BusinessMirror January 15, 2019

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

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A broader look at today’s business n

Tuesday, January 15, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 97

Local court puts Hanjin Subic on receivership D

By Henry Empeño | Correspondent & Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

EBT-RIDDEN Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines (HHIC-Phil) has been placed on receivership by the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court (RTC) to start a court-supervised rehabilitation program for the ailing Subic Bay Freeport-based shipbuilder.

This, as international credit watcher Moody’s said on Monday that five domestic banks with exposure to Hanjin are likely to face lower profits and declines in overall loan-portfolio health.

The South Korean company

filed a petition before the court on January 8 to initiate voluntary rehabilitation under Republic Act 10142, otherwise known as “An Act Providing for the Rehabilitation or Liquidation of Financially Distressed Enterprises and Indi-

viduals,” after it reportedly suffered insolvency due to a slump in the global shipbuilding industry.

It sought court relief from creditors as it struggled with at least $412 million owed to five of the country’s biggest banks.

In a four-page Commencement Order issued on Monday (January 14), Judge Richard A. Paradeza of RTC Branch 72 declared HHIC-Phil to be under rehabilitation and appointed Stefani C. Saño, a former senior deputy administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), as rehabilitation receiver.

The court-appointed receiver, who is nominated by the petitioner, is given custodial responsibility of the property of a company, Continued on A2

By Lenie Lectura

O

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

OCAL car sales fell 16 percent for the whole of last year on the back of declines in all but one segment, but the industry is bullish it will rebound this year.

Total car sales for 2018 shrank 16 percent to 357,410 units, from 425,673 units in 2017, according to a joint report by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and the Truck Manufacturers Association. This was largely due to double-digit sales slowdown in five segments.

Sales of passenger cars last year fell 21.8 percent to 109,020 units from the preceding year’s 139,424 units.

The case was the same for the commercial vehicle segment, as it registered a 13.2-percent slump

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@llectura

Continued on A8

CAR SALES DOWN 16% IN ’18 ON DOUBLE-DIGIT DECLINES IN 5 GROUPS

in sales to 248,390 units, from 286,249 units. The Asian utility vehicle bracket was hit hardest at 48,271 units sold, down 39.6 percent from 79,886 units sold.

On the other hand, sales of light commercial vehicles in 2018 dipped 2 percent to 185,430 units from 189,248 units in 2017, while that of light trucks declined 22.9 percent to 7,619 units, from 9,888 units.

Trucks and buses at category 4 was the lone bright spot for the industry, as sales improved 4.8 percent to 5,076 units, from 4,845 units.

Those of category 5, meanwhile, suffered a decline of 16.3 percent to 1,994 units, from 2,382 units.

The dismal turnout in sales last year, however, failed to put off industry players, as they are optimistic figures will pick up this year “with GDP per capita on a high level, more new vehicle See “Car sales,” A8

Can peace succeed sans budget to carry out BOL?–Andaya

Gas prices going up by ₧1.40 a liter, 2nd in 2019 IL firms announced on Monday another price increase in petroleum products, the second for the year.

Gasoline prices will go up by P1.40 per liter, diesel by P2.30 per liter and kerosene by P2 per liter.

Pilipinas Shell, PTT Philippines, Eastern Petroleum Corp., Petro Gazz, Total Philippines and Jetti said in their respective price advisories that the price adjustment takes effect at 6 a.m. of January 15.

The adjustment reflects the weekon-week movement of MOPS (Mean of Platts Singapore) and foreign exchange rate. “This is not yet the effect of the fuel excise tax, but merely a reflection on the movement of international crude prices,” they said.

Under the second tranche of excise tax under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, an additional excise tax of P2 will be imposed per liter of diesel and gasoline, and P1 per kilogram on household liquefied petroleum gas. There will also be an additional 12-percent value-added tax, for a total of P2.24 for both diesel and gasoline, and P1.12 for LPG.

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$412M L Hanjin Philippines’s total loans owed to five of the country’s biggest banks

2017 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

T MEN who were part of a team from Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines Inc. that arrived at the Olongapo Regional Trial Court in the afternoon of January 8 carry boxes of documents used in the filing of a petition for receivership. NONIE REYES

Peso seen to enjoy ‘appreciation bias’–ING

T

HE local currency is expected to enjoy an “appreciation bias” in the near term on the back of a softer dollar, according to an ING Bank Manila economist.

Data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed the peso traded at 52.26 to a dollar, losing 12 centavos from the previous day’s trade.

The peso has been consistently trading in the 52 territory in recent months after it peaked to an average trade value of 54 to a dollar in October 2018.

ING Bank Manila economist Nicolas

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.2350

Antonio Mapa said the peso is trading stronger against the dollar particularly in the beginning of the year on account of stronger foreign flows into both the local bond and equity markets.

“The Philippine peso saw episodes of strength as the government floated a new bond, but gains were capped with corporate demand limiting the appreciation,” Mapa said.

“In the near term, the Philippine peso should continue to enjoy an appreciation bias as long as the Fed remains dovish

and investors chase yields in the region,” he added.

Although stronger compared to its previous month’s value, the peso was found to trail behind the rest of the region in terms of performance due to corporate demand. “Limiting the peso’s gains was onshore demand from corporates, as well as lingering concerns about the country’s current account deficit with the country still seen to experience stark demand for imports in the coming year,” Mapa said. Bianca Cuaresma

@joveemarie

HE absence of a budget may affect the implementation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr. said on Monday, putting in peril prospects of lasting peace in Mindanao.

“Everybody is praying for the success of the BOL plebiscite on January 21 and February 6. Yet nobody is asking if we have the funds necessary to conduct the plebiscite,” he said.

“I hate to be the one to burst the bubble. The DBM [Department of Budget and Management] has not allocated a budget, not even a centavo, for the BOL plebiscite,” Andaya added.

According to the lawmaker, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) needs P857 million for the BOL plebiscite.

“DBM Sec. Benjamin E. Diokno, however, forgot to include this amount in the P10 billion allocated for Comelec in the 2019 national budget,” he said.

“Saan kukunin ng Comelec ang pondo para sa plebisito kung wala ito sa budget? Sa savings for 2018? ’Di

ba sabi ni Secretary Diokno, wala siyang kapangyarihan na mag-release ng pondo kung wala ito sa national budget [Where will Comelec source funds for the plebiscite if it’s not in its budget? Didn’t Diokno say he has no power to release monies if these are not in the national budget]?” Andaya asked.

The lawmaker said the budget for the BOL plebiscite is not the only item that Diokno forgot to include in the 2019 budget, and “even the budget for the BOL implementation is missing from budget documents submitted by the DBM to Congress.”

Andaya, citing Sen. Ralph G. Recto, has estimated that the implementation of the BOL will cost P109 billion in the first year, P369 billion in the first three years and will reach P1.981 trillion for a period of 10 years.

He said the amount does not include funds for social services like the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps, and pension for senior citizens.

“Also not included in his estimate was an annual outlay for the maintenance of airports, wharves, roads, bridges and irrigation,” Andaya added.

n JAPAN 0.4813 n UK 67.1481 n HK 6.6633 n CHINA 7.7195 n SINGAPORE 38.6154 n AUSTRALIA 37.6719 n EU 59.8300 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9256

Source: BSP (14 January 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Comelec to finish printing BOL plebiscite ballots soon

T

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday announced it is now targeting to complete printing within the week all of the 2.8 million ballots for the two-part Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) plebiscite.

In a press conference, Comelec Printing Committee Vice Chairman Maria S. Dulcero said they expect the National Printing Office (NPO) to wrap up the printing of the 600,000 ballots and accountable forms for the February 6 plebiscite on January 15 or 16. The first part of the plebiscite is on January 21.

The accountable forms include

certificate of election returns, certificate of canvass and statement votes forms.

“We are almost done [with the ballot printing],” Dulcero said.

Dulcero said they will give the ballots to the Comelec shipping and packing committee as soon as the ballots are verified by the NPO and their reception and veri-

fication committee. She said the printed ballots will be distributed to the 28 “contiguous” areas in Lanao del Norte and North Cotobato,” which will participate in the BOL plebiscite.

Last month Comelec Spokesman James B. Jimenez said, they already finished the printing of 2.1 million ballots for the January 21 BOL plebiscite covering the areas within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Isabela City and Cotabato City.

Dulcero said they started the distribution of the materials for the January 21 plebiscite on Sunday.

For May elections

THE Comelec, meanwhile, conducted an inspection at the NPO facility in Quezon City on Monday in

preparation for the printing of the over 60 million ballots for the May 13, 2019, polls. Based on their tentative timeline, Dulcero disclosed they hope to start the printing of the ballots and accountable forms for the 2019 midterm elections on January 22, 2019.

“Our completion date for this is on April 30, 2019,” Dulcero said.

Despite the deadline being close to the start of the midterm polls in May, she said they are confident all of the ballots and accountable forms will be completed on time after NPO committed to print a million ballot per day.

Prior to its distribution, she said the 61 million ballots for local voters of the midterm polls will be have to pass through the vote-counting machines for verification.

Treasury sells more T-bills with longer tenors at auction

By Rea Cu

T

@ReaCuBM

HE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised a total of P22.405 billion from its auction on Monday, as investors lapped up Treasury bills (T-bills) with longer tenors.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told reporters that the auction committee saw strong appetite from investors especially for longer-dated securities, as shown in the tenders for the 364day T-bill amounting to as much as P43.724 billion.

“There’s demand, there’s liquidity in the sense that it’s after Christmas break. And then you’re also seeing strong [investment inflows] and the strengthening

of the peso,” de Leon said.

Strong market demand prompted the auction committee to award a total of P22.405 billion during the auction despite partially awarding the benchmark 91-day T-bill with P5.205 billion, from the P6 billion on offer.

Bids for the 91-day tenor bucket were also undersubscribed at P5.955 billion. With the award of P5.205 billion, the average annual rate for the IOU settled at 5.396 percent, 1.50 basis points lower than the 5.411-percent cap in the previous auction.

Tenders for the 364-day T-bill amounted to P43.724 billion. The auction committee awarded P11.2 billion, more than the P8 billion on offer. The average annual rate was set at 6.253 percent, 38.80

Chinese takeover. . .

Panelo also dismissed as “speculation” the reported takeover of Hanjin’s operations in the Philippines, adding that there is no cause for concern “for now” as it is “all rumor.”

“Speculation pa lang iyon na they will take over. When a company declares bankruptcy, oh eh di sino naman magkakainteresadong kunin iyon (It’s just speculation that they will take over.

When a company declares bankruptcy, then whoever will be interested in taking over that?,” he said.

A lawmaker, however, on Monday urged the government to take over the shipbuilding industry to defend the country’s national security and jump-start industrialization.

In his privilege speech, Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin said Subic port is a strategic location that can be maximized by transforming it into a hub for ship repair, as a drydock for oceangoing ships, including fishing vessels operating in international waters Villarin, citing reports, said Chinese shipbuilding companies are keen to take over the Hanjin Shipyard located in a very strategic maritime and military facility “Subic port was once home to the US naval fleet and stationed its most advanced aircraft and ships. This default

by Hanjin Philippines comes at a time when our country’s national security is at high risk because of Chinese incursions into our sovereign territory, especially in the West Philippine Sea. With these state-owned Chinese corporations taking over the Subic shipyard and nearby ports, [such] would leave us defenseless and highly vulnerable,” he said.

‘Significant national security issue’ IN his post on Saturday, former Navy chief Pama said that the public should be aware that the “Hanjin shipyard issue is not just about business, financial and other economic issues,” as he stressed that this is “a very significant national security issue.”

He continued: “Although it is a commercial shipyard, nothing can prevent the owners from making it into a de facto Naval base and a maritime facility

Continued from A8

for other security purposes! Let us all be aware and wary of the serious security and other strategic implications of this issue! I urge our patriotic business community and the government not to allow Hanjin Shipyard to fall into the wrong hands!”

It was Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo Jr. who revealed on Friday that the government is linking Hanjin with two Chinese firms that are interested in the country’s shipbuilding industry.

“Remember, the total cumulative investments of Hanjin in that shipyard facility is $2.6 billion. [The entry of a foreign investor is] really just to tide them over, pay the debt and they can take over the facility, [as well as] the operation,” Rodolfo was quoted as saying. He added the foreign investor must have a working capital of about $12 million monthly to shoulder all of Hanjin’s debts.

Hanjin is the largest investor in the Subic economic zone, and is one of the biggest employers in the whole of Zambales. Its financial struggle, however, has forced it to retrench 7,000 workers in December of last year. Sources had said earlier there were plans to retrench 3,000 more in 2019.

For its part, labor coalition Nagkaisa had rejected proposals to allow Chinese firms to take over the operations of the company. Instead, he said, the government should seek European intervention to save the ailing shipbuilding firm.

“We will bring up this matter with DOLE Secretary [Silvestre] Bello in the coming tripartite meeting on January 16,” Nagkaisa Chairman Sonny Matula said, referring to the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC).

Matula urged the government to form a joint task force with representatives from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Finance (DOF) to oversee the rehabilitation of HHICC-Phil.

Biggest bank’s MEANWHILE, Villarin in his speech also cited a report saying that the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), the state-owned

basis lower than the 6.64- percent rate in the previous auction.

“We can double the amount for the noncompetitive [bids] [which is under] Department Order 141, in line with the regulations on the auctions,” de Leon said.

The BTr also awarded the full P6 billion on offer for the 182day tenor. Bids for the security amounted to P17.260 billion.

The average annual rate settled at 6.154 percent, 27 basis points lower than the 6.424 percent recorded in the previous auction.

On Monday, the BTr also decided to open its tap facility for the 364-day T-bill offering another P8 billion and opened its overthe-counter (OTC) window to auction of all tenors of the T-bills for government-owned and -con-

Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), and BDO Unibank, Inc. are now working together to cover their combined loan exposure to the Korean conglomerate.

The lenders are said to be working to take control of Hanjin’s property in Zambales, with assets estimated at $1.6 billion, he added.

“On instinct, these lending banks would rather sell off the assets of the debtor to immediately recoup their loans and limit exposure. Rather than undertake corporate rehabilitation which might not be to the best interest of the banks, they would rather have all the assets up for grabs,” the lawmaker said.

“Amid the noise of this biggest default in the country’s banking history, our workers have to be prioritized in terms of severance packages and providing them alternate jobs. In the mad rush to liquefy assets, our workers might end up empty-handed and doubly victimized with loss of job and benefits,” he added.

“Another strength of the sector is the readily available and easily trainable technical and skilled manpower for shipbuilding and ship repair works in the country,” he said.

“Many Filipino workers have inherent skills for shipyard-related jobs like welding, pipe fitting, molding, etc., including technical/engineering competence.

With comprehensive training programs, a pool of skilled shipyard manpower can easily become a basic asset of the sector, not only for local shipyard requirements but also for foreign-based shipyards. This would jump-start a push for industrialization and job creation,” he said.

The lawmaker said the Philippines now ranks No. 4 among the largest shipbuilding nations in the world outpacing Europe. South Korea, China and Japan, are respectively the first, second and third largest shipbuilding nations worldwide.

“The arrival of foreign shipbuilders in the Philippines propelled the export growth of Philippine-made ships in the international market. Given the stimulus investment packages, which hopefully can be continued, the Philippine government can undertake joint ventures with other countries that pose no immediate

trolled corporations (GOCCs) and tax exempt institutions (TEIs).

GOCCs and TEIs can submit their orders through government financial institutions for the three T-bill tenor buckets. “[We will open the OTC] and at the same time the tap for the one year. Maybe we’ll just make it regular because that’s really the window for the TEIs so they could participate. Otherwise, there’s no incentive because they are tax exempt, if they don’t bid on the primary [market] then they would have to pay the tax because the T-bills are already front loaded,” she said.

The BTr’s 10 government securities eligible dealers (GSEDs) market makers can avail of the 364-day T-bill under the tap facility. threat to its sovereignty,” he said.

“These countries can be the Nordic countries—Norway, Sweden, Denmark and other European nations. These are also countries to which we send our seafarers and this can serve as a complementary undertaking,” he added.

Villarin said Hanjin default should be a wake-up call to this government to take seriously our national security.

“It is high time that our government take over and undertake ship building as a major national industrial policy linked to protecting our national security,” he said.

Emergency meeting THE DOLE will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to finalize its possible intervention for displaced workers of HHIC-Phil.

Labor executives will be getting the reports of the DOLE-Region 3 on the over 7,000 retrenched HHIC-Phil employees.

“Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello will attend the meeting to determine how to cushion the impact of the financial problem of Hanjin,” DOLE Information and Publication Service Director Rolly Francia said in an interview.

Labor Assistant Secretary Benjo M. Benavidez said the initial results of the profiling conducted by DOLE’s Central Luzon office on the displaced workers will be presented at the meeting.

DOLE officials said the profiling aims to determine the skills and location of the affected workers so they could be provided with appropriate alternative employment opportunities.

Currently, only around 4,000 of 11,526 workers are left in the HHIC-Phil following a significant decline in the number of its clients in previous months.

Labor groups have been urging the government to give priority to providing aid to the displaced workers over rescuing the finances of the Korean shipbuilding firm based in Zambales.

Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said this should be a condition before HHIC-Phil is extended financial relief.

It wants authorities to investigate how the firm incurred a $400-million debt despite enjoying incentives from the government.

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Local court puts Hanjin Subic on receivership Continued from A1

including tangible and intangible assets and rights, in cases where the firm cannot meet financial obligations or enters bankruptcy.

In placing HHIC-Phil under receivership, the court noted Hanjin’s allegations that it obtained loan credit facilities from different local banks to finance its shipbuilding operations, but that its cash flow was adversely affected by payment schemes that were based on “predetermined milestones in the construction [process].”

Customers evaded payments

HANJIN, likewise, claimed that “most of its customers attempted to evade payments, or worse cancelled their shipbuilding contracts,” thereby resulting in inadequate cash flow, the court said.

Hanjin’s explanation to the court of how its financial troubles began jibes with the account of the so-called heavy-tail contracts cited in a BusinessMirror “Broader Look” report wherein big shipping lines place several orders for vessels but make huge payments only toward the tail end of the production, forcing shipbuilders like Hanjin to borrow heavily to be able to meet the orders.

Consistent with the rehabilitation order, the court also ordered HHICPhil to cause the publication of the Commencement Order; to deliver copies of its petition to each creditor, as well as the concerned government agencies; and to serve a copy of the Commencement Order to its foreign creditors who must receive a copy at least 15 days before the initial hearing set on February 8, 2019.

On the other hand, the court ordered the creditors to file their verified claims within five days before the February 8 hearing, and for the creditors and concerned government agencies, as well as all interested parties “to file and serve to HHIC-Phil Inc. a verified comment/opposition to the petition, together with their supporting affidavits and documents within 15 days before the initial hearing.”

At the same time, the court prohibited HHIC-Phil ’s suppliers of goods and services from withholding the delivery of supplies “for as long as HHIC-Phil Inc. makes payments for the said goods and services.”

It also authorized the shipbuilder to pay its administrative expenses “as they become due.”

Likewise, in compliance with the Financial Rehabilitation Rules of Procedures, the court suspended “all actions or proceedings in court or otherwise, for the enforcement of all claims” against HHIC-Phil and “all actions to enforce any judgment, attachment or other provisional remedies against HHIC-Phil.”

However, it barred HHIC-Phil from “selling, encumbering, transferring, or disposing in any manner any of its properties except in the ordinary course of its business,” as well as from “making any payment of its outstanding liabilities from the issuance of this Commencement Order.”

The Commencement Order was set by court to retroact to the date of the filing of the Hanjin petition.

Before filing for voluntary rehabilitation, HHIC-Phil was the biggest investor and employer in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, with foreign direct investments placed at $2.3 billion.

Banks’ profits cut

FIVE domestic banks with exposure to the troubled Hanjin are likely to face lower profits and declines in overall loan portfolio health, an international credit watcher said on Monday.

In a statement, Moody’s Investors Service said the Philippine banks’ corporate exposure—totalling $412 million—to the South Korean shipbuilder’s Philippine subsidiary is credit negative.

“The exposures are credit negative for the five Philippine banks

because they will need to incur additional credit charges related to HHIC-Phil, which will reduce their profit,” Moody’s said.

Moody’s rated the five involved banks as follows: BDO Unibank, Inc. (Baa2/Baa2 stable, baa2), Bank of the Philippine Islands, (Baa2/ Baa2 stable, baa2), Land Bank of the Philippines (Baa2, stable, ba1), Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Baa2 stable, baa2) and RizalCommercial Banking Corp. (Baa2/Baa2 stable, baa3).

Of the five banks, RCBC— which is reported to have the largest exposure to HHIC-Phil at around $140 million—is seen to be most affected. The other banks’ exposures are smaller, the ratings agency noted: around $60 million for both BDO and BPI, around $80 million for LandBank and about $72 million for Metrobank.

“The biggest negative effect on profitability will be at RCBC...For RCBC, our assumed credit losses for the worst-case scenario exceed the bank’s preprovision income and will reduce its capital ratio by around 50 basis points,” the credit watcher said.

BSP eases fears

ON Friday last week, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) tried to allay fears regarding the banking system’s exposure to Hanjin, by expressing confidence in the local banks’ “ability to handle negotiations while remaining compliant with prudential regulations.”

“With its robust capitalization, the Philippine banking system is well-positioned to manage about $400 million in loan exposure to Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines, which recently filed for voluntary rehabilitation before the Regional Trial Court in Olongapo City. The loan exposure represents only 0.24 percent of total loans of the banking system and 2.49 percent of the foreign currency loans of Foreign Currency Deposit Units,” the BSP said.

While Moody’s did not cite specific numbers on the potential profit loss of banks due to their exposure to the defaulted company, the credit watcher made estimates on the potential rise in credit costs should banks have to provide for the soured loans in full.

“Assuming the worst-case scenario in which the banks make provisions for their bad exposures in full because of the unsecured nature of the facilities extended, we expect that credit costs as a percentage of the banks’ pre-provision income will increase to between 20 and 140 basis points, from six to 26 basis points based on their September 2018 financials,” Moody’s said.

Aside from a dent on their profits, the banks are also seen to suffer from a rise in their nonperforming loans (NPL) ratio.

NPLs are also popularly known as “bad” or “soured” loans as these are the credit that the borrower has not repaid for more than 90 days after its original due date. An NPL ratio is the percent of the bank’s soured loan measured against its overall loan portfolio.

The higher a banks’ NPL ratio is, the more it is susceptible to loan quality erosion as a larger chunk of its portfolio is not performing.

“Consequently, we estimate that RCBC’s gross nonperforming loan ratio will almost double to 4.3 percent from 2.2 percent based on 2017 financials, after adding its exposure to HHIC-Phil,” Moody’s said. “The increase in gross NPL ratios for the other four banks will be smaller at between 15 and 50 basis points,” it added.

Moody’s also said that although bank profit will be dampened by the additional credit costs, they still expect the affected banks’ loss-absorbing buffers to “remain robust.”

“The banks’ tangible common equity ratios were between 11 percent and 16 percent as of the end of September 2018, and above the minimum capital requirements in the Philippines,” it said.

The Nation BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, January 15, 2019 A3

SC asked to compel DBM to release P42.7B for state workers’ wage hike H OUSE Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr. on Monday led the filing of a petition before the Supreme Court seeking to compel the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release the fourth tranche of salary increase for government workers amounting to at least P42.7 billion.

In a 28-page petition, the petitioners through their counsel, Atty. Walter Tan, specifically sought the issuance of a writ of mandamus with prayer for preliminary mandatory injunction to compel respondent Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno to perform his ministerial duty to release the funds for the fourth tranche of increase and adjustments as provided under Executive Order 201 (Modifying the Salary Schedule for Civilian Government Personnel and Authorizing the Grant of Additional Benefits for Both Civilian and Military Uniformed Personnel) starting January 2019.

Joining the petition are employees from the Bureau of Immigration, Department of Justice (DOJ) and House of Representatives.

‘Never-ending ploy’

CAMARINES Sur Rep. Luis Ray F. Villafuerte Jr., meanwhile, blasted what he described as the “never-ending ploy” by Andaya, a fellow Bicolano lawmaker, to abuse his position as chairman of the House rules committee by holding another “rump hearing” by the panel on trumped-up charges of irregularities against the DBM in an apparent ruse to further derail the already-delayed congressional approval of the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA), allegedly in tandem with the House minority bloc.

Villafuerte said this “illegal and immoral” move by Andaya to hold a follow-up hack job on Tuesday against the DBM and Diokno is yet another compelling reason for him to quit right away as majority floor leader, so he could no longer use his premier position to hold hostage the congressional passage of the proposed 2019 GAA, the delay of which, he said, puts at great risk the full and swift implementation this year of President Duterte’s growth and development agenda.

“This is a bizarre situation in which the House majority leader has for the first time ever orchestrated a demolition job on the DBM and on Secretary Benjamin Diokno, who is an alter ego of the President, in tandem with the House minority bloc,” Villafuerte said. “This has unmasked his role as a sleeper agent of the political opposition out to destabilize the Duterte administration ahead of May’s midterm elections by sabotaging the President’s GAA that is designed to flesh out his priority programs and projects this year.”

“Should Rep. Andaya go ahead with his follow-up rump inquiry tomorrow [January 15] in collaboration with the House minority,” Villafuerte said, “he would be doing so against the wishes of a majority of our peers in the ruling coalition who want a speedy congressional approval of the 2019 GAA in support of President Duterte’s vision for high and inclusive growth.”

No basis

THE petitioners added that there is no basis for the DBM to withhold the release of funds since there are available alternative sources for it despite the delay in the passage of the 2019 GAA or the reenactment of the 2018 budget.

They noted that the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) with a total amount of P99.44 billion may be used to cover the salary adjustment for the fourth tranche.

“Only P42,705,911,000 is needed by the DBM to fund the fourth trance salary increase and adjustment for the year 2019, when it has a total amount of P99,446,295,000 in the MPBF,” the petitioners noted.

“The use of the MPBF is not merely a novel or theoretical idea crafted by herein petitioners. In fact, Section 46 of 2018 GAA allows the use of MPBF since the law instructs the Executive department that it may use funds appropriated for Personnel Services for the payment of personnel benefits,” they added.

Malacañang, for its part, made it clear that it not budging on the debate on the implementation of the salary hike as it welcomed An-

DILG serves suspension order vs Catanduanes Governor Cua

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

T

@jonlmayuga

HE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Monday said it has officially served on Friday Catanduanes Gov. Joseph Cua a six-month suspension order slapped against him by the Office of the Ombudsman.

At the same time, the DILG has designated the vice governor as acting provincial governor in compliance with a directive from the Office of the Ombudsman.

The DILG Regional Office 5 in Legazpi City served the Ombudsman suspension order at around 11 a.m. on Friday at the governor’s office at the Catanduanes Provincial Capitol in Virac town.

“Our campaign against corruption is unrelenting and we are working closely with the Office of the Ombudsman in its anticorruption efforts,” Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año said in a news statement.

The Office of the Ombudsman suspended Cua for a period of six months, without pay, pending an investigation on the charges against him for alleged abuse of authority, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service, dishonesty and grave misconduct.

The DILG chief said that he also issued an order designating Vice Gov. Sherley Abundo as acting governor effective immediately.

Abundo shall perform all the duties and functions inherent to the Office of the Governor.

“Our action suspending the governor of Catanduanes is in compliance with the decision of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon imposing a preventive suspension during the pendency of OMB-LA-18-0-319 case, entitled Rey Mendez v. Gov. Joseph Cua and Mayor Eulogio Rodriguez,” Año said.

The governor’s suspension stemmed from the administrative complaint filed by a certain Rey Mendez of Virac town before the Office of the Ombudsman against him and Mayor Rodriguez of Bato town.

In his complaint, Mendez claimed that Cua allegedly allowed ER Construction, a firm owned by the mayor to use a vacant lot owned by the province free of charge and without the proper authorization from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

daya’s petition to compel the DBM to release the fourth tranche of salary increase starting January 2019.

“We welcome it [the petition], so this can be resolved right away. He [Andaya] has his interpretation. We in the DBM have our interpretation,”

Diokno told reporters in a briefing on Monday.

DBM Undersecretary Atty. Janet B. Abuel also pointed out that Diokno exercises no discretion on the release of funds for the implementation of the fourth tranche and that they are just acting according to the

provisions under Executive Order 201, modifying the salary schedule for civilian government personnel and authorizing the grant of additional benefits for both civilian and military and uniformed personnel.

Joel R. San Juan, Bernadette D. Nicolas and Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

A4 Tuesday, January 15, 2019 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

NG allots ₧4.71 trillion for TRIP infra program in next three years

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

T

HE national government intends to spend some P4.71 trillion in the next three years for ongoing and new projects identified under the threeyear rolling infrastructure plan (TRIP).

National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) documents obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that the amount covers around 7,401 projects.

The Neda earlier explained that TRIP is the government’s tool to strengthen the link between programming and budgeting. It ensures that the right types, or the needed projects, are included in the pipeline and are funded accordingly.

“The objective [of the TRIP] is to ensure that well-developed and readily implementable projects queue up for the budget, and a more rigorous program and project-appraisal system can also be put in place,” the policy guidelines and procedures for the TRIP stated.

This includes P3.42 trillion for 4,376 projects under Tier 1 or ongoing projects

and P1.287 trillion or 4,376 projects in Tier 2 or new and/or expanded projects.

To maximize government resource spending, the pipeline list of Trip projects will include Tier 1 and Tier 2 projects. Tier 1 will be composed of ongoing projects that need to have continuous funding in the next three years, while Tier 2 includes “new” projects.

Meanwhile, the majority, or 71.19 percent or P3.35 trillion of the funds to be used for these projects, are from the national budget, while 25.18 percent or P1.185 trillion will be obtained from official development assistance (ODA).

Around 2.51 percent or P118.32 billion will be financed through corporate funds of government -owned and -controlled corporations; 0.58 percent or P27.09 billion will be from joint ventures; and 0.54 percent or P25.56 billion will be financed through public-private partnerships.

Based on the document, around 38.19 percent or P1.798 trillion of the projects will be implemented nation-

wide; 24.1 percent or P1.134 trillion are interregional projects; and some 37.71 percent or P1.225 trillion are region-specific projects.

The data also showed that around 16.42 percent or P772.9 billion will be implemented in Mega Manila; 11.38 percent or P535.76 billion will be implemented in Mindanao; 5.22 percent or P245.84 billion will for the rest of Luzon; and 4.69 percent or P220.51 billion for the Visayas.

More than half of these projects or 56.53 percent are transportation-related. There are 2,378 transportation projects worth P2.661 trillion.

This is followed by social infrastructure projects, which account for 17.49 percent of the cost worth P823.17 billion, which covers 2,173 projects.

Projects in other major sectors include water resource that account for 15.24 percent or P717.13 billion of the cost and 781 of the total projects.

The TRIP is part of the medium-

term investment blueprint, the Public Investment Plan. The PIP is also composed of the Core Investment Program, which includes all locally funded and PPP-funded projects that cost P1 billion and above.

In 2016, the interagency infrastructure committee approved the reinstitution of the TRIP to meet the government’s investment targets for public infrastructure.

The Neda said the TRIP is the modified version of the Comprehensive and Integrated Infrastructure Program. The CIIP is a consolidated list of all infrastructure programs of the government.

The only difference between TRIP and CIIP is that the former puts more emphasis on immediate priorities to be undertaken in three-year periods.

In previous years, the Neda explained, government line agencies have been submitting projects for inclusion in the PIP and the CIIP. The PIP is the country’s medium-term public investment plan.

World Bank doubles disaster, climate risks insurance coverage to PHL

T

HE World Bank has doubled its disaster risk insurance for the Philippines with the renewal of its insurance program to respond to losses from climate and disaster risks.

The Washington-based lender, in a news statement, said it is extending $390 million in insurance against major typhoon and earthquake events in 25 provinces.

Under the program, the World Bank enters into an agreement with private reinsurers to provide coverage against disaster and severe weather impacts for national government agencies and participating provinces.

“This initiative demonstrates the Philippines’s strong commitment to continue investing in innovative financial

solutions that will mitigate the impacts of major earthquakes and extreme climate and weather-related events,” said Mara K. Warwick, World Bank country director for Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. “The program complements the country’s overall strategy and efforts in ensuring resilience against natural disasters and climate change impacts.”

The renewed policy is facilitated by the World Bank through a catastrophe swap that provided the Philippine peso equivalent of $206 million in insurance.

The panel of risk-takers, selected through a competitive bidding process, also doubled under the renewed policy.

Risk-takers were able to participate in the transaction either through a derivative contract or a retrocession agreement.

The World Bank said insurance payouts are made when predefined parametric triggers are met. The Government Service Insurance System provides the parametric catastrophe insurance coverage.

The insurance policy is designed to provide rapid liquidity in the face of disasters to the government, to enable rebuilding and recovery to commence.

The World Bank is also supporting the Philippines in preparing a sovereign catastrophe bond to complement the existing insurance program by providing cover for more extreme events.

“Today’s announcement marks another milestone in our partnership with the Philippines, and in our joint pursuit of leveraging capital market instruments to prevent the human and

How does corruption flourish?

C

By Henry J. Schumacher

ORRUPTION flourishes when someone has quasi monopoly power over a product or service and has discretion to decide how much to receive, and where accountability and transparency are weak. So, to fight corruption we—and that includes all of us—must reduce market dominance, reduce discretion and increase accountability in many ways.

Reducing dominating market positions means enabling competition; in this context we are so happy that the Philippines has competition legislation in place and has the Philippine Competition Commission to implement the law. However, it would be great if the PCC would be allowed to do its job without court interferences, in the interest of removing monopolies/duopolies/dominant market positions so that corruption can be properly addressed, reduced, and finally eliminated.

Limiting discretion means clarifying the rules of

the game and making them available to everyone. This includes putting government contracts and procurement plans online, create online manuals on what is required to obtain a permit, build a house, start a business and so forth. Finally approving the Freedom of Information (FOI) bills in both houses of Congress would be another big step in the right direction. We have been talking about the FOI for too long already.

Another example for reducing discretion: Simplify the tax code, make it simpler to understand and reduce thereby discretion of BIR employees.

Enhancing accountability means many things, and creative leaders in the government and the private sector use a remarkable variety of methods. One way to improve accountability is to improve the measurement of performance. Another method is listening and learning from businesses and from citizens. This includes mechanisms for public complaints, but it goes beyond the reporting of individual instances of abuse of corrupt systems. Accountability is also increased by inviting outsiders to audit, monitor and evaluate.

This is exactly the reason we supported the creation of Integrity Circles as one of the main avenues to address accountability, transparency and integrity. We did this in the Integrity for Jobs (I4J) project, a project cofunded by the European Commission and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. We started with nine local government units and eventually had 60 LGUs that were part of this endeavor. Allow me to add that Integrity Circles are composed of people working in the LGU, being involved in business, and representing civil society (in many cases the Church). But let’s not forget the press; media can be and should be an important source of accountability. The project to support integrity circles has been extended and another successful project focusing on open procurement is being implemented to enhance accountability.

What about ethics and morality? Successful leaders in the government and the private sector must set a good example. As mentioned above, the key to fight corruption are better systems that provide better incentives for imperfect human beings to perform in the public interest—and to avoid corruption.

Let me conclude by highlighting the work we are doing in the Integrity Initiative Inc. to create the Integrity Nation NOW. As mentioned in previous columns, Integrity starts with I. We need you to become part of our movement; contact me under Schumacher@eitsc.com.

financial tolls of disasters. We look forward to deepening this partnership as we work together to harness innovative financial solutions to boost the country’s resilience against unforeseen events,” World Bank Director for Capital Markets George Richardson said.

T he Ph i l ippi nes i s a mong t he world ’s most vulnerable countries to natural disasters. The country is expected to incur, on average, $3.5 billion in asset losses each year due to typhoons and earthquakes.

Since 2008 the World Bank has issued, hedged or facilitated over $4.3 billion in transactions to transfer earthquake, wind, drought-related and pandemic risks from its borrowing member countries to the capital markets. Cai U. Ordinario

DA to boost aid to upland veggie growers in crop production programming

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

T

@jearcalas

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it would intensify its production programming in the Cordillera region by providing timely and relevant market information to farmers so that they could come up with “rationalized” planting intentions.

This measure, DA-Cordillera Administrative Region Regional Director Cameron Odsey said, may avert the overproduction of some vegetables in the region, similar to what had happened recently.

“We’ve been encouraging farmers to do production programming—to produce only what is needed and demanded by the market. They should not overproduce so that prices would not fall,” Odsey told the BusinessMirror.

“We will intensify our dissemination of necessary information to our farmers so they would be properly guided on what and how much volume to produce to meet the market demand,” Odsey added.

Odsey explained that their regional office collects and collates monthly production data, which includes the type of commodities, production stage and volume planted, in every municipality.

This data set, which would be shared to other municipalities, Odsey added, would help farmers in other areas to identify what specific crop to plant so that they would not end up producing the same commodity, hence, resulting in oversupply.

“So now farmers would know what to do. If they see other farmers have planted cabbage, they would now reconsider if it would still be profitable to also plant cabbage,” he said.

Odsey said the DA has validated the reported oversupply of vegetables in Baguio and in Benguet Trading Post last week and estimated that the extent of losses was “negligible.”

“Only few farmers suffered losses. Based on our validation and interviews last Friday, only less than 10 farmers experienced losses,” he said.

Odsey explained that farm gate and wholesale prices of vegetables in Baguio decline after the Christmas season, which is considered as peak season, by 30 percent due to sudden drop in demand.

However, what happened recently to vegetable farmers was a conf luence of events, according to Odsey.

DENR lists most polluted spots in Manila Bay area

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

N

INE out of 19 bathing beaches or stations along Manila Bay are considered to be among its most polluted portions, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

These areas include the waters off the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, which was recorded as having a fecal coliform contamination of 1.6 billion most probable number (MPN) per 100 milliliters (ml) in the fourth quarter of 2015. Other dangerous areas for swimming and other forms of skin contact are the waters off the Mall of Asia with 850 million MPN/100 ml; Navotas Fishport at 2 billion MPN; Philippine Estates Authority Tollways Corp. with 1.1 billion MPN; and Luneta Park at 900 million MPN. The other stations and beaches that registered coliform contamination above the acceptable standard of 1,000 MPN/100 ml were the waters off Mattel (close to 60,000 MPN/100 ml as of the first quarter of 2016); San Isidro (80,000 MPN); Celebrity Beach (50,000 MPN); and Villa Criselda (10,000 MPN).

President Duterte has announced a massive cleanup and rehabilitation of Manila Bay, which will be spearheaded by the DENR and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). The DENR is targeting to reduce the average coliform contamination in the bay to about 250 million to 270 million MPN/100 ml by the end of 2019.

In its presentation before the Cabinet meeting on January 7, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, the DENR laid out the responsibilities of other government agencies included in the mandamus of the Supreme Court issued in 2008, ordering them to clean up the bay.

Aside from the DENR and DILG, other mandamus agencies are the departments of Education (DepEd), Health (DOH), Agriculture (DA), Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Budget and Management (DBM), the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine National Police-Maritime Group (PNP-MG), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).

DENR—Implement cleanup plan for Manila Bay and coordinate with mandamus agencies, and manage water quality; DILG­—Direct all local government units in Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan to inspect all factories, commercial establishments and private homes along the banks of major and minor river systems in their areas that eventually discharge water into Manila Bay and the lands abutting the bay, and inspect whether these have wastewater treatment facilities or hygienic septic tanks; MWSS—Provide, install, operate and maintain the necessary adequate wastewater treatment facilities in Metro Manila, Rizal and Cavite where needed at the earliest time possible.

LWUA—Through local water districts and in coordination with the DENR, provide, install, operate and maintain sewerage and sanitation facilities and ensure efficient and safe collection, treatment and disposal of sewage in Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan at the soonest possible time; DA through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources—Improve and restore the marine life of Manila Bay; and assist LGUs in developing the fisheries and aquatic resources in the bay; PNP/PNP-MG—Apprehend violators of PD 979 (revising PD 600 on marine pollution), RA 8550 (Development Management and Conservation of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources), and other existing laws and regulations designed to prevent marine pollution in the Manila Bay; PPA—Adopt measures to prevent discharge and dumping of solid and liquid wastes and other ship-generated wastes into Manila Bay from vessels docked at ports, and apprehend the violators; MMDA—Dismantle and remove all structures, constructions and other encroachments established or built in violation of RA 7279 (Urban Development and Housing Act) and other applicable laws along the Pasig-Marikina-San Juan Rivers, the National Capital Region (Parañaque-Zapote, Las Piñas) Rivers and connecting waterways and esteros in Metro Manila; as well as establish and maintain sanitary landfill within its territorial jurisdiction; DPWH—Remove and demolish all structures, constructions and other encroachment built in breach of RA 7279 and other applicable laws in rivers in Bulacan, Bataan, Cavite and Laguna de Bay and other rivers connecting waterways and esteros that discharge wastewater into the Manila Bay; DOH—Determine if all licensed septic and sludge companies have the proper facilities for the treatment and disposal of fecal sludge and sewage coming from septic tanks; DepEd—Integrate lessons on pollution prevention, waste management, environmental protection in school curricula of all levels to inculcate importance of achieving and maintaining a balanced and healthful ecosystem in the Manila Bay; and DBM—Consider incorporating adequate budget in the General Appropriations Act to cover expenses relating to cleanup, restoration and preservation of the water quality of the Manila Bay. In an interview, DENR Undersecretary for Attached Agencies Sherwin S. Rigor confirmed about P46 billion is needed for the complete rehabilitation and cleanup of Manila Bay. “But we don’t need this amount immediately this year,” he said, even as Malacañang gave its nod to using the road user’s tax to fund the cleanup.

While lawmakers have yet to approve legislation abolishing the Road Board, Rigor said, government agencies tasked to undertake the cleanup “can use our respective budgets.” The DENR alone will be spending some P1.75 billion over three years to deploy silt curtains, install temporary sewerage treatment plants, and recharge aquifers.

(See, “Road funds also eyed for Manila Bay cleanup,” in the BusinessMirror, January 9, 2019).

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Tuesday, January 15, 2019 A5

China’s 2018 trade surplus with US hits record-high $323B

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EIJING—China’s 2018 trade surplus with the United States surged to a record $323.3 billion, but exports contracted in December as the delayed impact of President Donald J. Trump’s tariff hikes started to hurt demand.

Exports to the United States in 2018 rose 11.3 percent to $478.4 billion despite Trump’s punitive duties in a fight over Chinese technology ambitions, customs data showed on Monday. Imports of American goods rose just 0.7 percent over 2017, reflecting Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs and encouragement to importers to buy more from non-US suppliers.

In December, Chinese exports to the United States that had held up through much of the year fell 3.5 percent from a year earlier to $40.3 billion. Sales to the US market had kept growing by double digits in previous months as Chinese exporters rushed to fill orders, but forecasters said American orders would slump once the full impact of Trump’s penalties hit.

The slowdown adds to pressure on Beijing to resolve the battle with Trump at a time when the ruling Communist Party also is trying to reverse

an economic slowdown.

“The external environment is still complicated and severe,” a customs agency spokesman, Li Kuiwen, said at a news conference.

Li cited dangers including “protectionism and unilateralism” — a reference to Trump’s import controls—a possible slowdown in global economic growth and a decline in cross-border investment.

US and Chinese officials ended a three-day negotiating session last week with no sign of agreements or word on what their next step would be.

“The record US trade deficit with China will sit uncomfortably with the Trump administration,” Nick Marro of the Economist Intelligence Unit said in a report. “That may cast a shadow over the next round of trade talks.”

Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed on December 1 to postpone additional tariff hikes

by 90 days while they negotiated. But penalties of up to 25 percent already imposed on billions of dollars of each other’s goods remain in place, raising the cost for American and Chinese buyers of soybeans, medical equipment and other goods.

Trump is pressing Beijing to roll back plans for state-led creation of Chinese champions in robotics and other tech fields. Washington, Europe and other trading partners complain such policies violate its market-opening obligations. Chinese officials have suggested initiatives such as “Made in China 2025” might be opened to foreign companies, but they refuse to abandon strategies they see as a path to prosperity and more global influence.

Chinese leaders are trying to reduce reliance on trade and nurture selfsustaining economic growth based on domestic consumer spending. But their plans call for keeping exports stable to avoid politically dangerous job losses.

Some companies have shifted production of goods bound for the United States out of China to avoid Trump’s tariffs. Others are lining up non-Chinese suppliers of industrial components.

December’s trade contraction is “likely to continue into 2019 due to falling foreign demand, including demand for Chinese-made electronic products,” Iris Pang of ING said in a report.

Pang noted Chinese imports of more advanced technology for use

in manufacturing smartphones and other higher-technology products declined 14.9 percent in December, nearly double the size of the contraction in overall trade.

That likely is due in part to “foreign companies avoiding using China-made electronic components,” said Pang in a report.

In December, China’s global exports shrank 4.5 percent to $221.2 billion, while imports declined 7.2 percent to $164.2 billion.

For the full year, global exports rose 7.1 percent to $2.5 trillion, down from the 7.9-percent rate for 2017. Imports rose 12.9 percent to $2.1 trillion, down from the previous year’s 15.9 percent.

The country’s global trade surplus was $352 billion, a marked drop from 2017’s $509.7 billion. That reflects relatively stronger Chinese economic growth and consumer demand compared with its trading partners.

Given Trump’s frustration with China’s huge trade gap with the United States, the latest data might fuel demands by hardliners in Washington to punish Beijing.

Still, Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics says he expects Washington to extend its 90-day deadline following the “positive vibes” of last week’s talks.

“We do not see the US fully removing the specter of tariff hikes any time soon,” he said in a report. But a deal for “a more lasting suspension of new tariffs” looks more likely. AP

recovers Winners and losers in big oil’s Indonesia Lion Air jet’s cockpit voice recorder offshore spending revival J A FTER four years of cutbacks, oil companies are poised to open their purses again and develop new offshore fields, although the benefits won’t be spread equally across the companies who provide them everything from seismic surveys to pumps and turbines.

T he long-aw a ited s pend i ng rebound will reenergize oil-services providers that have survived the deepest crisis in a generation thanks to cost cuts, mergers and sometimes painful debt restructuring. But for some debt-laden suppliers, the investment pickup may come too late.

Notwithstanding recent oil-price volatility, spending on offshore oilfield services will rise by 6 percent in 2019 reaching $208 billion, before surging by another 14 percent in 2020, according to Norwegian consultant Rystad Energy AS. That’s after almost halving since 2014.

Oil in London is currently heading for its longest run of daily gains on record, buoyed by Opec supply cuts and hopes of easing trade tensions between the US and China, rising on Wednesday above $60 a barrel for the first time since December.

Subsea leads rebound

OIL producers will probably commit to 110 new undersea projects this year, up from 96 in 2018 and just 43 in 2016—when the industry slashed capex as oil slumped.

The market for subsea equipment may expand by between 13 percent and 14 percent each year through 2023, said Audun Martinsen, head of oilfield service research at Rystad, in an interview. This is in part

as suppliers resume to hike prices.

Oilfield surveyors and providers of support and maintenance services should rebound at a slower pace as an overcapacity of vessels continues to glut the market and the rigs sector, the worst performing segment in offshore last year, should improve at last, Martinsen said.

London-based oilfield services provider TechnipFMC Plc. forecast that 2019 revenue at its subsea division will climb but margins may fall. This year the company is anticipating “continued strong activity” for investment decisions in small- to mid-size projects, and “an increasing number of the larger greenfield subsea projects,” Chief Executive Officer Doug Pferdehirt said in December.

“A lot of these offshore projects

are located at deep waters,” benefiting subsea gear makers such as TechnipFMC and Subsea 7 SA, Rystad’s Martinsen said.

Oilfield surveyors follow

WHILE oil and gas companies press ahead with new developments, they may initially focus on already-discovered fields, while keeping a cautious stance on riskier exploration projects, for which returns are harder to reap, forcing surveyors and drillers to send more vessels and rigs to scrap.

“With oil prices trading below $60 per barrel, there continues to be some uncertainty on 2019 E&P spending, particularly offshore,” Kristian Johansen, CEO of Norwegian oilfield surveyor TGS Nopec Geophysical Co. ASA said on January 9. Bloomberg News

AK ARTA, Indonesia—Navy divers have recovered the cockpit voice recorder of a Lion Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea in October, Indonesian officials said on Monday, in a possible boost to the accident investigation.

Ridwan Djamaluddin, a deputy maritime minister, told reporters that remains of some of the 189 people who died in the crash were also discovered at the seabed location.

A spokesman for the Indonesian navy’s western fleet, Lt. Col. Agung Nugroho, said divers using high-tech “ping locator” equipment started a new search effort on Friday and found the voice recorder beneath 8 meters (26 feet) of seabed mud. The plane crashed in waters 30 meters (98 feet) deep.

The device is being transported to a navy port in Jakarta, Nugroho said, and will be handed over to the transportation safety committee, which is overseeing the accident investigation.

“This is good news, especially for us who lost our loved ones,” said Irianto, the father of Rio Nanda Pratama, a doctor who died in the crash.

“Even though we don’t yet know the contents of the CVR, this is some relief from our despair,” he said.

The two-month-old Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet plunged into the Java Sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta on October 29, killing everyone on board.

The cockpit data recorder was recovered three days after the crash and showed that the jet’s airspeed indicator had malfunctioned on its last four flights.

If the voice recorder is undamaged, it could provide valuable additional information to investigators. AP

Trump says US will hurt Turkey economically if it hits Kurds

W

ASHINGTON—President Donald J. Trump’s warning that if Turkey attacks USbacked Kurdish forces in Syria, the United States will “devastate Turkey economically” has drawn a sharp response from Ankara and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman.

Trump’s decision to pull American troops out of Syria has left the United States’s Kurdish allies in the war against the Islamic State group vulnerable to an attack from Turkey. Ankara views the US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces

as terrorists aligned with insurgents inside Turkey.

Turkey’s Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin responded to Trump on Twitter by saying: “Terrorists can’t be your partners & allies.” He also insisted that Turkey “fights against terrorists, not Kurds” as a people.

In Sunday’s tweet, Trump also warned the Kurdish forces not to “provoke Turkey.”

The US withdrawal has begun with shipments of military equipment, US defense officials said. But in coming

weeks, the contingent of about 2,000 troops is expected to depart even as the White House says it will keep pressure on the Islamic State network.

Once the troops are gone, the US will have ended three years of organizing, arming, advising and providing air cover for Syrian, Kurdish and Arab fighters in an open-ended campaign devised by the Obama administration to deal the militants, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a lasting defeat.

“Starting the long overdue pullout from Syria while hitting the little remain-

ing ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions,” Trump tweeted.

“Will attack again from existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds.”

Trump’s decision to leave Syria, which he initially said would be rapid but later slowed down, shocked US allies and angered the Kurds in Syria. It also prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and drew criticism in Congress. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, called the decision a “betrayal of our Kurdish partners.” AP

A6 Tuesday, January 15, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Let everybody help clean up Manila Bay

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E commend and support the Duterte administration’s plan to implement a Boracay-like rehabilitation of Manila Bay, although we have to note that Boracay itself is far from being fully or successfully rehabilitated. There are still many establishments on the island that are not environmentally compliant, and work on the sewage system and road network is still ongoing.

However, just exercising the political will to clean our bodies of water is a big step in the right direction. Indeed, the government must stop the polluters first and enforce the law before any kind of cleanup can take place.

We made the same point about the Pasig River. Any kind of rehabilitation would not be successful if the government cannot relocate the factories and the squatters who keep dumping their waste in the river. For that matter, any kind of restoration project for Manila Bay will not succeed without cleaning the Pasig River, as the latter is a major tributary of the bay.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources warned it will close down hotels, condominiums and other establishments that are found polluting the Manila Bay. The DENR has started inspections along the bay area. For instance, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu inspected the governmentrun Manila Zoo on Friday and found it guilty of draining untreated sewage into one of the estuaries that lead to the Manila Bay. While we support cleaning our bodies of water and stopping water pollution, we also wish to urge the government to involve the stakeholders in any kind of environmental policy-making, not only because our laws and regulations demand their participation but also because the increasing complexity of these issues need their involvement.

Obviously, the task of cleaning Manila Bay, the Pasig River, Boracay and other bodies of water becomes more challenging and complex because of the many groups that have a role in exacerbating environmental problems, the competing interests of stakeholders and the thick bureaucracy in government.

In Boracay, the government chose the immediate albeit temporary closure of the island after the President called it a cesspool. In the case of the Manila Bay, it is better to involve affected residents and the owners of malls, condos, hotels and other concerned establishments in the decision-making process and, ultimately, in the rehabilitation efforts.

The DENR, however, has to explain why these establishments were allowed to discharge untreated wastewater to the bay all these years. It’s the DENR’s job to inspect and approve their effluents. Here’s the sixty-four-dollar question: Why didn’t the DENR require these businesses to install wastewatertreatment facilities before they were allowed to operate?

The local governments also share part of the blame: Why did they allow squatter communities to rise along water tributaries that are considered danger zones? There are thousands of squatter families living along the banks of Metro Manila’s main rivers and their tributaries, as well as the coastal communities of Manila Bay, who keep dumping garbage and human waste into our bodies of water.

The national government has its own sin of omission: It should have ordered the private water concessionaires—Maynilad Water Services Inc. and the Manila Water Co.—to carry out with dispatch, not in long-drawn fashion, the water-treatment part of their contracts. As House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Lito Atienza pointed out, “The real way to clean up the bay is to force the two water concessionaires to implement the wastewater-treatment facility. This will ensure that wastewater is already clean before being thrown out into the Manila Bay.” There are many organizations and people that are affected by government policies, and it is only fair to involve them in the decision-making process. This would help raise stakeholders’ awareness of the problems and create support for solutions. Getting everybody to support the Manila Bay rehabilitation efforts will make the government’s job easier.

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BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business ✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher Editor in Chief Associate Editor News Editor Senior Editors

THE ENTREPRENEUR

O

NE positive news greeting the first week of January 2019 is the Philippine Statistics Authority’s announcement that the headline inflation rate, or the movement in consumer prices, decelerated to a seven-month low of 5.1 percent in December 2018 from 6.0 percent in November and 6.7 percent in October.

I believe this figure is a sign of better things to come, as stable prices allow households to spend more and industries to produce more. This will eventually support the expansion of the whole economy.

Remember that three months earlier, inflation hit 6.7 percent, the highest in almost nine years. This was driven by a 60-percent increase in oil prices, as well as the significant rise in prices of rice, fish, meat and vegetables. Compounding the problem was the depreciation of the peso, which touched a 12-year low of 54.32 against the greenback on October 4, 2018.

As a result, household consumption, which accounts for the bulk

of the gross domestic product, expanded just 5.2 percent in the third quarter, the slowest in four years. The GDP, meanwhile, grew 6.1 percent in the July-to-September period, a three-year low.

More than the slowdown in household spending and GDP growth, the high inflation rate weighed on the capability of low-income groups to meet their basic needs last year. The prices of commodities have a direct impact on hunger and poverty incidence in the Philippines.

Alarmed by the situation, no less than President Duterte asked his Cabinet to intervene in the supply of rice, which is the biggest item in the consumer price basket. The

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A sign of good things to come

OUTSIDE THE BOX

I

T is important to know what is going on in the world, so let me share some news headlines with you from the past few days.

“Latin American countries say they won’t recognize Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s president.” The bus driver-turned-president has been battling world opinion for years. But with over 2 million Venezuelans running into bordering nations to escape economic Armageddon, he could not expect much support from his neighbors.

“Government shutdown now the longest in US history at 22 days.” This is nothing new and has been a recent trend. When the US president and the US Congress cannot agree on how to spend the taxpayers’ money, both sides shut down the government and go on a short vacation. Regular government employees suffer, but elected officials really do not care.

“French MPs face unprecedented death threats from ‘Yellow Vest’ protesters.” “People Power” protests in foreign countries do not have the sense of civility usually found in the Philippines. Here protestors burn

paper mâché effigies. In France they burn cars.

“Weakest Treasuries Demand Since 2008 Sends Bond-Market Warning” and “Danger looming in corporate bond market.” That is not a problem. Bonds go down, and the stock market goes up. That is the way it has always worked according to the experts. “Slowing earnings growth, gloomy forecasts add to stock market’s woes.” Maybe we need to get a new group of experts to listen to.

“Germany f lirts with recession.” Germany’s economy went negative in the third quarter of

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas did its part by raising the benchmark interest rates by a total of 175 basis points, bringing the overnight borrowing rate to 4.75 percent. An excessive interest rate adjustment, though, could curtail economic activities.

Coupled with the recent gains of the peso against the US dollar and the drop in crude prices in the world market, inflation followed a downtrend in the fourth quarter until it settled at 5.1 percent in December.

Economists expect the trend to continue in 2019 and the inflation level to return to the target range of 2-4 percent.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said the supply-driven factors that pushed up inflation in 2018 would not persist this year.

Capital Economics, a London-based think tank, also believes inflation would return to the target range by the middle of the year, allowing the Central Bank to loosen its monetary policy again.

The government’s economic managers attributed the slowdown in inflation rate in December to swift and decisive measures undertaken to tame price increases as directed

by President Duterte.

Full-year inflation averaged 5.2 percent in 2018, faster than 2.9 percent in 2017.

The economic managers vowed to sustain efforts to bring inflation within the target range in 2019, while remaining vigilant of possible risks, such as the threat of the El Niño dry spell. They said with the expected signing into law of the rice tariffication bill, rice prices were expected to decline by P7 per kilogram.

The government, however, needs to put in place mitigating measures as it implements higher taxes this year, such as the new excise tax schedule on oil and the possible enactment of the second package of tax reforms under the proposed Tax Reform for Attracting Better and Higher-Quality Opportunities, or Trabaho bill.

After Filipino consumers held back consumption amid the high inflation rate last year, we expect our people to have greater spending power this year as prices begin to normalize. Stable prices will translate into higher demand and consumption, which will mean increased production and faster economic growth in 2019.

2018. If the fourth quarter is also negative, Europe’s “economic engine” will be out of gas. Maybe other countries can pick up the slack in Europe. Or maybe not. “Italy is Europe’s ticking ‘TIME BOMB.’” However, we all know from the experience of seeing how the global economy functions—since the 2008 debt crisis—that there is always one source of good news we can depend on. Except unfortunately, this time, “Clouds loom over global business as Chinese economy falters.”

“The Jeff Bezos divorce: $136-billion and Amazon in the middle.”

How many times have you been told that money cannot buy love? Apparently Mrs. Bezos made the greatest investment in history. She “bought” Mr. Bezos at the “low” and is now selling out at the “high.”

And yet one more headline: “Philippine Stocks Are the World’s Best Performers Right Now.” The two current concerns of note in the Philippines are the Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines bankruptcy and the loss/theft of personal passport data from the Department of Foreign Affairs. These are both important.

However, the lasting effect is not known at this time. Further, neither

is necessarily going to be critical in the bigger picture.

Also, we have entered the election season. Already I am thinking about stocking the liquor cabinet because Philippine elections are usually easier to handle after a shot or two. Philippine elections are like the mythical college fraternity “Toga Party” that everyone has heard of but no one has actually attended. One attendee is hoping to get “lucky.” Another will probably get drunk and fall down the stairs. Yet another will get drunk and be lucky by falling asleep on the floor.

From now until May 14, everything will have a political agenda.

However, given a choice of where to put your money for profit, who are you going to call?

Local and foreign money has been flowing into the Philippine stock market since day one of 2019. While the stock market is not indicative of anything more than stock prices, money is never wrong. It always goes where there is at least the best potential of profit.

For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Tax amnesty Atty. Jose Emilio M. Teves

We should have a Bolton, not mediocre officials often seen with the President in self-importance

TAX LAW FOR BUSINESS

B

EFORE the previous year ended, the House and the Senate ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the 2018 tax amnesty bill. All that the President needs to do is to sign the same into law. If he does not act on it within a prescribed number of days, the bill automatically becomes a law.

Court decisions taught us that a tax amnesty is a general pardon or the intentional overlooking by the State of its authority to impose penalties on persons otherwise guilty of violation of a tax law. It partakes of an absolute waiver by the government of its right to collect what is due it and to give tax evaders who wish to relent a chance to start with a clean slate. While this is obviously disadvantageous on the part of the government, there are also advantages for offering tax amnesties in so far as tax administration is concerned.

On the part of the taxpayers, tax amnesties, in general, must be beneficial to them. In fact, it is not correct to say that only tax evaders are the subjects of the tax amnesty.

Neither is it correct to conclude that those availing themselves of tax amnesties are guilty of some form of wrongdoings with respect to their tax obligations. Even non-erring taxpayers may avail themselves of it.

It may therefore be a good time to look at the proposed measure to see the relief accorded to taxpayers. Unlike the previous amnesties, the proposed amnesty provided in the new bill can be divided into three types: n General Tax Amnesty n Estate Tax Amnesty n Delinquent Tax Payers Tax Amnesty The General Tax Amnesty covers all national internal revenue taxes for the year 2017, and taxes from all prior years that have remained unpaid as of December 31, 2017. Taxpayers can choose to pay a rate of 2 percent of total assets, or 5 percent of net worth, or a minimum tax.

The Estate Tax Amnesty covers the estate tax of taxpayers who had died on or before December 31, 2017, and whose estate taxes have remained unpaid or had accrued as of the said date. The measure allows taxpayers to pay 6 percent of the value of the deceased’s total net estate.

The Amnesty for Delinquent Tax Payers also covers all national internal revenue taxes for the year 2017, and taxes from all prior years that have remained unpaid as of December 31, 2017. According to the proposed law, the delinquent tax payer can choose to pay the 40 percent of

the basic tax for delinquencies and assessments, which have become final and executory, 50 percent for cases subject of final and executory judgment by the courts, and 60 percent for those subject of pending criminal cases.

Taxpayers will be given a year from the issuance of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) to avail themselves of the amnesty, except for the estate tax amnesty where taxpayers will be given a two-year grace period. An early-bird discount shall also be granted.

Those who avail themselves of the amnesty program will be immune from civil, criminal, and administrative charges and penalties.

Aside from the requirements outlined in the bill, the provisions of the future IRR must also be observed. Taxpayers have a year from the issuance of IRR in which to avail themselves of the amnesty. Estate tax payers, however, are given two years within which to apply for amnesty. Furthermore, those who are granted amnesty shall be immune from payment of all taxes, as well as civil, criminal and administrative charges and penalties.

Note, too, that the proposed law shall punish the unlawful disclosure of the tax amnesty return, as well as any other supporting documents that might be needed by the taxpayer to avail himself of the amnesty.

There shall be a fine of P150,000 and a maximum imprisonment of 10 years for such violation.

This is an opportunity for all taxpayers, whether they have erred in complying with their tax obligations, intentional or not. Non-erring taxpayers may also avail themselves of the tax amnesty and void the troubles and irritations of tax examinations, or simply to buy peace of mind.

The author is a senior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a memberfirm of WTS Global.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at josemilio. teves@bdblaw.com.ph or call 403-2001 local 150.

Cecilio T. Arillo

DATABASE

I

AM referring to the irrepressible John Bolton, the US National Security adviser, who has threatened sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) if it goes ahead with prosecutions against Americans.

Bolton swiftly reacted when the ICC announced it was considering prosecuting US servicemen over alleged detainee abuses in Afghanistan.

Bolton called the court “illegitimate” and vowed the US would do everything “to protect our citizens.”

The US is one of dozens of nations that did not join the court.

White House BBC reporter Tara Mckelvey reported that Bolton, as a diplomat, was “famously bellicose: he once said if the United Nation building in New York ‘lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.’”

Mckelvey said Bolton “has made clear how he stands on carrot-andstick diplomacy, saying: ‘I don’t do carrots.’ As national security adviser, he’s been more aggressive than the president at times—and has been reined in.” In threatening to take action against ICC judges, Mr. Bolton showed he’s in sync with President Trump’s “America First” policy, said Mckelvey.

Established by a UN treaty in 2002, and has been ratified by 123 countries, including the United Kingdom, the ICC investigates, prosecutes and hails to court “people responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, intervening when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute.”

Several countries, including China, India and Russia, did not join the ICC, while some countries have called for withdrawal from the court over unfair treatment of their citizens.

The latest of these withdrawals was the Philippines, a signatory to the ICC treaty, when President Rodrigo Duterte dropped the country’s membership after the ICC started investigating him over alleged extrajudicial killings in the war against drugs, terrorism and other highvalue crimes.

But while Mr. Duterte was facing squarely the problem by dropping the country’s ICC membership, some of his officials who were supposed to be in sync with him were just posturing and often seen in photos with him in self-importance but actually doing nothing to help him despite the spreading misinformation, including fake news, initiated by the political opposition and its media supporters, using extrapolated figures to create a bad image for Duterte and the country.

Actually, the Philippines is just a small dot in the worldwide war against drug traffickers compared to other countries, but the ICC has shown its unusual degree of interest and allowed some of President Duterte’s political enemies, including those pretending to be human-

The Associated Press

W

ASHINGTON—Military salutes. Heaps of contraband. Oval Office optics.

President Donald J. Trump, who has long put a premium on stagecraft, is discovering he cannot resolve the partial government shutdown simply by putting on a show.

With the standoff over paying for his long-promised US-Mexico wall dragging on, the president’s Oval Office address and visit to the Texas border this past week failed to break the logjam. Aides and allies are fearful that he has misjudged Democratic resolve and is running out of negotiating options.

Using the trappings of the White House to make a point is a standard procedure. Dramatic public displays have been Trump’s negotiating goto. But even Trump was skeptical that the speech and trip would make a difference.

Some in the White House argue that Trump’s moves helped push his message. But many associates fear

his hand is weakening as his efforts to define the stakes must compete with the testimonials of hardship from federal workers and people in need of shuttered government services. That may leave a national emergency declaration as Trump’s only escape path — one more showy strategy that could backfire.

Trump defended his approach on Saturday, telling critics on Twitter that “there’s almost nobody in the W.H. but me, and I do have a plan on the Shutdown.” During a telephone interview with a Fox News Channel host later that night, Trump insisted that he hadn’t “left the White House in months” and he called on Democrats to come to the table. The Texas trip was two days earlier.

Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg said Trump was simply using all available tools. Nunberg argued that Trump’s border visit, which included an interview on the president’s preferred network, Fox News, was “not going to win any hearts and minds.” But he added that the Oval Office address was a “great opportunity” for Trump

rights crusaders, to torpedo his effort against drug traffickers and other dregs who have victimized innocent people and destroyed families.

Mexico, for example, is one of the countries in worse situation in the drug war with over 150,000 deaths since 2006, and the body count still keeps on increasing, according to a 2018 Congressional Research Service report on organized crime-related incidents, and Mexican drug cartels take in between $19 billion and $29 billion annually from drug sales in the US. But in Mexico, you don’t see politicians from the opposition hitting and needlessly blaming the government because they all put the interest of their country at heart, unlike here in our country where many politicians continuously demonize Duterte for political and economic expediency without realizing they are damaging the country and becoming part of the problem.

In Mexico, for instance, when the International Institute for Strategic Studies ranked it as the second deadliest country in the world, ahead of war zones such as Afghanistan and Yemen, its officials responded angrily and pointed to higher murder rates in Brazil and Venezuela.

In the US, if there’s anything to learn, it is that Bolton has been particularly vocal in his opposition to the ICC and his attack on two areas of the court’s activities. The first was ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s request last year for a full investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, which would include those allegedly committed by US military and intelligence officials, and the second was the Palestinian move to bring Israel before the ICC over allegations of human-rights abuses in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, a move dismissed by Israel as political.

In his tirade against the court, Mr. Bolton said it: n Was a threat to “American sovereignty and US national security;” n Lacked checks and balances and “jurisdiction over crimes that have disputed and ambiguous definitions” and failed to “deter and punish atrocity crimes;” and n Was “superfluous” as the US administration did “not recognize any higher authority than the US Constitution.”

“We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us,” Bolton said.

White House Spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders backed Mr. Bolton, saying President Donald J. Trump would use “any means necessary to protect our citizens [and] those of our allies from unjust prosecution from the ICC.”

Lessons learned from the US

“ICC judges and prosecutors would be barred from entering the US, and their funds in the US would be targeted.

“We will prosecute them in the US criminal system. We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans.

“More ‘binding, bilateral agreements’ would be signed to stop countries submitting US citizens to the court’s jurisdiction.”

In retrospect, Duterte need not have to worry because citizens in this country will support him in his campaign against drug traffickers, peddlers and users. What he should worry about is the presence of mediocre and inept officials doing nothing at all to help him effectively govern.

To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com.

The new culture crash? Plug-ins vs pickups

By Nathaniel Bullard Bloomberg Opinion

T

WENTY eighteen is shaping up to be a record year for electric vehicles. My Bloomberg NEF colleagues expect 1.9 million EVs will have been sold last year, up from 1.1 million the year before, with the bulk of those sales in Asia. Overall, China’s new passenger vehicle sales were in significant decline for the first time in more than 20 years.

Rapid growth requires the infrastructure to keep those electric vehicles charging on road trips, at offices or any time their owners aren’t plugging in at home. That infrastructure is being built in major auto markets—and some new behaviors are cropping up, too, as

electric-vehicle charging outlets are being built at retailers, apartment complexes and especially at gas stations.

There are currently about 50,000 fast-charging outlets in the US, and Germany and Japan have 30,000 to 40,000 each. However, as Bloomberg News’s Marie Mawad found out during her recent drive from Paris to Mannheim, Germany, there are still not enough charging outlets to set a road-tripping EV driver’s mind at ease.

China has…a few more. And for good reason: Very few drivers in China have personal garages in which to slow-charge overnight.

Meanwhile, by the end of last year, there were reports of US drivers being “ICEd out”: drivers of internal combustion engine cars deliberately occupying

Stagecraft won’t win shutdown battle for Trump

By Catherine Lucey

Tuesday, January 15, 2019 A7

to make his case to an audience of millions well beyond his most loyal supporters.

In a moment of deep political divisions, though, the presidential megaphone does not seem to hold the power it once did.

Democratic leaders have dismissed Trump’s tactics. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., last week decrying the “soap opera that the president’s petulance and obstinacy is creating.”

Trump’s visit to McAllen, Texas was staged for maximum impact.

At a border-patrol facility, he surveyed mounds of drugs and weapons seized by agents. He hugged tearful families who spoke of relatives killed by those in the United States illegally. He traveled to a dusty bluff above the Rio Grande and saluted a border-patrol helicopter as it flew past.

The stop was intended to reinforce Trump’s claims of chaos and crisis at the border, but it was notable for what was left out. The contraband was designed to emphasize the dangers of an unsecured border.

Some in the White House argue that Trump’s moves helped push his message. But many associates fear his hand is weakening as his efforts to define the stakes must compete with the testimonials of hardship from federal workers and people in need of shuttered government services. That may leave a national emergency declaration as Trump’s only escape path—one more showy strategy that could backfire.

But there was only passing mention that the drugs were intercepted at official points of entry, not in open areas where Trump wants to build a wall. Trump did meet with victims and agents, but he did not go to a nearby facility where hundreds of the migrant children were detained in cages after being separated from their parents last year.

Allies say Trump has dug in for good reason: building a wall has always been a sure-fire applause line

dedicated charging spots, preventing EV drivers from using them. Besides being deliberate and hostile, it’s not an exaggeration to call such behavior the result of a culture clash between the environmentally minded and coal-rolling enthusiasts. More plainly, perhaps, it is new versus old.

That raises a few questions for me.

First, where else will such behavior begin to happen?

Even if it’s just at gas stations, there are plenty of those. The US has more than 100,000 of them.

The number of filling stations is stable in the United Kingdom, too, but only after a dramatic decline over the past 50 years.

Second, how long might this behavior last? Are we in for decades of EV drivers

being ICEd out at filling stations that have only a few chargers on the lot?

These hybrid filling/charging stations are likely a temporary phenomenon. With more electric vehicles on the road, companies will eventually be able to offer tailored infrastructure specific to electric vehicles. In other words, if you drive an electric vehicle, only another EV driver will be able to inconvenience you.

EV drivers also will be treated to, or possibly demand, a different set of experiences to fill the time required to charge, such as shopping and children’s activities, in dedicated spots that are quieter than gas stations—and fume-free. If there’s a culture clash between EV drivers and those who prefer internal combustion engines, it might not last long as they spend less and less time in proximity.

for Trump. Some, however, believe it has become a political albatross.

Trump promised the wall during his campaign as part of his immigration platform. At his rallies, he encouraged supporters to chant “Build the wall! Build the wall!” and he pledged that Mexico would pay for it.

Since coming to the White House, he has failed to get Mexico to pay for the wall, and has struggled to advance his immigration policies in Congress, even when Republicans were in full control of both chambers. With Democrats now in the majority in the House, his leverage has dwindled.

Increasingly, many around Trump think that the only way out of the shutdown impasse is for the president to declare a national emergency to try and pay for the wall by diverting federal funds from other programs. They reason that such a declaration would wind up in court, but Trump could reopen the government in the meantime and say he was continuing the fight for the wall during the legal fight. It’s a play that would be in keeping with Trump’s

pattern of claiming victory even when the circumstances are murky.

In June, Trump declared his summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un was a groundbreaking achievement, although it yielded only a vaguely worded commitment from the North to denuclearize. In November, Trump claimed historic wins in the midterm elections even though Republicans lost control of the House.

In early 2017, he held a Rose Garden celebration after a health-care overhaul passed the House, seeking to claim the victory before it passed both chambers, which it never did.

Trump’s public posturing has moved the needle at times. His administration’s push helped get a tax overhaul over the finish line. His tariffs fight with China has brought both sides to the negotiating table.

Still, as Trump tries to find a way out of the shutdown impasse, Republican consultant Rick Tyler argued that some of the president’s ploys may be getting stale.

“There’s a reason the circus comes to town for a week,” he said.

“He’s worn out his act.”

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Tuesday, January 15, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Palace plays down risk from ‘LandBank's loan to Hanjin slap in Chinese takeover of Hanjin face for PHL agri’

D

By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie & Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

ESPITE the warning by a former Navy chief about its possible security implications and advice by a big labor coalition to explore alternative options in the search for white knights, Malacañang sees no problem so far with the possible takeover

by Chinese firms of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines (HHIC-Phil) in Subic, Zambales.

Former Philippine Navy chief Alexander P. Pama had warned that China’s ownership of Hanjin’s shipyard will give “unlimited access to one of the Philippines’s most strategic geographic naval and maritime assets.”

Palace Spokesmann Salvador S. Panelo said on Monday, however: “Kung Chinese company naman na dati na nating ka-deal at wala namang problema e di walang isyu.

E kung hindi natin kilala, e di syempre we have to vet [If it is a Chinese company which we have dealt with before and there was no issue, then there will be no issue at all. If it is someone we don’t know, then of course, we have to vet].”

See “Chinese takeover,” A2

Although it is a commercial shipyard, nothing can prevent the owners from making it into a de facto Naval base and a maritime facility for other security purposes!

Let us all be aware and wary of the serious security and other strategic implications of this issue! I urge our patriotic business community and the government not to allow Hanjin Shipyard to fall into the wrong hands!”—Pama

Road Board abolition bill ripe for DU30’s final OK

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

S

ENATORS on Monday stood firm on their position that they saw “no need” for bicameral talks on the Senate-House approved bill dissolving the Road Board, paving the way for President Duterte to sign it into law.

This, despite a reported turnaround by some lawmakers favoring reconsideration of Congress’s decision abolishing the graft-tainted agency.

“Generally, the senators’ sentiment was there is no need for a bicam because we have adopted the House version [of the Road Board abolition bill],” Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III affirmed on Monday, the first session day of the year.

Sotto told Senate reporters they tasked Majority Leader Juan Miguel F.

Zubiri to talk to his counterpart, House Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr., “to find out their reasons why there is a possibility we can go into a bicam, but nothing official, because that is our agreement with Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon. Nothing official, just talk.”

In scuttling the bid for a bicameral panel, the senators asserted that the Senate had already adopted the House version in plenary vote, and there being no disagreeing provisions, the process is deemed finished and the enrolled copy of the bill abolishing the Road Board can be submitted to the President.

On Sunday Drilon had asserted that the lawmaking process was validly followed, and that convening a bicameral panel at this point could only lead to a legal dilemma later-—should the bicameral talks bog down for any reason,

NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING LUZON AND VISAYAS as of 4:00 pm - January 14, 2019

and the Road Board ends up continuing to exist even beyond the life of the 17th Congress itself.

“At the moment, we still stand on the issue that it [Road Board abolition bill] has been adopted, so whatever the outcome of the talks between the two majority leaders, we will take it up again and most probably that will have to be...by Wednesday,” Sotto added.

Where will road tax proceeds go?

The senator surmised the issue may have to do with the budget once the Road Board is abolished, indicating this will be cleared up “by Wednesday [when] we will be terminating the period of interpellations.”

In an interview, the Senate President raised the possibility that the Road Board fund, estimated at over P40 billion, may be transferred during the

period of amendments on the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways; but Sotto quickly added this was “not yet final.”

At the same time, Sotto also voiced doubt the Road board abolition would still need to be elevated for bicameral panel deliberation to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the measure.

“I doubt it because our House counterparts said they agree with the President’s wish to abolish the Road Board; so we will maintain that the House version will be adopted,” Sotto said.

The Senate President added that an amendment on how to use the Road Board fund could be tackled during the budget deliberations. “We have until Wednesday for the period of amendments,” added Sotto, hinting that he expects that “by tomorrow [Tuesday] we will clear it up.”

In a separate interview, Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon confirmed that the senators had agreed to “maintain our position that we should not convene the bicam because insofar as the Senate is concerned, we have adopted the House version, and therefore, there are no disagreeing provisions.

We stand firm on our position that we finished the process and now, we will submit the printed copy, or what we call the enrolled copy, to the President for his consideration.”

Drilon added: “Having said that, in our caucus we have asked Majority Leader Migz Zubiri to sit down with Cong. Andaya as soon as possible to discuss our position.”

The Senate Minority Leader explained to reporters that “our problem is, if we convene the bicam, the preliminary step to take is to rescind our position that we have adopted the House version [on the Road Board abolition].

“In other words,” he added, “the parliamentary situation is, the Senate having adopted the House version, then there are no disagreeing provisions. For us to say now we go to bicam, we have to rescind this position and say, yes, there are now disagreeing provisions of the two versions.

If we cannot come to an agreement after we reconsider our position, then the law stands. The Road Board continues to exist. With that reason, we say no, there is no need for a bicam.

That is where we are.”

Asked that will happen to the Road Board tax collection, Drilon replied that “it will continue.”

“The amount will go to the national treasury,” he said, adding: “There are issues to be settled, like the continued allocation to certain activities, but the issue at hand is, we passed the bill. It is our position that we already passed the Road Board bill.”

Drilon added the printed copy of the Congress-approved Road Board bill can now be submitted to President Duterte “and if the President signs, it is our position that the law has been passed.”

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

C

@jearcalas

ORN farmers belonging to the Philippine Maize Federation (PhilMaize) urged President Duterte and lawmakers to investigate the $85-million loan extended by the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) to Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co.-Philippines (HHIC-Phil).

PhilMaize President Roger V. Navarro said LandBank’s loan to Hanjin’s Subic shipyard is against its mandate to prioritize the provision of financial aid to Filipino farmers and fishermen.

“The loan to Hanjin is a slap in the face for the agriculture sector.

The Philippine subsidiary of the Korean firm is not even in the agriculture or food sector. The President should look into this and find out why [a shipyard] was prioritized over farmers,” Navarro told the BusinessMirror.

LandBank President and CEO Alex V. Buenaventura told reporters earlier that the bank’s exposure to Hanjin is around $85 million, expressing hope that the bank can recover its exposure.

“We have an $85-million exposure there. We’ll have to address the problem. But the good news is that we can recover because the assets of the shipyard are worth $1.2 billion, and the total exposure of the creditors is less than $400 million; down the road we hope to recover our exposure,” Buenaventura said.

“I think the shipping industry is a very important industry, supporting global development. The global economy is improving, the time will come, and I think it’s around the corner, there will be a lot of moving

goods through ships,” he added.

But Navarro said the default of the Korean company is “lamentable” considering that agriculture-related projects, such as PhilMaize’s own rice-corn blend project, are in need of assistance from the state-run financial institution to take off.

“LandBank can’t even condone the loans of farmers’ cooperatives.

These cooperatives bring food to the tables of Filipino families. What a display of misplaced priorities,” he said.

Navarro said PhilMaize would write to President Duterte, lawmakers and to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol to air their concerns over LandBank’s loan to Hanjin.

Last year President Duterte ordered LandBank to go back to its original mandate of helping farmers and fishermen.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said LandBank and other four creditor banks of Hanjin should focus on working together to address the financial fallout from the troubles of the giant Korean shipbuilder.

“LandBank has an exposure to Hanjin, together with other banks.

I don’t know the exact exposure of the other banks, but definitely, we are not the largest single lender. It’s a problem, we have to address it.

“There are assets to be had, and this is a difficult problem; it has to be worked through by the banks,” said Dominguez, who is also chairman of LandBank. On January 9, the BusinessMirror broke the story that Hanjin filed for corporate rehabilitation at the Olongapo Regional Trial Court, seeking protection from its creditors.

Gas prices going up by ₧1.40 a liter, 2nd in 2019 Continued from A1

As of January 10, the number of gasoline stations already implementing higher fuel prices brought about by higher excise tax reached 444.

Of these, 369 outlets are from Petron Corp., 46 from Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and 29 from Flying V. The Department of Energy expects bulk of the 8,600 service stations nationwide to implement the higher excise taxes between January 15 and February 1. The DOE noted that a retail outlet’s imposition of excise tax depends upon the exhaustion of the 2018 existing inventories. Only new inventories in 2019, directly imported or locally produced by refineries, are covered by the second

Car sales. . .

Continued from A1

models to be introduced and a strong economy,” said Rommel T. Gutierrez, president of Campi.

“The [automotive] industry has been recovering since the second half of 2018. We are confident that the continued month-on-month positive sales growth rate during that period will be sustained in 2019,” Gutierrez said in a statement.

In terms of market share, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. is still the leader with a dominant 42.81-percent share of the entire industry.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. is at far second with a share of 18.89 percent, while Nissan Philip-

tranche of excise tax.

Moreover, it emphasized that inventory levels vary, depending on the status of individual depots and retail outlets, and product turnover (i.e., diesel, gasoline, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas).

The DOE, through its Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB), continues to monitor retail outlets.

“We are ensuring that our consumers do not become subjects of profiteering. We are issuing show-cause orders [SCOs] to the concerned retail outlets for them to explain their implementation of the second tranche of excise taxes. In addition, we are also validating the prices of their fuel products to check whether they have already imposed the second wave of excise taxes,” said Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi. pines Inc. came in third at 9.78 percent. Rounding up the top 5 are Ford Motor Co. Philippines Inc. and Honda Cars Philippines Inc. with shares of 6.59 percent and 6.52 percent, respectively.

Industry players earlier attributed the sales decline to several factors, including the taxes on automobile imposed by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, record-high inflation and unstable fuel prices.

Under the TRAIN law, automobile excise tax is placed at 4 percent for vehicles up to P600,000; 10 percent for over P600,000 to P1 million; 20 percent for over P1 million to P4 million; and 50 percent for hybrid vehicles. Only electric-powered cars are exempted from the excise.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

B1

House committee orders DOTr to legitimize Angkas

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By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

@joveemarie

HE House Committee on Metro Manila Development on Monday directed the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to legitimize and regulate motorcycles as public transport vehicles.

During the hearing of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said his committee issued a resolution directing the DOTr to push for a nationwide pilot run for Angkas effective immediately and to come up with the implementing guidelines in two weeks.

Castelo said the DOTr can issue a department order to allow Angkas operations in the same manner that transportation network companies (TNC) or transportation network vehicle services (TNVS) like Grab were allowed to do so.

“Now that we have established that Angkas is safe, fast and affordable, and is relied upon by thousands of Filipino commuters, the committee now comes up with a resolution urging the DOTr to immediately allow Angkas a pilot run nationwide as the DOTr drafts the implementing guidelines for the operation and regulation of Angkas,” Castelo said.

The resolution for a nationwide pilot run for Angkas was proposed

by Manila Rep. Cristal Bagatsing who revealed that when the Supreme Court temporary restraining order

(TRO) came out that allowed the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to apprehend Angkas rider-partners ferrying passengers, many of her constituents reached out to her. She said preventing Angkas to operate deprives over 25,000 motorcycle riders a decent livelihood and deprives thousands of commuters what could possibly be the fastest and most convenient mode of transportation available in busy city streets—one that is monitored, deemed safe and provides liability insurance.

“The main issue here is that the current law does not allow for motorcycles to ferry passengers. Passed way back in 1964, that law is over half-a-century old, 54 years to be exact, and sorely needs to be repealed or amended,” she said.

“Regulation, not prohibition, is the answer—as informal motorcycle colorums are already the main transportation choice of thousands of commuters, even before Angkas,” she added.

The High Court issued on December 5, 2018, a TRO against the preliminary injunction by the Mandaluyong

Regional Trial Court (RTC), thereby allowing government agencies to apprehend bikers and operators of the ride-hailing service Angkas.

Under Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, two-wheel vehicles are banned from being used for hire.

With this, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade ordered the LTFRB to apprehend Angkas bikers who deliberately defy the order of the SC. Castelo said, “There are pending bills filed in Congress now that would legalize motorcycles for hire, like Angkas. But this would take a lot of time because of the long legislative process. There are other ways to legalize it, to expedite its operations, especially now that we are suffering from traffic congestion.”

“The DOTr should realize this.

If they cannot provide an efficient and reliable mass transportation system as they are mandated to do, they should at least be creative and use modern technology. We should not be technical and legalistic on this while millions of Filipinos are suffering from traffic and losing P2 billion in lost opportunities,” Castelo said.

In the same hearing, Assistant Secretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Mark Richmund de Leon said the agency’s technical working group will meet on January 18 to finalize the guidelines and report the progress to Congress after two weeks.

“We are open to get back to Congress after the TWG meeting on January 18 to propose the implementation of the nationwide Angkas pilot,” he added.

The TWG was created pending

amendments to the law prohibiting using motorcycles as taxis and a stay order issued by the Supreme Court.

It was composed of representatives from the DOTr, Land Transportation Office (LTO), LTFRB, Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Senate, the House of Representatives, commuter-welfare groups, road-safety advocates, motorcycle manufacturers, motorcycle organizations and law schools.

De Leon said the TWG is still considering appropriate standards and capacities of motorcycles.

He said these include the specifications of the type of motorcycle that can be granted a franchise, the minimum cubic centimeter capacity of motor, travel speed of motorcycle taxis, franchise route, seat and helmet requirements, and training requirements for motorcycle bikers looking to register as PUV drivers.

Angkas representative George Royeca told lawmakers that Angkas’s safety record of 99.99 percent covers the last year and a half.

He also said they are happy to be able to provide a means of livelihood to their rider-partners, while stating how much their riders earn on the average. When asked about the Highway Patrol Group’s safety record of Angkas since the time the Mandaluyong RTC allowed Angkas to operate until the issuance of the SC TRO, HPG Spokesman P/Supt. Oliver Tanseco revealed, “Our records reflect that there had been no accidents involving Angkas, thus posing no danger to the riding public.”

Okada asks PSE to block the backdoor listing of Tiger Resorts

By VG Cabuag @villygc

J

APAN’S gambling magnate Kazuo Okada has asked the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to block the backdoor listing of Tiger Resort Asia Ltd. (TRAL) using Asiabest Group International Inc. Okada said allowing the backdoor listing would be detrimental to the interest of the investing public.

In his letter to the PSE sent through his lawyers, dated January 11, 2019, Okada said the ownership of all his companies, including that of the local company that operates Okada Manila in Entertainment City, should be settled first before any backdoor listing could occur.

The said deal between TR AL and Asiabest should have been consummated on Friday, but Okada’s lawyers, from the Panelo Law Office, filed its letter to the PSE on the same day to block the deal.

“Mr. Okada hereby opposes, and respectfully requests the Exchange to disapprove the application filed or to be filed for the block sale, and to disallow the backdoor listing,” Okada said in his letter to the PSE. “...The Exchange must reject the application for the block sale and disallow the backdoor listing for the protection of the investing public. Indeed, the disputes involving ownership and control between Mr. Okada and the illegitimate directors of TR AL and its controlling companies should be contained, rather than be allowed by the Exchange to spread to ABG and the investing public by way of backdoor listing,” he said.

Okada Holdings controls Hong Kong-based TR AL, which is try-

ing to do a backdoor listing for about P646.5 million after some controlling holders of Asiabest, comprising about 200 million shares, have sold their ownership for P3.23 per share.

Okada’s lawyers said it is a serious issue as to whether other officials of TR AL led by Jun Fujimoto, current president, CEO, chief information officer and representative director of Universal Entertainment Corp. (UEC), are legitimate directors and officers of the company. UEC is the listed company of Okada in Japan.

Until it is fully settled, the control and ownership dispute w ithin the Ok ada companies makes Tiger Resort unsuitable to be listed at the PSE, Okada’s lawyers claimed.

There were lawsuits filed on the 2017 removal of Okada as director of the companies that he controls both here in the Philippines and in Hong Kong.

Cont racts entered into by TR AL or Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc., the operator of Okada Manila in the Philippines, may be found to be unenforceable or voidable, and may prejudice the public, Okada’s lawyers said.

Okada earlier said the cases filed against him at the local courts were meant to tarnish his reputation in the business community.

“How can I defraud the company that I own? I deplore these baseless accusations,” Okada said in a statement.

“These cases are only intended to destroy my reputation in the business community and discredit all the hard work I have put into the establishment of Okada Manila.”

CLI year-end booking reaches ₧8.54B in 2018

By Roderick L. Abad

@rodrik_28

Contributor

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ROPERTY developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) reported on Monday a whopping reservation sales last year amounting to P8.54 billion, 86 percent higher than the P4.58 billion recorded in 2017. This broke the 2018 target of P7 billion by 22 percent.

The amount, according to the publicly listed firm’s filing with the local bourse, is net of the jointventure partners’ share. Full sales value is projected to hit a record P9.76 billion.

“The year ended even stronger than we expected,” CLI President and CEO Jose Soberano III said. “The year 2018 was a year of expansion to

other key areas of Visayas and Mindanao, fortifying CLI’s leadership in property development in the region.”

More than half or 57 percent of the registered sales came from the company’s various development projects in Cebu.

Cagayan de Oro had a 16-percent share of the aggregate sales. Meanwhile, the Bacolod and Dumaguete areas contributed 15 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

Soberano said new launches were the main sales drivers, specifically Baseline Prestige, One Astra Place and Casa Mira Towers in Cebu, and MesaVirre Garden Residences in Bacolod.

Category-wise, 36 percent of the sales came from the high-end Premier series, followed by the midmarket Garden series at 34 percent,

and economic brand Casa Mira at 30 percent.

“We target to provide homes for every Filipino family in each economic segment,” Soberano said. “Our strategy is proving effective and given the strength of the property market, we will continue to bring our developments to even more Filipinos in the Visayas-Mindanao region.”

Soberano said they will expand further this year out of their Cebu home base to Iloilo, Bohol, Ormoc, Gensan and Davao. He also revealed they will diversify their portfolio, expanding to townships and hotels.

CLI was incorporated and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 26, 2003. To date, it has over a dozen completed projects located in both regions.

ICTSI gets 1st 4 orders of rubber-tired gantries

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HE flagship facility of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) in Manila has received the first four of its 16 orders of eco-friendly hybrid rubber-tired gantries (RTG), which will help bolster the capacity of the port in the capital.

Once fully commissioned, the hybrid RTGs are expected to further boost Manila International Container Terminal’s (MICT) yard productivity, and allow it to fully match demand in terms of operational performance, ICTSI Global Corporate

Head Christian R. Gonzalez said.

“As we continuously drive economic growth in our home operations, ICTSI will always be at the forefront of innovation with ports equipment and adaptive technology that ensures increasing productivity while reducing carbon footprint,” he said. The equipment are manufactured by Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (MES) of Japan. They are reached equipped with a 200-kVA Li-ion battery and a smaller diesel engine that will reduce the port’s carbon emissions by

40 percent, while also cutting noise levels at the container yard. It will also help improve fuel economy by up to 60 percent.

Aside from these, Gonzales added the company is set to receive two super post-Panamax quay cranes and 12 more hybrid RTGs before the end of the first half of 2019.

Capacity improvements, he said, are also under way at the Manila flagship, among which includes the first phase construction of Berths 7 and 8, and back-up areas for the future Berths 9 and 10. Lorenz S. Marasigan

VIGAN-STYLE RESTAURANT A restaurant at the DoubleDragon Mall in Pasay City is reminiscent of the dominant restaurant style in the capital city of Ilocos Sur.

ROY DOMINGO

PayPal to open largest PHL operations in 2 years

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LOBAL online payments firm PayPal will soon open its largest operations site in the Philippines and is set to employ 1,000 workers over the next two years.

PayPal on Monday announced it will recruit 1,000 employees who will manage its new global customer operations center in Alabang, Muntinlupa. The office there will be the largest and first consolidated operations site for PayPal in the country. It will serve the firm’s Englishspeaking customers when it opens later this year.

PayPal Senior Director and Country Site Lead John Nicholls said the

firm chose to operate in the Philippines because it has a pool of talents proficient in English and experienced in customer service.

“The level of service and hires in the Philippines has always been exceptional—with high English proficiency and a strong pool of experienced customer-service professionals. These [talents] are exactly the type of people we are looking for to join PayPal, as we expand our customer-service offerings, providing multichannel and higher-quality support for PayPal customers worldwide,” Nicholls said.

The Alabang center will cater to numerous regions, including North

America, Australia and the United Kingdom. It will also integrate customer service with business, hiring and training support functions.

Employees can expect to receive robust product, language and cultural training that will equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand customers, as well as the intricacies of the many international markets they will serve, the firm vowed. Nicholls said “by providing our local teams with consistent training, mentoring and leadership, we are investing in their professional development and in a better service experience for our customers.” Elijah Felice E. Rosales

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

January 14, 2019

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

ASIA UNITED 59.4 59.5 59.5 59.5 58.15 59.5 23110 1367614.5 1294470 BDO UNIBANK 131.4 131.6 128.3 132 128.3 131.6 2075610 272532922 -7848597 BANK PH ISLANDS 91.45 91.9 89.95 92.3 89.3 91.9 1839110 166686170.5 -24160407.5 CHINABANK 28 28.05 28 28.2 27.8 28 126300 3531415 -982195 EAST WEST BANK 12.32 12.4 12.54 12.56 12.08 12.32 1375900 16995580 -8679514 METROBANK 79.7 80 77.9 80 76.65 80 6638520 522574071.5 -142299253 PB BANK 12.2 12.36 12.38 12.38 12.08 12.08 18500 228984 PHIL NATL BANK 45 45.3 44.6 45.4 44.5 45 1007600 45298330 -24081535 PSBANK 59 59.1 58.75 59.2 58.75 59.1 1890 111526.5 RCBC 27.1 27.15 26.8 27.2 26.8 27.15 296600 8013140 2755250 SECURITY BANK 178.6 179 175.5 180.5 174.1 179 645030 114541071 31285840 UNION BANK 64.55 64.85 64.6 65.85 64.4 64.5 6620 427362.5 -304758.9999 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.45 1.47 1.48 1.48 1.45 1.47 35000 51070 BDO LEASING 2.25 2.26 2.21 2.27 2.21 2.25 17000 38090 COL FINANCIAL 16.1 16.2 16.2 16.2 16.1 16.1 1400 22560 1620 FIRST ABACUS 0.61 0.68 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 7000 4830 690 FERRONOUX HLDG 4.65 4.7 4.6 4.73 4.6 4.65 49000 228570 FILIPINO FUND 7.46 9.26 7.46 7.46 7.46 7.46 1500 11190 IREMIT 1.43 1.47 1.43 1.43 1.42 1.42 9000 12830 MEDCO HLDG 0.485 0.49 0.47 0.49 0.47 0.49 340000 162150 -118750 MANULIFE 765 800 800 800 800 800 30 24000 NTL REINSURANCE 1 1.01 1.01 1.01 0.97 1 1135000 1129250 PHIL STOCK EXCH 180 181 180 180 180 180 1320 237600 18000 SUN LIFE 1800 1801 1801 1801 1800 1801 65 117020 VANTAGE 1.14 1.16 1.16 1.16 1.16 1.16 1000 1160

INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS 1.4 1.41 1.43 1.43 1.38 1.41 2648000 3704690 50.0001 ABOITIZ POWER 36.9 37 35.8 37.1 35.75 37 2227400 82123510 28139140 BASIC ENERGY 0.245 0.25 0.247 0.25 0.247 0.25 4310000 1071500 -994000 FIRST GEN 20.5 20.65 20.6 20.95 20.5 20.5 2431600 50056370 6877655 FIRST PHIL HLDG 72 72.3 71 72.4 70.8 72.3 91000 6496453 -624713.5 MERALCO 390 398 389.8 398 387 398 420560 166105642 108934374 MANILA WATER 26.8 27.5 27.3 27.5 26.55 27.35 299400 8145400 -911385 PETRON 7.79 7.8 7.89 7.91 7.78 7.79 1600700 12521114 -1345304 PETROENERGY 3.78 3.79 3.76 3.79 3.72 3.78 153000 576080 75800 PHINMA ENERGY 1.36 1.37 1.37 1.37 1.34 1.37 13572000 18387120 -3702560 PH RESORTS GRP 5.64 5.69 5.61 5.66 5.61 5.64 158700 895356 PHX PETROLEUM 10.96 11 11 11 10.9 10.96 182500 2005628 -1633152 PILIPINAS SHELL 47.85 48 48.5 48.6 47.85 47.85 877000 42192200 -16667825 SPC POWER 6.23 6.25 6.28 6.28 6.22 6.25 113100 706949 -290213 AGRINURTURE 16.38 16.46 16.4 16.64 16.28 16.46 1486600 24497200 56052 BOGO MEDELLIN 82.55 90 90 90 90 90 650 58500 CNTRL AZUCARERA 16.5 17.78 16.5 16.5 16 16.3 14100 228550 CENTURY FOOD 15.9 15.96 15.96 15.96 15.8 15.96 567100 8989856 -494534 DEL MONTE 6.51 6.64 6.64 6.64 6.5 6.64 12900 84702 DNL INDUS 11.8 11.82 11.5 11.82 11.5 11.8 5067600 59633982 39275042 EMPERADOR 7.35 7.49 7.31 7.49 7.31 7.49 7100 52719 -6639 SMC FOODANDBEV 83.95 84 84.5 84.5 84 84 628430 52855904 9168337 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.15 1.17 1.16 1.17 1.14 1.17 2543000 2926560 -135860 GINEBRA 25.1 25.95 26 26 25.95 25.95 2500 64975 JOLLIBEE 321.4 324 316.6 324 312 324 940570 300713858 86259910 MACAY HLDG 10.5 11 10.2 11.2 10 11 13600 147536 MAXS GROUP 11.18 11.2 11.28 11.3 11.1 11.18 118100 1324906 -243634 MG HLDG 0.176 0.185 0.184 0.184 0.184 0.184 20000 3680 PEPSI COLA 1.44 1.45 1.47 1.47 1.41 1.44 6630000 9505770 262440 SHAKEYS PIZZA 13.12 13.2 13.2 13.4 13.12 13.2 811300 10729780 1261192 ROXAS AND CO 1.82 1.83 1.9 1.9 1.8 1.83 1581000 2888170 RFM CORP 4.7 4.84 4.7 4.78 4.7 4.78 4000 18880 SWIFT FOODS 0.125 0.128 0.124 0.128 0.124 0.128 280000 35390 1240 UNIV ROBINA 139.9 141.4 136.4 141.4 134 141.4 1274740 176776700 90881683.9996 VITARICH 2.12 2.13 2.08 2.12 2.03 2.12 10868000 22580010 -860790 VICTORIAS 2.34 2.45 2.45 2.45 2.45 2.45 1000 2450 CEMEX HLDG 1.97 1.98 2.05 2.05 1.94 1.98 20527000 40,608,940( 10,038,829.9996) DAVINCI CAPITAL 6.36 6.43 6.34 6.43 6.34 6.43 138900 882286 EAGLE CEMENT 15.1 15.3 15.04 15.36 15.04 15.3 46700 708142 150600 EEI CORP 8.15 8.17 8.16 8.18 8.15 8.17 149200 1217924 -284253 HOLCIM 6.06 6.12 6 6.21 6 6.06 119900 728364 MEGAWIDE 18.08 18.18 18.18 18.3 18 18.18 249300 4518340 -2051416 TKC METALS 0.9 0.93 0.89 0.94 0.89 0.93 126000 116060 -930 VULCAN INDL 1.58 1.59 1.6 1.61 1.55 1.58 2863000 4533360 -104880 CHEMPHIL 136 140 135 140 135 140 810 113051 CROWN ASIA 1.74 1.79 1.79 1.79 1.75 1.79 100000 176480 130720 MABUHAY VINYL 3.1 3.19 3.19 3.19 3.19 3.19 3000 9570 PRYCE CORP 5.86 6.01 5.86 5.86 5.86 5.86 3000 17580 CONCEPCION 40.15 41 41 41.15 41 41.15 1000 41075 20575 GREENERGY 2.08 2.1 2.04 2.11 2.04 2.1 2787000 5819100 37579.9999 INTEGRATED MICR 12.12 12.14 12.22 12.26 12.04 12.12 554800 6727006 3252136 IONICS 1.85 1.86 1.88 1.88 1.86 1.86 227000 424690 PANASONIC 5.7 5.77 5.7 5.77 5.7 5.7 218500 1258641 SFA SEMICON 1.53 1.54 1.55 1.55 1.48 1.54 58000 87950 CIRTEK HLDG 30.9 31.3 31.3 31.35 30.85 31.3 77100 2398685 -795650

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.73 0.74 0.72 0.73 0.71 0.73 14239000 10321980 86000 ASIABEST GROUP 29 29.25 29.4 29.5 28.7 29.25 90900 2652145 -14700 AYALA CORP 975 976 972 982 955 975 206500 201376910 5348740 ABOITIZ EQUITY 63.5 64.4 60.7 64.4 59.1 64.4 1561530 97878356 66332892.5 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 12.98 13.06 12.76 13.12 12.54 13.06 9712000 125805552 71496854 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.78 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 1000 800 ATN HLDG A 1.46 1.47 1.47 1.48 1.45 1.47 7954000 11675720 ATN HLDG B 1.47 1.48 1.47 1.48 1.43 1.47 1099000 1601300 74380 COSCO CAPITAL 7.13 7.14 7.16 7.16 7.1 7.13 237400 1694037 610225 DMCI HLDG 12.8 12.82 12.8 12.86 12.68 12.8 3430900 43969012 13796284 FILINVEST DEV 12.7 12.8 12.92 12.92 12.68 12.8 359000 4597614 64300 FJ PRINCE A 3.88 5.26 5.28 5.28 5.28 5.28 3000 15840 FJ PRINCE B 4.51 5.19 5.2 5.2 5.19 5.19 3000 15590 -10400 FORUM PACIFIC 0.207 0.224 0.205 0.225 0.203 0.225 550000 113950 GT CAPITAL 998.5 1004 993.5 1004 972.5 1004 133370 132227125 -29816595 HOUSE OF INV 5.91 6.19 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 500 2950 2950 JG SUMMIT 65.65 66.3 64.5 66.3 62.5 66.3 3420430 222509090.5 86761188 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 5.41 5.53 5.57 5.57 5.41 5.41 25200 138570 LODESTAR 0.59 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.58 0.59 43000 25080 LOPEZ HLDG 5.01 5.03 4.73 5.04 4.73 5.01 7943000 39483300 -3573960 LT GROUP 15.4 15.42 15.3 15.56 15.3 15.42 2699800 41582452 -11905898 MABUHAY HLDG 0.6 0.61 0.61 0.61 0.6 0.6 219000 132850 32400 METRO PAC INV 5.02 5.03 4.99 5.02 4.99 5.02 29380000 147077240 96891390 PACIFICA 0.038 0.039 0.039 0.039 0.038 0.038 3800000 145400 PRIME ORION 2.57 2.58 2.56 2.57 2.5 2.57 400000 1016920 -51200 PRIME MEDIA 1.17 1.18 1.22 1.22 1.17 1.18 200000 235170 SOLID GROUP 1.4 1.41 1.44 1.44 1.38 1.42 110000 154290 SYNERGY GRID 484 500 500 500 500 500 10 5000 SM INVESTMENTS 985 992 985 992 966.5 992 309730 304354565 47957595 SAN MIGUEL CORP 149.5 150.7 149.8 151.5 149.5 149.5 561140 84358054 5304306 TOP FRONTIER 241.2 249.6 249.6 249.6 249.6 249.6 175010 43682496 WELLEX INDUS 0.25 0.255 0.249 0.26 0.249 0.255 1000000 250410

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.92 0.94 0.99 0.99 0.91 0.92 6547000 6134970 613920 ANCHOR LAND 10.8 11.58 10.84 11 10.8 11 56800 621726 AYALA LAND 44.2 44.55 44 44.55 42.7 44.55 12455600 544028475 -36395420 ARANETA PROP 1.68 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.69 1.7 64000 108750 BELLE CORP 2.36 2.37 2.38 2.4 2.37 2.37 855000 2030930 -948910 A BROWN 0.85 0.86 0.85 0.86 0.84 0.86 1678000 1432280 CITYLAND DEVT 0.87 0.91 0.88 0.92 0.85 0.92 296000 255530 CROWN EQUITIES 0.238 0.245 0.249 0.25 0.238 0.245 2740000 662390 12400 CEBU HLDG 6.4 6.45 6.45 6.48 6.45 6.45 50100 324052 321467 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.21 4.26 4.27 4.33 4.2 4.26 311000 1328200 -409150 CENTURY PROP 0.435 0.44 0.435 0.44 0.43 0.44 1620000 702800 -12900 CYBER BAY 0.385 0.41 0.415 0.415 0.38 0.41 1080000 415100 DOUBLEDRAGON 21.35 21.4 20.8 21.5 20.5 21.4 695900 14758945 462715 DM WENCESLAO 8.5 8.58 8.15 8.64 8.15 8.58 3386700 28644099 858 EMPIRE EAST 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.52 0.51 0.51 700000 361760 -246800 EVER GOTESCO 0.11 0.116 0.113 0.116 0.11 0.116 2910000 321140 FILINVEST LAND 1.46 1.47 1.46 1.48 1.44 1.47 11525000 16907360 -7157420 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.18 1.2 1.18 1.2 1.18 1.19 878000 1041100 8990 HLDG 8.7 8.72 8.62 8.73 8.62 8.72 867500 7550795 13889 PHIL INFRADEV 2.22 2.24 2.28 2.28 2.21 2.22 2980000 6649850 CITY AND LAND 0.83 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.84 74000 62160 MEGAWORLD 5.14 5.15 5 5.15 4.98 5.15 33693600 171604114 82395698 MRC ALLIED 0.47 0.475 0.46 0.47 0.46 0.47 16670000 7765250 9550 PHIL ESTATES 0.465 0.48 0.485 0.485 0.47 0.48 80000 37950 PRIMEX CORP 3.67 3.68 3.63 3.7 3.62 3.68 2730000 10006580 73240 ROBINSONS LAND 22.95 23.2 22.3 23.2 21.85 23.2 3189700 72449180 41224025 PHIL REALTY 0.43 0.435 0.44 0.44 0.425 0.43 1060000 454000 ROCKWELL 2.03 2.04 2 2.04 1.98 2.04 248000 502230 SHANG PROP 3.1 3.12 3.12 3.12 3.12 3.12 938000 2926560 6240 STA LUCIA LAND 1.31 1.34 1.36 1.36 1.31 1.34 2709000 3605250 -2720 SM PRIME HLDG 39.45 39.6 38.8 39.6 38.4 39.6 9941100 391,584,5402 35913529.9997 STARMALLS 6.02 6.03 5.95 6.05 5.71 6.02 249700 1483118 SUNTRUST HOME 0.73 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.73 0.73 124000 91360 VISTA LAND 5.86 5.98 5.85 5.98 5.8 5.98 1830000 10809072 1680969

SERVICES ABS CBN 21.4 21.45 21.5 21.5 21.4 21.4 52900 1135345 GMA NETWORK 5.76 5.78 5.73 5.79 5.72 5.78 220900 1272109 MANILA BULLETIN 0.345 0.355 0.345 0.355 0.345 0.355 80000 28300 MLA BRDCASTING 15.66 17.9 18 18 18 18 300 5400 GLOBE TELECOM 2060 2090 2016 2100 1990 2060 88165 181643920 131652060 PLDT 1196 1199 1228 1229 1187 1199 168465 201612060 -15313475 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.044 0.045 0.04 0.045 0.04 0.045 119400000 5090900 DFNN INC 7.11 7.5 7.39 7.74 7.36 7.36 78200 581231 IMPERIAL 1.9 1.99 2 2 1.88 1.88 17000 32810 ISLAND INFO 0.137 0.14 0.14 0.144 0.137 0.137 6830000 955770 ISM COMM 6.35 6.36 6.34 6.41 6.31 6.35 3293200 20939409 -388731 JACKSTONES 3.12 3.13 3.12 3.13 3.12 3.13 8000 25010 NOW CORP 3.96 3.98 3.95 4.19 3.88 3.98 19069000 75674430 16717250 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.44 0.445 0.43 0.445 0.43 0.445 4600000 2011600 -135650 PHILWEB 3.29 3.3 3.55 3.55 3.26 3.29 6245000 21036180 -3225220 2GO GROUP 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.9 14.08 14.3 179900 2589672 -212460 CEBU AIR 79.7 80 80 80.5 79 79.7 298060 23793619 1976265 CHELSEA 6.76 6.78 6.79 6.83 6.76 6.78 658800 4474792 27200 INTL CONTAINER 104.8 105 101.3 105.5 101.3 105 1229880 129105459 31370253 LBC EXPRESS 14.2 14.88 14.78 14.78 14.78 14.78 22100 326638 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.84 0.88 0.84 0.88 0.84 0.88 32000 27360 MACROASIA 18.5 18.52 18 18.56 17.7 18.5 2153300 39448574 -7177160 METROALLIANCE A 2.3 2.32 2.26 2.38 2.16 2.3 1386000 3140880 PAL HLDG 8.7 8.8 8.35 8.9 8.35 8.7 10300 88648 844.9999 HARBOR STAR 3.21 3.22 3.22 3.29 3.22 3.22 1346000 4364830 -323260 ACESITE HOTEL 1.4 1.45 1.4 1.45 1.4 1.45 17000 23850 DISCOVERY WORLD 2.12 2.22 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.1 3000 6300 WATERFRONT 0.77 0.78 0.76 0.77 0.75 0.77 2561000 1953130 FAR EASTERN U 890 950 890 890 890 890 250 222500 IPEOPLE 10.9 11.2 11.22 11.22 11.2 11.2 3900 43692 STI HLDG 0.78 0.79 0.79 0.81 0.78 0.79 13975000 11035590 -2757310 BERJAYA 3.33 3.37 3.39 3.39 3.31 3.36 715000 2390610 26680 BLOOMBERRY 10.8 10.82 10.68 10.84 10.32 10.8 11487900 122875458 5807338 PACIFIC ONLINE 9.52 9.84 9.6 9.6 9.6 9.6 13000 124800 LEISURE AND RES 3.48 3.49 3.75 3.8 3.43 3.48 3456000 12313530 -344770 MANILA JOCKEY 5.01 5.19 5.02 5.19 5.01 5.01 50500 253427 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.9 0.92 0.91 0.92 0.9 0.9 5407000 4916640 202980 TRAVELLERS 5.5 5.51 5.54 5.55 5.46 5.5 300000 1646847 METRO RETAIL 2.69 2.7 2.61 2.75 2.6 2.69 3275000 8825010 PUREGOLD 48.65 49 48.5 49.3 48.1 48.65 1751500 84938705 39339885 ROBINSONS RTL 87.35 87.95 87 88.5 86.05 87.35 547810 47916345.5 14622117.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 116 118 121 121 116 116 2410 279960 -256760 SSI GROUP 2.31 2.32 2.38 2.4 2.3 2.32 5788000 13450800 1734330 WILCON DEPOT 13.76 13.78 14 14 13.78 13.78 3219500 44414008 -17185470 APC GROUP 0.415 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.415 0.42 1490000 623150 EASYCALL 16.56 16.8 17.02 17.28 16.32 16.8 221200 3706192 GOLDEN BRIA 319.4 330 328 330 320.4 330 2940 967320 9820 IPM HLDG 7.3 7.5 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 1100 8140 PAXYS 3.35 3.59 3.5 3.59 3.45 3.59 156000 559670 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.33 0.335 0.325 0.34 0.32 0.335 1260000 408500 SBS PHIL CORP 7.62 7.7 7.64 7.64 7.62 7.62 8700 66384

MINING & OIL ATOK 14.52 15.48 15.7 15.7 15.7 15.7 100 1570 APEX MINING 1.64 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.63 1.65 450000 740180 1650 ABRA MINING 0.0021 0.0022 0.0022 0.0022 0.0021 0.0022 320000000 672600 ATLAS MINING 2.63 2.69 2.69 2.69 2.63 2.63 96000 253100 BENGUET A 1.3 1.38 1.39 1.39 1.36 1.36 9000 12390 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.29 0.305 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 250000 72500 CENTURY PEAK 2.06 2.07 2.09 2.09 2.05 2.05 527000 1083660 DIZON MINES 7.63 7.78 7.61 7.63 7.61 7.63 300 2285 FERRONICKEL 1.66 1.67 1.68 1.68 1.66 1.67 4108000 6879710 -2531700 GEOGRACE 0.213 0.216 0.21 0.213 0.209 0.213 530000 111640 LEPANTO A 0.118 0.12 0.118 0.12 0.118 0.12 720000 86200 MARCVENTURES 1.22 1.25 1.21 1.24 1.21 1.22 15000 18490 NIHAO 1.02 1.05 1.08 1.08 1.05 1.05 7000 7380 NICKEL ASIA 2.45 2.46 2.38 2.47 2.37 2.46 5901000 14423490 -5837010 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.95 0.98 0.96 0.96 0.95 0.96 431000 410760 27550 PX MINING 4.02 4.06 3.99 4.1 3.98 4.02 2992000 12112080 150780.0002 SEMIRARA MINING 24.1 24.15 24.3 24.7 23.8 24.1 1105300 26615235 -4790930 UNITED PARAGON 0.0074 0.0075 0.0074 0.0075 0.0074 0.0075 6000000 44700 ORNTL PETROL A 0.013 0.014 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 24100000 313300 ORNTL PETROL B 0.013 0.014 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 193200000 2511600 PHILODRILL 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.013 3300000 40800 PHINMA PETRO 3.75 3.8 3.7 3.8 3.7 3.78 69000 260110 PXP ENERGY 15.58 15.6 15.56 15.84 15.5 15.6 674400 10535660 -925436

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A AC PREF B1 DD PREF GLO PREF P GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B LR PREF MWIDE PREF PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B PCOR PREF 2A PCOR PREF 2B SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2I

95 460.2 96.5 480 866.5 900 1.01 100 99.1 103.1 985 960 74.8 76.2 72.5 72.05 74 73.3

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

19.04 5.6

96 471.8 97 489.8 918 910 1.02 100.5 100.5 104.9 999.5 1002 75.45 76.5 73.5 73.9 74.5 73.45

96 473 96.5 480 918 900 1 100.5 100.5 108 980 1002 75.4 76.8 72.6 73 74.5 73.45

96 473 97 480 918 900 1 100.5 100.5 108 980 1002 75.45 76.8 73.5 73 74.5 73.45

96 471.8 96.5 480 918 900 1 100.5 100.5 103.1 980 1002 74.8 76.05 72.5 71.85 74.5 73.45

96 471.8 96.5 480 918 900 1 100.5 100.5 103.1 980 1002 75.45 76.2 73.5 71.85 74.5 73.45

190 30 1510 120 20 450 11000 500 10 320 1050 370 5520 3430 1050 1200 530 9830

18240 14170 146360 57600 18360 405000 11000 50250 1005 34168 1029000 370740 413135 261727 76185 86442 39485 722013.5

3800 -

19.4 5.62

19.2 5.5

19.42 5.6

19.2 5.5

19.4 5.6

317200 196000

6150780 1093530

1241560 -

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

2.05

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 5.03 MAKATI FINANCE 2.62 XURPAS 1.67

2.07

2.15

2.3

2.01

2.05

1308000

2824360

-

5.04 2.92 1.68

5.09 2.62 1.6

5.11 2.64 1.69

5.02 2.62 1.55

5.04 2.62 1.67

550600 7000 12042000

2782984 18380 19734620

-1806030

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

117.5

118.9

117.4

118.9

115.7

118.9

11720

1374771

-

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

First Gen, EDC named among world’s biggest, greenest companies

L

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

OPEZ-LED First Gen Corp. and Energy Development Corp. (EDC) made it to the latest list of the world’s top 200 biggest and greenest companies.

Based on the Carbon Clean 200 list as of the third quarter of 2018, First Gen ranked 113rd with estimated clean-energy revenues of $632 million in 2017; while EDC occupied the 139th slot with estimated cleanenergy revenues of $494.72 million.

The list ranks companies according to the size of their revenues from clean-energy sources.

First Gen and EDC are the only Philippine companies included in the list. The latest ranking marked the third time for EDC and the first time for First Gen to make it to the Carbon Clean 200.

First Gen is the Philippines’s leading clean and renewable-energy producer with 3,490 megawatts in installed capacity. Subsidiary EDC is one of the world’s largest geothermal producers and the country’s leading renewable-energy company with an

installed capacity of 1,471.8 MW. “Being the only Philippine companies on the list is a strong recognition of our commitment to not invest in coal and to make RE [renewable energy] more accessible to Filipinos to help drive a low-carbon economy for the country,” First Gen and EDC Chairman and CEO Federico R. Lopez said.

EDC also holds the distinction of being a carbon-negative company.

This means the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs is far more than the level of CO2 it produces. On an annual basis, EDC helps the country avoid 6.7 million tons of CO2 emissions through its pure RE operations and comprehensive watershed management program.

Launched jointly by nonprofit organization As You Sow of the United States and market research group

Realme sees bigger share in local smartphone market

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MARTPHONE maker Realme plans to carve a larger market share in the Philippines this year, after its successful brand launch in late 2018, a senior official said on Monday.

Realme COO Jacky Chen painted a rosy outlook for the year, citing the strong two-month entry of the company in the Philippine smartphone market in November, when it launched its entry-level phone Realme C1. Today, Realme is present at more than 1,000 store across Metro

Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Pampanga, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and General Santos, as demand for its products continues to ramp up, he added.

“By putting customer needs at the core of our development work, we will make sure our solutions are innovations you can truly enjoy,” he said.

Chen did not elaborate, but said the company “commits itself to giving Filipinos the smartphone experience they need and deserve.” Lorenz S. Marasigan

Black Arrow partners with online payment Dragonpay

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

H

OMEGROWN logistics company Black Arrow Express has struck a deal with online payments platform Dragonpay to provide its users with a new in-app payment option.

With the partnership, users of the Black Arrow Express delivery app can now choose Dragonpay as their mode of payment. In return, the logistics company will serve as the cash-ondelivery partner of Dragonpay for its merchants.

“We are continuing the improvement of our services by providing a more convenient way to our consumers making payments inclusive for all segments—accessible, simple and fast. We want to empower

the unbanked by expanding our payment methods that will tailor fit everyone,” Black Arrow Express President Allan Brizuela said.

Dragonpay COO Robertson Chiang noted that through the partnership with Black Arrow, his company effectively expands the payment options of its merchants.

“This is a great opportunity for Dragonpay merchants to expand their business and market reach since cash-on-delivery is still the most preferred payment method in the Philippines, accounting for over 80 percent of total e-commerce payments,” he added.

Brizuela noted that since its launch in 2016, Black Arrow Express has successfully shipped over 15 million cash-on-delivery shipments across the Philippines.

As China trade disappoints, Asia’s stock rally goes up in smoke

T

HE nascent bull case for Asia equities that emerged in recent trading is starting to look shaky.

While Japan is closed for a holiday, key equity markets retreated across the rest of the region, led by declines in Hong Kong and Shenzhen after China released disappointing December trade data and warned of weaker trade growth this year due largely to external uncertainty. It didn’t help that the US government shutdown is showing no sign of ending

and S&P 500 Index futures fell as much as 0.9 percent.

The MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index fell 0.9 percent as of 5:05 p.m. in Singapore, the most since the first day of trading this year, as Taiwan, South Korea and other markets also declined. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped as much as 1.8 percent to halt a six-day rally, while the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index fell 0.9 percent and Shanghai Composite lost 0.7 percent. Bloomberg News

Corporate Knights of Canada, the Carbon Clean 200 list undergoes an update twice a year, based on total clean-energy revenues that Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) rates. ' To qualify for inclusion in the list, a company must have over $1 billion in market capitalization and generate more than 10 percent of its total revenues from clean-energy sources.

The Carbon Clean 200 list excludes all oil and gas companies and utilities that generate less than 50 percent of their power from renewable sources. Also excluded are the world’s top 100 coal companies, measured in terms of reserves. Coal is considered a major source of CO2, one of the greenhouse gases being blamed in various studies for adverse climate change.

Carbon Clean 200, likewise, disqualifies companies that profit from weapons manufacturing, tropical deforestation, the use of child and/ or forced labor, and those engaged in negative climate lobbying.

Thirty-tree countries were represented in the latest Carbon Clean 200. Fifty-two companies were based in China, 34 from the US and 19 from Japan.

Earlier, leading integrated foodmanufacturing company General Milling Corp. (GMC) renewed its con-

MUTUAL FUNDS

tract for the supply of clean, reliable and renewable energy from First Gen. Under the new contract, First Gen will supply GMC’s facility in LapuLapu City with electricity coming from EDC. “We chose to renew with First Gen and EDC because aside from the pure renewable energy that they provide, we are very satisfied with their service. It is just like a renewal of vows for us,” GMC EVP Joselito “Toto” Parco.

The Lapu-Lapu factory is GMC’s biggest facility.

Also, Citizen Machinery Philippines earlier tapped EDC to supply clean power to the former’s facilities in Tanauan, Batangas.

Both inked a two-year supply deal for 2.5 MW of geothermal power from EDC’s BacMan geothermal project. “As a manufacturing company, Citizen Machinery Philippines desires to be supplied by stable and low-cost electricity, especially since our foundry consumes much power,” Citizen Machinery Philippines President Akihide Kanaya said.

“EDC’s BacMan Geothermal Project meets these criteria. Choosing to be powered by 100-percent renewable energy strongly supports this commitment.” CMP manufactures and assembles automatic lathe machines, which produces other machines for use in different industries.

January 14, 2019

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

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 263.66 -12.19% 4.26% 3.78% 4.6% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.5048 -7.54% 12.76% 4.04% 5.51% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 4.1092 -12.69% 6.56% 2.15% 5.21% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.9357 -7.96% N.A. N.A. 5.04% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC.* 0.8704 N.A. N.A. N.A. 5.8% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 5.5697 -8.77% 4.39% 3.14% 5.8% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * 119.17 0.95% N.A. N.A. 1.02% ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.8813 -13.05% -3.37% N.A. 5.53% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 52.0296 -10.07% 5.85% N.A. 5.46% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 540.56 -10.44% 4.15% 3.1% 4.96% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.3119 -8.23% 5.88% N.A. 4.42% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 38.5288 -8.4% 6.72% 5.68% 5.01% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC.* **** 1.0344 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 5.2498 -10.08% 6.73% 5.77% 5.62% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 877.05 -9.89% 6.61% 5.84% 5.62% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.8996 -9.17% 3.63% N.A. 4.48% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 4.2619 -9.49% 6.14% 4.05% 4.86% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 1.0098 -10.2% 6.48% N.A. 5.57% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.6913 -6.17% 8.11% 4.66% 5.46% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* ***117.1977 -9.57% 7.76% 6.93% 5.6% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $0.9552 -16.57% 5.77% 0.13% 3.2% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.1627 -10.31% N.A. N.A. 6.64% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.7152 -9.53% 1.04% -0.27% 3.72% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.284 -8.37% 3.75% 1.7% 3.37% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.6484 -5.07% 1.53% -0.33% 4.17% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* 1.3475 -8.9% N.A. N.A. 3.17% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.8951 -6.23% 2.99% 2.76% 2.74% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.5761 -10.26% 1.2% 1.6% 1.14% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 16.2515 -8.89% 1.64% 1.72% 2.12% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* 2.133 -6.4% 3.21% 3.44% 2.97% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.7776 -7.26% 3% 2.33% 3.38% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.9545 -7.92% 2.36% N.A. 3.61% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.03541 -2.05% 0.02% 1.78% 0.63% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9476 -12.29% 4.44% -0.81% 2.4% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.4335 -7.54% 4.7% 1.33% 4.17% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0346 -7.87% N.A. N.A. 2.88% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 343.79 1.97% 2.14% 1.95% 0.12% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ^^ 1.8546 -2.13% -0.64% -0.42% -0.12% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.9772 5.48% 5.38% 5.27% 0.24% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1363 1.44% 1.56% 1.62% 0.28% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.2197 0.05% 0.27% 0.39% 0.49% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP.* P 1.5788 -2% -0.46% -0.05% 0.95% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.8333 -5.28% -1.25% -0.26% -2.21% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.5511 1.75% 1.04% 0.87% 1.07% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.9008 -2.29% -0.56% N.A. 0.93% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.791 0.44% 1.22% 1.14% 0.95% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.5536 0.14% 0.86% 0.72% 0.96% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $448.89 0.59% 2.26% 3.05% 0.14% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є212.43 -0.71% 1.01% 1.52% -0.08% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.1308 -0.15% 1.06% 2.01% 0.49% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $0.0249 - 0.4% 0.82% N.A. 0% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP.* $1.6911 -4.68% -0.55% 1.1% 0.04% 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* $1.0379 -2.94% -0.52% -2.33% 0.4% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.1875 -2.8% 0.99% 2.8% 0.76% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.0570334 -0.23% 0.91% 1.82% 0.07% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.8832 -4.38% 0.32% 1.72% 0.4% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 121.02 2.85% 1.9% 1.59% 0.17% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1777 1.69% 0.64% 0.44% -0.32% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.2204 2.72% 2.28% 1.64% 0.15% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC.* $1.0166 1.77% N.A. N.A. 0.1%

* - 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

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Tuesday, January 15, 2019

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PHL rice stockpile down 4.59% in Dec

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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@jearcalas

HE country’s rice stockpile as of December 1 reached 2.718 million metric tons, 4.59 percent lower than the 2.849 MMT recorded in 2017, according to a report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

FILE PHOTO

On a monthly basis, the PSA said the country’s rice inventory was 9.49 percent lower than the November volume of 3.003 MMT. Based on the BusinessMirror’s computation, the December 1 rice inventory is good for 87 days.

Of the total volume recorded at the start of December, 56.18 percent were held by households, while 40.07 percent were in commercial warehouses. The remaining volume was in the warehouses of the National Food Authority (NFA).

The rice stockpile in households was estimated at 1.527 MMT, while the inventory in commercial warehouses and NFA depositories were pegged at 1.089 MMT and 102,140 metric ton (MT), respectively.

“Over the previous month, stocks

inventory in all sectors displayed a decline of 1.93 percent in the households, 18.65 percent in commercial warehouses and 4.87 percent in NFA depositories,” the PSA said in the report published on Monday.

“Year-on-year, rice stocks in the households and in NFA depositories dropped by 6.68 percent and 34.79 percent, respectively. Nonetheless, an increment of 3.12 percent was observed in the commercial warehouses,” it added.

The government monitors rice stocks regularly to determine if there is a need to implement interventions, such as importation, to beef up the country’s stockpile.

Data from the PSA showed that unmilled rice production in the January-to-September period

UGUEGARAO CITY—Nothing is impossible to be achieved with perseverance. Such is the motto of 53-year-old Vicente “Dodong” B. Lugagay, who, despite his very humble beginnings, rose to become an epitome of a successful fish farmer in the province of Isabela.

Lugagay was able to amass considerable fortune in a short span of time despite being a relatively new resident of Santiago City.

He applied his know-how on fish culture he learned from his former company for a fledgling tilapia hatchery business and transformed it into a reputable source of quality fish seed material. He did this alongside the application of good business sense and astute financial management.

Lugagay’s JAVE Farm in Barangay Rizal, Santiago City, supplies fingerlings not only in Isabela but also in other provinces, such as Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan, Pampanga and the Cordillera Administrative Region. He does this through innovative, cost- and timeefficient and environment-friendly technologies.

For being 2018 Gawad Saka Winner on Fish Culture Category, Lugagay

bagged a total of P300,000 in prizes in the national and regional levels.

posted a minimal decline of 0.41 percent to 11.909 MMT. Last week the Department of Agriculture said rice output in 2018 declined by 900,000 MT valued at P20.7 billion due to the typhoons that ravaged palay-producing provinces last year.

The PSA also reported that the country’s total corn inventory as of December 1 grew by 17.4 percent to 629,910 MT, from its previous year’s record of 536,560 MMT. However, the volume was 1.5 percent lower than the corn stockpile of 639,520 MT in November, according to the PSA report.

Of the total inventory, around 84.74 percent were in commercial warehouses while the remaining 15.26 percent were in households.

“Relative with their levels in the previous year, an increase of 8.28 percent and 19.30 percent in the households and commercial warehouses was noted. There were no corn stocks in NFA depositories for this month,” the PSA report read.

“Compared with the previous month’s inventory, a cutback of 37.67 percent in the households was recorded, while an increase of 9.99 percent in commercial warehouses was noted,” it added.

‘Database to help DA hasten Green technology helps ex-farmworker succeed delivery of aid to farmers’ T T HE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it would launch before the end of the first quarter a database that would make it easier for the government to deliver assistance and other interventions to legitimate farmers and fishermen.

A g r icu lture Secretar y Emmanuel F. Piñol said the DA has developed the National Farmers and Fishermen’s Database (NFFD), where all information about Filipino farmers and fishermen, including the geo-tagged location of their farms and homes, are stored.

The NFFD would indicate interventions received by farmers and fishermen from the government, such as loans, seeds, boats and farm inputs.

Through the database, the government hopes to track the impact of these interventions on the lives of farmers and fishermen. The NFFD, Piñol said, would include their family’s economic profile,

particularly poverty incidence, before and two years after they received the interventions.

“This program is expected to effectively assist the Department of Agriculture in targeting the real beneficiaries of its programs, especially the Easy Access Credit Program under the Agricultural Credit Policy Council,” Piñol said in a Facebook post on Monday.

“It will also weed out ‘fake farmers’ who usually take advantage of government’s assistance to farmers by presenting themselves as beneficiaries,” he added.

Piñol said the NFFD will help the National Food Authority (NFA) ensure that the palay sold to the agency came from farmers. He noted that some unscrupulous traders consolidate their purchases and sell these to the government to take advantage of the NFA’s incentives.

The NFA Council approved in October 2018 the implementation

of the additional procurement incentive of P3 per kilogram (kg) to enable the food agency to buy more palay from local farmers during the main harvest season.

Called buffer stocking incentive (BSI), the P3/kg was added to the NFA’s palay support price of P17.00/kg, bringing the total NFA buying price to P20.00/kg plus the existing P0.70/kg incentives for delivery, drying and cooperative fees.

“The program will accurately record all transactions made by the farmer with the NFA and what incentives he will receive, including the recording of his loans under ‘Cash Advance’ Credit Program and the payments he has made,” he said.

Piñol said all the information in the NFFD will be accessible only to President Duterte, to him and to officials of government agencies implementing agricultural interventions. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Green water technology

LUGAGAY significantly cuts on feed costs and ensures viability of his fishponds by using green water technology during breeding stage. The technology entails pond fertilization using chicken manure to produce natural food (planktons and moina).

Compared to commercial feeds, the use of natural food is more appropriate during breeding stage since it prevents breeders from expelling their eggs during mouth brooding.

He also uses alternative fish feeds such as duckweeds, azolla and dried soft-shelled shrimp (for high protein diet). Homemade probiotics are also utilized to bring vigor to his breeders and prevent mortality during summer.

A special pump installed in his conditioning tanks, instead of the conventional flow-through and aeration system, allows for sturdier fingerlings thereby higher survival rate. Sex reversal is achieved in only four, instead of the usual 21 days.

Using all these technologies, Lugagay achieves average monthly produc-

tion of 300,000 to 500,000 fingerlings per month. His fingerlings are climate change adaptable. This is achieved by crossbreeding specific tilapia strains.

Marketing strategy

LUGAGAY knows when to speed up production to cope up with demand and also seeks new markets, when sales are low.

As a marketing strategy, he gives generous commission to agents who can close a deal. Incentives aside, performance of his fingerlings most often serves as their advertisement, which is why a lot of his buyers are repeat customers.

As a reputable source of fingerlings, Lugagay sees to it that every sale comes with technical advice for the whole duration of the culture period, to ensure success of his buyers.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Region 2 Regional Director Dr. Nelson B. Bien was elated with this development and said that the region needs more winners and fish farms operators like Lugagay in order to bring about much-needed increase in fisheries production in Region 2 or Cagayan Valley. PNA

Nebraska farm groups wary of alternatives try to protect a word: meat

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INCOLN, Nebraska—More than four months after Missouri became the first state in the United States to regulate the term “meat” on product labels, Nebraska’s powerful farm groups are pushing for similar protection from veggie burgers, tofu dogs and other items that look and taste like real meat.

Nebraska lawmakers will consider a bill this year defining meat as “any edible portion of any livestock or poultry, carcass, or part thereof” and excluding “lab-grown or insect or plant-based food products.” It would make it a crime to advertise or sell something “as meat that is not derived from poultry or livestock.”

Similar measures aimed at meat alternatives are pending in Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming. They come amid a debate over what to call products that are being developed using the emerging science of meat grown by culturing cells in a lab. Supporters of the science are embracing the term “clean meat”— language the conventional meat industry strongly opposes.

The issue strikes a particularly strong chord in Nebraska, one of the nation’s top states for livestock

production, where cars roll down the interstate with “Beef State” license plates and the governor each year proclaims May as “Beef Month.”

Farm groups have found an unusual ally in state Sen. Carol Blood, a city-dwelling vegetarian from the Omaha suburb of Bellevue. Blood, who grew up on a farm, said she introduced the measure because agriculture is Nebraska’s largest industry and needs to be protected for the good of the whole state.

“I’m not bringing this bill to tell people what they can and can’t eat,” she said. “All I’m asking for is truth in advertising. It’s clear that meat comes from livestock, and livestock is our livelihood in Nebraska.”

Nebraska led the nation in commercial red meat production in 2017 and had the most feed cows as of last year, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Livestock and livestock product sales generated an estimated $12.1 billion for the state’s economy in 2016, according to the USDA’s most recent available data.

The measure is certain to face resistance from food producers that sell plant-based alternatives, as well as those working to bring lab-grown

A CONVENTIONAL beef burger (left) is seen on January 11, next to “The Impossible Burger,” a plantbased burger containing wheat protein, coconut oil and potato protein among its ingredients.

The ingredients of the Impossible Burger are clearly printed on the menu at Stella’s Bar & Grill in Bellevue, Nebraska, where the meat and nonmeat burgers are served. AP PHOTO/NATI HARNIK

meat to market. Critics say the bill infringes on the free-speech rights of companies that produce vegetarian alternatives to real meat.

The Good Food Institute, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and plant-based food company Tofurkey have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Missouri

law. They argue the law unfairly stifles competition.

The Nebraska bill “would censor food labels and create consumer confusion where there is none,” said Jessica Almy, director of policy for the Washington-based Good Food Institute. “You can’t censor speech just to promote one industry’s financial success.”

Supporters of the Nebraska measure say they want to ensure people aren’t misled about what they’re eating.

Blood said she proposed the measure after seeing two women in a grocery store who couldn’t tell whether a product contained meat or a substitute. She said her proposal wouldn’t require inspections of product labels, as Missouri’s law does.

“I don’t want to be the meat police,” she said.

Under the Nebraska bill, violations would bring a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

“Consumers have a right to know what they’re buying,” said John

Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union. “That’s the case whether it’s a vegetarian product or not. There ought to be clear, honest and accurate labeling, and then let the marketplace make the choices.”

Hansen said his group’s livestock producers are particularly concerned about whether consumers will be able to differentiate between meat grown in the lab and farm-grown beef, pork and chicken.

Pete McClymont, executive vice president for the group Nebraska Cattlemen, said his organization’s concern rises partly from the growth of products labeled as almond and soy milk, which have become an increasingly popular alternative to cow’s milk. AP

B4 Tuesday, January 15, 2019

‘ANDAS’ AT SM CITY MANILA HOLIDAY INN STAFF MEMBER IS SUPERVISOR OF THE YEAR AT 23RD MABUHAY AWARDS

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HOLIDAY Inn Manila Ga l ler ia employee, under t he ma nagement of t he InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), bested his peers in the Philippines at the 23rd Mabuhay Awards.

Eduardo S. Quintana, along with six other finalists this year, representing

both Holiday Inn Manila Galleria and Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria, comp ete d a g a i n st t he cou nt r y ’s best and brightest in the Philippine hospitality industry. Eduardo is the fourth Mabuhay Awards recipient under the two hotel brands.

Perpetual maintenance-management leader of Holiday Inn Manila Galleria Eduardo S. Quintana was named the Supervisor of the Year. He was among the 20 finalists in the award category. Eduardo is also a local government officer, serving as a kagawad for Barangay 718 in Malate, Manila.

Eduardo, fond ly called “Ed Q” by his colleagues, was recognized for his more than two decades of innovative contribution to project management as a vital component of hotel operations. A seasoned hotelier, Ed Q began his journey with IHG in 1995 as a carpenter of Holiday Inn Manila Galleria, and has since spearheaded projects on the hotel’s 25 years of operations.

His win comes merely two days after his mother’s passing, a bittersweet victory for the doting husband and father of three children.

In his capacity as a supervisor, Ed Q ensures the quality of experience of the guests as he safeguards the venue’s maintenance requirements, including

carpentry,repairs,plumbing,construction, refurbishing and renovating tasks on property. He, likewise, consistently extends his dedication and service to the guests and employees of Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria.

Ed Q singlehandedly laid out and efficient ly executed the plans to build the employees’ gym and lounge, serving as another testament to his undeniable concern and care for the welfare and benefit of his colleagues.

Prior to him being named this year’s Supervisor of the Year, Ed Q has been awarded a number of times over his significant tenure as a hotelier.

An advocate of the environment, he is also a member of Green Engage, a hotel program that promotes and fosters susta inable development.

T he proje c t s he u nde r t a k e s a re consistently accomplished at minimal cost as he is a staunch believer of reusing materials and keeping waste to a minimum.

E d Q ’s d e d i c a t i o n t o s e r v e goes above and beyond his duties a s a hot e l ie r. A s k aga wad of Barangay 718 in Ma late distr ict, he contr ibutes to monthly feeding prog rams, cleanliness dr ives, and gover nment initiatives that uplift the lives of the communit y.

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N commemoration of the Traslacion of the Black Nazarene this year, SM City Manila presents to the public a mixed media art-and-photo exhibit titled Andas: Stories of Black Nazarene Devotion. The exhibit consists of photos gathered thru online photo contest titled “Captured”. The entries capture stories that goes beyond the emotion seen in the Traslacion and connects with the audience in a deeper aspect on why devotees do this sacrifice.

The exhibit also introduces an inspirational centerpiece

called Traslacion Triptych, an artpiece created in three panels to be appreciated as one. The artwork is digitally created by Niño Santiago, a member of Hijos del Nazareno; hand-cut by artist Arlene Seraspi; and directed by Badz Magsumbol, founder of Papercutters Guild of the Philippines. A devotion wall is also installed for all shoppers and devotees to write their prayers on.

Get to experience this all from January 8 to 16 on the upper ground-floor level, event center of SM City Manila.

PEPSI PHILIPPINES RENEWS PARTNERSHIP WITH TOM’S WORLD Tom’s World Philippines Corp. signed a contract renewal with Pepsi Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI) in Tom’s World Robinsons Galleria. PCPPI has been a long time partner of Tom’s World as one of the country’s fastest-growing amusement and recreational center, devoted to bring to Filipinos a healthy, warm, convenient and cheerful playground made even more exciting with Pepsi products. In the photo are (from left) from PCPPI: Joel T. Javier, customer development manager; Alex C. Catindig, food service sales director; Maricel M. Guro, assistant vice president and general manager; from Tom’s World Philippines Corp.: Oliver Ryan Co, AVP for corporate planning; Prescilla Lacson, marketing head; and Racquel de Lara, operations director.

CATANDUANES GOVERNOR SERVED WITH 6-MONTH SUSPENSION

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HE Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon has finally served a six-month preventive suspension to Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua for abuse of authority, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, dishonesty and grave misconduct.

The order stated that Cua, in connivance with Eulogio R. Rodriguez, who allegedly owns ER Construction, allow the said construction company to use the vacant lot owned by the Province of Catanduanes free of charge and without authority granted by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Catanduanes.

The preventive suspension ordered Cua to stop performing the functions and responsibilities pertaining to his office and vacate the position effective upon receipt, with a total period of six months without pay.

Vice Governor Sherly A. Abundo has temporarily

assumes office and taken over the responsibilities of Cua after the order was served last January 11 by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Meanwhile, the Catanduanes Crusaders Against Illegal Drugs and Corruption Inc. (CCAIDC) welcomes the decision of the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon for the said case.

“Tama nga ang sinasabi namin noon pa na may mga ginagawang labag sa batas talaga itong si Governor Cua. Ngayon masaya kami na pagbabayaran niya na itong mga pang-aabuso sa katungkulan na ginawa niya. Umaasa kami na hindi lang dito nagtatapos at mapagbayaran niya ang lahat lahat ng ginawa niya sa aming isla,” Marlon Suplig, head of CCAIDC, said in a statement.

The CCAIDC has filed several cases against Cua, including the anomaly in the power supply of Catanduanes.

PMPC ELECTS NEW SET OF OFFICERS FOR 2019 The 2019 officers and board of directors of the Philippine Movie Press Club (PMPC) were recently elected with entertainment editor and movie screen writer/director Sandy Es Mariano (seated, third from left) as president. The new officers are (seated, from left) Mell Navarro, secretary; Leony Garcia, public relations officer; Lourdes Fabian and Joe Barrameda, board members; Fernan de Guzman, vice president; (standing) Timmy Basil, PRO; Boy Romero, treasurer; Francis Simeon, auditor; Rommel Placente and Blessie Cirera, assistant treaurer; Roldan Castro, Mildred Bacud and Eric Borromeo, board members; and Rodel Fernando, assistant secretary.

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Tuesday, January 15, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Djokovic: Murray’s struggle hurts me

RAFA, MARIA NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S career and that of Andy Murray have long been intertwined. AP

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ELBOURNE, Australia—Novak Djokovic knows there’s a chance he may not have played his opening match at the Australian Open before Andy Murray is out of the tournament. Perhaps even finished on the tour.

Their careers have long been intertwined. They’re both 31 and have birthdays a week apart in May, and they’ve played each other 36 times at the elite level.

Djokovic leads those 25-11, including a 4-0 record in finals at the Australian Open, where Murray has been a five-time finalist but never won the title.

They had a practice match together in Melbourne Park on the eve of Murray’s teary news conference on Friday, where he revealed the pain from his surgically-repaired right hip was so bad that he’d decided to retire after attempting one more run at Wimbledon—if he can make it that far.

Murray was noticeably limping between points and only won two games in almost two full sets, but Djokovic on Sunday denied he’d taken it any easier on his longtime friend. It’s not the way they operate.

“I wasn’t, no. To be honest, I wasn’t,” top-ranked Djokovic said. “But I did see, it was very obvious for everyone, you didn’t need to be on court to notice that he’s struggling.

“We’ve seen so many years of Andy Murray being one of the fittest guys on the tour, running around the court, getting always an extra ball back. I think to that extent, we are kind of similar.”

Djokovic has six Australian Open titles, a record he shared with twotime defending champion Roger Federer and Roy Emerson. Djokovic and Federer are on opposite sides of the draw, and can only meet in the final.

Murray is in Federer’s half, but even he concedes he’s unlikely to get past No. 22-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut on Monday night.

Djokovic isn’t in action until Day 2, when he opens against US qualifier Mitchell Krueger. As winner of the last two majors, he’s a strong contender to win in Melbourne Park again and become the first man with three streaks of three or more consecutive Grand Slam championships.

His 14 majors so far place him third behind 37-year-old Federer (20) and 32-year-old Rafael Nadal (17), but he’s likely got more years to play on the circuit.

Murray’s career is expected to be finished in a matter of months. He didn’t tally as many titles as the other members of the Big Four, but he broke decades-long droughts for British men in majors and at Wimbledon, and became the first player to win consecutive singles gold medals at the Olympics.

“Our trajectory to the professional tennis world was pretty much similar,” Djokovic said. “We’ve grown together playing junior events. We played lots of epic matches in the professional circuit [and] our games are quite alike.

“Obviously to see him struggle so much and go through so much pain, it’s very sad and it hurts me as his longtime friend, colleague, rival.”

Djokovic said he was proud of the kind of relationship he and Murray had fostered, and he was sorry to see his friend set to leave the tour.

“It’s sad for me, but for all sport, because Andy is a very respected and likable guy around the locker room,” Djokovic said. “He’s a great champion.

He’s a legend of this sport, without a doubt—multiple Grand Slam winner, two golds from Olympic Games, Davis Cup. He’s had it all.

“He touched us all definitely.

I wish him a painless future in whatever shape or form that is, on or off the court.” AP

TRIUMPH MARIA SHARAPOVA takes a selfie for fans after winning her first round match on Monday. Rafael Nadal also advances to the next round. AP

By John Pye

The Associated Press

M

ELBOURNE, Australia— Rafael Nadal has missed a lot of tennis since last September. He hasn’t missed a beat.

The No. 2-seeded Nadal had a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over Australian wild-card entry James Duckworth on Monday in the first round of the Australian Open, his first match back on Rod Laver Arena

since he had to retire during his quarterfinal match last year.

The 17-time major winner hasn’t played since retiring from his semifinal at the US Open because of a knee injury, and then had surgery on his right ankle in November. He also withdrew from a tune-up tournament in Brisbane because of a muscle strain in his thigh, mainly as a precaution, to ensure he’s fit for the season-opening major.

“Not easy to come back after a lot of months of competition, especially against a player playing super aggressive every shot,” Nadal said. “It’s very difficult to start after an injury—I know it very well. It’s very special to be back.”

Wearing a sleeveless top, he showed no signs of any issues against Duckworth. His only hiccup came when he served for the match in the ninth game of the third set and was broken at love. He returned the favor very quickly, though, to seal his spot in the second round.

Nadal has only lost twice in the first round at Grand Slams—to Steve Darcis at 2013 Wimbledon, and to Fernando Verdasco here in 2016—and is aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win all four majors at least twice.

Maria Sharapova was the first of five Australian Open winners to play on Rod Laver Arena on Day 1, starting with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Harriet Dart. No. 2-ranked Angelique Kerber, the 2016 Australian Open champion, opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Polona Hercog.

Sharapova has the second-best record among active women’s players in first-round matches at the majors, and she gave an illustration of why that’s the case in a 63-minute disposal of Dart.

The 2008 champion is making her 15th trip to Melbourne Park and her 55th Grand Slam tournament, and she’s acutely aware of the toll that the sun and long early matches can have on a player’s title ambitions, so she gets straight to business.

Stung by a first-round loss at Wimbledon last year, Sharapova said she couldn’t afford to feel any empathy for Dart.

“I mean, there is no time for that, I’m sorry to say...when you’re playing the first round of a Grand Slam,” said Sharapova, who is still feeling pain in her right shoulder despite sitting out the end of last season after the US Open. “I think I was just focused on not having a letdown.

“I think it’s very easy to be in a position where things are flowing, you know, you’re doing all the right things, she’s making a few errors, you’re comfortable, easy to get complacent, and, you know, complacency is not great. I was glad that I did the right things from the beginning till the end.”

Also advancing were 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens, No. 11 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 19 Caroline Garcia, No. 29 Donna Vekic and No. 31 Petra Martic.

Danielle Collins advanced to the second round of a major for the first time following a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over No. 14-seeded Julia Goerges, who won

the title in Auckland to start the season.

Katie Boulter earned the distinction of winning the first 10-point tiebreaker under the Australian Open’s new system for deciding sets, and she celebrated twice.

Boulter beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (6), including 10-6 in the tiebreaker. Boulter started celebrating and went to the net when she reached 7-4 in the tiebreaker, forgetting it wasn’t a conventional count.

The new rule was introduced to ensure matches don’t get too lengthy— previously the third set in women’s matches and the fifth set in men’s matches at the Australian Open had to be decided by a two-game advantage.

Fifth-seeded Kevin Anderson won his first match at Melbourne Park since 2015 when he beat Adrian Mannarino, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. Also advancing on the men’s side were No. 19 Nikoloz Basilashvili, No. 20 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 26 Fernando Verdasco.

Defending champions Caroline Wozniacki and Roger Federer were scheduled to play night matches later on Monday.

Second-seeded Angelique Kerber is through to the second round at Melbourne Park with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Polona Hercog.

The 2016 champion needed just 72 minutes to beat the Slovenian player, saving all four break points she faced and winning four of five break points on Hercog’s serve. Kerber became the first German woman since Steffi Graf at the 1999 French Open to win a major when she beat Serena Williams in the final here three years ago.

Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko has been beaten, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, by Maria Sakkari in the first round at Melbourne Park.

The 22nd-seeded Ostapenko, who also advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon last year, had beaten Sakkari in three sets in their only previous meeting at Charleston in 2017.

It’s been a poor start to the season for Ostapenko. She lost in the first round to eventual finalist Ashleigh Barty at the Sydney International after also losing in the first round at Shenzhen.

Sakkari had an early service break in the deciding set, then broke again to take a 4-1 lead at Melbourne Arena, the tournament’s third show court. The Greek player used two aces to clinch the next game and take a 5-1 lead, then served out to love two games later to win the match.

Tomas Berdych sent 2018 semifinalist Kyle Edmund home right away this year. Berdych picked up a surprisingly easy victory over the 13th-seeded Edmund on Monday, beating him 6-3, 6-0, 7-5.

The biggest difference? Edmund made 36 unforced errors, 22 more than Berdych. Edmund also managed to earn only one break point and failed to convert it, while Berdych broke him five times.

Berdych was the 2010 runner-up at Wimbledon and he twice has been a semifinalist at the Australian Open.

Edmund’s top result at a major came a year ago in Melbourne.

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CAVS STUN LAKERS L

OS ANGELES—Wins have been hard to come by for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, so Coach Larry Drew has been focused on the incremental signs of progress.

Against the Los Angeles Lakers, Drew saw those little things help put the Cavaliers into the right side of the win column.

Cedi Osman scored 20 points, Collin Sexton added 17 and the Cavaliers ended a 12-game losing streak with a 101-95 victory on Sunday night.

“Any time you go through a rebuilt process you’re going to have bumps in the road, that’s to be expected,” Drew said. “But the most important thing for this group is that they learn and there is growth. We understand where we are and who we are, and the most important thing for us right now is just to continue to grow every game we play.”

Tristan Thompson had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Alec Burks had 17 points and 13 rebounds as the shorthanded Cavaliers split the two-game season series by forcing the Lakers into a choppy game.

Los Angeles was seven for 34 on threepointers, 16 for 27 from the free throw line

and had 11 fast-break points.

Kyle Kuzma had 29 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who have lost two straight and five of their past seven. Brandon Ingram scored 22 points and Lonzo Ball had 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

“No disrespect to the Cavs, but they’re still an[National Basketball Association] NBA team and for us we can’t take anything lightly, especially in this league,” Kuzma said. “Because we’re all professionals and you can lose on any given night if we don’t bring the effort, and that’s what happened tonight.”

Burks delivered an emphatic dunk after Ingram couldn’t handle a defensive rebound to help the Cavaliers reestablish control after Kuzma scored five straight to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 84-79 midway though the four quarter.

Sexton drove for a layup and Osman hit a floater during a quick 6-0 run, which allowed the Cavaliers to hold off another late push by the Lakers. Kuzma hit a threepointer with 22 seconds remaining to trim the margin to 96-93, but Burks made both free throws with 16 to play.

“When they did score, we continued to play,” said Cavaliers forward Rodney Hood,

who had 18 points. “We didn’t look around and we didn’t cave in.”

The Cavaliers had a 10-0 run in the third quarter after Kuzma hit a floater to pull the Lakers within 51-50 early in the period. Burks and Osman hit three-pointers to bookend the push, and Cleveland was able to sustain a 10-point margin going into the fourth by holding Los Angeles to 8-for-26 shooting.

“When we’re playing like that and playing together it’s fun,” Sexton said. “I felt like tonight we had fun and it’s been a long time since we had fun.”

A day after the Dallas Mavericks got the bad news that backup point guard and team sparkplug JJ Barea was lost for the season, Stephen Curry brought more bad news—in the form of 11 three-pointers.

Curry scored 48 points and tied his season high for threes in a game as the Golden State Warriors held off the Mavericks, 119-114, also on Sunday night in Dallas.

“We just couldn’t get Curry under control,” Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle said. “He was brilliant tonight.”

Curry’s 11 threes were the most ever by a Mavericks opponent. The last one was his

THE Cavaliers’ Cedi Osman shoots against the Lakers’ JaVale McGee. AP

NBA RESULTS

Philadelphia 108, New York 105 Toronto 140, Washington 138, 2OT Milwaukee 133, Atlanta 114 Orlando 116, Houston 109 Golden State 119, Dallas 114 Denver 116, Portland 113 Cleveland 101, LA Lakers 95

most important, snapping a 114-all tie with 42 seconds to play. Both Curry and Warriors Coach Steve Kerr credited Kevin Durant for switching play calls to get Curry shots rather than taking shots of his own.

Durant added 28 points for the Warriors, and Klay Thompson had nine of his 16 in the fourth quarter as the Warriors received a tough test from a Dallas team playing without its top two point guards, Dennis Smith Jr. and Barea.

Luka Doncic scored 26 points for Dallas and Harrison Barnes had 22. Jalen Brunson had 12 off the bench in 30 minutes, in place of the injured point guards. AP

Aussie star Ewan captures Tour Down Under Classic

A

DELAIDE, Australia—Australian star Caleb Ewan avoided a crash on the final lap to win the Down Under Classic on Sunday, the criterium prelude to the Tour Down Under which is the first race of the year on cycling’s World Tour.

Ewan, who won the full Tour Down Under last year, crossed the finish line in downtown Adelaide just over a bike length ahead of

three-time world champion Peter Sagan after 30 laps of a 1.7-kilometer circuit.

Sagan won the 50-km criterium in 2018 while Ewen was third.

Ewan came into Sunday’s race in good form after winning two stages and finishing second overall in the Bay Classic Series in Victoria state.

He was led into the race well by

teammates in his Belgium-based Lotto Soudal team and sprinted strongly near the line to outlast Sagan who was on his wheel at the finish.

“I knew it was going to be a hard one to win because of the caliber of sprinter here,” Ewan said. “I went into it confident because I

400 AND COUNTING FOR MESSI

CALEB EWAN is in good form after winning two stages and finishing second overall in the Bay Classic Series in Victoria state.

know how my form is but you never know how everyone else is going.

“It was very different to normal. It was very aggressive this race, so that made it a little bit harder.”

That aggressive approach on a circuit featuring four tight corners led to major crashes on the last two laps. One of those accounted for Italy’s Elia Viviani, who was fourth in the race last year.

Sunday’s race doesn’t count toward general classification but Ewan will win the tour leader’s ocher jersey in the first of six stages of the Tour Down Under on Tuesday.

The first two stages, the opening event of the 2019 professional World Tour, have been shortened after forecasters warned of extreme heat and high winds in South Australia.

The Tour, which has attracted the world’s top professional teams and riders, including three-time world champion Sagan, begins on Tuesday with the first of six stages in the hilly, wine-growing regions around the city of Adelaide.

Organizers announced on Sunday that the second stage through the Barossa Valley, famous for its wines, would be shortened because temperatures were expected to hit 40 degrees. On Monday the decision was made to also trim the first stage, removing a scheduled loop around the finish at Port Adelaide, because of forecast high winds.

Race Director Mike Turtur said Tuesday’s stage “will be brutal” in possible blast furnace heat, fanned by the wind. Conditions were likely to stretch out the field, raising safety issues for some riders.

The 2018 edition took place in the second-hottest conditions in the race’s 21year history, behind record temperatures set in 2006. AP

IN all competitions, Barcelona says the 31-year-old Lionel Messi has scored an astonishing 575 goals in 658 appearances. AP

B

ARCELONA, Spain—That’s 400 and counting.

Lionel Messi took his all-time Spanish league scoring record to 400 goals on Sunday after contributing to a 3-0 win over Eibar to keep defending champion Barcelona comfortably at the top.

Messi scored Barcelona’s second goal shortly after halftime to reach a milestone in the competition after 435 league matches. Former Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo is second all-time in La Liga with 311 goals.

In all competitions, Barcelona says the 31-year-old Messi has scored an astonishing 575 goals in 658 appearances.

“He is from another galaxy,” Barcelona Coach Ernesto Valverde said. “They are incredible numbers. But he does much more than score goals, he also does so much to generate scoring chances for others.”

Barcelona’s all-time top scorer got the landmark goal in the 53rd minute after Luis Suarez passed to him inside Eibar’s area. The Argentine did the rest by opening an angle around a defender and driving in a low left-footed shot.

It was also Messi’s league-leading 17th league goal and his 23rd goal overall this season.

“He should be proud,” said Suarez, who scored Barcelona’s other two goals. “Game after game he shows what a great player he is. I am happy for him and for the history that he is writing for this club.”

Barcelona stayed five points ahead of second-placed Atletico Madrid, which edged Levante 1-0 thanks to a penalty from Antoine Griezmann, as the league reached its midway point.

Real Madrid lost Karim Benzema to a right-hand injury in a 2-1 win at Real Betis to stay 10 points back in fourth place.

After 90-plus minutes of prowling the sideline, yelling at his players and stoking his fans, Atletico Madrid Coach Diego Simeone normally hurries off the pitch when the final whistle sounds.

But after the victory over Levante, Simeone took time to embrace each of his players—a show of appreciation for their efforts that kept Atletico in the title chase.

“I felt the need to hug them,” Simeone said. “I congratulated them because they maintained the same level of play throughout the entire match.”

Despite only scoring one goal, Simeone called it “one of, if not our best, performances of the season.”

True to Simeone’s defense-first approach, Atletico stifled a Levante attack that is among the best in the league.

Griezmann did the rest, scoring his team-leading ninth league goal of the season when he fired a spot kick over Levante goalkeeper Oier Olazabal in the 57th minute following a handball by defender Nikola Vukcevic. AP

Qatar, Saudi Arabia enter round of 16

A

L AIN, United Arab Emirates—Qatar thrashed North Korea, 6-0, on Sunday and advanced to the knockout stages of the Asian Cup after the biggest win in this tournament so far.

Saudi Arabia, which beat Lebanon, 2-0, on Saturday for its second straight victory, will join Qatar in the round of 16 from Group E. Amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries, Qatar and Saudi Arabia meet on Thursday in a game which will decide the group winner.

Four-time champion Japan and Uzbekistan also made the next round with a game to spare in Group F. Japan beat Oman, 1-0, on Sunday and Uzbekistan routed Turkmenistan, 4-0.

The top two teams in each group and the four best third-placed teams advance to the round of 16.

Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host, has been subject to a diplomatic and logistical boycott by regional rivals, including Saudi Arabia, for more than 18 months.

After a goal in the opening 2-0 victory over Lebanon, Qatar star striker Almoez Ali added four more to become the tournament’s leading scorer.

He struck twice within two minutes early in the first half to give Qatar a comfortable lead with two more goals in the second half.

Ali has scored nine goals in his last eight games for his country.

Boualem Khoukhi and Abdelkarim Hassan also had a goal apiece for Qatar, which won two opening Asian Cup games for the first time.

In Abu Dhabi, Genki Haraguchi earned the penalty and then converted from the spot in the 28th minute for Japan.

In Dubai, Eldor Shomurodov led Uzbekistan with two goals and Javokhir Sidikov and Jaloliddin Masharipov also scored—all in the first half.

Japan and Uzbekistan meet on Thursday to decide the group’s top spot. AP

orts

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Tuesday, January 15, 2019

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Perkins heads All-Rookie Team, shares spotlight with retired Tiu

J

ASON PERKINS of Phoenix leads the AllRookie Team that will be honored in the 25th Philippine Basketball Association Press Corps Awards Night on January 21 at the Novotel Manila Araneta Center.

Joining the 26-year-old forward Perkins— named the league’s 2018 Rookie of the Year— are Jeron Teng, Paul Zamar, Robbie Herndon and Christian Standhardinger.

The Breakout Player of the Year and the Game of the Season will also be given out during the 25th anniversary of the annual affair presented by Cignal TV. Rain or Shine guard Chris Tiu will bring the Breakout Player of the Year trophy to his retirement, while the triple overtime thriller between Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine during the Philippine Cup was the hands-down choice as the Game of the Season.

The 33-year-old Tiu thrice broke his careerhigh last season, scoring 30 points in a 107-101 win over NLEX in the Governors Cup in what proved to be his final game in the league. He finished the season with averages of 10.7 points, 4.0 assists and 2.4 rebounds.

The Kings, meanwhile, beat the Elasto Painters in three extra periods, 100-92, to clinch

Titans pick first in D-League draft

A

MA Online Education will have the first crack in the 2019 Philippine Baskebtall Association D-League Draft on Tuesday at the PBA Office in Libis, Quezon City.

The Titans claimed the top pick after landing in the cellar in the Aspirants and Foundation Cups last season, and Coach Mark Herrera has his sights set on some of the big names in the pool of 153 aspirants.

Asean Basketball League veteran Joshua Munzon, University of the Philippines playmaker Juan Gomez de Liano, Adamson University forward Sean Manganti and De La Salle big man Santi Santillan headline the big names in the list, giving AMA a bounty of choices as it seeks to perform better this season.

It will be the third straight year that the Titans will select first in the draft. They took Jeron Teng in 2016 and Owen Graham in 2017.

Batangas-Emilio Aguinaldo College owns the second pick, while Centro Escolar University is at third.

A record 20 teams, 15 of them school-based, are participating this season set to open on February 14 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

Reigning Foundation Cup champion Go for GoldCollege of Saint Benilde is returning and hopes to emerge on top again.

But it will have its hands full against a tough field bannered by collegiate titlists Ateneo, San Beda, Saint Clare and Diliman College.

a playoff berth in the all-Filipino conference.

It only marked the 12th overtime game in the 43-year history of the league and saw guard LA Tenorio playing 56 minutes and 52 seconds— the fourth most minutes played by a local player.

The other awardees are Stanley Pringle of NorthPort as Scoring champion and San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo, Magnolia’s Paul Lee and Alaska’s Vic Manuel as recipients of the Order of Merit award.

National Team Coach Yeng Guiao of NLEX leads the All-Interview Team that has as members Joe Devance of Barangay Ginebra, Standhardinger and Chris Ross of San Miguel Beer, Mike Digregorio of Blackwater and Tiu. As always, the winner of the Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan Coach of the Year trophy highlights the event first held in 1993. The top contenders for the award named after the late legendary coach are Magnolia’s Chito Victolero, San Miguel Beer’s Leo Austria and Ginebra’s Tim Cone.

Another traditional award to be given is the Danny Floro Executive of the Year in honor of the late amiable Crispa team owner, as well as the Defensive Player of the Year and Mr. Quality Minutes.

Adding spice to the affair’s 25th year are the first ever Lifetime Achievement and the President’s Awards.

POC seeks to curb NSA disputes TNT’S Ryan Reyes and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel’s Kevin Ferrer go after the loose ball in this bit of Philippine Cup action kicking off the 44th season of the Philippine Basketball Association on Sunday night at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan. The Gin Kings won, 90-79, with Ferrer scoring nine points and Reyes finishing with six.

THAIS IN FULL FORCE A

STRONG 11-man crew seeks to record Thailand’s first championship in the Philippine Golf Tour Asia (PGTA), which resumes its 20182019 season with the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Pradera Verde Classic beginning on Wednesday at the Pradera Verde Golf and Country Club in Lubao, Pampanga.

The Thais, the country’s perennial rivals in the men’s and women’s sides in the amateurs, are due for a breakthrough in the region’s newest circuit after Pasavee Lertvilai tied for second to Rene Menor at Splendido in 2017 and Namchok Tantipokhakul finished runnerup to Aussie Damien Jordan in the Aboitiz Invitational at the Orchard last year.

The Thais have contended in other PGTA events but just could put it all together in the end, keeping them winless in 14 events combined but hopeful heading to the $100,000 championship serving as the

eighth leg of the second season of the tour put up by ICTSI. Lertvilai, also a former PGT Asia Qualifying School topnotcher, and Tantipokhakul are back in this week’s event as spearheads of a side that includes veteran campaigner Wisut Artjanawat, Chonlatit Chuenboonngam, Jaturon Duangpaichoom, Sutijet Kooratanapisan, Tawit Polthai, Puk Pradittan, Nirun Sae-ueng, Thammanoon Sriroj and Piya Swangarunporn.

But the Thais will be as much tested as the rest of the foreign bidders, along with the local aces, for the top $17,500 purse in the 72-hole championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. For one, Jordan and Luisita leg winner David Gleeson are going all-out for a second win with fellow Aussies Clayron Bridges, Andrew Campbell, Calum Juniper, Jack Sullivan and Simon Viitakangas also seeking to join the elite circle of winners of the circuit.

PASAVEE LERTVILAI heads a tough 11-man crew from Thailand.

Regular campaigner Lexus Keoninh also brims with confidence as he resumes his title hunt along with fellow Americans Sam Gillis, Sydney Chung, Andy Kang, Charles Lee, Teemu Putkonen and Joshua Salah, while Koreans Hwang Myung Chal, Lee Sangun, Park Jun Hyeok, Park Jun Sung and Kim Jun Sik likewise eye a strong showing in the blue-ribbon event.

Meanwhile, a select group of pros, led

by Filipino top guns Clyde Mondilla, Tony Lascuña, Jay Bayron and Jhonnel Ababa, test the Pradera layout one last time in today’s (Tuesday) pro-am tournament where they will be paired with guests and officials of the event’s chief backers, including ICTSI, Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT, Empire Golf and Sports and MY Shokai Technology Inc. The Mike Singgaran-design course inside the sprawling Pradera complex in Barangay Prado Siongco has been kept at its championship form all-year with its bunkers and water hazards ready to challenge the elite field.

MAROON GETS VALUABLE EXPOSURE

U

NIVERSITY of the Philippines (UP) Coach Bo Perasol believes that playmaker Juan Gomez de Liano would become a better player after his stint with the Mighty Sports in the tough Dubai International Basketball Tournament set from February 1 to 9.

“I personally know the strength of the competition there. I am sure that Juan will gain tremendously from that Dubai tournament,” said Perasol of his veteran guard who made heads turn during the team’s Final Four duel with Adamson University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

“I am sure that whatever experience Juan will gain from the Dubai tournament he will share to his teammates,” Perasol added.

Together with Paul Desiderio, the UP Maroons beat the twice-to-beat Falcons in the semifinals to advance to the Finals for the first time in 32 years.

Mighty Sports team owner Alex Wongchuking, however, cautioned the local players of the team backed by Go For Gold, Healthcube and Oriental Group not to be complacent with former LA Lakers star Lamar Odom and Ginebra resident import Justine Brownlee as their teammates.

“They have to remember that we have chosen them because of their talents, and we believe they can help the team. I hope they won’t get starstruck though,” Wongchuking said. “It is also our

own way of helping prepare Juan for the coming UAAP season.”

Besides de Liano, the other local players on the team with no experience playing abroad are De La Salle’s Santi Santillan and College of Saint Benilde’s Justin Gutang.

Coach Charles Tiu also tapped former Philippine Basketball Association players Joseph Yeo, Gab Banal and Jett Manuel, and Filipino-Americans Jeremiah Gray and

Roosevelt Adams to beef up a team that won only one game in its maiden campaign in the annual tournament two years ago.

Tiu will have veteran coach Jong Uichico as one of his assistants.

“I am glad that Coach Jong was given the clearance to join me. He will be a huge help because he can provide us with a lot of insights,” said Tiu. “I will meet him soon to start planning.”

PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee (POC) President Ricky Vargas (fourth from right) shakes hands with Philippine Dispute Resolution Center Inc. (PDRCI) President Atty. Edmund Tan. With them are POC First Vice President Joey Romasanta, General Counsel Atty. Alberto Agra, Membership Committee Chairman Robert Bachmann, Arbitration Committee Member Atty. Charlie Ho, Communications Director Ed Picson, PDRCI Secretary-General Atty. Robert Dio, Vice President Atty. Salvador Panga Jr. and Executive Director Bing Pabila.

P

HILIPPINE Olympic Committee (POC) President Ricky Vargas on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center Inc. (PDRCI) for the intention of smoothly resolving national sports associations (NSAs) disputes.

PDRCI President Atty. Edmund Tan also signed the MOU. “We are following the model of the International Olympic Committee and the Court of Arbitration in Sports. As soon as this is approved by the POC Board and the General Assembly, the PDRCI will conduct seminars for NSAs to better understand the [workings] of

Perpetual Help nears sweep of volley elims

WELL-WISHERS

Former Los Angeles Lakers star Metta World Peace and ex-Chicago Bull Bill Wennington drop Manny Pacquiao a visit at his Los Angeles residence on Sunday afternoon. Pacquiao is tapering down for his defense of the World Boxing Association welterweight title against Adrien Broner on Sunday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. COURTESY WENDELL ALINEA/MP PROMOTIONS

mediation and arbitration,” Vargas said.

“We are very proud to be a significant part in this milestone in Philippine sports,” Tan said. “We hope to assist the POC in streamlining their programs without the distraction of troublesome disputes.”

Witnessing the signing for the POC were First Vice President Joey Romasanta, General Counsel Atty. Alberto Agra, Membership Committee Chairman Robert Bachmann, Arbitration Committee Member Atty. Charlie Ho and Communications Director Ed Picson.

With Tan were Secretary-General Atty.

Robert Dio, Vice President Atty. Salvador Panga Jr. and Executive Director Bing Pabila.

U

NIVERSITY of Perpetual Help System Dalta overpowered San Sebastian College, 25-19, 25-20, 25-21, on Monday to move more closer to sweeping its way to the finals for the second straight season in the men’s division of the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Joebert Almodiel, last year’s rookie Most Valuable Player, had another all-around effort of a match-high 18 points with 13 on kills and four on service aces capped with 11 receptions for the Altas, who clinched their eighth straight win.

The Las Piñas-based team moved a win closer to sweeping the elimination round for the second straight year and barging into the bestof-three finals outright.

Perpetual Help swept the eliminations last season but lost in three games to Arellano University, which bagged its third straight and 11th title overall.

The Altas could complete the sweep with a victory over the already-ran Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers (2-6 won-lost) on Thursday.

The Stags fell to their fourth defeat against four triumphs to crash out of the Final Four race.

Perpetual Help’s juniors team also moved closer to an eliminations sweep as it claimed its eighth with a merciless 25-15, 25-23, 25-17 rout of San Sebastian College.

Power-hitting Noel Michael Kampton went on a spiking spree and unloaded 21 kills to finish with a match-best 23 hits. The Staglets bowed out of contention with a 3-6 card.

In women’s play, Perpetual Help turned back San Sebastian College, 25-19, 25-8, 18-25, 2517, to stay in the Final Four hunt with its fifth win against three defeats.

The Lady Altas play the Lady Bombers on Thursday hoping to book a return trip to the Final Four alongside Adamson University, San Beda and Saint Benilde.

Sports

THE win in Honolulu marks only the second time in Matt Kuchar’s career that he has multiple victories. AP

BusinessMirror

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| Tuesday, January 15, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

UNDER THE RAINBOW

PATRICK REED reacts to his birdie on the 12th hole during the fourth round of the Masters. AP

THE SHOTS TO REMEMBER H

ONOLULU—Brooks Koepka still smiles at the memory of the 9 irons he hit in the final round of his second straight US Open victory.

Yes, that’s plural. They were on consecutive holes on the back nine at Shinnecock Hills.

The one that led to birdie was memorable. The one that led to par was “by far the best shot.”

It’s like that at every major championship. There are signature shots that everyone remembers, the one that gets shown during brief recaps. And there is always one shot that is memorable to the player that might not get its due because it doesn’t seem all that significant at the time.

THE MASTERS

FOR as much magic the Masters delivers, there wasn’t anything overly dramatic about Patrick Reed’s 71 for a one-shot victory. He made two birdies on the back nine, and the one that stands out was his 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th that allowed him to seize control.

“It was a soft 9-iron,” he said. “When I made that putt is when I thought I could play par coming in and I can win the tournament.”

The shot that stands out to him was on Thursday, a cut drive through the chute of trees to the fairway. Never mind that he put his approach into the bunker and had to scramble to save par for a 69, leaving him three shots behind.

“That hole always has given me a hard time hitting the fairway,” he said. “To hit the cut and get it in play, now I know that’s a shot I could hit all week.”

And he did on Sunday, leading to his two-putt par and oneshot win.

By Doug Ferguson

H

The Associated Press

ONOLULU—Matt Kuchar never had a Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour season end so soon.

He shot 74 on Labor Day and failed to advance out of the second round of the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time in 10 years. He was never in serious contention all year. The captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup were announced the next day. Kuchar wasn’t even considered, left off a US team for the first time since 2009.

Four months later, the view is so much different.

The rainbow that stretched across the Oahu sky on Sunday looked magical when Kuchar turned to raise his arms after one last birdie for a four-under 66, which gave him a four-shot victory in the Sony Open.

Kuchar had gone 115 starts on tour without winning.

Now he has won two of his last three.

“Crazy to comprehend,” he said.

This was much harder than reading the fine print that he won by four shots over Andrew Putnam with the thirdlowest score in Sony Open history.

Kuchar’s two-shot lead going into the final round was gone in four holes, and when he missed the green on No. 5 with a wedge, he was trailing for the first time all weekend. At the par-5 ninth, Kuchar and Putnam were in the same bunker short of the green. Putnam went first and blasted out to a few inches. Kuchar left his 10 feet below the hole and was in jeopardy of falling two behind.

He made the putt, one of several key moments the rest of the way. And right after Putnam’s lone mistake, a 9-iron into a deep bunker left of the 14th green that led to his only bogey in a round of 68, Kuchar answered with back-to-back birdies and was headed to another victory.

“Thrilled to have won two events this early in the year,” said Kuchar, the first multiple winner on the PGA Tour this season. “It absolutely sets up the year to be in great position for the FedEx Cup. There’s a lot of year left, and a lot of great things that are out there to be done.”

It was only the second time in his career that he had multiple victories. The other was in 2013, when he won the Match Play Championship in February and the Memorial in early June, with three majors still to be played.

Extra special to Kuchar was going up the 18th fairway with a comfortable margin. Winning was never this easy in

his previous eight victories.

Then again, part of him likes it that way, whether he’s trying to recover from a bad start on Sunday or even a bad year.

“I love playing golf. I love how hard it is,” he said. “Golf is addictive that way, in that if you’re not playing well you can’t wait to figure it out and make it better. If you’re playing well, shoot, it’s great. It’s awesome. You want it to never end. It’s a cycle of whether it’s good or bad that you have this quest to continue to play, to improve, to fix, whatever it is.”

He goes to No. 22 in the world ranking and No. 2 in the FedEx Cup. He already has earned over $2.5 million in January, $800,000 more than all of last season.

Kuchar turned 40 last summer, which might have added to the anxiety of going so long without a win.

He never saw it that way. This run began with a visit to his swing coach, Chris O’Connell, right before he began this season. He didn’t score well in Las Vegas and stayed the course. He won in Mexico at the Mayakoba Classic the following week, and then he won again.

“I’m not sure I’m into making a statement, but it is interesting to see how young the tour has gotten,” he

said. “But thankfully, golf requires so many different things to be going right. It’s not just power game, a putting game. There are so many facets to the game that it allows people to play for a long time and play competitively and play great for a long time.”

Putnam’s consolation was cracking the top 50 in the world for the first time at No. 45. He won the Barracuda Championship last summer, a month after he played better than anyone except for Dustin Johnson at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.

“I’m feeling a little let down right now,” Putnam said after closing with a 68. “I’m sure when I think about it...a lot of good things have happened. Just needed to make some better swings. Kuch was making birdies and played great coming down the stretch. I just couldn’t keep up with him.”

Kuchar had the gold trophy, the winner’s lei around his neck. He was in no hurry to leave, and plans to stay in Hawaii for another two weeks with his wife and two sons.

Even better? He already has earned a spot at Kapalua next year, the tournament reserved only for winners.

“Trust me, getting in the field at Kapalua is a real treat,” Kuchar said.

SPAIN’S Laia Sanz rides her KTM motorbike during stage six of the Dakar Rally between Arequipa and San Juan de Marcona, Peru, on Sunday. AP

U.S. OPEN

BROOKS KOEPKA was 1-over par with no room for error in the final round because Tommy Fleetwood had posted his 63 and was in at two-over 282. The defending champ already had made a pair of 8-foot par saves and really had one birdie chance left. It was the par-5 16th, and no bargain with a back pin. The distance suggested pitching wedge. Koepka had other ideas.

Koepka decided to flight a 9-iron low, and it checked up about 3 feet past the hole for a birdie and a two-shot lead.

“It was nice to have that extra cushion,” he said.

He felt he needed it based on the pin position at the par-3 17th, which he described as a landing area 12 feet wide and 12 feet deep. He thought about an 8-iron until he factored in the adrenaline.

“I don’t think people realize how hard it was to hold that green,” he said. “And that’s coming in with a 9-iron. He wound up itching it 6 feet over the bunker and kept it on. I should have hit 8, but I was a little juiced.”

When he donates a club to the US Golf Association, it likely will be a 9-iron.

“The 16th was more memorable for everybody else,” he said.

“But 17 was by far the best shot.”

BRITISH OPEN

NO one was steadier than Francesco Molinari on a wild final day at Carnoustie in the British Open. He didn’t make a bogey over the last 37 holes. And while there was nothing overly spectacular, his brilliance was in being in the right position.

The shot that clinched Italy’s first major was a lob wedge over the Barry Burn to 5 feet for a birdie and a two-shot victory.

“I thought par would give me a chance. If I could get it close and hole the putt, it would be more likely,” he said of winning. “Actually, the lie wasn’t great. It was sitting down a little bit. I was trying to make good contact and a bit of luck that it released the way it needed to.”

But it was the par on the 17th that he thought won him the tournament.

“A 2-iron straight into the wind is a lot harder than a lob wedge,” Molinari said.

Making it even harder was the memory of a double bogey on the 17th hole in the second round from a similar spot, a shot that narrowly missed the green and plugged in the bunker. He had about 217 yards for his second shot in the final round.

“It came out just beautiful,” he said. “Those last two holes, every shot is very important.” AP

Loeb wins another stage but Al-Attiyah still leads

L

IMA, Peru— Sebastien Loeb capitalized on an error

by Dakar Rally leader Nasser Al-Attiyah to win a second straight stage and rise to second overall on Sunday.

Al-Attiyah led the sixth stage from Arequipa to San Juan de Marcona until about 15 kilometers from the finish when he drove into the wrong valley looking for a waypoint. Loeb, two minutes behind the Qatari, moved two minutes ahead

and held on to win his third stage of this Dakar.

He passed the spot where he crashed out of the race last year, when he was lying second overall.

“It was a tricky stage,” Loeb said. “We dodged the bullet.”

Al-Attiyah was second, 2:17 behind, but remained the leader with a nearly 38-minute margin.

“It’s not really that comfortable, but it’s good to have this very difficult stage behind us,” Al-Attiyah said.

Loeb, the nine-time world rally champion trying to win the Dakar at his fourth attempt, leapt over record

seven-time champion Stephane Peterhansel.

Peterhansel, who started the second half of the rally second overall at 24 minutes behind Al-Attiyah, went to help Nani Roma early but got stuck in a sand basin and lost 20 minutes. With brilliant driving he limited the damage to 12 minutes until he ran in to trouble near the finish, and ended up nearly 19 minutes behind the stage winner. He’s 41 minutes behind overall.

“Victory’s slipping away after too many mistakes,” Peterhansel said.

Roma, the 2014 champion, was 45 minutes down in fourth.

Change was expected in the motorbike race, where the top 7 riders were within nine minutes of each other.

Race leader Ricky Brabec and Sam Sunderland were separated by only a minute but weren’t contenders on the sandy stage.

Sunderland, as the stage five winner, opened the way and struggled. He was nine minutes off the pace after the first section, and 23 minutes by the end. From a minute behind at the start of the day, he was 21 back at the end.

Brabec was up front for the first half of the stage but dropped to sixth.

He fell to second overall, 4:38 behind stage winner and new leader Pablo Quintanilla.

Quintanilla dueled with Kevin Benavides over the second half of the stage, and edged it by less than two minutes. AP

Synod on the Youth

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EAR God, the yearlong observance, providentially, begins shortly after the “Synod on the Youth” with its trail of most enriching insights, guidance and challenges. We welcome all these gifts with open heart and open arms. We salute our young people with joy—filled expectation. We know that they also expect much from their mature brothers and sisters. May the Holy Spirit give our youth the inspiration to work together in this heroic endeavor. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

THE contrast of painted walls and tiled areas, as seen in this master bathroom, can make the tiles a more noticeable focal point.

In assessing trends for the new year in bath design, interior designer Julia Walter says many homeowners are only tiling parts of their master bathrooms.

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BOX OFFICE: KEVIN HART’S ‘THE UPSIDE’ UNSEATS ‘AQUAMAN’ IN $19.6-M DEBUT D3

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

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LOC&STOR 24/7 provides clean, well-ventilated and pest-protected self-storage facilities in Makati and Pasig.

PHOTOS: AP

If you could use some extra space, self-storage is for you

A BETHESDA, Maryland, master bathroom. Interior designer Nadia Subaran says homeowners increasingly want glass-enclosed showers that they can walk directly into without any step or door, as seen in this design by Aidan Design.

A FREESTANDING bathtub, as seen in this Chevy Chase, Maryland, master bathroom by Aidan Design, is much more popular than the built-in bathtubs that have been used in residential bath design for decades, says designer Nadia Subaran. Beyond their practical use, tubs like this serve as sculptural design pieces in a beautiful master bathroom.

Small touches create a great master bathroom I

By MeliSSa RayWoRTh The Associated Press

T’S easy to design a gorgeous master bathroom if you have a huge budget. But with the right choices, says interior designer Gabriel Anderson, you can have an exceptional master bath without overspending.

“Having huge expanses of marble is amazing and wonderful, but you don’t have to have that to have an amazing bathroom,” says Anderson, cofounder of the New York design firm Dean and Dahl. There are “little touches you can incorporate that really bring a master bath to life.”

We’ve asked Anderson and two specialists in bath design—Julia Walter of Boffi Georgetown in Washington, D.C., and Nadia Subaran of Aidan Design in Silver Spring, Maryland—to tell us what those little touches and smart strategies might be.

PLANNING A BETTER SHOWER WHEN you reach in and turn on your shower, does your hand get soaking wet? Wouldn’t it be nice if it didn’t? “One of the things that I always do now is installing the handles for the shower in a place that’s not directly below the shower head,” Anderson says. That will require the pipes to be extended a bit further, so “the plumber will be bugged by it. But in the end, it doesn’t really cost a lot more.”

Another impactful adjustment: Design a shower that’s enclosed by a partial glass wall, with an open space but no door and no step where you enter.

The floor needs to be pitched downward just slightly near the drain so that water doesn’t run out of the shower area.

This is easier to do in a larger bathroom, especially if you’re doing new construction rather than just

remodeling, Subaran says, but it’s worth considering.

“Folks are thinking about wanting the ability to just kind of walk into a shower,” rather than stepping over something to get in, she says.

Another option is to make room for a larger shower by skipping the tub. Some real-estate agents advise that having a tub in a master bathroom is important for a home’s resale value, and you might find that a tub is a necessity for your family.

“Designing is all about the user,” says Anderson, who has two young kids. “We bring them into the master bathroom and have them take baths in there.

For us, it’s an absolute necessity.”

But, he says, “if space is at a premium, sometimes it’s worth taking that space and having a more luxurious shower.”

RECONSIDERING THE DOUBLE SINK WHEN designing a master bath for a couple, Walter often asks how often they actually use the sink at the same time. It tends to be pretty rare. So for clients seeking a change of pace, she suggests a 4-foot-long wash basin within a vanity.

“Instead of two sinks,” she says, you have one sink with two faucets. So you can be next to each other when you want to, but when one person is alone they have a large sink all to themselves without taking up extra space in the room. “You can save a little bit of money there,” Walter says, and still have “a beautiful, big, master-bath vanity.”

ADDING FURNITURE AND SPECIAL PIECES “YOU always need a place to sit down to take your slippers off, or whatever the case may be,” Anderson says. This is something often shown in design magazines, and many homeowners do have a bit of space for it.

One tip is to buy an attractive chair or bench meant for outdoor use, because it will be moisture-resistant and upholstered with outdoor fabric. Anderson says many outdoor styles in teak or metal can look great in a master bathroom.

And seating isn’t the only detail you might get creative with: Try hunting for a vintage mirror in a distinctive frame, or a unique light fixture, he says.

“This is something that just takes the time of going to estate sales or antique stores or whatnot,” Anderson says. “Taking the time to go and find that special piece...can really elevate your bathroom,” and doesn’t have to cost much.

INCREASING YOUR COMFORT NO one wants to feel chilly when they step out of the shower. So many people are adding heated floors to master bathrooms.

“Radiant floor heat is no longer a trend—it’s like the norm for master-bath heat,” says Subraman.

A heated floor can be expensive depending on the bathroom’s size, but for a heating splurge that isn’t costly, consider heated towel racks.

USING STONE ALL three designers are fans of stone on walls and vanity surfaces. It offers natural beauty that won’t go out of style and can be combined with a range of color palettes. “Stone is always a trend,” Anderson says, “but I think right now people are wanting to use large amounts of stone as opposed to porcelain.”

If you want high-quality stone but are concerned about cost, one option is to cover just one wall and your vanity with it, then leave the other walls painted.

It’s a practical choice that’s also timely, Walter says: “The trend is going toward not having the whole bathroom tiled.” n

ADMIT it. Most Filipinos are pack rats. They hold on to stuff, unable or unwilling to let go, and let clutter take over their homes. In fact, a typical Filipino household most likely resembles a bodega, bursting at the seams not only with things that you need but also with things you’re better off consigning to the dustbin. From broken old lampshades to ovens and toasters that no longer work, from dog-eared books and documents to a cache of precious memorabilia.

Thankfully, if you are averse to disposing clutter or are simply petrified by the task, you will be glad to know that there is a new concept called “self-storage,” wherein storage spaces or units are rented out to residential customers or small-to-medium business owners who could use the extra space.

Loc&Stor 24/7 (www.locnstor247.com) is a world-class self-storage facility that provides a secure, convenient and professionally run facility for storing your belongings on a short- or long-term basis. It offers units ranging from 1.5-square-meter lockers that can fit eight balikbayan boxes to 18-square-meter jumbosize units that can accommodate the contents of a 40-foot container.

The concept is different from warehousing, which provides limited security and fire protection for your possessions, co-mingles clients’ items, limits access, charges for movement in and out, and may well tie you down to a long-term contract.

Loc&Stor 24/7 touts that it offers the best features the self-storage business has to offer: convenience, safety and security—and the protection and privacy of prized possessions. The first facilities are situated within a guarded, gated and flood-free compound with 24/7 building security. They also utilize highdefinition closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras with night vision to monitor and record all activities within and around the facility.

Every storage unit has individual alarms, and renters use their own personal locks to ensure privacy. Once you have set up an account, you will use a user-defined PIN to access the facility. Your PIN arms and disarms your unit’s alarm, and all access to your unit is electronically logged. The system will even notify you through e-mail whenever your unit is opened without authorization.

Smoke detectors, fire alarms and sprinkler systems have been installed throughout the facility, which was built according to stringent fire and floorloading codes.

Loc&Stor 24/7 also offers climate-controlled areas where humidity is regulated—perfect for storing goods that are temperature-sensitive like leather goods, antique documents, books, artworks, winter clothing, shoes and more. For thorough protection of your possessions, Loc&Stor also offers a comprehensive, custom-designed insurance plan for the renters’ varying needs.

The facilities are strategically near the Metro’s residential and business centers, with its flagship facility in Bagong Ilog, Pasig, just one easy turn from C-5 northbound, and only a few minutes’ drive from Quezon City, Taguig and Antipolo. Storers from Parañaque, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, Laguna and Cavite, meanwhile, will find its facility in Urban Makati most accessible. The company has also just opened its third world-class facility and the second in Makati—conveniently on JP Rizal—where slots are now available for reservation.

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Tuesday, January 15, 2019

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z

‘The First Conspiracy’ unspools plot on Washington in 1776

By Michael Hill The Associated Press

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Drew Brees, 40; Regina King, 48; Chad Lowe, 51; Mario Van Peebles, 62.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Turn this into a year to remember.

Stop thinking about what you want to do or to have; make your dream come true. Making plans with someone you enjoy working with or being around will lead to a better relationship, as well as progress toward achieving your goals. Use your energy wisely. Fitness and manual labor will bring better results than anger.

Your lucky numbers are 5, 13, 23, 25, 33, 38, 47.

was exposed was bodyguard Thomas Hickey, who was publicly hanged for “mutiny, sedition and treachery.”

So the authors extract what they can out of the historical record to tell a colorful story giving the reader a sense of Revolutionary-era Manhattan. The writing is punchy and the chapters are short, though the authors have an annoying habit of ending every chapter with a cliffhanger, even when they have to contrive one.

One big obstacle in telling the story is a lack of source material about the precise nature of the plot against Washington. It was a secret, after all. Washington and the British understandably kept mum about their intelligence and counter-intelligence operations. Despite the book’s subtitle, it’s not certain whether plotters planned to assassinate Washington or capture him (which, arguably, could have led to his execution anyway).

Many believed it was an assassination plot ever since Hickey went to the gallows. In one famous story, Washington was about to be served poisoned peas before a servant threw the plate out the window at the last second, saving the future president but killing some chickens outside who ate the deadly vegetables.

That story is almost certainly apocryphal. But what was the most likely plan? Scouring the existing evidence, the authors come up with a conclusion that seems as good as any that can be drawn more than two centuries later. n

G

EORGE WASHINGTON faced some big problems as he tried to fortify New York City against British forces in the summer of 1776.

His ragtag army was woefully short on weapons and battle experience. The British were assembling a massive expeditionary force to crush his army and snuff out the nascent revolution.

And one more thing: some of his own bodyguards were involved in a traitorous plot against him.

The First Conspiracy (Flatiron Books),

by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch, follows the shadowy plot that played out in and around Manhattan as Washington focused on the coming British attack.

The odd assortment of characters involved in this cloak-and-dagger tale include a scheming gunsmith, wouldbe counterfeiters and some members of Washington’s elite bodyguard detachment, called the Life Guards.

Looming ominously over all the machinations was Gov. William Tyron, the top British official in New York.

Rising revolutionary sentiment had forced him to retreat to a ship in New York Harbor, but he was still able to spin his webs of intrigue against the rebels. It’s not a spoiler to point out that the plot failed. Washington, of course, was just beginning his long, historical run on the world’s stage. The only person to lose his life after the plot

‘Freefall’ is entertaining, suspenseful FREEFALL (HarperCollins) begins as an actionpacked/heart-stopping thriller as it logically and smoothly leads into the self-examination of two women estranged from each other but still united by love. Allison Carpenter is bound for San Diego when the light plane crashes in the Colorado Rockies. Miraculously, Allison survives but she immediately knows that this was no ordinary plane accident. She believes the plane, owned by her fiancé, pharmaceutical CEO Ben Gardner, was targeted and there will be no rescue.

Allison gathers up her courage and whatever supplies she thinks will help her and begins the arduous—and seemingly hopeless—trek through the frigid wilderness.

Not long after Allison has escaped, the fuselage catches fire, destroying the wreckage. The authorities believe Ben and Allison are dead.

Back in Owl Creek, Maine, Allison’s mother, Maggie Carpenter, is devastated by news of the plane crash. Although Maggie and Allison haven’t spoken for two years, Maggie has never given up hope that she will reconcile with her only child. Their rift began with the death of Maggie’s husband—Allison’s

Today’s Horoscope

father. Despite the evidence, Maggie refuses to believe that Allison is dead and immediately begins to use her skills as a research librarian to look into her daughter’s life.

Maggie had no idea Allison was engaged, or that after moving to California, she had such a troubled life that at one point she was forced to live in her car. Ben seems to have been Allison’s salvation.

Freefall smoothly moves from Allison’s ordeal in the Rockies, where she is exhausted, hungry and hurt, to Maggie, consumed by grief. But Barry delves deep to show the true character of mother and daughter, neither of whom will give up.

Allison knows that the only person she can trust is Maggie and she is determined to make her way back home. Maggie is stunned that her research into Allison’s last two years shows that her daughter may have been unwittingly involved in deceit and corruption.

While Freefall works well as a psychological thriller, the twists are predictable and succumb to plot cliches. The story holds few surprises as it winds down to the denouement, but the strong characters do not disappoint. AP

GERVAIS CRAFTS INTELLIGENT AND THOUGHTFUL THRILLER

PIERCE HUNT has returned from a six-month forced leave after a reporter is injured during a bust even though it’s not Hunt’s fault.

On his first day back, he’s assigned to assist the transfer of a high-profile drug cartel target named Vicente Garcia. It’s personal for Hunt since he’s responsible for bringing Garcia to justice at the cost of his marriage. He also fell in love with Garcia’s daughter.

When the convoy is ambushed, Hunt barely survives.

Then he learns that the people responsible are not only attempting to take over the lucrative drug business, they have also kidnapped Garcia’s granddaughter and a friend of hers who happens to be Hunt’s daughter.

The new head of the cartel could not be more ruthless, and if it means killing the girls to have her demands met, so be it. Hunt has to not only work with Garcia’s daughter, the woman he tried to forget and who loathes him after his betrayal, he also has to work against the very principles he swore to uphold.

In Hunt Them Down (Thomas and Mercer), Gervais has crafted an intelligent and thoughtful thriller that mixes family dynamics with explosive action. Heroes who fight impossible odds while being likable characters are always welcome in the world of genre fiction. The possibilities are endless in this new series, and this will easily find an enthusiastic audience craving Hunt’s next adventures. AP

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Stop being in such a rush. Do it right the first time so you won’t have to go back and fix the errors you made. Look at the big picture and focus on perfection, as well as completion. Romance is highlighted. HHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Make a point to take care of your responsibilities yourself.

If you rely on others, you will end up being disappointed. Take a closer look at an opportunity to see a way to make it work for you. HHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Put your time and effort into partnerships. Know what you want, and don’t be afraid to ask for it. The only way positive change will happen is if you initiate it yourself.

Don’t wait; just do it. Romance is encouraged. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Ignore what others do; move on to whatever you want to accomplish. If you waste time stewing over situations you cannot change, you will miss out on a chance to do something great. Let your creative imagination lead the way. HHHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Don’t give up when you should be getting started. Take a new approach to an old plan, and you’ll discover a way to make it work. A personal change will improve your life, your appearance or your health. Romance is featured. HH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Network, socialize, plan a gathering or take on a creative project. Most of all, keep moving.

Don’t let someone bring you down because he or she isn’t interested in what’s important to you. Avoid indulgent or costly situations. HHHHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Not so fast.

Before you decide to implement change, you’d be wise to find out if anyone disapproves or if there are regulations you need to abide by. Avoid discord, do your own thing and make physical improvements. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Listen to what others plan to do, and consider how you can contribute. Participating will be a good way to meet new people and build stronger relationships. on’t feel you have to keep up or pay for others. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Stick close to home. Set goals and get things done. Purge what you don’t need, and make room for people and things that bring you the most joy.

Don’t trust someone who is trying to butter you up with compliments. HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Pay closer attention to what’s going on at home. How you treat loved ones will make a difference when you want someone close to you to pitch in and help.

Home improvements will add to your convenience and comfort.HHHHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t let an emotional incident get in the way of your responsibilities. Take care of business first to avoid getting into an argument that will disrupt your plans. HH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Someone you have worked with will have a suggestion that will help you get ahead. Networking will encourage you to update your résumé or present your skills differently. Your intuition will help you make good choices. HHHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are friendly, sincere and helpful.

You are goal-oriented and stylish.

‘stick up’ BY ZHOUQIN BURNIKEL The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Gives a raw deal to 7 Macbeth witches 11 Vid taker 14 Tiny maze navigator 15 Residential ___ 16 Mahershala of Moonlight 17 Stupidity 18 Dangerous place 20 Seder bread 21 Late night pioneer Jack 22 Record to watch later 23 Little hitters’ game 25 Donut coverings 27 iPod discontinued in 2017 28 Coral formation 29 Baseless rumor 32 Loss of courage 36 Guinness of Star Wars 37 2016 candidate Marco 39 Fundraiser bag 40 Clara Barton’s organization 42 Trimmed the bushes 44 Mayberry moppet 45 Taunt from the stands

6 Coffee or tea 4 49 Sore throat soother 52 Afghanistan neighbor 53 Follow orders 55 Takes it easy 57 In shreds 59 Dream up 60 Stage legend Hagen 61 Arctic Ocean peril 62 Trapped at a ski lodge, maybe 63 Apiece 64 Skeleton piece 65 Sesame, for one DOWN 1 Slight in build 2 Went after 3 Grab ___ (eat on the run) 4 *Suspended bank fund 5 Buffet with shells 6 Digs on a farm?

7 Like many Muslim delis 8 Met solo 9 *Noted Mexican-American comedian 10 ___ Pedro 11 City near Seville

2 Tylenol alternative 1 13 Mythical king of Crete 19 Personnel concern...or a hint to the synonyms hidden backward in the starred answers 21 West Bank grp.

24 *Operating system named for a cookie 26 Spearheaded 28 “Vive le ___!”

29 Lincoln or Ford 30 Drink with pub grub 31 Beatty of Deliverance 32 The Price Is Right network 33 Very long period 34 Summer, in Dijon 35 Danson of Fargo 38 Play for a patsy 41 Sch. near Albany 43 Put back in office 45 Pride partner 46 Like Vegas’ Strip at night 47 Ready to explode 48 Home of Doha 49 Potted plant’s place

0 Skate on ice 5 51 Borden’s milk pitcher 54 Switzerland’s capital 56 Mailed 58 ___ and flow 59 Put down, slangily

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

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Tuesday, January 15, 2019

GAWAD ALTERNATIBO 2019 CALL FOR ENTRIES

THE CCP Film, Broadcast and New Media Division has announced that it is accepting entries for the Ika-31 Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video.

The deadline for submission is on or before March 15, not later than 6 pm, at the CCP FBNMD Office, at the fourth floor of the CCP Main Building.

Entries must include a duly accomplished entry form, which can be downloaded at www.culturalcenter.gov.ph or www.cinemalaya.org; one digital data file of the entry in full resolution (saved on USB or burned on a DVD as data with the file properly labeled or identified); and one DVD or USB containing the synopsis, genre, running time, rating, production credits, two black and white photos from the film entry in jpeg format, and the film entry poster (if available) in jpeg format.

Interested participants can submit a maximum of three entries in each category, but an entry can only be submitted in one category. Categories include Short Feature/Narrative, Experimental, Documentary and Animation.

The selected entries will be screened during the Ika-31 Gawad CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video Festival on August 3 to 5, as part of the 15th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, which is slated from August 2 to 11 at the CCP theaters and various venues.

The best films will be awarded during the Awards Night on August 5 at the CCP Tanghalang Manuel Conde (Dream Theater). Winning entries in each category will receive P25,000 (first prize), P15,000 (second prize) and P10,000 (third prize). An Honorable Mention awardee will also get P5,000. This year, Special Awards include: Best Regional Entry and Best Entry On/For/By Children.

Now on its 31st year of annually citing the country’s most outstanding film and video artists, the Gawad Alternatibo (for short) is considered the longest-running independent film and video competition in Asia.

THE Upside, a remake of the 2012 French comedy The Intouchables starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, surpassed expectations to open with $19.6 million in ticket sales at the North American box office.

Kevin Hart’s ‘The Upside’ unseats ‘Aquaman’ in $19.6-M debut

NICK VALLELONGA accepts the award for best screenplay for Green Book during the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards. AP

‘GREEN BOOK’ WRITER APOLOGIZES FOR OLD TWEET ABOUT MUSLIMS LOS ANGELES—Green Book cowriter Nick Vallelonga has apologized for a 2015 tweet about Muslims and 9/11 that has resurfaced a few days after the film won a Golden Globe Award. In the tweet, he said then-presidential-candidate Donald J. Trump was “100% correct” that local television news in New York on 9/11 showed Muslims in Jersey City cheering when the towers came down, and he had seen it.

There is no evidence such celebrations occurred.

“I spent my life trying to bring this story of overcoming differences and finding common ground to the screen, and I am incredibly sorry to everyone associated with Green Book,” Vallelonga said in a statement on Thursday. “I especially deeply apologize to the brilliant and kind Mahershala Ali, and all members of the Muslim faith, for the hurt I have caused.”

He added an apology to his late father Frank Anthony Vallelonga, an actor known professionally as Tony Lip, whose real-life befriending of black concert pianist Don Shirley was the basis for the film. Ali, who is Muslim, plays Shirley and Viggo Mortensen plays the elder Vallelonga.

“Green Book is a story about love, acceptance and overcoming barriers, and I will do better,” the statement said.

Vallelonga has now deleted his Twitter account.

His old tweet began circulating on Wednesday just as Green Book director Peter Farrelly was apologizing when a 20-year-old story emerged about him flashing his genitals to colleagues as a joke.

Green Book won the Golden Globe on January 6 for best musical or comedy movie.

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By Jake Coyle The Associated Press

EW YORK—Kevin Hart isn’t hosting the Oscars, but he’s got a No. 1 movie.

The Upside, starring Hart and Bryan Cranston, surpassed expectations to open with $19.6 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The strong performance of The Upside pushed Aquaman to second after the aquatic superhero’s three-week reign atop the North American box office. Warner Bros.’s Aquaman still passed $1 billion worldwide over the weekend, becoming the first DC Comics release to reach that mark since 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.

The Upside opened on the heels of several weeks of Oscar drama surrounding Hart. The comedian last month withdrew from hosting the Academy Awards, just days after being named emcee, when he initially refused to apologize for years-old homophobic tweets.

On the publicity trail for The Upside, Hart repeatedly dismissed the Oscar controversy, saying he was “over it,” while flirting with the possibility of returning as Oscar host—something for which talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres, in particular, advocated.

Whether all that attention helped raise the profile of The Upside, a remake of the 2012 French comedy The Intouchables, was difficult to extrapolate, though it surely didn’t hurt. Ticket sales were almost twice industry forecasts. The film received poor reviews (40 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and was slammed by some critics for trading on the kind of gay panic humor that Hart was forced to apologize for.

Neil Burger’s film, which cost about $35 million to make, stars Hart as an ex-con who becomes a

caretaker for a physically disabled author (Cranston).

It was originally to be distributed by the Weinstein Co. Harvey Weinstein premiered the film at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival just weeks before the many allegations of sexual harassment surfaced against the movie mogul.

STX Entertainment picked up the movie, which on Sunday handed the five-year-old start-up studio its first No. 1 release at the box office. Launched in 2014 with a mission to make the kind of mid-budgeted, star-driven films the studios have increasingly abandoned, STX has had some successes (Bad Moms, The Foreigner, the critically acclaimed The Edge of Seventeen) but has often struggled to find breakout hits. Last year’s The Happytime Murders, with Melissa McCarthy, was one of the 2017’s most glaring flops.

STX’s Motion Picture Group Chairman Adam Fogelson pointed to strong audience reaction (an A CinemaScore) and downplayed any effect of the Oscar chatter on The Upside, noting that Hart “is in the culture constantly for tons of stuff.”

Fogelson called the No. 1 result a symbol of larger success for STX’s business model.

“We have been profitable on the overwhelming majority of our movies for more than a year and a half. No one needs to cry for us, but I don’t think the company gets credit for that because the way we’re doing that is so different from how traditional Hollywood has operated,” said Fogelson. “This result is just an exclamation point on the fact that this can work not just in an STX way but in an old Hollywood way, as well.”

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore, credited STX with accurately reading the marketplace. The studio worked with the filmmakers to recut The Upside from an R-rated version to make a more broadly appealing PG-13 one.

“It’s not for the faint of heart to start up a new studio and it can take a lot of time to get things rolling,” said Dergarabedian. “But all it takes is one film to emotionally or symbolically get things rolling.”

Early January is often a dumping ground in movie theaters and the weekend featured a number of duds. Keanu Reeves’s sci-fi thriller Replicas debuted with just $2.5 million for Entertainment Studios—a career low for Reeves. Opening more solidly, in third place, was Sony’s canine adventure A Dog’s Way Home with $11.3 million.

The two biggest winners at Sunday’s Golden Globe

Awards—Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book—both saw a bump. Fox’s Freddie Mercury biopic, which increased its theater count with hundreds of singalong screenings, was up 35 percent with $3.2 million.

The best comedy/musical winner Green Book went up 16 percent with $2 million in its ninth week of release.

A couple awards contenders also expanded nationwide. Focus Features’s Ruth Bader Ginsberg tale On the Basis of Sex grossed $6.2 million in 1,923 theaters on its third weekend. Barry Jenkins’s James Baldwin adaptation If Beale Street Could Talk took in $2.3 million in 1,018 theaters for Annapurna Pictures.

Next week will see the release of M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass, which is expected to open with $50 million to 70 million. Advance reviews, however, have been poor, ranking 38 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to comScore.

Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.

1. The Upside, $19.6 million 2. Aquaman, $17.3 million ($27.9 million international) 3. A Dog’s Way Home, $11.3 million 4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, $9 million ($9.4 million international) 5. Escape Room, $8.9 million 6. Mary Poppins Returns, $7.2 million 7. Bumblebee, $6.8 million ($35.6 million international) 8. On the Basis of Sex, $6.2 million 9. The Mule, $5.5 million ($2.1 million international) 10. Vice, $3.3 million ($1.5 million international).

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the US and Canada), according to comScore.

1. Bumblebee, $35.6 million 2. Aquaman, $27.9 million 3. Dragon Ball Z Super: Broly, $20.3 million 4. The Big Shot, $16.3 million 5. Ralph Breaks the Internet, $15.4 million 6. Bohemian Rhapsody, $15.1 million 7. Creed II, $12.1 million 8. Mary Poppins Returns, $10.6 million 9. Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, $9.4 million 10. How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, $7.7 million. n

Indian-American executive brings Bollywood music to Manila at RWM DREAM World USA, an American company that makes travel experiences affordable and comfortable as possible for people and companies around the world, brings Bollywood music to Manila as part of its objectives of creating a boom of international artists in the Philippine entertainment scene.

The company will fly in the legendary DJ Akbar Sami, from India, to introduce his brand of house music to the local Philippine party scene. DJ Akbar will perform in an epic one-night dance party on January 25 at the Resorts World Manila’s House Manila, the city’s popular and vibrant nightlife mecca that’s bristling with energy, which will precede his planned 2019 US tour. He will bring to Pinoy partygoers his own brand of

unique and sizzling club hits as they all welcome a brand-new year with dazzling music and scintillating performance the Philippine club scene has never seen before. He started his career at an early age in his native India as a dancer where he became part of dance ensembles in popular Bollywood movies. From then on, he moved to become a well-known dance choreographer who then turned to being a DJ and musician. DJ Akbar Sami is credited for having pioneered the DJ music scene in his country, with his renowned remix albums such as “Jalwa,” “Jalwa 2” and “Jadoo” that have all been met with critical success, and built up his identity as one of the most influential and prolific DJs in Asia. He is a self-taught disc jockey yet to perfect his craft, so he entered a crash

course on DJ-ing in London in order to gain global appeal for his music and his dance shows. He then became known as the “Remix King” in Bollywood, collaborating with other DJs in India to come up with his brand of club music that became the talk of the town in his home country and other parts of the globe.

The popular DJ also toured extensively, particularly in the United States, for more than a decade. He played in jam-packed VIP clubs and other high-profile party venues where he introduced his brand of musicality, artistically spinning together various musical genres, such as rap, jazz, rock and folk, successfully infusing a good measure of Bollywood flavor. He recently ventured into singing with the remake of a classic Bollywood ditty, called “Kabhi

Kabhi,” a significant highlight of his 35year music career.

“Aside from taking a leading role in the personal and corporate travel bookings in the US, we also want to establish a distinct name in the entertainment industry in the Philippines, hence Dream Events and Entertainment was formed in the Philippines. By bringing in DJ Akbar and acknowledging the Filipino’s reputation as ‘lovers of great music’ and the Philippines being a thriving party hub, we know that his brand of music will be a big hit among Filipinos. Through Dream Events and Entertainment PH, the company will be bringing international talents from around the world, introducing them to the Filipinos,” said Sumeet Ramchandani, president and CEO of Dream World USA.

DJ Akbar Sami

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Art

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Renaissance master: Tintoretto’s 500th spans 2 continents GOVERNMENT Commissioner for Culture and the Media Monika Gruetters (right) hands over the painting Portrait of a Seated Young Woman by Thomas Couture to Franz Rainer Wolfgang Joachim Kleinertz (left) and Maria de las Mercedes Estrada (second from left) heirs of Jewish French politician Georges Mandel, during a restitution ceremony in Berlin on January 8. AP

PAINTING LOOTED BY NAZIS RETURNED TO JEWISH HEIRS IN GERMANY

BERLIN—Officials have returned a painting looted by the Nazis to the heirs of a Jewish French politician and resistance figure who was executed during World War II. Portrait of a Seated Young Woman by Thomas Couture, which belonged to Georges Mandel, was discovered in late collector Cornelius Gurlitt’s art trove while German authorities were investigating a tax case in 2012.

The reclusive Bavarian collector inherited much of a 1,500-piece collection from his father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, an art dealer who traded in works confiscated by the Nazis.

Many are thought to have been looted from their original Jewish owners, but provenance research has been slow and only a few have been restituted.

Culture Minister Monika Gruetters pledged at the January 8 handover to Mandel’s relatives to do everything possible to return stolen art to its rightful owners. AP

‘WATCHFIRE’ GROUP EXHIBITION AT SILVERLENS

SILVERLENS opens 2019 with Watch�ire, a group exhibition that brings together five artists who have each made a critical contribution to the development of contemporary ceramics in Asia: Tessy Pettyjohn, Jon Pettyjohn and Joey de Castro of the Philippines, Shozo Michikawa of Japan, and Alvin Tan Teck Heng of Singapore.

For this exhibition, these five artists were invited to participate in an anagama wood firing at the studio of fellow ceramic artist Pablo Capati III. Each artist contributed to the kiln a number of works that had been formed and biscuit fired in their individual studios.

Once the firing was under way, they then worked in shifts to stoke and watch over the fire until the process was complete. The works from this collective endeavor form the exhibition Watch�ire.

Presenting work from a single firing, collectively undertaken, Watch�ire examines the role of both the individual and the collective in building a ceramic art scene in the Philippines that is collaborative yet independent, locally engaged yet highly international. Furthermore, this exhibition examines how the participating artists successfully balance collaborative action with their own individual artistic identities.

Watch�ire is on view until February 9, alongside A Paradise Lost at Silverlens, 2263 Don Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City.

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By FRaNceS D’eMilio The Associated Press

ENICE, Italy—A Venetian cloth dyer’s son, Tintoretto spent his entire career in Venice, becoming widely considered the last great painter of the Renaissance.

The lagoon city’s churches and palazzi essentially serve as a permanent retrospective of this native son’s formidable talents in using dramatic color, bold brushstrokes and daringly innovative perspective on often-enormous canvasses. Still, curators encountered challenges when mounting tributes last year to mark the 500th anniversary of his birth.

Some of Tintoretto’s paintings couldn’t be included in the main exhibition, which concluded on January 6, hosted at the landmark Palazzo Ducale (Doges’ Palace), because they couldn’t fit through its 16thcentury stone doorways.

And several Venetian churches, where the painter did much of his best work, balked at loaning their masterpieces. Not surprisingly, they were eager for visitors making the Tintoretto pilgrimage to visit their venues and not just the stellar show, which, since opening in September, drew more than 100,000 visitors. After closing last week, the exhibition travels to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. for a four-month run starting March 10. That will be the first-ever Tintoretto retrospective outside of Europe.

When Venice last hosted a Tintoretto retrospective, in 1937, church paintings were cut out of their frames, rolled up and carted off to the exhibition.

That method would be met with horror by today’s art world, especially since nearly a score of Tintoretto paintings were recently restored, thanks to the Save Venice organization.

“The churches generally felt, and we understood, it didn’t make sense to move his masterpieces across the city,” said Robert Echols, a Boston-based art historian who is one of the curators. Some of those church works will go to the US exhibition, however.

Some of Tintoretto’s greatest works can never travel, of course, and are being celebrated here.

In the Chapter House in the Scuola di San Rocco, admirers can lay on their backs to see Tintoretto’s work, which has been likened to the monumental achievement of Michelangelo in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. Thanks to new lighting and strategically placed mirrors, the Chapter House in November had its own renaissance of sorts. Visitors were able to see details in what before had seemed like a gloomy, cavernous room.

Echols and cocurator Frederick Ilchman, chairman of European art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, devoted much of their art historian careers to weeding

out paintings that had been dubiously attributed to Tintoretto, whittling down what had been a list of 468 works to just over 300 paintings of his authorship.

“Tintoretto, to some extent, is a painter who was a victim of his own success,” Echols said.

Tintoretto, a pseudonym of Jacopo Robusti, obtained so many commissions, particularly in his later years, that he farmed out some work, notably to his son, Domenico. While his genius was acknowledged in his own day, some works done by imitators or his workshop had been incorrectly attributed to Tintoretto in successive centuries.

Tintoretto cleverly maneuvered to snag commissions from nobles and churches during the heady years of the sea-going Most Serene Republic of Venice. “The Shakespeare play is not the ‘Merchant of Florence,’ it’s The Merchant of Venice,” Ilchman noted, recounting how Tintoretto sometimes offered discounts to ensure commissions didn’t go to his rivals, who included Titian and Veronese. Another great Venetian artist, Tiepolo, worked later, also with paintings in the Grande Scuola di San Rocco.

Tintoretto’s imaginative use of perspective and his dynamic, inventive interpretations of mythological

and religious themes were on convincing display, including one which sparked scandal in his day. In Saint Louis, Saint George and The Princess, a dragon’s head emerges from between the legs of a woman and from under her billowing, burnt-orange gown.

In the The Abduction of Helen, the kidnapped woman, with a nipple poking out above her blouse, seems to be tumbling out of the frame toward the viewer.

Tintoretto had an impressive production of portraits. The just-concluded exhibition displayed many of his finest in a long, narrow hall, as if in a noble family’s own palazzo.

Riveting self-portraits—one of Tintoretto in his 20s on loan by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and another of Tintoretto as an old man sent by the Louvre—opened and closed the retrospective.

The Venice show to honor Tintoretto’s birth anniversary began in 2018. The companion Washington show starts in 2019. The different years are fitting, for, while the year of his death—1594—is undisputed, and his grave prominent in a Venice church decorated with some of his masterpieces, historians aren’t sure just when he was born. The artist’s birth year is often written as 1518/1519. n

49 years of art: Gus Albor at the Ayala Museum AYALA Museum is hosting an outstanding exhibition of the works from renowned Filipino minimalist artist Gus Albor. Entitled Territory, the exhibition showcases his body of work from 1969 to 2018.

“It takes a second to get inspired, but it takes forever to get conceived images transformed and presented in a personal visual language,” says Gus Albor. Born August 1948, Gus Albor has been a stalwart of the Philippine art scene since the 1970s. A graduate of the University of the East School of Music and Fine Arts, and a recipient of a British Council study grant to the West Surrey College of Fine Art, his works have been shown in exhibitions in Germany, Italy, Japan, France and the United States, to name a few. Albor has also received many honors and distinctions, one of which is the prestigious CCP 13 Artist Award.

The ongoing exhibition is the biggest gathering of Gus Albor’s works, occupying two of the Ayala Museum’s galleries. Featured in Territory are oil on canvas paintings, mixed media works, paper-based illustrations, large-scale sculptures and installation

artworks that manifest Albor’s distinct partiality for minimal color registers, with extreme subtlety, soft transitions and muted harmonies.

Gathering close to 200 works selected by the artist, the exhibition also displays a selection of figurative drawings which show the artist’s range of cognitive and tactile dissertations.

The art of Albor showcase the pleasurable sensuous treatment of his canvases, his fine eye for the distinct subtleties of texture and light, sensitive to the stirrings of fluid pigment and the impulses of his hand. While many abstract artists may contend they are creating artworks as objects, Albor regards his paintings as emanations of his conviction and concepts, indeed an exposition of his existence.

On the exhibition, Gus Albor says, “I expect them to see the evolution and how I explore my field, how I explore and experiment. I would consider my show a confession.”

Territory: Gus Albor—Works from 1969-2018 is on view until February 10 at the Ground Floor and Third Floor Galleries of the Ayala Museum (www.ayalamuseum.org).

Visual artist Celeste Lecaroz featured in two exhibits AT Spontarealismus, the first onewoman show of Celeste Lecaroz held last summer, Fernando Sena, the Father of Philippine Art Workshops, hailed Lecaroz as a rising star in the Philippine art scene. Sena said to her, “Napakagaling mong pintor...Mark my words: dadating ang panahon na tatanghalin kang isa sa mga magiging higante ng sining.”

The painter’s words are turning out to be prophetic as Lecaroz opens 2019 with participation in two major exhibits: Pastelero, which runs from January 12 to 31 at Art Anton in Mall of Asia; and New Wineskins, which runs from January 18 to February 6 at Galerie Roberto in Molito Lifestyle Extension

Building, Alabang, Muntinlupa.

Pastelero features several pastel art works by various artists.

Two of Lecaroz’s figurative realism works will be on exhibit, one of which shows the influence from the painting style of veteran pastel pencil portraitist Cuong Nguyen of Vietnam, and the other is a product from a workshop that Lecaroz had with recent Manila visitor, Spanish master painter Vicente Romero Redondo.

Meanwhile, the New Wineskins group show curated by Maan Nueva underscores the theme of innovation and fresh perspectives.

For this, Lecaroz created Kalinga Girl, a portrait of a young Kalinga

maiden; and a portrait of Juan Luna, both rendered in the colorful strokes of spontaneous realism.

These new shows come at the heels of the year-ender art and fashion exhibit held at Okada Manila’s Crystal Corridor where Lecaroz had several spontaneous realism paintings on display.

Since 2016 when Lecaroz began her art career, she has consistently produced works that have made their way to local and international shows.

In 2017, she created paintings of the Jones Memorial Bridge that she personally bequeathed to the Richmond County Museum in Washington, DC, as a gift of the Philippine government to commemorate the 100th year of the

Jones Act. Lecaroz marked 2018 with her first one-woman show and the copyright release of her spontaneous realism portraits of former Philippine Presidents Cory Aquino and Manuel L. Quezon.

This mother of four continues to create art as a personal advocacy. She said, “I believe that as artists, we have an important role to play in raising consciousness and contributing to public discourse.”

For more about Lecaroz’s art, get a copy of Lecaroz Spontarealismus, which features full-color reproductions of her work alongside essays by Sasha Martinez and Leon de Pola, available through www.sananselmopress.net.

CELESTE LECAROZ and the painting Magic Bilao

A VISITOR to an exhibition of Tintoretto works looks at his Saint Justina with Three Treasurers and Their Secretaries at the Ducal Palace in Venice.

AP