94500 1240052 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.02 15.12 15 15.1 15 15.1 59600 899170 CEBU AIR 87.95 88 88 88.5 85.1 88 165420 14565453.5 CHELSEA 6.61 6.62 6.75 6.95 6.5 6.62 4861200 32837540 INTL CONTAINER 108.2 108.5 106.3 109.5 106.3 108.2 3840200 415460993 LBC EXPRESS 14.32 14.86 14.86 14.86 14.86 14.86 200 2972 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.79 0.8 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 107000 84530 MACROASIA 19 19.02 19 19.18 18.84 19 3310300 62769768 METROALLIANCE A 2.06 2.1 2.15 2.17 2.05 2.1 735000 1521290 METROALLIANCE B 2.11 2.3 2.37 2.37 2.1 2.3 19000 41750 PAL HLDG 12.8 12.88 14.12 14.12 12.7 12.8 1679900 21930604 HARBOR STAR 2.84 2.85 2.86 2.87 2.8 2.84 2233000 6317220 ACESITE HOTEL 1.31 1.34 1.31 1.34 1.31 1.31 789000 1033820 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.06 0.061 0.059 0.061 0.058 0.061 46410000 2778090 WATERFRONT 0.69 0.7 0.71 0.72 0.69 0.69 1651000 1146650 FAR EASTERN U 894 1000 900 900 892 892 200 178480 IPEOPLE 10.72 11.16 11.16 11.16 11.16 11.16 900 10044 STI HLDG 0.79 0.8 0.85 0.86 0.79 0.8 55452000 45485520 BERJAYA 2.71 2.72 2.85 2.85 2.69 2.72 1764000 4832300 BLOOMBERRY 11 11.02 10.62 11.14 10.62 11.02 24550400 269879950 PACIFIC ONLINE 9.24 9.48 9.23 9.49 9.23 9.25 52400 488702 LEISURE AND RES 3.2 3.27 3.23 3.28 3.2 3.2 1350000 4341210 MANILA JOCKEY 4.85 4.95 4.77 4.95 4.76 4.95 112000 535390 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.94 0.95 0.9 0.97 0.89 0.94 33243000 31330650 TRAVELLERS 5.5 5.53 5.5 5.54 5.49 5.5 641000 3527812 METRO RETAIL 2.53 2.54 2.63 2.64 2.54 2.54 1782000 4588070 PUREGOLD 45.25 45.5 45.8 46 45.15 45.5 2767200 126446980 ROBINSONS RTL 87.5 88 86.1 88 85 88 535330 46941578.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 121.6 125 121.5 125 121.5 121.6 12800 1565262 SSI GROUP 2.38 2.39 2.39 2.42 2.38 2.39 3329000 7987880 WILCON DEPOT 13.68 13.72 13.6 13.78 13.6 13.72 4143100 56893982 APC GROUP 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.455 0.44 0.445 1970000 873250 EASYCALL 14.9 14.92 15.74 15.9 14.6 14.9 364500 5468810 GOLDEN BRIA 346.8 350 343.2 350 330 350 8830 3037704 IPM HLDG 7.12 7.27 7.27 7.27 7.27 7.27 1500 10905 PAXYS 3.5 3.6 3.55 3.6 3.55 3.6 4000 14250 PRMIERE HORIZON 1.6 1.61 1.52 1.65 1.43 1.61 288486000 445242090 SBS PHIL CORP 8.18 8.26 8.28 8.28 8.15 8.18 154000 1264746

MINING & OIL ATOK 13 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.48 13.5 7600 102574 APEX MINING 1.55 1.56 1.59 1.59 1.56 1.56 2591000 4063280 ABRA MINING 0.0021 0.0022 0.0021 0.0021 0.002 0.0021 344000000 721900 ATLAS MINING 2.84 2.87 2.84 2.89 2.84 2.87 180000 514240 BENGUET A 1.29 1.47 1.35 1.5 1.35 1.49 52000 76450 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.29 0.3 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 80000 23200 CENTURY PEAK 2.04 2.05 2.03 2.05 2.02 2.05 673000 1363280 DIZON MINES 7.59 7.67 7.9 7.9 7.6 7.6 8800 67527 FERRONICKEL 1.53 1.54 1.45 1.53 1.41 1.53 9364000 13712230 GEOGRACE 0.214 0.218 0.214 0.22 0.213 0.218 240000 51800 LEPANTO A 0.134 0.135 0.131 0.138 0.131 0.134 12550000 1703420 LEPANTO B 0.132 0.137 0.136 0.14 0.132 0.132 4330000 579060 MANILA MINING A 0.0075 0.0077 0.0075 0.0075 0.0075 0.0075 5000000 37500 MANILA MINING B 0.0073 0.008 0.0073 0.0073 0.0073 0.0073 7000000 51100 MARCVENTURES 1.11 1.12 1.1 1.12 1.1 1.12 12000 13410 NIHAO 1.04 1.07 1.1 1.1 1.02 1.07 434000 447970 NICKEL ASIA 2.45 2.47 2.49 2.5 2.43 2.45 865000 2137460 OMICO CORP 0.66 0.68 0.67 0.67 0.66 0.66 285000 188200 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.96 0.98 0.97 0.98 0.94 0.98 653000 622300 PX MINING 4.03 4.05 4.27 4.27 4.03 4.03 2421000 10118270 SEMIRARA MINING 23.65 23.7 23.3 23.7 23.3 23.7 524200 12351980 UNITED PARAGON 0.007 0.0073 0.0073 0.0078 0.0069 0.007 95000000 672900 ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.013 32400000 415000 ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.012 676500000 8123100 PHILODRILL 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.012 52100000 639600 PHINMA PETRO 3.65 3.67 3.65 3.67 3.65 3.67 28000 102270 PXP ENERGY 14.34 14.4 14.42 14.66 14.34 14.4 1326700 19142848

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A DD PREF SMC FB PREF 2 GTCAP PREF B LR PREF MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2B SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

94.5 98 985 899 0.99 101.6 1020 75.05 75.9 72.3 74.55 72.95 72.6 73.1

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

20 5.6

1.91

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 4.41 XURPAS 1.48

118.9

3510 -300080 -5839240 10116181 16706932 406250 1540 487322 -9660338 2939332 36669925 12792141.5 -340435 -785240 -13749190 -124500 -4640 150269590 12573478 -17500 21500 214543950 -886160 8000 -100000 -471700 939850 710800 7163707 -196000 8598260 -1657676 95760 41214115 479600 -20090 -30470 15840 -18038795 2915 -1789186 -38242560 -64049255 -8820 11267385 -6720220 8350 -1146640 2560 757670 2245324 963768 20733897 37265322 50728 -8520 -1049180 161260 80096944 -408270 -999631 619650 26028825 4935359 560950 -1339980 38460548 17700 -43482 195604 -6460490 -1241590 143230 627980 347170 -628250 5928275 -66300 3038116

95 98.5 985 900 0.99 102 1050 75.15 76.5 73.95 74.85 73 72.6 73.1

95 98.5 985 900 0.99 102 1050 75.15 76.55 74 74.9 73 72.6 74

94.05 98.5 985 900 0.99 101.6 1050 75.1 76.5 73.95 74.85 73 72.5 73.1

94.05 98.5 985 900 0.99 101.6 1050 75.1 76.55 74 74.9 73 72.6 74

500 12880 3090 210 500000 110420 20 4280 2000 1250 4760 11470 17400 540400

47490.5 1268680 3043650 189000 495000 11220836 21000 321492 153055 92494 356449 837310 1261900 39539450

19800 -472310 -

20.1 5.68

19.82 5.67

20 5.69

19.74 5.6

20 5.6

290600 170600

5781306 959463

3856 3390

1.94

1.91

1.97

1.9

1.91

265000

508600

-

4.42 1.5

4.55 1.57

4.55 1.57

4.33 1.46

4.42 1.48

1268000 23399000

5599870 35583210

-13260 -9904950

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

28120715 30401745 -294431.0001 28533888 -851100 -5775767 -11100 -1595050 74620 -18884165 -32810 2251750 34320 -31428904 137955 10850901 70700 1626446 398960 104999.9999 2060370 669602 20350 -12418040 124118822 -14832190 -10975510 13476280 1875429.9999 -10771114 -17485044 -1830 44650 -3270 1613400 -16678110 1949716 -2700 -132425

96 98.5 992 918 1 103 1040 75.1 76.55 74 74.9 74.5 74.25 73.9

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

80150 46135095 -18205867.5 -2218615 -331908 71630799 -901210 8400 1271585 8792.5 4363110 -20059292 -889993 78500 -

119

118.5

120

118.5

119

9980

1194345

83300

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Housing for govt workers soon to rise in New Clark City

By Ashley Manabat

C

Correspondent

APAS, Tarlac—A symbolic topping-off ceremony was held on Thursday at The Residences, a 525-unit condominium type housing at the New Clark City here.

Officials of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and its partner MTD Philippines Inc. led the ceremony with Rep. Victor Yap (Second District, Tarlac) and Capas

Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan.

Officials of government agencies which will soon have their offices in the New Clark City were also present: Development Bank of the Philippines

President and CEO Cecilia Borromeo, Landbank Leasing Corp. President and CEO Manuel Lopez, Office of Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Kristoffer James Purisima and UP-Philippine Eye Research Institute Director Dr. Leo Cubillan.

The BCDA said The Residences is an integral part of the government’s response to President Duterte’s vision to decentralize state offices in Metro Manila and solve the congestion problem in the capital.

Around 1,000 government employees will benefit from the 525unit housing facility which will have modern amenities. The project is significant for the government

employees who will be the first occupants of New Clark City, the first smart and disaster-resilient city in the country.

In the long run, an estimated 1.02 million residents are expected to populate New Clark City and 582,000 of these will belong to the city’s work force.

The topping-off ceremony of T he Residences complements other developments in New Clark City, such as the world-class sports facilities to be used for the 30th Southeast Asian Games in November, and the provision of reliable water and power utilities in the new metropolis.

Clark Airport gets 2-star rating for flight punctuality

C

LARK FREEPORT ZONE— The Clark International Airport (CRK) received an impressive two-star on-time performance (OTP) rating from an airtravel intelligence company based in the United Kingdom, an executive of the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) said.

“Clark is the only airport in the country to be given this two-star rating by the Official Aviation Guide [OAG] and the first-ever star rating we received,” CIAC President Jaime Alberto Melo said.

CRK’s two-star rating was based on its annual OTP of 71.3 percent during the June 2017 to May 2018 rating period.

“The two-star rating is a testament to Clark’s competency in providing exceptional air services,” Melo added.

The OTP star rating is a global accreditation program of OAG that recognizes excellent flight- punctuality performance across all airports and

airlines regardless of size, geographic location, or aviation-peer group.

“This recognition is indeed a welcome development as Clark Airport celebrates its 24th anniversary this month,” Melo said.

Meanwhile, one-star ratings were given to Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Iloilo International Airport and Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

Based in the United Kingdom, OAG is the top provider of air-travel data and analytics, which delivers accurate, timely, and actionable digital flight information and applications to airlines, airports, government agencies, and other travel-related service companies across the globe.

OTP rating for airports is measured by the number of departures and arrivals that take place in less than 15 minutes after scheduled departure/arrival times, including cancellations.

Melo explained that to achieve an OTP star rating, airlines and airports

17th AFFI Franchise and Business Expo opens Feb. 1

T

HE 17th Franchise and Business Expo, organized by the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. (AFFI), opens on February 1 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

The expo carries the theme “Galing ng Pinoy: Lokal is the new Focal” and is AFFI’s first major event for the year. Expected to showcase their businesses are more than 300 exhibitors composed of many popular food franchise brands around the metropolis, including service providers and other interesting business concepts.

Expo attendees can expect to learn more from the lineup of powerhouse business speakers ready to share their knowledge.

The breakout sessions throughout the three-day event include e nt re pre neu rsh ip t a l k s, onstage demonstrations, in-depth seminars, cultural and product presentations that may help attendees find new and potentially successful business ideas to invest in the future through franchising and learn the ABCs of putting up a business.

“We at AFFI believe wholeheartedly in our local businesses and we thank them for their unselfish acts of sharing their knowledge and experiences to investors and would-be entrepreneurs through the expo. The expo is also AFFI’s commitment to continue to discover businesses and hopefully, espouse an entre-

preneurial mindset among many Filipinos, who may want to go into business, but don’t know where to go to. We hope to achieve all these in fulfillment of AFFI’s mantra ‘Para kay God, Para sa Bayan, Para sa AFFI,’” said AFFI President Marie-Joyce Co Yu, who is also president and CEO of Trueblends Tea & Coffee.

Yu said there will be other AFFI activities this year, one of which is the EntrepOlympics 2018-2019 Food Edition, a competition that aims to encourage entrepreneurship among senior college students taking up any business- or food-related courses with food business concepts they may want to franchise in the future.

The AFFI is the prime trade organization committed to promoting responsible and homegrown micro, small and medium enterprises through franchising.

As of November 2018, AFFI had around 221 members, with businesses counting more than 16,000 outlets, 36 percent of which are company owned and 64 percent under franchise. These outfits have remained in business for an average of 10 years, providing employment to more than 96,000 Filipinos and generating annual sales totaling P54.07 billion.

The expo is open until February 3, 2019, at Halls B and C of the World Trade Center in Pasay City from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Expo partners include Globe MyBusiness and Security Bank.

must have a minimum of 600 operations per month, with OAG being able to process flight status information for no less than 80 percent of scheduled flights in a 12-month period.

OAG is best known for its airline schedules database which holds fu-

MUTUAL FUNDS

ture and historical flight details for more than 900 airlines and over 4,000 airports.

Clark Airport averages around 11,500 passengers daily and registers a weekly average of 714 combined domestic and international flights.

January 31, 2019

NAV ONE YEAR THREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 266.62 -11.72% 4.51% 3.61% 5.71% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.5001 -9.5% 13.58% 4.16% 4.12% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 4.1252 -12.92% 6.46% 2.06% 5.69% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.9502 -6.51% N.A. N.A. 6.7% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC.* 0.8739 N.A. N.A. N.A. 6.48% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 5.5371 -10.04% 4.42% 2.96% 5.05% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * 121.26 0.94% N.A. N.A. 4.12% ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.8857 -12.88% -3.21% N.A. 6.4% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 52.4767 -10.08% 5.84% N.A. 6.65% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 544.73 -10.23% 4.26% 2.87% 5.83% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.3182 -8.35% 5.9% N.A. 5.12% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 38.7518 -8.58% 6.81% 5.52% 5.79% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC.* **** 1.0436 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 5.2967 -10.2% 6.71% 5.53% 6.81% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 884.83 -9.99% 6.58% 5.57% 6.8% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.9073 -9.13% 3.9% N.A. 5.35% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 4.2869 -9.7% 6.21% 3.99% 5.62% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 1.0186 -10.33% 6.46% N.A. 6.74% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.6736 -7.14% 7.49% 4.28% 4.93% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* ***^118.3177 -9.68% 7.74% 6.69% 6.84% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $0.9743 -18.43% 7.73% 1.19% 4.86% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.1854 -12.08% N.A. N.A. 7.27% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.7254 -9.43% 1.13% -0.24% 4.49% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.299 -8.1% 3.75% 1.72% 4.06% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.6452 -6.17% 1.61% -0.42% 3.99% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* 1.3596 -8.79% N.A. N.A. 4.24% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.9079 -6.03% 3.02% 2.59% 3.52% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.6202 -9.56% 1.46% 1.54% 2.58% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 16.4082 -8.38% 1.78% 1.6% 3.15% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* 2.1498 -6.17% 3.37% 3.48% 3.74% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.8053 -7.33% 3.12% 2.42% 4.21% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.961 -7.84% 2.53% N.A. 4.26% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.03546 -1.42% 0.05% 1.85% 0.6% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9626 -13.32% 5.38% -0.03% 2.82% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.4845 -8.93% 5.79% 1.89% 5.32% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0446 -8.66% N.A. N.A. 3.43% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 344.83 2.13% 2.14% 2.08% 0.42% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ^^ 1.8705 -1.11% -0.36% -0.25% 0.61% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.9829 5.39% 5.36% 5.27% 0.41% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1429 1.39% 1.55% 1.77% 0.58% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.2248 0.24% 0.32% 0.54% 0.7% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP.* P 1.589 -1.91% -0.31% 0.11% 1.57% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.8925 -3.73% -0.98% 0.12% -0.7% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.5646 1.73% 1.01% 1% 1.35% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.9091 -1.39% -0.34% N.A. 1.85% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.8157 0.72% 1.44% 1.34% 1.8% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.5655 0.33% 1.08% 0.89% 1.66% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $449.97 1.17% 2.22% 3.07% 0.38% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є213.59 0.07% 1.21% 1.56% 0.44% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.139 0.94% 1.13% 2.16% 1.17% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $0.0249 N.A. 0.68% N.A. 0.4% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP.* $1.6933 -3.37% -0.74% 1.08% 0.18% MAA PRIVILEGE DOLLAR FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. MAA PRIVILEGE EURO FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. ЄN.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC* $1.0417 -1.86% -0.54% -2.36% 0.4% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.1985 -1.07% 0.87% 2.85% 1.26% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.0572056 0.4% 0.98% 1.86% 0.39% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.9013 -2.69% 0.24% 1.87% 1.02% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 121.42 3.06% 1.99% 1.65% 0.48% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1835 2.01% 0.79% 0.55% 0.14% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.223 2.79% 2.33% 1.67% 0.33% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC.* $1.018 1.87% N.A. N.A. 0.21%

* - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY ** - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO *** - LISTED IN THE PSE.

**** - RE-CLASSIFIED INTO A BALANCED FUND STARTING JANUARY 1, 2017 (FORMERLY GREPALIFE BOND FUND CORP.).

***** - LAUNCH DATE IS NOVEMBER 6, 2017 ****** - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 08, 2018 ******** - RENAMING OF THE FUND WAS APPROVED BY THE SEC LAST APRIL 13, 2018. ********* - BECAME A MEMBER SINCE APRIL 20, 2018. ******* - ADJUSTED DUE TO CASH DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JANUARY 29, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Pace of liquidity growth in Dec no worry for BSP

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ASH circulating in the local economy grew slightly faster in December last year but remained within the desired singledigit expansion territory for the month as bank lending slows, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

Central Bank data released on Thursday showed that the country’s domestic liquidity—broadly measured as M3—grew 9.2 percent to about P11.6 trillion in December last year. This is slightly faster than the 8.5-percent revised expansion seen in the previous month.

A growing cash supply is often beneficial for an expanding economy such as the Philippines, as it provides fuel to the produc-

tive sectors of the country.

However, an excessively strong growth in M3 could further stoke inflationary pressures and pull prices upward for the economy. An imbalanced growth of M3 is also an indicator that the economy is potentially overheating. “ T he BSP w il l continue to closely monitor domestic liquidity dynamics to ensure that overall monetary conditions remain in

line with maintaining price and financial stability,” the BSP said in its statement.

Demand for credit in the country remained the principal driver of the cash supply growth during the period.

Preliminary data from the Central Bank, meanwhile, showed that outstanding loans or commercial banks during the period grew at a slower rate of 15.6 percent in December from the 16.8 percent in the previous month.

Loans for production activities—which comprise 88.8 percent of the local banks’ aggregate loan portfolio, increased at a slower 15.8-percent pace from the 17.2 percent in the previous month.

Accord ing to the BSP, the growth in production loans was driven primarily by increased lending to the following sectors: financial and insurance activities at 30.6 percent; wholesale and retail

trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles at 15.2 percent; realestate activities at 11.1 percent; manufacturing at 13.1 percent; electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply at 12 percent; and construction at 35.9 percent.

Also, the growth for household consumption was lower in December at 13.5 percent from the 13.8 percent seen in the previous month.

The BSP attributed this lower growth to the deceleration in motor-vehicle loans, as well as the contraction in salary-based general-pur pose consumption loans and other types of household loans, was tempered by the faster expansion in credit-card loans during the month.

Meanwhile, net foreign assets in peso terms expanded by 1.3 percent year-on-year in December, following a decline by 3.2 percent in the previous month. Bianca Cuaresma

High rice prices seen to hike poverty incidence rate in ‘18

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ORMER Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cielito F. Habito said the country’s poverty incidence may see an uptick in 2018 because of the spike in rice prices last year.

“A lot of people are saying that because of last year’s crisis with rice— and rice prices alone, when they go up, they can push a significant people below the poverty line; it happened in 2013, by the way,” Habito said during the Eagle Watch forum on Thursday at the Ateneo Business School in Makati City. “Well, it is not unlikely that the next FIES [Family Income and Expenditure Survey] will show an uptick in poverty incidence.”

In his presentation, Habito explained that the country has seen a continuous decline in its povertyincidence level with a 26.6-percent

rate recorded for 2006, 26.3 percent for 2009 and 25.2 percent in 2012, under the FIES. For 2015, the country posted a significant drop of around 4 percentage points, which led to a povertyincidence rate of 21.6 percent.

“In fact, what is actually not shown here is that it has actually gone up between 2003 and 2006,” Habito said. “It was actually lower already in 2003 than in 2006 and 2009.”

He said that, similar to 2013 during the Aquino administration, wherein the country experienced spikes in the prices of rice, 2018 may also see an uptick in the povertyincidence rate.

“At that time, Arsenio Balisacan was the head of Neda [National Economic and Development Authority].

He was explaining it’s because the

price of rice spiked also,” he said.

“When the price of rice spiked, a lot of Filipinos were pushed below the poverty line.”

Furthermore, Habito explained that in 2013, the increase in poverty incidence was around 1 percentage point.

“The increase is worrisome. For the Philippines, when our GDP [gross domestic product] increases, our poverty [rate] also increases, so that happened during the first decade,” he said. “Right now, for this episode, it increased for one year because of rice.

So for the experience that we had in 2013, that likely might lead to that.”

Released by the Philippine Statistics Authority, the FIES is conducted every three years. The FIES of 2018 was crafted last year, and the results would be released in

LandBank extends offer in PDS deal

By Rea Cu

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@ReaCuBM

HE Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) has reported that its offer period for the purchase of the shares of the Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp. (PDS) has been extended to March 15.

LandBank President Alex V. Buenaventura said the decision was backed by its shareholders.

T he e x pirat ion for L a ndBank’s offer to buy shares of the PDS at P215 per share was slated to end on January 31.

Buenaventura expressed hope early in January that the major-

ity of PDS’s stakeholders would accept its offer to sell the shares at LandBank ’s offer price, as its offer will expire by the end of January 2019 and will not be extended. This is the second time the LandBank extended its deadline for acceptance or rejection since starting discussions with PDS last year.

The LandBank‘s initial offer in March last year was to buy at P360 per share or around P1.5 billion.

The bank revised downward its offer price to P215 per share after the PDS declared dividends of around P600 million last year.

Buenaventura expressed exasperations that the negotiations are taking longer than expected. He suspects the delay is due to some shareholders’ attempt to haggle for a higher offer price with a handful wanting shares purchased at P262 each. However, Buenaventura said LandBank’s P215-pershare offer price is final.

The Philippine Stock Exchange has said it received a letter from LandBank offering to buy its shares in PDS for P215 per share or a total of P281.95 million.

LandBank aims to acquire 66.67 percent of the shares of PDS, according to Buenaventura.

Fed’s dovish message douses rate-hike bets, boosts odds of cut

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EDERAL Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s first press conference of 2019 left market expectations for an interest-rate hike this year hanging by a thread, and raised the chances of a cut in 2020.

A move to tighten policy in March was already seen as a long shot, but the Fed’s tone on Wednesday cast doubt on the prospects of any rate increase this year, after nine hikes since 2015.

A stronger focus on risks to the global outlook, the Fed’s emphasis on tighter financial conditions and Powell’s comments pushed two-year and fiveyear Treasury yields to the lowest since mid-January.

Shorter maturities led gains, steepening the yield curve.

The spread between five- and 30-year yields was 55 basis points in European trading, after increasing to as much as 57 basis points on Wednesday, the widest since last February.

Another sign of waning prospects for a rate hike this year was the drop in near-dated implied volatility on swaptions—options on US interest-rate swaps—which dropped to the lowest since November for one-year to two-year contracts.

“The market is very aggressively discounting any positive outcomes this year” in areas such as domes-

tic growth, trade and the global economy, said Ed AlHussainy, a senior interest-rate strategist at Columbia Threadneedle.

The Fed’s tone toward its policy rate and balance sheet is significant, he said. “The language and the markers they put down all point to a very elevated probability that the December hike was the last hike in the cycle.”

Market watchers were surprised by the Fed’s latest signals on its balance-sheet unwind, which suggests the central bank is closer to completion than previously expected.

For traders, the Fed’s line that it’s “prepared to adjust any of the details for completing balance sheet normalization” confirmed a shift in a policy unwind that’s roiled markets.

“I am recovering from monetary-policy whiplash,” Omair Sharif, an economist at Societe Generale, wrote. “The bar for hiking rates even once in 2019 is extremely high.” BloombergNews

the next few months.

“A lot of people are expecting that it [poverty incidence] will increase more than the 21.6 [percent],” Habito said. “The year 2018 was worse because the price increases for rice were higher compared to what happened in 2013 as I recall. The most drastic rice-price increases we’ve seen is what happened last August.”

He expressed hope that the rice tariffication bill will be signed into law soon, which he believes will lead to lower prices of rice.

“We can expect [a] significant decline in the price of rice, and that alone will be a tremendous boost to nutrition,” Habito said. “I heard that rice prices can go down by as much as P7 per kilo, but it remains to be seen, and part of the challenge is to make sure that it happens.” Rea Cu

Friday, February 1, 2019

B3

Seven smart ways to grow your association

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AVID HEBERT, CEO of the A merican Association of Nurse Practitioners, cites seven growth principles that have helped the largest full-service professional organization of nurse practitioners grow over the years. The AANP represents the interest of more than 248,000 nurse practitioners and 84,000 members in America. Its mission is to empower nurse practitioners to advance quality health care through practice, education, advocacy, leadership and research.

He said AANP continues to grow its membership, as it was able to: 1. Collaborate with peers. Even though the AANP lacks a chapter structure, one of the association’s most significant assets is its nationwide reach and breadth of relationships—from local and state nursing organizations, to patient, policy and health-care organizations. Building this capacity to reach locally and nationally helped AANP to align the profession and organization with thousands of peers and elevated its voice to recruit new members.

2. Control the narrative. Some strengthening of the narrative and building awareness of the profession paid dividends in membership growth. Legislative patients and lawmakers lack an understanding of the profession and the role that nursing plays in delivering high-quality health care, so the AANP launched a campaign designed to shatter outdated notions and stereotypes.

3. Focus on advocacy. Members care about professional success, and they understand the role of strategic advocacy in how patients, legislators and other members of the health-care community view their professional worth.

AANP takes this job very seriously, and it has leveraged every advocacy victory to build critical momentum.

4. Celebrate success. The legislative landscape governing nurse practitioner-provided health care has improved dramatically in the last five years, and AANP had won significant victories that ensure nurse practitioners can deliver health care autonomously to diverse populations. In every moment, AANP celebrated its success.

5. Add member value. Member retention is just as important as recruitment. For AANP, this means adding distinct member value through

Association World Octavio Peralta continuing education, advanced job opportunities, networking practice groups, scholarship and grant opportunities, and student loan financing.

AANP uses social media to both communicate its value to members and to listen and act upon feedback from members.

6. Invest strategically. Recently, A ANP branded the first association-sponsored nurse practitioner research panel that is informing the work of health insurers, pharmaceutical innovators, and federal and state governments. The AANP also broke ground in its national headquarters in Texas, a state lagging in modern nurse practitioner laws. The headquarters represented progress, but also signaled that more work needs to be done and that the AANP is willing to stick around for the arduous challenges.

7. C h a mpion i nt e r n at ion a l clout. The role of a nurse practitioner is emerging globally, and AANP helps members navigate diverse education and credentialing, so they can practice internationally. Participating in this way, especially in bodies like the International Council of Nursing, not only allows AANP to fortify the profession overseas but also adds credibility to the argument that nurse practitioners deserve more respect.

The contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (Adfiap), founder and CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE) and president of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations.

The purpose of PCAAE—the “association of associations”—is to advance the association management profession and to make associations well-governed and sustainable. PCAAE enjoys the support of Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board and the Philippine International Convention Center.

E-mail: obp@adfiap.org

BPI inks deal with Canadian money-transfer company

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HE Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) announced recently that it has partnered with a digital money-transfer company from Canada that the bank said would offer quicker money transfers at lower fees.

BPI Senior Vice President Manuel C. Tagaza said overseas Filipinos in Canada and other clients “would benefit most from this new partnership with Crosslinks Money Transfer Corp.

[CMTC].”

“We recognize the need for modern digital money transfer to the Philippines.

BPI is intensifying its digitalization efforts to enable more convenient and efficient remittance services for clients,” Tagaza was quoted in a statement as saying. “This

partnership allows customers to do their transactions only within minutes, and at much lower rates.”

CMTC is a digital remittance service provider based in Canada and is headquartered out of Toronto, Ontario. It focuses on transferring money across the world, digitally at the lowest fees and real-time exchange rates for the benefit of those sending money back home to their loved ones.

“The alliance between BPI and [CMTC] will help improve the payment mechanism for fast and economic transfers from Canada to the Philippines,” said the company’s CEO Soumya Dutta. “[Our] founders realized that traditional money transfer companies are expensive, both

in terms of fees and exchange rates and the company was set about to offer just that— fast, economical and secure money transfer, direct to your doorstep.”

The partnership will offer services such as direct money transfers to recipient bank accounts, cash pickup and much more. For new clients, the first money transfer transaction is free.

Aside from faster transactions and lower fees, the partnership also allows customers the flexibility of the lock-rate functionality at the expected rates.

The customers also have the most comfortable interface, using a laptop or mobile device, to register, send money and then track the journey of the funds as they reach the beneficiary.

B4 Friday, February 1, 2019

MADE-IN-MANILA NOMADIC TRAVEL GOODS MAKE RAVES

SINULOG FESTIVAL QUEEN Held at the northwing atrium of SM City Cebu was the Sinulog Festival Queen and runway competition, in which Nicole Yance Borromeo of Carcar City bags the runway champion title, while Phoebe Godinez of Talisay City Division was the first runner-up, followed by 2nd runner-up and SM Sinulog Queen 2019 Chloe Boton Boone of Tribu Higaonon, San Nicolas.

NEW LAS PIÑAS CITY HEALTH BUILDING INAUGURATED

Mayor Imelda Aguilar (fourth from right) and her daughter April Aguilar (third from left) led the ribbon cutting of the new health building at the city-hall compound. The new health building houses a spacious health center with a well-equipped clinical laboratory and dental clinic. The Las Piñas City Health Office is also in the said building. The services in the newly opened health center are free of charge for the residents of Las Piñas City. Present on the opening were (from left) Councilor Mark Anthony Santos, city health officer Dr. Ferdinand Eusebio, councilors Ignacio Sangga, Rubymar Ramos, Henry Medina, Danilo Hernandez, Florante de la Cruz, Filemon Aguilar III and city department heads.

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ULTIVATING the spirit of unbridled travel while discovering oneself is now made easy with the launch of a Made in Manila line of travel goods.

Making raves even before its official launch on February 6 at Case Study Atelier in Bonifacio High Street, Global City, Nomadic Tendencies is a brand of quality travel goods that promote wander and wonder in travel and discovery.

The made-in-Manila products have been carefully studied and tested to suit the nomadic lifestyle of travelers across all age groups. Simple, utilitarian, indeterminate of gender and borderless, Nomadic

Tendencies products make travel light and easy.

The design approach of each of the bags starts with the people they were created for while keeping the traveler’s specific needs that include comfort, versatility, space and function.

Nomadic Tendencies travel products are available on Instragram @_nomadictendencies and www. shopnomadictendencies.com.

The Nomadic Tendencies brand is also carried

by Bratback Store at Greenbelt 5, Purveyr Post at Barangay Bangkal and Barangay Poblacion in Makati City, Spindle Community Store in Amorsolo and at Case Study Atelier in Bonifacio High Street.

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Friday, February 1, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

ROSE: SUPPORT GOLF!

JUSTIN ROSE is hoping golf becomes a conduit to bridging gaps. AP

ING ABDULLAH ECONOMIC CITY, Saudi Arabia—Top-ranked golfer Justin Rose opted against delving into the political ramifications of the decision to stage a European Tour event in Saudi Arabia, saying on Wednesday he was happy to play in the tournament to “support growing the game.”

The Saudi International started on Thursday, amid scrutiny of the kingdom’s human-rights record and condemnation following the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October.

The world’s top three players—Rose, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson—are in a strong field that also includes the last two Masters champions, Patrick Reed and Sergio Garcia.

“I know people obviously have their opinions,” Rose said. “It’s never straightforward. But I think that obviously we’re here to support the European Tour.

“For me, I think I can only commend their vision in terms of growing the game of golf. That’s the industry in which I live. I’m not qualified to speak on any other subjects, to be honest with you, on great detail or authority.”

The tour introduced the Saudi International to the schedule in November. It holds events worldwide, with some of the most prestigious being in the Middle East in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

“Hopefully, golf is a conduit to bridging the gap

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between this region and how we perceive golf in the western world,” Rose said. “Who knows? Twenty, 30 years ago, Abu Dhabi looked somewhat similar to here and Dubai. We’ve all seen the growth and what’s possible in these regions, and can only support the vision.”

JDA Software Group Inc., meanwhile, has landed in the world of professional golf, announcing a new sponsorship with global golf star Jon Rahm.

In just over two years as a professional, Rahm has taken the golf world by storm, amassing six career wins, two top-five finishes in Major Championships, and been ranked as high as second in the Official World Golf Rankings. Rahm is presently the No. 6 ranked player in the world.

As part of the partnership, Rahm will serve as brand ambassador for JDA. Rahm will wear the JDA logo on the chest of his golf shirt at Professional Golfers’ Association events beginning on Thursday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Rahm will also make a number of appearances on behalf of the JDA brand and take part in various marketing and social-media campaigns to promote the partnership.

The partnership between Rahm and JDA is unique because of several synergies between the two. JDA’s global headquarters is in Scottsdale, where Rahm currently lives and where he starred as a collegiate player at nearby Arizona State University, including a record sixty weeks as the top amateur in the world.

JDA has enjoyed an over 30-year longevity in Arizona and is the largest software company headquartered in the state, employing nearly 400 Arizonians and more than 4,600 associates worldwide.

JDA is the universally recognized leader in supply chain software and artificial intelligence, serving 4,000-plus global customers, including 75 of the world’s top 100 retailers and 77 of the top consumer goods companies. Rahm’s roster of corporate sponsors includes highly valued JDA customers adidas, Mercedes-Benz and TaylorMade, along with Bighorn Golf Club and Rolex.

Additionally, the 24-year-old Rahm hails originally from Spain, where JDA has offices and significant business operations.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jon as a brand ambassador to JDA. He is a clear reflection of a number of our core values, including being relentless and delivering results—and he couldn’t be a better fit to extend our brand,” said Kevin Iaquinto, chief marketing officer of JDA. “His track record in just two years on both the PGA Tour and European Tour is very impressive, and his dedication to his sport is unmatched—aligning well with our relentless obsession to deliver results and value to our customers worldwide.”

“JDA is a transformational company with an incredible roster of customers around the world and given our shared roots in both Arizona and Spain, we are a great match,” said Rahm. “I’m thrilled about this great new partnership and look forward to working together with everyone at JDA to help expand its fantastic brand.” AP

Woodland looking to make more memories in Phoenix S

COTTSDALE, Arizona—Gary Woodland walked through the tunnel to the Phoenix Open’s 16th hole, the par three with an atmosphere more like a football game than a golf tournament. Waiting for him was a young lady in a purple shirt with some game of her own.

After hitting his tee shot, Woodland asked Amy, a Special Olympics athlete, if she wanted to take a crack at it. Absolutely, she said.

Amy made a good swing, but the ball caromed into the greenside bunker. Woodland asked Amy if she wanted to hit the bunker shot.

“I do. I’ve got this,” she told the Phoenix Open’s defending champion.

She sure did. With fans lining the triple-decker stadium that surrounds the hole, Amy thumped the ball onto the green with perfect form, got a read from her new PGA Tour friend and drained the putt. Woodland raised his arms in triumph as the already rowdy practiceround crowd roared.

“I’ve been blessed to do [a] lot of cool things on the golf course, but that is by far the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced,” Woodland said on Wednesday. “She was phenomenal and then to step up in front of all the people and the crowd and everything, and to hit the

INQUIRY GETS GOING ON FIRED TRUMP EMPLOYEES N

EW YORK—The Trump Organization, responding to claims that [LLJ1] some of its workers were in the US illegally, said on Wednesday that it will use the E-Verify electronic system at all of its properties to check employees’ documentation.

A lawyer for a dozen immigrant workers at the Trump National Golf Club in New York’s Westchester County said recently that they were fired on January 18.

He said many had worked there for a dozen or more years. Workers at another Trump club in Bedminster, New Jersey, came forward last month to allege managers there had hired them knowing they were in the country illegally.

“We are actively engaged in uniforming this process across our properties and will institute E-Verify at any property not currently utilizing this system,” Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. “As a company, we take this obligation very seriously and when faced with a situation in which an employee has presented false and fraudulent documentation, we will take appropriate action.”

“I must say, for me personally, this whole thing is truly heartbreaking,” he added. “Our employees are like family, but when presented with fake documents, an employer has little choice.”

Launched in 1996, the E-Verify system allows employers to check documentation submitted by job applicants with records at the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to see whether they are authorized to work.

During his presidential campaign, Republican Donald J. Trump called for all employers to use the federal government online E-Verify system. He told MSNBC in 2016 that he uses it at his properties, and that there should be a “huge financial penalty” for companies that hire workers who are in the country illegally.

Several of those workers from Trump’s properties paid visits to congressional offices this week in hopes of raising support for their fight against possible deportation. One Democrat, New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, confirmed on Wednesday that she had invited a maid who had cleaned President Trump’s rooms at Bedminster as her guest at his State of the Union speech.

The maid, Victorina Morales, was featured in a New York Times story last month, titled “Making President Trump’s Bed: A Housekeeper Without Papers.” She has said that managers there knew she was living in the country illegally, helped her obtain false documentation and that she was physically abused by a supervisor.

THEN-REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for photographs during a campaign event with employees at Trump National Doral in Miami in October 2016. AP

Morales’s lawyer, Anibal Romero, said that Morales had accepted the invitation.

The Trump Organization has said it does not tolerate employing workers who are living in the US without legal permission, and any problems with hiring is not unique to the company.

“It demonstrates that our immigration system is severely broken and needs to be fixed immediately,” Eric Trump said in his statement. “It is my greatest hope that our ‘lawmakers’ return to work and actually do their jobs.”

GARY WOODLAND: I’ve been blessed to do [a] lot of cool things on the golf course. AP

President Trump has repeatedly cast the millions of immigrants in the country illegally as a scourge on the health of the economy, taking jobs from American citizens. He has said they also bring drugs and crime over the border.

He turned over day-to-day management of his business to Eric and his other adult son, Donald Jr., when he took the oath of office two years ago. The Trump Organization owns or manages 17 golf clubs around the world. AP

shots that she hit and made par, I never rooted so hard for somebody on a golf course. It was an emotional, emotional, really cool experience.”

Woodland had one of his own a year ago at the Phoenix Open.

Winless for nearly five years on the PGA Tour and coming off a difficult summer, Woodland put on a display of power and finesse at TPC Scottsdale to beat Chez Reavie on the first hole of a playoff.

Waiting for him greenside was a surprise visitor: infant son Jaxson with wife Gabby.

Jaxson was born prematurely the previous June after a twin girl was lost in a miscarriage. Seeing him along with finishing off his first PGA Tour victory since 2013 brought a swell of emotions that still resonate as he prepares to defend his title.

“Obviously, I had a great week here last year,” he said. “Great emotions being back, nice to see a lot of the same people.”

Woodland returns to the desert as the defending champion at a tournament that’s become the rowdiest place in golf.

More than a half-million fans stream into TPC Scottsdale each year in a spectacle that’s become known as The Greatest Show in golf. The Phoenix Open drew nearly 720,000 fans throughout the week a year ago to set a PGA Tour record—more than 60,000 than the previous high—including more than 216,000 on Saturday.

Roughly 20,000 fans pack the 16th hole’s stadium, many booze-emboldened to shout catcalls and boo errant shots.

This year’s tournament may get as much attention for a man who won’t hit a shot as the players braving the rowdiness.

Saturday’s third round will be the final broadcast for NBC lead golf analyst Johnny Miller.

Miller announced in September that he’s retiring to spend more time with his family, ending three decades of calling shots the way he sees them.

Miller shot a 63 to win the 1973 US Open at Oakmont and earned a spot in the Hall of Fame with 25 career victories, but carved out a memorable second career by saying what he saw without worrying about what the players thought of him.

“He’s always tried to be up-front and present the game of golf in an insightful way for the viewers, whether it was educational about swing, helping people understand it or whether it was just being up-front from a players’ perspective as to what was going on,” threetime Phoenix Open Phil Mickelson said. “I thought he’s done an amazing job for the game of golf.”

Mickelson will be making his record 30th career Phoenix Open start, a run that began when he played at nearby Arizona State, where he won three NCAA championships. Mickelson became an instant fan favorite at the Phoenix Open and has played every year except 1990. He won the tournament in 1996, 2005 and 2013, when he had a putt on the par-4 ninth hole lip out for what would have been a 59.

“Just amazing how many great memories I have when I come back and play here, how, what a great feeling I experience with the crowd and the many memories that I’ve had here,” Mickelson said.

Woodland’s already had one at TPC Scottsdale this week with Amy. He’s hoping for another come Sunday. AP

Spo

Business

C2 Friday, February 1, 2019

Swiss to challenge Infantino in Fifa presidential election

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ORMER Swiss international Ramon Vega has emerged as a possible challenger to Gianni Infantino for the Fifa presidency at this year’s election in Paris.

The 47-year-old footballer turned financier, who won 23 caps for Switzerland, is reportedly weighing up a bid for the top job at world football’s governing body and is assessing the likelihood of securing the required five nominations before the February 5 deadline.

Infantino, elected in 2016 to serve the remainder of Sepp Blatter’s term after his Swiss counterpart resigned, amid the corruption scandal, was widely expected to run unopposed.

But reports suggested this week that a former player with extensive experience in the finance sector was considering challenging Infantino.

Vega, who played for clubs in Switzerland, Italy, England, Scotland and France during his career, seemingly fit the description as he is the founder and chief executive of London-based company Vega Swiss Asset Management.

He confirmed to Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany’s largest daily newspapers, that he was mulling over whether to stand against Infantino.

Candidates must receive nominations from five different member-associations within Fifa’s 211-strong electorate before next Tuesday to be eligible to run.

The election is scheduled to take place at the Fifa Congress in Paris on June 5 before the start of the Women’s World Cup. “Because of the great response and the positive reactions that I have from many sides, I take this task seriously and see if there is any need in the football world to bring about the election of the next Fifa president in June by

means of a democratic election campaign,” Vega told Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Vega previously considered standing for Fifa president in 2016 but his candidacy never came to fruition.

Should Vega be a contender this time around, his chances of victory appear slim as Infantino is the red-hot favorite for reelection.

Infantino has already been given the backing of the Oceania Football Confederation and the South American Football Confederation in his bid to seal a full four-year term at the helm of the governing body.

The 48-year-old former UEFA general secretary is also thought to have a considerable stranglehold in Africa.

His radical plans for a revamp of the football calendar, including changes to the Club World Cup and the creation of a global Nations League, have irked some of Europe’s members, however.

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin has been at the forefront of the opposition to the proposals and threatened to lead a walkout of officials from European football’s governing body at a fractious Fifa Council meeting in October if the issue was put to a vote.

Infantino’s conduct as Fifa president was again called into question late last year after information obtained by the hacking group Football Leaks allegedly showed he had directly influenced changes to the Fifa ethics code.

Insidethegames

Despite doping scandals, Russia bids to host European Games

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OSCOW—Russia is bidding to host the 2023 European Games in Kazan despite a backdrop of years of doping scandals.

Russian Olympic Committee President Stanislav Pozdnyakov is working with regional officials on the Kazan bid and said late Tuesday the city has “unique sports infrastructure at both the Russian and international level.”

Kazan hosted the University Games in 2013, the world swimming championships two years later and World Cup soccer games last year. World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) investigator Richard McLaren later said the University Games were used as a “trial run” for

the vast doping cover-up when Russia hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

McLaren accused the host nation of leading the medals table for the University Games in part because of “a defense for the Russian athletes”—cover-up orders from the sports ministry that led to eight Russian gold medalists with failed doping tests being reported as clean.

Wada lifted a suspension on Russia’s anti-doping agency in September on condition authorities handed over data and samples from the

Moscow laboratory at the center of the cover-up.

Russia handed over the data this month after missing an earlier deadline, and has until June 30 to provide the samples for reanalysis. If it breaks those conditions, Wada could seek to stop Russia from hosting major international sports events.

Russian President Vladimir Putin listed Kazan alongside Sochi and St. Petersburg as a potential future host of the Olympics in a 2017 interview with Olympic historian David Miller. Russia last hosted the Summer Games in Moscow in 1980.

If Kazan is successful, it would be the third European Games in a post-Soviet

country after the inaugural event in Azerbaijan in 2015 and this year’s edition in Belarus. The 2019 games were originally meant to be held in the Netherlands but the hosts dropped out in 2015, saying the event cost too much.

Despite launching in 2015 with 20 sports and a lavish opening ceremony, the European Games have struggled to attract big-name athletes. Federations in sports, such as track and field, swimming and cycling, have guarded their own long-running European championships and joined together to stage them simultaneously in Glasgow and Berlin last year, creating a rival to the European Games format. AP TOURISTS walk next to the Kremlin during the 2018 World Cup in Kazan. AP

BOSTON’S Terry Rozier drives to the basket against Charlotte’s Bismack Biyombo. AP

RECORD ATTENDANCE

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ADRID—A record crowd of 48,121 attended a women’s soccer match between Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid in Spain on Wednesday.

Athletic says it was the largest ever attendance for a club-level women’s match in Europe. The English Football Association says a crowd of 53,000 watched a game in December 1920 between Dick, Kerr’s Ladies and St. Helen’s Ladies at Everton’s Goodison Park stadium.

The Spanish league said Wednesday’s attendance at Athletic’s San Mames Stadium was a record in Spain for club and national team matches.

Atletico Madrid won 2-0 to advance to the semifinals of the Copa de la Reina, the equivalent

of the men’s Copa del Rey. The record for any women’s match was the 90,185 people who watched the 1999 World Cup final between the United States and China at the Rose Bowl. In 2015, a women’s game between England and Germany drew 55,000 fans to Wembley Stadium in London.

The largest crowd for Athletic’s men’s team this season was 46,860 at the 53,000-capacity venue in Bilbao. AP

Wife of detained refugee player appeals to Thai prime minister

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ANGKOK—A campaign by Australia, human-rights groups and sports organizations to stop Thailand from extraditing to Bahrain a detained soccer player who has refugee status in Australia has gotten personal, with an open letter from his wife delivered to the Thai prime minister.

The letter that attorney Nadthasiri Bergman handed over on Wednesday at Government House implores Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to free Hakeem al-Araibi because of his probable persecution in his homeland. Bahrain wants Al-Araibi returned to serve a prison sentence after he was convicted in absentia of arson of a police station, a charge he denies.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed on Thursday that Prayuth had not

responded to his own earlier plea for al-Araibi to be freed.

Al-Araibi used to play for the Bahraini national team and now plays for a semi-professional club in Australia. He was detained upon his arrival in Bangkok in November and a court ruled in December he could be held for 60 days. Thai officials said earlier this week the attorney general’s office is expected to decide within a week whether to proceed with the extradition case.

The letter from his wife, whose name was withheld for privacy reasons, said she is “anxiously waiting for a glimpse of hope to have my husband return home” to Australia. AP

NO KYRIE? IT’S OKAY AS CELTICS PREVAIL NBA RESULTS Boston 126, Charlotte 94 Chicago 105, Miami 89 Dallas 114, New York 90 Denver 105, New Orleans 99 Minnesota 99, Memphis 97, OT Washington 107, Indiana 89 Sacramento 135, Atlanta 113 Portland 132, Utah 105

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OSTON—With Kyrie Irving again stuck to the sideline, Terry Rozier and his Celtics teammates enjoyed another run as the featured act.

The talented young cast stole the show again.

Rozier had 17 points and 10 assists, Jaylen Brown added 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Jayson Tatum scored 20 points to help Boston roll over the Charlotte Hornets, 126-94, on Wednesday night despite Irving’s absence.

“When we play with him [Irving], it’s more like a show. Sit back and watch him go crazy,” Rozier said after starting in place of Irving, who missed his second straight game with a left-hip strain.

“Without him, obviously we don’t know who the scoring’s [going to] really come from.

Somebody got to step up.”

Rozier’s 10 assists tied a career high he set a year ago on Thursday against the Knicks. Marcus Morris scored 15 points, Al Horford had 14 and Gordon Hayward 12 for the Celtics, who won for the seventh time in eight games.

Boston won 10 of its 11 home games in January to keep within striking distance of Eastern

QATARIS ON HOT SEAT

Qatar Head Coach Felix Sanchez and his players celebrate their semifinal victory over the United Arab Emirates. UAE has complained to Asian Cup organizers over the eligibility of two Qatar players following the semifinal 4-0 loss to its Gulf rival. The Asian Football Confederation says “this protest will now be reviewed in line with the Asian Football Confederation regulations.” Qatar is due to play Japan in its first-ever Asian Cup final on Friday. AP

Conference leaders Milwaukee and Toronto.

“Now we need to use whatever we gained from [this stretch] to go into February and play as well as we can over the next 14 days prior to the All-Star break and hopefully finish the season strong,” Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said.

Kemba Walker had 21 points to lead Charlotte, well short of the 43 he scored in a 117-112 home win over Boston on November 19.

Malik Monk scored 16 points, Nicolas Batum added 13 and Marvin Williams 10 in Charlotte’s third loss in five games.

“They just gave more energy than us. I guess they wanted it more,” Walker said. “We came out kind of sluggish in the third quarter, and they just jumped on us.”

Morris knocked down a three-pointer from the right wing with 6:49 left in the third period to put Boston ahead 76-69 and started a 25-6 quarterending run.

The Celtics led 98-75 after three and ran the lead up to 35 during the fourth.

“You score, you get a stop, you score, and then all of a sudden that just kind of snowballs,” Stevens said. “It feels good to be on a run like that.”

Karl-Anthony Towns hit a buzzer-beating desperation shot in overtime to lift Minnesota past Memphis, 99-97.

Memphis led twice during overtime, but Towns helped Minnesota closed it out. On the final possession, Andrew Wiggins ran the clock down to six seconds before shooting a pull-up three.

The rebound fell to the right side, where Towns grabbed it, dribbled once and floated up a shot as he faded toward the corner.

Towns scored all 16 of his points after halftime.

Jerryd Bayless had 19 points and a career-high 12 assists for the Timberwolves on a frigid night with an announced crowd of 13,615 in Minnesota.

Mike Conley had 26 points and eight assists for Memphis.

Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 14 points in what might have been his final appearance at Madison Square Garden, Luka Doncic warmed up after an airball on his first shot in the arena to score 16 points, and Dallas routed New York, 114-90.

Dennis Smith Jr. had his second career tripledouble with 13 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds, and Harrison Barnes led the Mavericks with 19 points.

Kevin Knox scored 17 points for the Knicks. AP

Swiss rider expelled for lewd behavior

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HE organizers of the Vuelta a San Juan have decided to expel Iljo Keisse from the Argentinean race for “behavior that damaged the reputation and honor of the Vuelta a San Juan, the UCI and cycling in general.”

Keisse had apologized for feigning a sexual act behind a waitress from a local bar as she posed for a photograph with the team. She went on to make an official police complaint and spoke to local media.

Keisse was interviewed by police and reportedly given a 3,000-peso ($80) fine.

Keisse and his team Deceuninck-QuickStep said he would continue in the Vuelta a San Juan and he finished 29th in Tuesday’s 12-km individual time trial stage, which was won by teammate Julian Alphilippe.

Keisse returned to the team hotel after the stage, and was ready to help Alaphilippe defend his race lead. However, the race organizers put out a press release confirming his expulsion

from the race just before midnight.

The Belgian apologized for his actions before Tuesday’s stage. He admitted making the lewd pose, but denied making any kind of contact with the waitress.

“I made a mistake—I realize that. It will not happen again. I also want to apologize to everybody—to the Argentinian people, but not only them: to everybody who feels offended by what I did.

To the race organization, which has been in difficulty because of this, to my team, actually...I want to apologize to everybody. It was a really stupid thing to do. I wish I could turn back time, but I can’t. I cannot do more in this moment than say I’m sorry and promise that things like this will never happen again.”

Earlier in the day, the race organizers had called on the Deceuninck-QuickStep team to act and discipline Keisse. When Keisse stayed in the race, the organizer decided to act.

Their decision came after a local judge had found Keisse guilty and fined him. Cyclingnews

orts

sMirror

Friday, February 1, 2019

HWANG MIN-JEONG prevails in her debut as a pro.

PROMISE FULFILLED K

OREAN Hwang Min-jeong lived up to the promise, winning her pro debut by edging reigning Ladies Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit champion Princess

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Syria on Tuesday at 9 p.m.

Pooled in Group B are Al Riyadi-Lebanon, Sports Club Beirut-Lebanon, Sala-Morocco, Al Nift-Iraq and the Jordan national team.

The 10 protagonists are divided into two groups and will figure in a single-round preliminaries. Only the top 4 teams from each side will advance to the knockout stages, starting with the crossover quarterfinals on Thursday, February 7.

The winners of those pairings will make it to the semis on Friday and the two survivors will figure in a winner-take-all showdown on the final day on Saturday, February 9.

Fast-rising University of the Philippines guard Juan Gomez de Liano is expected to gain a share of the spotlight, while ABL veteran playmaker Jason Brickman is excited to repeat his solid showing that helped Mighty Sports clinch the Jones Cup title via an eight-game sweep back in 2016.

Touted Fil-Am recruits Jeremiah Gray and Roosevelt Adams are sure to strut their wares, while former pros Joseph Yeo, TY Tang and ex-Gin King stalwart Jett Manuel are determined to make their presence felt too.

Collegiate standouts, such as La Salle’s Santi Santillan, St. Benilde’s Justin Gutang and National University’s Troy Rike, can also provide ample contributions together with amateur league star Gab Banal.

Former national team mentor and multititled PBA tactician Jong Uichico will serve as Charles Tiu’s deputy along with former Xavier star Woody Co and Ateneo’s Dean Castano, with Edrick Ferrer serving as the assistant team manager.

Superal no less for the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Splendido Ladies Classic crown on a closing 70 on Thursday in Laurel, Batangas.

Hwang, who showed her potentials way back in 2015 when she topped a pro tournament at Mt. Malarayat as a 14-yearold amateur, leaned on a two-shot swing against Superal on No. 12 to hike her lead to four then kept her poise in the face of the latter’s make-or-break charge in the stretch to pocket the title by the slimmest of margins.

Superal, who closed to within one after 36 holes with a 68 on Wednesday, also pounced on a birdie-bogey swipe on No. 14 and threatened to within one with another birdie on the 15th. But she failed to cap her rally with muffed birdie putts in the last three holes, also ending up with a twounder card that enabled Hwang to preserve the lead and take the victory at six-under 210 worth P150,000.

“I was nervous every time Princess putts because I know she’d make it anytime,” said Hwang. “In contrast, I struggled with my putting but I’m glad my father was there to help me read my lines of putt.”

It was a sorry setback for Superal, who had looked forward to an explosive windup after shooting back-to-back birdies from No. 14 that pulled her within a shot. She finished with 211 and received P95,000.

Hwang, who also posted a record 16-stroke romp to win the Philippine Amateur Open crown last year, also became the second Korean to win in the first four legs of the 2018-19 LPGT put up by ICTSI after amateur Lee Ji-hyeon reigned at Camp John Hay in Baguio last October.

Chonlada Chayanun, tied with Hwang at the start of the final round, crumbled under pressure, reeling back with an opening 38 and limping home with a 73 to wind up third at 213 worth P60,000.

Despite going four strokes down with six holes to go, Superal knew she still had a chance.

She birdied No. 14 against Hwang’s bogey and applied more pressure on the Korean by hitting another birdie on the par-4 15th.

But Hwang steeled herself up in the pressure-packed stage, matching Superal’s par-game and nailing the victory that augured well for the lanky, 17-year-old shotmaker from Incheon’s young pro career.

Another Thai, Wad Phaewchimplee shot a tournament-best 67 to snatch fourth place at 214 while Pimpadsorn Sangkagaro also charged back with a 68 for fifth at 216 while Mookharin Ladgratok carded a 70 for joint sixth with local bet Marvi Monsalve, who matched par 72, at 219.

Ornnicha Konsunthea also shot a 70 for eighth at 220 followed by compatriot Punpaka Phumtumabamrung, who pooled a 221 after a 75, while Lee shot a 73 to tie fellow Korean Choeun Bang, who turned in a 74, and Thai Narisara Kerdrit, who skied to a 76, at 223 in the tournament organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.

BATTLE OF SKIDDING TEAMS

MIGHTY KICKS OFF DUBAI HOOPS BID

EAM Mighty Sports-Philippines arrived in the ultra-modern metropolis Dubai on Thursday afternoon oozing with confidence that it will get the job done this time in the 30th Dubai International Basketball Championships.

Handled by Charles Tiu and beefed up by three American reinforcements that include former Los Angeles Lakers star Lamar Odom, Mighty Sports is seeking to redeem itself after a forgettable debut two years ago, when it only had one victory to show in eight matches.

The apparel and accessories team will have an immediate chance to prove it is as good as advertised when Mighty Sports raises the curtains in the prestigious 10-team tournament against fellow Group A member American University in Dubai on Friday night at 7 p.m. (11 p.m., Manila time) inside the Shabab Al Ahli Club.

“We barely have any scouting report on who we will be facing right on the opening day but I am optimistic that we are more than ready to do well to make our kababayans here proud,” Mighty Sports team owner Alex Wongchuking said.

Resident Barangay Ginebra import Justin Brownlee is determined to showcase his scoring prowess on his second tour of duty, while Chinese league veteran Randolph Morris is expected to provide enough presence in the lane for the team backed by SMDC, Go For Gold, Healthcube and Oriental Group.

“I am expecting nothing less than a tough grind. Every game here is important so we have to keep our collective focus on the task at hand.

How we will perform in the first game will set the tone for our campaign,” said Tiu, younger brother of recently retired Rain or Shine star guard Chris.

Mighty Sports will barely have 24 hours to recharge and recover as it takes on host UAE national team on Saturday night, also at 7 p.m., before it squares off with formidable Homenetmen-Lebanon on Sunday at 9 o’clock.

The Philippine-based squad will finally get a breather on Monday before it closes out its preliminary-round campaign against Al Wahda-

C3

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EFENDING champion San Miguel and Rain or Shine clash in a battle of teams hoping to get back on the winning track in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup on Friday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

Tipoff is at 7 p.m. with the 2-2 (won-lost) Beermen and 2-1 Elasto Painters.

In the first game, Phoenix (3-0) stakes its immaculate record against Blackwater (1-2) at 4:30 p.m.

True to its expectation in the preseason, San Miguel Beer was

welcomed by a tough field with two quick losses early in the all-Filipino conference.

Columbian Dyip gave the four-time champions a reality check with 124-118 upset, while TNT scored a 104-93 beating of the Beermen last Sunday.

Christian Standhardinger paced San Miguel with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Von Pessumal listed a career-high 23 points in a losing effort.

Alex Cabagnot continues to miss games with a hamstring injury, while new recruit Terrence Romeo may be back to the lineup after suffering an ankle sprain against Dyip in the opener.

Rain or Shine, meanwhile, had a promising start with two consecutive wins over NLEX and Barangay Ginebra before it bowed to Blackwater, 111-99, on Wednesday.

The Elasto Painters are by far the best defensive team in the conference by only allowing 83 points per outing in their first two games.

Then came the hot-shooting Elite who made a splash in the second half to list 111 points.

Playing limited exposure against Blackwater as he recovers from ankle injury, Raymond Almazan is expected to serve longer minutes against the Beermen as he mans the shaded lane against June Mar Fajardo.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

JUNE MAR FAJARDO has to step up even bigger for the Beermen.

Patafa athletes’ Lingayen training for SEAG on hold

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HILIPPINE Athletics Track and Field Association President Philip Ella Juico is eager to send the national athletes for a full-time training in Lingayen in Pangasinan in preparation for the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

The only problem? The athletics chief needs funding from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

In the press launch of the 2019 Philippine Athletics Championships on Wednesday, Juico told reporters that Patafa’s grand plan is to bring the 40-strong national team to the training hub at the Narciso Ramos Sports Complex.

They considered the complex as the only THE change of venue was made following a request from the Russian Boxing Association.

suitable hub for their training, as track ovals in Manila and Baguio City are undergoing major rehabilitation for the country’s hosting of the SEA Games late this year.

But the Patafa athletes’ training in Lingayen is put on hold pending the PSC’s approval of the association’s request that the government sports agency shoulder the food requirement of the athletes.

“We will start training when we see the color of the money,” Juico said. “I am not contended with a board resolution or a check. I want the real money.”

According to Juico, the athletes are currently receiving P5,000 food allowance per month, which, he said, is not enough and

instead requested for P3.3 million to cover the food requirement of the athletes until the November 30-to-December 9 Games.

The Narciso Ramos Sports Complex is a huge facility and, according to Juico, Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino III has agreed to house the national team.

Juico said they are studying another option at the Ayala Corp.-owned Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus, Cavite. But the dormitories there will be completed in April.

Juico bared that Patafa intends to fly home FIl-American athletes Eric Cray, Trenten Beram, Kristina Knott, Kayla Richardson and Natalie Uy and Europe-based EJ Obiena to train in Lingayen. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Aiba men’s worlds moved from Sochi to Yekaterinburg

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HIS year’s International Boxing Association (Aiba) Men’s World Championships has been moved from Sochi to Yekaterinburg, the governing body has confirmed.

In a statement sent to insidethegames, an Aiba spokesman said the change was made following a request from the Russian Boxing Association.

Sochi, which hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, was awarded the event by the Aiba Executive Committee in July 2017.

But the event, scheduled to be held from September 7 to 21, will now be held more than 2,800 kilometers away in Yekaterinburg, described as the “third capital of Russia.”

“Following a request from the Russian Boxing Association, it has been decided that the Men’s World Boxing Championships will be held in Yekaterinburg instead of Sochi,” Aiba told insidethegames.

“Yekaterinburg is one of the largest cities in Russia and is a leading sports center with

numerous well-known athletes.

“The city offers all the infrastructure needed to organize a prestigious event and welcome the best men’s boxers.”

The decision to award the event to Sochi initially put Aiba on a collision course with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) as it was made during the Russian Anti-Doping Agency’s (Rusada) period of noncompliance.

Aiba was itself at risk of being declared noncompliant as a result and threatened legal action against Wada last July.

Under Wada’s previous compliance standards, international federations were urged to “do everything possible” to only award World Championships to countries when the National Olympic Committee, National Paralympic Committee and Nado are in compliance with the Code.

Aiba argued Russia was the only viable candidate as there were issues with the bid from Ukraine, Sochi’s sole challenger in the race for the 2019 World Championships.

The embattled governing body, the subject of an ongoing inquiry from the International Olympic Committee, which could lead to Aiba being stripped of the right to organize the Olympic boxing tournament at Tokyo 2020, eventually avoided noncompliance after Wada controversially lifted the suspension on RUSADA in September 2018.

The 2019 World Championships will be the first edition of the event held in Russia since 1989.

Perpetual Help begins volleyball sweep quest

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NIVERSITY of Perpetual Help System Dalta eyes a rare sweep of the women’s, men’s and juniors’ championships as the 94th NCAA volleyball finals start on Friday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

The Lady Altas pulled off the most dramatic victory among the Perpetual Help teams after shocking the top-seeded College of St. Benilde Lady Blazers twice—capped by a heart-stopping come-from-behind 25-17, 27-29, 19-25, 26-24, 16-14 win last Tuesday that was highlighted by a mighty rally from 11-12 down in the fourth set.

That win set Perpetual Help up against defending champion Arellano University, which trampled last year’s finals foe San Beda in the Final Four to book the first slot to the best-of-three finale.

The Macky Carino-mentored Lady Altas also joined the Altas and the Junior Altas in the finals for a chance to scoop up all crowns in one season that would put them in the elite company of Ateneo, a former member, and San Sebastian, who both accomplished such rare feat.

Ateneo did it in the 1976 season while San Sebastian lorded it over a record five times in 1984, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2002.

Both the Altas and the Junior Altas are tipped to win it against the Blazers and the Letran Squires, respectively, after the former two hammered out a nine-game sweep of the elimination round to leapfrog straight to the finals.

The Altas, mentored by Sammy Acaylar, have also been dominating men’s volleyball the last eight seasons when they won six of their 11 crowns, while the Junior Altas were untouchable the last four years when they won four in row to hike their total to 10.

In contrast, Perpetual Help will come into its series with Arellano University as a complete underdog as the latter won three of the last four women’s crowns. Carino, however, is hoping they could carry their giant-slaying ways in the Final Four to the finals.

NO NEED TO WORRY Sports

POLICE on horseback patrol past Mercedes-Benz Stadium ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl 53. AP

BusinessMirror

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| Friday, February 1, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

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By Jeff Martin The Associated Press

TLANTA—The National Football League (NFL) is not aware of any security threats against the Super Bowl, now four days away, the league’s top security officer said on Wednesday.

“We have no credible or specific threats that have been brought to our attention,” NFL Chief Security Officer Cathy Lanier said.

She spoke at a news conference in host city Atlanta alongside the nation’s Homeland Security secretary, as well as state and local law officers.

Outside, low-flying helicopters swooped over Atlanta’s downtown, and police patrolled the streets on horseback, bicycles and on foot. On the ground, trained police canines sniffed visitors to some hotels and other buildings.

The New England Patriots face the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Despite the recently ended partial government shutdown, Homeland Security employees are committed to keeping the Super Bowl secure, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said.

“Protecting an event such as the Super Bowl is no easy task,” Nielsen said.

“I want to make clear that despite last month’s lapse in funding, DHS employees are and have been committed to keeping our nation and Super Bowl 53 secure,” she added.

More than 600 employees from her agency will be protecting the city, she said. US Secret Service officers and members of the Coast Guard also will be on the ground and joining local and state police and other agencies, Nielsen said.

“We’ve conducted more than 100 different physical and cyber-security assessments and conducted outreach activities...so that any vulnerabilities can be addressed before they are exploited,” Nielsen said. “Part of what we

bring to bear is our expertise in the tactics and techniques that potential adversaries could bring against events, such as these in crowded places.”

The US Department of Energy advised residents not to be alarmed by low-flying choppers equipped with radiation-sensing technology. The aim is to measure naturally occurring radiation to establish baseline levels—a routine step in securing major events, the agency said.

Air space in the area of Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be restricted, and drones will not be allowed to fly.

City police officers are working 12-hour shifts and aim to be highly visible, Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields said.

For local police, the greatest concerns in recent days have been the weather and traffic, and weather conditions are expected to improve in the days before the Super Bowl.

Shields urged motorists to use public transportation, which would keep some cars off the streets.

“If you must drive, please, please, please secure any valuables and your firearms prior to coming,” Shields said.

She said police are relying on the public to call 911 if anything seems suspicious.

“We just really, really want to emphasize, if people see something that is strange, a little off or gives them any pause to call 911 immediately,” Shields said.

“Let us sort through it.”

WEATHER ON ATLANTA’S SIDE

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TLANTA—Atlanta has dodged a repeat of the ice storm, which marred its previous Super Bowl.

When an ice storm blanketed Atlanta before the Super Bowl in 2000, the fear was the National Football League (NFL) wouldn’t want to bring the game back.

Atlanta’s $1.5-billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium was a game changer. The new building, which opened in 2017, is the reason the city is hosting Sunday’s Super Bowl 53.

The weather is on Atlanta’s side for Sunday’s Rams-Patriots game. There was a hard freeze on Tuesday night, but no snow and no significant black ice. The forecast calls for a high near 60 on Sunday. The new stadium’s fancy retractable roof may be open for at least a portion of the game.

Anyone who attended the 2000 game knows how important it was for Atlanta, and for the NFL, to avoid another frozen mess. The ice storm 19 years ago made it difficult for fans to drive into the city or safely walk to events surrounding the stadium.

The ice and cold also affected the players on the teams in 2000. Practice plans were altered, including a walk-through in the team hotel ballroom.

“I recall we’re going to Atlanta for the Super Bowl, and then it’s freezing outside and we needed heaters at practice,” said Kurt Warner, who was the quarterback for the then-St. Louis Rams, who beat the Tennessee Titans 23-16.

“The Saturday walkthrough, instead of having it out at the stadium, we ended up doing some of that stuff in the ballroom, with the conditions and all. It was not exactly how I thought it would be.”

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay was one of the Atlanta-based fans affected by the freezing weather in 2000.

Then only 14, McVay was already accustomed to Atlanta’s traffic woes. Thanks to the ice, McVay said his family’s drive to the old Georgia Dome was much worse than normal.

“I know Atlanta traffic is always a nightmare, but it was especially bad that day,”

McVay said on Wednesday. “It took us forever to get into the Georgia Dome at the time.”

There were serious worries about the weather this week, and for good cause. Ice turned Atlanta interstates into a demolition derby in 2014, leaving motorists stranded overnight on the Interstate 285, which serves as the perimeter around the city.

This week, another daunting winter weather forecast prompted Georgia authorities to close government offices, Atlanta schools and cancel flights on Tuesday.

Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald chuckled at all the commotion. He said he had no concerns about a repeat of the 2000 weather mess.

“This weather is not bad at all,” Donald said. “It rains and y’all want to shut stuff down.

I’m from Pittsburgh, so this ain’t bad.”

It’s not as if Atlanta has sole claim to winter weather. Other Super Bowl cities, including Dallas, have been burdened with bad weather.

Atlanta is eager to show its sunny side to its Super Bowl crowd and TV audience.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Atlanta is on track for a good show.

“Atlanta has done an incredible job,” Goodell said on Wednesday at his state of the league news conference. “...We’re early in the week, but we see no reason why this isn’t going to be a great Super Bowl.”

Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Sunday’s game will be “a great showcase for Atlanta.”

“Atlanta is going to do a wonderful job putting its best foot forward,” Blank said.

The next big question: Will the city face another 19-year wait before the Super Bowl returns?

Goodell bragged on the city—and its new stadium.

“As it relates to when we come back, as you know they get more and more competitive as more and more cities want to host the Super Bowl,” Goodell said. “We think that’s great, but it is a challenge for us to meet all those demands. AP

STELLA ARTOIS shows a scene with Sarah Jessica Parker (right) from the company’s Super Bowl spot, same with Toyota Motor North America starring Antoinette “Toni” Harris, a female football player at a California community college. AP

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EW YORK—Sarah Michelle Gellar makes a horror-movie parody for Olay. Jeff Bridges and Sarah Jessica Parker tout Stella Artois.

Steve Carrell hawks Pepsi.

Star power abounds in this year’s Super Bowl ads.

Advertisers are hoping to provide some welcome distraction and entertainment as economic fears persist and the nation’s political climate remains sharply divided. As much as this year’s Super Bowl will be a battle on the field between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams, it will be a battle between advertisers over who gets the buzz—and who gets forgotten.

Celebrities are a relatively safe bet to garner good will from Super Bowl viewers who aren’t looking to be lectured at. There has been a retreat from more overtly political ads that were seen during the 2017 Super Bowl from companies such as 84 Lumber and Airbnb.

“The big theme is a return to light-hearted humor,” University of Virginia professor Kim Whitler said. “There’s an acknowledgement the Super Bowl is about entertainment.”

Star power abounds at Super Bowl 53 ads The Super Bowl remains advertising’s biggest mass-market showcase—and one of the last remaining ones in an age of personalized ads targeted to individual interests based on data collected by Facebook, Google and other tech mammoths. Digital ads are expected to make up nearly 60 percent of ad spending by 2020, according to eMarketer, up from about 50 percent in 2018.

Yet, a 30-second Super Bowl ad can cost more than $5 million. More than 100 million people in the US are expected to tune in to Sunday’s game on CBS. SimpliSafe’s creative director, Wade Devers, said the home-security company is advertising during the Super Bowl for the first time because the game has “a unique audience” primed to be interested in watching the ads.

Advertisers are doing what they can to stand out—Bridges, for instance, revives his “The Dude” character from The Big Lebowski—while shying away from controversy.

“It’s such a big investment. Advertisers really want to generate as much return as they can,” Northwestern University marketing professor Tim Calkins said. “I think we’ll see a lot of humor and product-focused advertising. A lot of advertisers are nervous about taking on big themes.”

So don’t expect any mention of the government shutdown or the debate over building a wall at the Mexican border, for example.

But safe can also mean dull.

“It will be a lackluster year,” said Kelly O’Keefe, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth’s Brandcenter. “I hope to see a few standouts, but the ads could be more mediocre than they have in a few years.”

TRIED AND TRUE

A FEW old favorites are returning. AnheuserBusch is trotting out its famed Clydesdales. They pull a dalmatian dog through a field populated

with windmills to the tune of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” to promote the idea that Budweiser is brewed with energy from wind power.

As for celebrities, always a staple in Super Bowl ads, Jason Bateman appears as an affable elevator operator to showcase Hyundai’s Shopper Assurance program. M&M’s enlisted actress Christina Applegate, and Avocados From Mexico’s ad will feature Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth.

Colgate Total’s ad features Luke Wilson as a close talker.

STRONG WOMEN

OLAY will play off horror movies and the phrase “Killer Skin,” with an ad starring Gellar. Toyota is highlighting the perseverance of Antoinette “Toni” Harris, a female football player at a California community college. And Bumble selected Serena Williams to be its spokesman in the dating app’s first ever Super Bowl ad. AP

God of all the living

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T dawn You fill us with Your faithful love. We rejoice in You and pray: Let Your favor be upon us, Oh God. Guard Your Church in peace and heal divisions among Christians and other religious sects. Unite people of every age, race and nation in efforts to feed and shelter the poor and destitute.

Show mercy and love to those who face transition, change or physical diminishment. May God bless us and give success to the work of our hands, through Christ our brother. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Life BusinessMirror

FERMENTATION: A BUBBLY YEAR OF THE PIG D2

Friday, February 1, 2019

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With an estimated budget of $200 million, Alita: Battle Angel tells the story of cyborg Alita (Rosa Salazar) who awakens without memory in a dystopic world where she’s taken in by a compassionate father figure Dr. Dyson Ido. It is hoped the film will do better than the 2017 flop Ghost in the Shell.

COULD ‘ALITA’ BE HOLLYWOOD’S BREAKTHROUGH MANGA MOVIE? W

BY NICK PERRY The Associated Press

ELLINGTON, New Zealand—The manga movie Alita: Battle Angel has been 20 years in the making, and producer Jon Landau thinks it will finally represent the breakthrough success in Hollywood for a genre which has proved problematic.

“I think this is definitely the breakthrough one because of the story that Kishiro wrote,” said Landau, referring to Japanese author Yukito Kishiro, who wrote the graphic novels, or manga, upon which the movie is based.

“You know, other mangas that have not worked have been very Asian-centric in their world, and in their stories,” Landau said. “And Kishiro wrote a melting-pot world. He didn’t write a central character that was Asian. He wrote universal themes of discovery, of self-awareness, for these characters. And that is what’s relatable to people across the globe.”

The film has an estimated budget of $200 million and when it opens in February, 20th Century Fox will be hoping for a much better reception than

Paramount’s 2017 flop Ghost in the Shell.

That manga movie didn’t seem to connect with audiences, grossing just $41 million in the United States and $170 million worldwide, with some critics accusing it of “whitewashing” after Scarlett Johansson was cast in the lead role.

Alita tells the story of cyborg Alita (Rosa Salazar) who awakens without memory in a dystopic world where she’s taken in by a compassionate father figure Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz). As she learns to navigate her new world, she begins to discover her latent fighting powers and develops feelings for street-smart Hugo (Keean Johnson).

Landau said director James Cameron first fell in love with the Alita novels in 1999, and spent five years working on a script that ballooned to nearly 200 pages with 600 pages of notes. He says Cameron got waylaid working on Avatar (2009) and its sequels before one day having a social lunch with director Robert Rodriguez.

“He said if you can crack this down to a shooting length, you can direct it,” Landau recalls. “And Robert did.” During principal filming in Austin, Texas, Salazar wore a motion-capture suit so her character

could later be animated to reflect its look in the novels.

When the first trailers came out last year, some viewers said Alita’s eyes appeared huge to the point of being creepy.

Senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri, from the Weta Digital studio in New Zealand’s capital Wellington, said they discussed the eyes with Cameron, and he had the opposite reaction, telling them they had held back and should go bigger.

“And it wasn’t the size of the eyes, it was the size of the pupils,” Letteri said. “Because that was a quality in the book, that sort of doll-like quality, and he thought we should bring that out more. And it worked.”

Salazar, who previously appeared in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015), said she completed many months of martial arts training in disciplines like Muay Thai to prepare for the fight sequences.

“It was a lot of working through soreness, working through pain, getting my endurance up,” she said.

She broke some ribs during her training, she said.

“I fell on my ribs doing a whip kick,” she said. “My other foot just kind of gave out, my other leg kind of swept from under me, and I fell directly on my ribs. I couldn’t breathe for a little while.”

She said she always trusted her character would look good on the screen after Rodriguez showed her some concept art before she got the role.

“They had a vision,” she said. “They stuck to that vision. I trust their vision. And then that is what we ended up with.”

She said she can empathize with the way Alita transforms from a girl to a woman in the movie, after shedding one body for another. “I could relate to that when I was 14 and I felt like a mutant,” she said.

Waltz, who played Col. Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, said he had no experience with graphic novels before reading up on Alita.

“The manga, comic, graphic novel thing is not my world at all,” he said. “I know nothing about it. And I realize that there is a vast field to be discovered.”

Other roles in the movie are played by Mahershala Ali (Vector), Eiza Gonzalez (Nyssiana) and Jennifer Connelly (Chiren).

Alita: Battle Angel will be released in theaters in the US on February 14. (It is scheduled for release in Philippine theaters on February 6 via 20th Century Fox.—Ed.) It is rated PG-13 for sequences of science-fiction violence and action, and for some language. ■

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Friday, February 1, 2019

Society BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A bubbly Year of the Pig THE world of sparkling wines offers surprising pairing possibilities.

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By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Harry Styles, 25; Ronda Rousey, 32; Big Boi, 44; Michael C. Hall, 48.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Check out what others are doing before you decide to get involved. Problems with institutions and government agencies should be dealt with directly and with transparency. Clear up matters that are pending and move on to the opportunities that are within reach. New beginnings are apparent, and you want to be free and clear to take advantage of what’s offered. Your lucky numbers are 8, 14, 21, 28, 33, 37, 46.

FERMENTATION CECILE MAURICIO

cecile.mauricio@gmail.com

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t rely on anyone but yourself if you want something done right. You’ll be blamed if you aren’t precise or you don’t finish on time. Plan to relax with people you enjoy being around to help ease stress due to pressure and deadlines. ★★

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HERE is no doubt. Lechon, the king of roasted pig cookery, will be big in the Year of the Pig. From the oven-roasted suckling pig cochinillo, so tender it can be sliced with a plate or a platito, to the spit-roasted heavyweights, the lure of the lechon is more than skin-deep. What wine to drink with all that porky goodness? With the crisp skin, something that crackles and pops as well, like sparkling wine. The juicy, fat-speckled white meat on its own can go with a lightly oaked white. The leftovers that will star in lechon paksiw will go with a rosé or a light-to-medium red. But if I were to choose just one wine, bubbly is on top of my list.

While the style of sparkling wine seems more fixed than that of other wines, that doesn’t mean the category is lacking in variety. After all, bubblies can be white, pink or red (also the lucky colors in the Year of the Pig), and depending on where these are produced, the stylistic differences become evident.

Sparkling wines produced in cool regions mirror the chilly conditions under which they are made, making these wines crisp and elegant, some with almost laser-sharp clarity. Those bubblies made in warmer climates are generally softer, showing subtle fruit notes.

Climatic conditions affect the cost, too. Because grapes take longer to ripen and are more difficult to grow in cool climates, sparkling wines from these areas are generally more expensive than those made in warmer regions. The way the bubbly is made also has cost implications. That is why Champagne—made with great difficulty because of the tedious second fermentation in the bottle and with slower ripening grapes—is easily the most expensive sparkler. That said, not all bubblies can be called “Champagne,” and not all bubblies (Champagne included) are created equal. Take those bubbles. The finer the bubbles, like in champagne, the finer the wine. There are semi-sparklers like the frizzante from Italy—wines like the softly fizzy Moscato d’Asti and Lambrusco.

The sweetness levels of sparkling wines can vary too, from dry to sweet. Cava, Spain’s famous bubbly, has the same sweetness levels as those for champagne, from brut nature (the driest) to sweet, and is made in the same way as Champagne, where the second fermentation also takes place in each bottle. And while there is pink rosé Champagne and rosé cava,

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Live and learn. Observing how others react will help you detect who is offering you good information and who isn’t. Choose quality over quantity if you want to come out on top. Know what you want, and go after it relentlessly. ★★★★★

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GEMINI (May 21-June 20): When opportunity knocks, open the door. Listen to what’s offered and consider the source. A change will do you good, but it has to be for the right reason. Romance is on the rise and will improve your personal life. ★★★

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You’ll be drawn to situations that are different. Your interest should not mislead you. Take a look, assess the situation and take comfort in what you have and the direction you are heading. Stability should take precedence over change. ★★★

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Look, see and follow through. Trust your instincts, experience and your ability to wheel and deal. Opportunities are present, along with partnerships that can change your direction and your life. A romantic gesture will improve your personal life. ★★★

there is no rosé Prosecco.

Red sparklers—most just a tad sweet—are largely overlooked, but these make interesting lechon partners, as well. Australia makes a specialty of red sparkling shiraz, a bit odd at the first sip, but the wine’s juicy, vibrant, tart-sweet profile is a pleasant surprise. Italy’s Brachetto d’Acqui is a red sparkler too—frothy, strawberry-ish and sweet enough to go with light desserts.

The world of sparkling wines is largely unexplored and more so, their food pairing possibilities. Your next rendezvous with lechon or its variants would be a good a time as any to try that bottle of bubbly— white, red or pink.

Here’s to a bubbly Year of the Pig. Go xi fa cai!

VINOFILE: WHERE TO FIND BUBBLIES ■ Happy Living Tasting Room—Warehouse 16A,

La Fuerza Compound, Chino Roces Avenue, Makati: Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs, Schramsberg J. Schram, Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut (Napa Valley, California); Valdivieso Brut (Curico, Chile) ■ Monopole Wine Bar—Greenbelt Excelsior, 105 C. Palanca Street, Legaspi Village, Makati: has an excellent selection of Champagne, including grower Champagnes Egly-Ouriet and Vilmart et Cie ■ iTrulli—Ground Floor, LRI Design Plaza, Nicanor Garcia Street, Makati: for Italian bubblies, including Franciacorta, Prosecco and Lambrusco ■ Säntis Delicatessen—main store at WIC Building, 7431 Yakal Street, San Antonio Village Makati: Champagne Taittinger, Batasiolo Brachetto d’Acqui ■ Terry’s Bistro and Gourmet Store—main store at the Ground Floor, BCS Prime Building, Chino Roces Avenue, Makati: Cava Masachs Blanc de Blancs Brut, Rosat Trepat Cava Torello, Champagne Mailly ■

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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Get out and have some fun. You need a break from the pressure you are feeling at home and with important relationships. A timeout will help you put what’s going on in your life back in perspective. ★★★★

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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Don’t fold under pressure. You’ve got more going for you than you realize, and an opportunity is within reach that can change your life. Now is not the time to procrastinate or to give someone the upper hand. ★★

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Say little and do a lot. Concentrate on being unique and creative and on developing your own style and way of doing things. An older friend or expert will help you see things differently. Take note and take over. ★★★★

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You may crave change, but not everyone around you will be delighted with the decisions you make.

Before you present your intentions, perfect your plans so you can offset complaints and criticism. ★★★

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Know when to say no and when to walk away. Don’t rely on others to do what you want or to have your back.

Let your basic instincts be your guide; you will find a way to reach your destination. ★★★

Luxury in motion FROM left: Lexus Manila Inc. President Raymond Rodriguez, Kei Mizuguchi, Dr. David Go, LMI ES Chief Engineer Yukihiro Kito, Toyota Motor Philippines President Satoru Suzuki, David Nordstrom, and Jing Atienza with the iconic 2019 Lexus ES 350

Today’s Horoscope

A RESPECTED company that produces the most reliable vehicles, Lexus Manila Inc. (LMI) recently unveiled a new car model that redefines luxury in motion. The product launch was held at LMI’s posh showroom at Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

Under the astute leadership of LMI President Raymond Rodriguez and EVP Yuichiro Suzuki, the company recently launched the seventh-generation ES, the 2019 Lexus ES 350. After six generations of uncompromising comfort, refinement, and performance, the 2019 Lexus ES was crafted to excite Manila’s biggest luxury vehicle enthusiasts.

Attended by LMI and Toyota Motor Philippines executives and the Metro’s biggest car aficionados, the launch was a rousing success—with the 2019 Lexus ES 350 as the show-stopping attraction.

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Keep a close watch on what’s going on behind the scenes. Protect against loss or giving someone access to personal information. Use your skills and intelligence to benefit you, not to help someone else prosper. Put yourself first. ★★★

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): What you do to help others will in turn help you. Connect with someone you have worked with in the past. You’ll be offered something worth checking out.

Pay off a debt that stands between you and something you want. ★★★★ BIRTHDAY BABY: You are opportunistic, insightful and calculating.

You are inventive and ambitious.

‘negotiation 101’ BY BRUCE VENZKE The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Aswan slitherers 5 “Fancy ___!”

9 Smog relative 14 Former Ford division, briefly 15 The finest 16 Long-eared leapers 17 “Uh-huh!”

18 Show off, as biceps 19 Apartments, e.g.

20 Start of a partner’s “explanation” 23 Royal flush card 24 Jail cell bed 25 Explanation: Part 2 34 Volcanic powder 35 Southern neighbor of Tenn.

36 Noah’s mount 37 Pricey violin, for short 40 Dishonest-sounding chemical 42 ___ Khan (tiger voiced by Idris Elba) 43 Capricorn, for one 45 Large serving vessel 47 Poem of praise 48 Explanation: Part 3

52 Brooding music genre 53 Top rating, often 54 End of the explanation 61 Nurse Barton 62 Stoltz of Mask 63 Encyclopedia range 65 Jeans material 66 Queue 67 Corn syrup brand 68 Extent 69 Fifth Avenue retailer 70 Big Bird’s buddy DOWN 1 Novelist Tan 2 Appear to be 3 Say a Hail Mary, e.g.

4 Charles ___ (investment firm) 5 Evening gown fabric, perhaps 6 Donut center 7 From the beginning 8 Chevron subsidiary 9 Window covering 10 Leo’s locks 11 Bone-dry

12 13 21 22 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 38 39 41 44 46 49 50 51 54 55 56

Greek Z Start to snow?

Post-O.R. stop Suddenly bright star Prepares to fish Houston MLB player Light blanket Under the weather Short-range basket “Lah-di-___!”

Cookies with creme “En ___!” (fencer’s call) Knight’s horse Donkey Kong or King Kong Craps, e.g.

Goof “___ esta usted?”

Bulletin board array Roadside inns Was introduced to Consumed quantity Hailey Baldwin’s uncle iPod Mini successor Coffee maker style

57 58 59 60 61 64

Opera solo Flaw in the system Latin list shortener Good name for an average guy?

PCs burn them Madhouse

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

www.businessmirror.com.ph

6 WAYS TO GET LUCKY THIS CHINESE NEW YEAR HOW do you attract good luck?

When it comes to ushering in good fortune, feng shui can help you prepare for the positive energy that the Year of the Pig brings. Feng shui expert Marites Allen says that it isn’t that hard to practice. The more you do it, the better you get. Here are some tips from SM Supermalls (www.smsupermalls.com) on how to attract good energy, fortune and luck this Chinese New Year: 1. WEAR COLORS THAT SYMBOLIZE THE ELEMENT OF FIRE OR METAL. Dress in red, pink and orange, but don’t forget to add colors that represent Earth— yellow, ocher or brown—to balance out the flows of inner energy.

2. EAT FOOD THAT IS DOMINANT IN THE COLORS RED AND WHITE. Among hundreds of lucky food, dim sum is one of the luckiest as it translates into having prosperity and good family life. Indulge in Chinese dining at SM’s one of many buffet or Chinese restaurants, and family dining deals ongoing until February 5.

3. REIMAGINE YOUR OFFICE SPACE. Relieve stress at work and eliminate negative energy by applying feng shui techniques in your workspace. Clean out the clutter and tidy up your desk Mari Kondo-style by organizing them in storage boxes, which you can buy at SM Home.

4. SAY HELLO TO ACCESSORIES. Feng shui does not only apply to clothing, but also to various accessories, such as jewelry, handbags, shoes and many more.

At SM’s Prosperity Bazaar, you can find lucky fruits, plush toys and trinkets that are perfect for decorating personal spaces until February 5.

5. WITNESS A DRAGON DANCE. Who would want to miss a signature lion dance during Chinese New Year?

At SM, families can watch Prosperity Performances like the Lion and Dragon Dance and Feng Shui Master, as well as the Chinese Character Parade to add excitement to the festivity. Catch it on February 2, 3 and 5.

6. SCAN AND SHARE YOUR LUCK. Scan QR codes in participating SM malls and shake your luck away with the Digital Hongbao where you can win special prizes. Scan as much codes to redeem more gifts until February 5.

Relationships BusinessMirror

Friday, February 1, 2019

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Welcoming the Year of the Pig SOMETHING LIKE LIFE

MA. STELLA F. ARNALDO

@akosistellaBM

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NOTHER Chinese New Year is upon us, and with it come the usual forecasts by renowned geomancers or feng shui experts.

Marites Allen says the Year of the Earth Boar (or Pig), which makes its entry on February 5, will be a generally “positive year” for many of the animal signs in the Chinese zodiac.

Pigs are usually described as honest creatures.

They are gallant, sturdy, sociable, peace-loving, patient, loyal and hardworking. Of course it has its negative traits, as well; pigs are prone to being irritable and resentful, so it’s best not to incur their ire. Money can also be a source of anxiety.

Allen warns, however, that while the Year of the Pig/2019 heralds a season of abundance, we also need to “control our excesses,” and especially curb our overspending. (Note to self: Stay away from those sales!)

Most of the animal signs will be blessed with good fortune this year, according to the master feng shui expert, except for those born in the Year of the Dragon (1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012), Snake (1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013) and Pig (1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019).

According to Allen, Dragons should keep a watchful eye on their assets and investments, as there

is a “robbery star” in their charts this year. So they should pay particular attention to fine details in any financial transactions, so they won’t be victims of scams or fraudulent activities.

Snakes are in “conflict” with the Year of the Pig, so they could face a lot of disappointments. Snakes and Pigs have a hard time trusting each other, and will not compromise or give way to the other. Thus, Allen advices Snakes to keep a low profile this year, and do more charitable work.

Pigs, because of their carefree nature, also need to clamp down on their excessive spending. While they may be able to profit on a number of investments, they may also face losses if they are not careful.

Meanwhile, another popular geomancer, Master Joseph Chau, lists the many ways we can prepare for coming of the Lunar New Year: 1. Clean the house thoroughly. But make sure all the cleaning is done before February 4, or the Eve of the Chinese New Year.

2. Decorate the house with red paper lanterns or other accessories in red. The color has long been associated with good luck.

3. Bathe before midnight. As a final rinse (pangbanlaw), use water boiled with the leaves of the pomelo plant. The scent is supposed to shed away any bad luck on one’s person. (Don’t look at me; I don’t know where to get those leaves either. Maybe try Farmer’s Market and order through Honestbee.ph.)

4. Buy new underwear, new slippers, new clothes and wear them. Most Chinese wear red clothing and accessories, as well.

5. Make sure the rice bin is full before midnight, and put on its top ang pao or red envelope with money inside. (I’ve seen those envelopes at National Book Store, so check them out.)

6. On the dining table, put five kinds of round fruits in pairs to symbolize abundance and continued prosperity. The Chinese consider the number “5” to

mean prosperity. (A number of supermarkets like SM always have these prepared fruits in a basket. You can get some pineapples, pomelo, a bunch of grapes, kiatkiat, mandarin oranges or apples; the latter symbolizes “peace” in Chinese.)

7. Also for the dining table, add flowers, peanuts with shells (the sound in Chinese means “dynamism”), a sweet cake (anything that rises like mamon, but not a mousse, because it has no air), candies, and radish cake.

8. If you’re going to have a midnight dinner, serve an entire fish, complete from head to tail as it signifies abundance. It’s best to have dinner with all family members complete.

9. Most Chinese light up fireworks and explode firecrackers as a way to chase away bad luck, and allow prosperity to come into their lives.

10. Give away ang pao with money to children.

The Chinese New Year is also a good time to get rid of our old stuff. So if you’re still in a KonMari mood, gather all the things that no longer spark joy in your life and donate these. Chau always stresses an old Chinese saying: “If old things do not go, new things will not come.”

He says getting rid of old furniture, unused items, appliances that have fallen into disrepair, and damaged gadgets will help usher in positive “chi” or energy into our lives.

We should also pay our debts before the Lunar New Year enters. “It is considered unlucky to owe debts when a new year starts,” Chau emphasizes.

“It will affect your luck in finance and reputation forever, and they will have endless debts in the years to come.” (Ooops! No wonder I still have those creditcard debts. Yikes.)

The goal is to enter the New Year “lighter”—that is, with no financial burdens, having new things, a full stomach, and lots of love to go around with family and friends. ■

2017. The mayor and his family have since been staying in their other residence in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte, which is 38 kilometers or an hour’s drive from Marawi.

Gandamra said out of Marawi’s 96 barangays, 72 have tried to return to normalcy. Over 800 households are still staying in evacuation centers outside of Marawi. Task Force Bangon Marawi, comprised of various government agencies, is slowly working on the rehabilitation of Ground Zero, or Marawi’s devastated city center. As part of the clean-

up, it has to get permission from homeowners to demolish the ruins of their homes that are deemed unsafe. There are plans to build roads and install underground cables.

Meanwhile, Gandamra has been working on the temporary shelters—22-square-meter concrete spaces with a bathroom, an extension for the kitchen and dining area, and water and electricity. Six people can live comfortably in one shelter.

Tricycle driver Masiding Bani, his wife and four children were elated to move into the house in Sagonsongan. During the war, his family stayed at a relative’s house in Iligan City for two months then transferred to an evacuation center near Sagonsongan.

They lived in humid and crowded tents and lined up to use the portalets. Bani said they are content with their new home.

A community leader in Area 3 of Sagonsongan, Omangan Benito recalled that during the siege, his family sought refuge at an unfinished building beside the City Hall. Since last year, the Benitos have been living in one of the shelters that were built by the NHA with aid from Korea “We are happy to have a roof over our heads,” he said in Tagalog.

Trader Alnasser Busara and his family lived with relatives in a town in Lanao del Norte then eventually rented a space in Iligan City. When they returned to Marawi to reside in Sagonsongan, Busara said he felt their lives had stabilized.

Bani, Benito and Busara expressed their gratitude to Gandamra, who constantly reassures his constituents that the situation will slowly improve.

“He didn’t let us down. When the houses were built, he urged us to return to Marawi,” said Busara. “He made sure that we received relief goods regularly.”

Rising from Marawi’s rubble TEXT & PHOTO BY AYUNAN G. GUNTING-AL HADJ FOLLOWING the long and vicious battle between the government troops and extremist groups in 2017, Marawi can only dream of getting its former status back. It was once distinguished as the economic hub of Lanao del Sur and the center of Islam in the country.

Today, the business district and the surrounding barangays have been reduced to rubble. Homes of well-to-do families, including Marawi Mayor Majul Gandamra’s, were demolished or damaged by artillery.

Despite the ravages of war, some cultural icons have remained, such as the scenic Mindanao State University and the torogans, the traditional Maranao homes with intricate carvings.

As a personal initiative, Gandamra, his family and friends donated 46 hectares of land for settlements, consisting of temporary shelters. These were built by the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the municipality. Many poor families who were displaced during the war, have returned to Marawi and moved into these homes.

In Barangay Sagonsongan, families have occupied 1,050 temporary shelters. An additional 300 houses are being put up.

Of the 1,500 temporary shelters in Barangay Boganga, 600 have been turned over to other residents. A thousand homes in Barangay Dulay are on the rise. The temporary shelters are just the start of Marawi’s urban renewal, which could take more than a decade.

The five-month Marawi Siege was said to be the country’s longest urban war. Fighters of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and the local radical Islamic groups of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf tried

to conquer the city, including the capitol building.

When the siege began in May 2017, Gandamra, his immediate family and his staff were holed up at the City Hall. “It was the target of the ISIL and the Maute so that they could conquer and install their flag.

They were well-equipped and tried to kill us, but we stood our ground. The City Hall is the symbol of our sovereignty. Our retaliation was calibrated. After four days, the military strengthened our forces. We were then able to extricate ourselves from the City Hall,” said Gandamra. The battle ended in October

IN Barangay Sagonsongan, families have occupied 1,050 temporary shelters. An additional 300 houses are being put up.

D4

Show BusinessMirror

Friday, February 1, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

THE CompanY

BLIND SPOT BRUCE C.

BATTLE BETWEEN SISTERS

THE recent controversy involving a celebrity and her former staff member has escalated to the point that even other people have become involved. Even the sister of an actress who dissed the celebrity has been named as the latter’s accomplice. We don’t really know what happened between the celebrity and her sister but we know one thing—the actress is still sore that her sister had her current paramour first.

MISBEHAVING

THE children of a showbiz couple were shielded from the public eye as they were growing up. It was the desire of their father that they have a normal childhood at least. They had that, aside from a few endorsements. When you see the siblings, they seem to be well-behaved and well-mannered. However, recent reports have it that the siblings have been unruly in a number of public places. It would be OK probably if the siblings were children but they’re adults and public figures.

HIS TERRITORY

WE wonder how the matinee idol feels now that his erstwhile partner and her steady date are always at the mall that he frequents. The matinee idol lives very near the mall but very few people know this. Wouldn’t it be funny if the couple bumped into the actor?

Would it be awkward or not? The matinee idol has repeatedly denied that he lives in the area and, at this point, nobody cares anymore as his popularity had dwindled. His erstwhile partner, meanwhile, is still popular despite losing the support of their love team’s worshippers.

CLEANING THE WEB

THE socialite is known for being beautiful but her face has been surgically enhanced and improved over the years. However, she doesn’t want this to be common knowledge so she hired someone to make sure all her old pictures were removed from the Internet.

All that are left are new images of her. The socialite’s ex-boyfriend, meanwhile, has a sex video taken like maybe seven years ago. Well, the socialite also had this video removed from the Internet. She believes that even if she and the guy are no longer together, any scandal will be associated with her.

Some good CompanY for Valentine GAB FAB JET VALLE

@jetvalle

L

ONG before Glee and Pitch Perfect, The CompanY was already leading the pack when it came to acapella, jazz, contemporary R&B and vocal pop. In fact, they are a much established recording group with such iconic hits as “Everlasting Love,” “Muntik Na Kitang Minahal,” “Now That I Have You” and countless other songs that millennials would identify as the theme for this favorite local romcom of theirs or that.

With countless industry and sales record awards, The CompanY is indeed an institution in the music industry. They have created a distinct sound that is still going strong But little do the young ones know that the vocal group is also a force to reckon with in live performances. Watching a show of The CompanY is an explosion, and a cool experience, as well. As cool as the weather we are experiencing now. It combines musical enjoyment, creative genius, vocal excellence and even a boatload of fun.

Currently composed of Moy Ortiz, Annie Quintos, Cecile Bautista, Sweet Plantado and OJ Mariano, The CompanY can sing anything with or without musical accompaniment, and each one holds his or her own vocal role whether lead or backup in razor-sharp five-part harmonizing. Audiences are typically appreciative and enthusiastic from the getgo of all their swinging performances. That is why concert aficionados will be thrilled to know that the premier vocal group is back in the concert scene this Valentine’s Day, as they team up with 1980s icon and the Philippines’s so-called Inspirational Diva Jamie Rivera. Their show is titled Jamie in Perfect CompanY, and will be held at the Music Museum.

“We will be singing our hits, as well as Jamie’s and vice versa, showing our take on each other’s pieces,” Moy shared. That is surely one segment of the concert we will be looking forward to.

Tickets to Jamie in Perfect CompanY are available on Ticketworld and Music Museum.

■■■ “WE are constantly motivated with the big picture of success, but we should also pay attention to the small details, because big things happen only when we do the small things right,”shared Francis Kong in his newest book All That Matters: Live. Love. Learn. Laugh from ABS-CBN Publishing.

The inspirational speaker’s latest offering draws attention to small things that matter— family, character, leadership, business, work, selfimprovement and life in general—not only to be successful but ultimately to be happy.

Francis emphasized the need to learn the art of life

map reading. “Going through the process of traveling the road may be full of humps, lumps and bumps, but in the process, you can also begin to pick up skills, experience, and toughness that will enable you to travel farther and achieve things better,” he said.

On family matters, he stressed that “social media has made it possible for us to communicate and relate with people who are far away from us, but [also] isolate and alienate us from the people beside us. Communicate with your kids. Develop their communication skills and don’t let them waste away on their phones.”

Just like in his previous book under ABS-CBN Publishing, Leadership That Matters, the author also touched on managing people in the workplace or business in All That Matters.

He distinguished motivation from inspiration, saying, “To motivate is to push them to do something.

To inspire is to pull them to the realization that a change or a transformation would be good for them.”

Meanwhile, in order to be happy in life, Francis suggested to maintain distance from whiners.

“If we cannot help and the whiner refuses to be helped, then we simply must maintain distance and not allow negativity to poison our healthy minds,” he writes, pointing out that exposure to nonstop negativity may impair brain function.

“Life is 90 percent beautiful with only 10 percent that is not. And there is so much out there to be positive about,” the speaker enthused.

All That Matters by Francis Kong is available in National Book Store and Powerbooks branches for only P395. ■

GLOBE OFFERS PREPAID SUBSCRIBERS A CHANCE TO MEET ‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’ CAST IN SG GET ready for yet another momentous Marvel event. This March, fans will finally witness the rise of one of the universe’s most powerful heroes with the release of Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel.

To get Filipino fans even more hyped for the March 6 release, Globe is giving select prepaid customers a chance to fly out to Singapore and be part of the exciting Captain Marvel Fan Event on February 14.

Feeling lucky? Try your luck and you might just see Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Gemma Chan and the film’s directors, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, live.

From now to February 4, all Globe prepaid customers who register to GoSAKTO90 will earn

one raffle entry. After subscribing to GoSAKTO90, users must register to the raffle by texting REG CAPTAIN [Name/Birthday/Email/Address] to 2600.

For the grand prize, three lucky Globe prepaid customers will win an all-expense paid trip to Singapore for two to the Captain Marvel Fan Event.

One hundred (100) winners will also be drawn weekly and will get two GMovies vouchers each.

Globe Prepaid customers can also get a chance to join the Captain Marvel Fan Event by joining the GoWATCH Quiz Night on February 6. Stay tuned to the Globe Telecom official Facebook page, prove you are the biggest Marvel fan by answering all the questions correctly, and get a chance to be

the grand prize winner of the trip to Singapore.

GMovies vouchers are also up for grabs for winners.

Prepare for the arrival of one of the MCU’s most powerful heroes by catching up on the whole Marvel film series. Just register to your favorite promos like GoSAKTO90 and GoSURF50 and enjoy free 2GB data and a free 30-day one-time-only premium subscription to DisneyLife.

Now you can take your favorite Marvel, Disney, Pixar, and Star Wars movies and shows with you wherever you go.

For more information, visit www.globe.com.ph/ captainmarvel.

Filipino film wins at Calcutta International Cult Film Festival ANOTHER Filipino film has made the country proud by winning the Golden Fox Award in the recently concluded Calcutta International Cult Film Festival. The film, titled Unveiling the Horse Demon, stars Filipino-British actor Guy Lockwood with award-winning Neal Tan as director, and famous cosmetologist-cum-talent manager Tony Galvez as producer. Unveiling the Horse Demon shared the Golden Fox Award in the horror-science fiction genre feature film category with the following films from other countries: Steven Berkoff’s Tell Tale Heart, directed by Stephen Cookson (United Kingdom); Jasper, directed by Julien Nicaud (Switzerland); Aliens With Knives, directed by Struan Sutherland and Nicole Steeves (Canada); and Lost in Apocalypse, directed by Sky Wang (China).

Unveiling the Horse Demon tells the story of Mario, whose mother becomes afflicted with an unknown illness. She sends him to look for his father in Barrio Mahinay in the Philippines, where he encounters supernatural creatures including the tikbalang (Horse Demon). A witch doctor tells Mario that on his 25th birthday, a man would be transformed into a Horse Demon, while another will be born a Horse Demon.

Mario is turning 25 years old the following day. What will be his connection to the Horse Demon?

Lockwood, who describes himself as a performer in diverse interests like acting, singing and martial arts, plays his first lead role in a feature film in Unveiling the Horse Demon. He costars in the horrorscience fiction film with Maria Isabel Lopez, Patricia Javier, Sue Prado, Mara Lopez and Gene Padilla,

among others. Lockwood was a recording artist in Los Angeles, California, when he decided to pursue an acting career by producing, writing and playing the lead role in Unveiling the Horse Demon. He is the founder of Giant King Film Productions.

He has received awards in Contemporary Acting and Vocal Gospel from the World Championship of Performing Arts in Hollywood. He was also a Wimler Young Ambassador of Goodwill. In 2010 he was accorded a scholarship from the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts.

Lockwood feels grateful to Director Neal Tan, whose most notable work was Ataul for Rent, winner of the Best Story and Best Screenplay awards from the Famas in 2008; and producer Tony Galvez for their trust in his talent.

FILIPINOBRITISH actor Guy Lockwood at the Golden Fox Award

Motoring BusinessMirror

Henry Ford Awards Best Motoring Section 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 2011 Hall of Fame

Editor: Tet Andolong

Friday, February 1, 2019 E1

DEEP INTO THE BLUE ‘C’ Story & photos by Ronald Rey M. de los Reyes

T

HE Cummins of Columbus, Indiana, has been Foton’s engine building partner for 13 years now. In fact, Cummins, itself has been around since 1930 and has already made a name for itself.

Now, they’re deeply adamant and ever eager to further level up their technology with the latest 2.8-liter Blue Energy Euro-4 compliant diesel engine with a six-speed automatic transmission—which suits Foton’s newest Toplander.

This particular ISF (Interact System F) Blue Energy 2.8-liter SOHC 16-valve inline-4 intercooler turbodiesel engine bringing the 2018 Toplander to life is said to be the most efficient in its class—due primarily to its sheer brawn despite its light weight. It produces 161 hp at 3,600 rpm and 360 N-m at 1,8003,600 rpm max torque.

For the uninitiated, the ISF’s ad-

vanced thermal engineering gives the engine a green light to smoothly deliver high torque and power, even in scorching temperatures—and even in the absence of large cooling packages. Not to mention its Bosch-computerized high-pressure CRDi, turbocharged intake system, exhaust gas recirculating system and diesel oxidation catalyst all push it to produce cleaner fuel as it burns while reducing noxious emissions and other wastes.

With this in mind, this writer was lucky to take this latest bluecolored Foton Toplander 4x2 EX with its new Blue Energy Cummins engine technology for a spin one weekend.

FOTON is deep into its Blue Cummins engine technology

INSIDE, it’s still the typical Foton of old except for some improvements in leather material and certain boosts in entertainment and functionality.

At the onset, this debonaire’s ground clearance measures 220 millimeters while its wading depth is at 600 mm—making it perfect for Philippine roads.

Upfront, its snout sports a rather small grill while fenders and curves on the side paired with the right quality of sharp arches make it sexy and appealing. At the back, its angled D-pillar and rear roof spoiler do add more to that

trol, reverse parking camera and reverse parking sensors, adjustable lumbar support for the driver’s seat, touchscreen infotainment with AM/FM radio, six speakers, Bluetooth audio, USB, aux, iPod interface and SD. It’s now quieter engine, more refined NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) levels plus active drive modes: D1 for default, or normal, S1 for Sport and an icon for Eco

slick panache. The 17-inch alloy wheels and its bright blue tone all the more serve as icing on the cake—hence, making this stunner stand out on the road.

Inside, it’s still the typical Foton of old except for some improvements in leather material and certain boosts in entertainment and functionality, such as cruise control, rain-sensing wipers, dual zone climate con-

result to a better driving experience.

Overall, with this Foton Toplander’s new “Blue” engine, this scribe would recommend that this dashing beast is definitely a “mustdrive.” Moreso, with its price of about P1.4 million compared to its other competitors in its segment— not to mention together with all its amenities—it can even perhaps be a “must-own.”

Moto

Business

E2 Friday, February 1, 2019

SAIC’s MG and ROEWE vehicle lineup

VARIANT

SRP (in PhP)

GT 4WD A/T

1,670,000

GLS 4WD M/T

1,445,000

GLS 2WD A/T

1,300,000

GLS 2WD M/T

1,225,000

GLX Plus 2WD A/T

1,240,000

GLX Plus 2WD A/T

1,165,000

MG CENTER in Shanghai

FACTORY Plant in Lingang

oring

sMirror

Friday, February 1, 2019

THE model 4x4 truck fitted with the WildPeak A/T 3W in action

THE ultra-high-performance AZENIS FK510-SUV

MG RX5

MG6 test at the Wind Tunnel in Lingang

MG I-Smart technology and self-parking app

KELVIN GOH (from left), technical support for Sumitomo Rubber Asia (Tyre); Winston Manabat, Falken Philippines President and CEO; Satoru Ushida, managing director of Sumitomo Rubber Asia (Tyre); and Yoshihiro Miyagawa, director of Sumitomo Rubber Asia (Tyre)

THE all-terrain WILDPEAK A/T 3W

E3

Motoring BusinessMirror

E4 Friday, February 1, 2019

Hard-to-catch Vince makes a stellar appearance

I

F there is really anyone from the Philippine automotive world who has been living virtually in a suitcase all this time, Vince Socco fits that to a tee. In runaway fashion.

I feel so honored to have known him early on in my much-valued life as a motoring journalist. But that’s another story worth telling—and retelling—for another time.

Vince used to be one of the select top guns of Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP). He still is, but on a much higher plane now.

His marketing genius, while still being Manila-based for TMP, has benefited many of his understudies—a bunch of whom now hold powerful positions, whether within the TMP backyard or turfs whose captains are keen enough to discern the “Toyota piratables.”

Jing Atienza is now among the top 5 in the TMP hierarchy, and Jing, the ever affable and humble fellow from Day One, is but one of the many that Vince has meticulously nurtured to near-perfection.

Sunny Medalla is a pivotal de-

cision-maker in another car company, and it is but fair to say that many of what he knows today come from the by-products of Vince’s shepherding.

And, finally, Danny “Sir John” Isla and Raymond T. Rodriguez.

Aren’t they the first two presidents of Lexus Manila Inc.—in that order?

Under whose tutelage did their expertise come from in running an outfit as legendary as Lexus?

None other than the one who delivered a powerful speech during the recent 10th anniversary of Lexus Philippines, who else?

Despite his busy schedule of constantly checking operations in countries covering the Asia Pacific as the executive vice president of Lexus Asia-Pacific, Vince was still able to sneak in a powerful speech that drew rapt attention from a

VINCE SOCCO

high-heeled audience. Here: “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome. Magandang gabi po sa inyong lahat. I am Vince Socco, executive vice president for Lexus Asia.

“I am very happy to be here tonight. I remember how thrilled and excited I was when we were planning to bring Lexus to the Philippines. We toiled and debated and argued no end. Not so much about whether we should do it but mainly about how we must do it right.

“I am personally thankful to all of you who placed your trust in Lexus in the past decade. It has been our pleasure to care for you, and we

look forward to continuing to do so in the next 10 years and beyond.

“Over the last ten years, Lexus has been on a journey of product transformation. You have seen our design language change to become bolder and more distinctive. We brought a significant change in our driving dynamics that pairs seamlessly with our world renowned comfort.

“And one of the most dramatic changes comes from our Flagship LS. As outstanding as the 2009 LS was, the current LS has transformed into an exceptional saloon automobile with the best in Takumi craftsmanship, advanced technology and safety systems.

“And we didn’t just redesign existing models, we introduced spectacular new models like the Lexus LC, as well.

“Just yesterday, we revealed the 2020 Lexus RCF Track Edition, at the Detroit Motor Show, which will offer our F enthusiasts a new look at luxury in the race world.

“And check out the LC Convertible Concept we also just revealed in Detroit yesterday [January 14].

“Not only are we transforming the Lexus product, we are transforming the brand, as well. We are finding ways to express ourselves in places beyond our cars...employing design...omotenashi… and craftsmanship through amazing experiences and even an all-new luxury yacht.

“We have had quite an amazing run lately of transforming our vehicles and brand. We will not stop.… In fact, I am so excited to introduce you to the all-new Lexus UX! “While the UX exterior adopts universal Lexus design cues, it maintains its own personality within the Lexus lineup of fine automobiles. The defining feature is the front signature three-dimensional Lexus grille, from which other design elements seamlessly flow.

“As we move to the rear, a new Lexus design element is seen in the full-width rear lights. The UX also offers nimble handling and impressive agility.

“Inside, you will be welcomed by a sophisticated and modern cabin that is open and effortless.

The seats are designed with a tradi-

tional Japanese quilting technique called sashiko. And the seating position offers the driver with a class leading field of vision.

“The all-new UX is a fresh genre of crossovers. It is built for modern explorers in urban environments and nonstop adventures. It is our special gift to commemorate 10 years of Lexus in the Philippines.

“Once again, our deepest appreciation for your amazing support.

Maraming salamat po.

“Thank you.”

Bravo!

PEE STOP During the recent Toy-

ota thanksgiving party at Hyatt Global City, I was exceedingly happy to notice how much progress Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa has achieved thus far in terms of moving on after suddenly losing his beloved Babes, my dearest friend of many moons. Elvis has revived his winsome smile and, most important, his delicate way of nursing his single-malt whiskey glass, as well. Keep on punchin’, my friend.… My family condoles with the loved ones of Juanito “Jun” Velasco, the esteemed brother of Dr. Dante Velasco, who passed on January 25 at age 73 in Dagupan City. While he was a media giant in Pangasinan and in national media as well (he was a Manila Bulletin correspondent for Northern Luzon), not many know that he was also a poet of note.

He belonged to that rare breed of being a journalist and a writer all at the same time. Bye Compadre Jun. You will be missed.

MOTUL 300V SUPERFAST LAUNCHED M

OTUL Philippines President and Founder of AutoPlus Sportzentrium Carlos Gono has announced the 2019 “Motul 300V Superfast” Trackday, which will be held at the Clark International Raceway in Clark,

Pampanga, on March 10.

“This year, it’s Quarter Mile Run & Touge Battle,” Gono said.

Motorsport has been Motul’s prime creative and innovative laboratory since its first steps in racing disciplines in

the 1950s. The company has therefore been a dedicated technical partner to the finest teams in history. Motul has also developed strong technical agreements and cooperation with some of the world’s most quality-minded and reliable Original Equipment Manufacturers: Honda HRC, Suzuki, Aprilia, MV Agusta, Nissan Nismo, Toyota and Subaru as well as the most premium high-performance engineering com-

panies, such as Brabus and APR. A significant player in the motorsport world, Motul has built strong relationships with iconic organizations: International Motorcycling Federation, Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens, and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest.

“Check out the time of your Sunday ride in an all-exclusive Supercar 1/4 mile run with time slip,” added Gono. “Have fun with your JDM ride in Touge Battle!”

Three decades of racing Ferrari GTs return to the track

P

RESENTED to clients at the Ferrari Finali Mondiali and unveiled to the public at Birmingham’s Autosport International event last week, the new Competizioni GT Club will allow owners of Ferrari GT racing cars built over the last three decades to compete at events organized directly by Maranello.

Reflecting the philosophies underpinning the F1 Clienti and the XX Programmes, the Competizioni GT Club will organize events at some of the world’s most evocative circuits, complete with a range of exclusive services to enrich the experience.

Technical assistance will be available at each track, while official professional Ferrari GT competition drivers, who compete in the world’s leading championships throughout the year, will be on hand to advise clients on getting the best possible performance from their cars.

The 12 models that qualify for membership of the Competizioni GT Club range from the 1989 F40 Competizione to the 488 GTE and GT3 currently available to racing clients. Aside from the basic club membership package, which includes personalized clothing, a set of

tires for every round and a gala event, other special services are also available, not least car transportation, personalised logistics and exclusive one-to-one sessions with professional drivers.

Mugello will host the first event on April 9 and 10. This will be followed by Indianapolis, where the cars will race on the track used for the Formula 1 Grand Prix, Fuji in Japan and then Vallelunga just outside Rome. The Competizioni GT Club will also participate in the 2019 Ferrari Finali Mondiali at Mugello between October 22 and 27.