Businessmirror january 17, 2016

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n Sunday, January 17, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 101

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‘Strong inflation recovery unlikely despite global drop in crude price’

E

By Bianca Cuaresma

CONOMISTS still see subdued inflation for this year, despite climbing back within target territory as oil prices continue to fall, economists polled by the central bank said.

week ahead

ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW Local currency

n Previous week: Despite starting off the week with a strong start, the peso followed regional trends and posted a significant depreciation toward the end of the week, as the strong dollar sentiment continued to drive the peso’s value downward. Data from the PDS showed that the local currency started the week at a strong 47.27 close on Monday. The peso ended the week, however, at 47.64 to a dollar, losing about half a peso on the week’s trade.

n Week ahead: In its latest research note on the Philippines, the Citi Research said recent favorable macroeconomic developments could provide temporary relief to local financial markets. It also said the region’s vulnerability to terrorist attacks following the events in Jakarta is now factored in by traders as one of the emerging market risk-off sentiments in Asia.

n BOP November: The balance of payments (BOP) position of the country as of end-November this year, as reported by the central bank, sits at $2.136 billion. This started as the country posted a BOP deficit in November at $141 million, reversing the surplus seen in the previous month. Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor for the Monetary Stability Sector Diwa C. Guinigundo said the deficit was largely due to the continued debt servicing by the national government, as well as the uncertainty about the interest-rate hike from the US.

n BOP December: The weakness in the overall monthly BOP is expected to continue in December this year, as the 11-month total of BOP already surpassed the newest government assumption for the year by $136 million. In terms of the BOP print total for the whole year, economic managers

See “Outlook,” A2

In its recently published highlights of the latest monetary-policy meeting, the Bangko Sentral said the results of survey of private-sector economists yielded lower inflation forecast for 2016.

In particular, the November 2015 survey showed that most economists see lower-than-earlierexpected inflation for this year, at 2.5 percent—from the 2.6 percent, as earlier forecast for the country.

The central bank said that, while the forecast is higher for 2016, the increase in the projected path is partly offset by the decline in global crude-oil prices.

Crude-oil prices hit below $30 per barrel just recently owing to supply concerns, offsetting expectations that oil prices will rise due

A.I.I.B. to boost infrastructure investment in Asia–Xi Jinping

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HE $100-billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will boost investment for infrastructure in Asia, improve connectivity and integration, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday at the opening ceremony for the new China-backed lender.

to the tension in the Middle East.

In a recent economic bulletin, Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said the continued decline in oil prices allows local companies to produce more goods at lower cost of production.

The central bank said that, according to authorities, global oil production is expected to continue to outpace consumption, although the projected gap has narrowed for 2016, owing to the lower expected production.

The inflation is still expected to outpace its level in 2015, owing to the depreciation of the peso; the impact of stronger-than-expected El Niño conditions; and the potential adjustments in electricity rates given pending petitions.

See “Inflation,” A2

The AIIB will provide impetus for economic growth in Asia and the rest of the world, Xi said on Saturday at the event in Beijing to mark the emergence of the world’s first major new multilateral development bank in a generation.

The Beijing-based AIIB, which will compete and cooperate with the Washingtonbased World Bank and Japan-led Asian

Ayala seeks ‘right-sized’ projects

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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HE country’s oldest conglomerate will surpass its five-year target of spending over $1 billion in both the energy and infrastructure sectors by end2016, thanks to the robust economic growth that the Philippines has been enjoying in the last few years.

Ayala Corp. Managing Director John Eric T. Francia said his group will end 2016 with over $1.25 billion in investments in the two flourishing sectors in the Philippines, with the bulk of the amount already spent on developing power generation.

“Five years ago, from an energy and infrastructure point of view, we have a plan to deploy $1 billion in our equity,” he said. “We will reach our billion-dollar target by 2016; we will actually reach or even surpass our target of committing that equity.”

Broken down, the equity in-

PESO exchange rates n US 47.6790

$1.25B Ayala Corp.’s total investments in the energy and infrastructure sectors

fusion in the energy sector will reach $1 billion by year-end, and roughly $250 million in the infrastructure sector.

“As things progressed, we quickly saw or realized that power projects are faster in terms of getting to real project, financial close and construction start. Because it is private sector-driven, we don’t have to wait for the government to bid this out. We might have to wait for feed-in tariffs, bidding of certain utilities. Yes, it takes some time, but these are relatively simpler than one full infrastructure project,” Francia explained.

See “Ayala,” A2

See “AIIB,” A2

Low fuel prices disadvantageous in long run–DOE What we want to see is increased productive usage of fuel, and not fuel gone to waste.”— Shell Philippines Country Chairman Edgar O. Chua

By Lenie Lectura

W

HILE the plu n g i n g price of oil continues to benefit consumers at the gas pump, the Department of Energy (DOE) enumerated disadvantages that the low oil prices bring.

In the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) 2015-2030, the agency’s policy and planning bureau pointed out the effects of current low oil prices, which settled below $30 a barrel on Friday for the first time in 12 years.

Lower oil prices, it said, stimulates oil consumption in the transportation sector. When this happens, an increase in greenhouse-gas emission follows, thus contributing to global warming.

Thus, the DOE said, there is a “need to accelerate additional requirement for biofuels.”

The Biofuels Act of 2006 requires the use of clean alternative fuels, such as ethanol mixed with gasoline, that is expected to save the country P35 billion in annual oil imports. Oil companies are mandated to sell unleaded, premium Continued on A3

n japan 0.4039 n UK 68.7054 n HK 6.1242 n CHINA 7.2361 n singapore 33.1795 n australia 33.2027 n EU 51.8366 n SAUDI arabia 12.7117

Source: BSP (15 January 2016 )

NewsSunday A2 Sunday, January 17, 2016

BusinessMirror

AIIB…

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Continued from a1

Development Bank, is pivotal to Xi’s vision for China to achieve the same great-power status enjoyed by the US. With the bank open after China overcame opposition from the US, the focus switches to whether it can achieve the high standard of governance it has promised, even as waning confidence in the government’s efforts to manage a slowing economy has plunged stocks into a bear market.

“Setting up a development bank is relatively easy; running a bank is hard,” said David Loevinger, a former China specialist at the US Treasury and now an analyst at fund manager TCW Group Inc. in Los Angeles. “China has committed to hold the AIIB to high standards of governance and

Ayala…

transparency. They’ve talked the talk. Now they’ve got to walk the walk. If China delivers, its role as a global leader will be enhanced.”

The emergence of the AIIB shows that China is playing a full role as a member of the global economy, and is evidence of global rebalancing, Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg minister of finance, said at the Beijing ceremony.

Lofty goals

THE last new multilateral lending institution was the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, set up in 1991 to help rebuild former Communist nations in Eastern Europe after the Cold War.

China has similarly lofty goals. The AIIB is one of three entities it is promoting, along

with a joint BRICS Development Bank with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, and a Silk Road Fund designed to revive Chinese commercial ties in south and central Asia. They would join existing bodies, including the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, in offering financing to developing nations.

Xi aims to fund projects that will aid development in what are already some of the world’s fastest-growing areas. The vision could produce benefits that match China’s integration with the global economy when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said last year. Bloomberg

Continued from a1

Ayala Corp. has about eight power projects in its pipeline.

It has interests in South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp., GN Power in Mariveles, Bataan, GNPower Kauswagan Ltd. Co., GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd., Northwind Power Development Corp. and North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp.

This portfolio is a mix of coal-, wind- and solar-energy projects.

“We will cross 1,000 megawatts this year,” Francia noted.

In the infrastructure sector, the company has interests in Light Rail Manila Corp., which operates

the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1, and the Automatic Fare Collection System. It also operates the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, the first public-private partnership (PPP) project to be completed during the term of President Aquino.

Francia said his company will be very selective in bidding for infrastructure projects, since the conglomerate’s focus is on deals “whose scale and scope are right-sized.”

“We will continue to look at PPP on a selective basis. A lot of it will really depend on what the next administration pushes,” he

said, adding that rail deals are enticing for Ayala Corp.

The government is currently bidding out the P65.09-billion LRT Line 6, a 19-kilometer train line that will run from Bacoor to Dasmariñas in Cavite; and the P171-billion North-South Railway Project South Line, which aims to connect Manila to Matnog in Sorsogon.

Ayala Corp. is also interested in the P74.56-billion Ninoy Aquino International Airport Development Project.

“We are looking at those projects; we are seriously looking at that possibility,” he said.

Inflation…

Continued from a1

Electricity rates already increased last November because of higher generation costs. The Manila Electric Co. said the increase was mainly driven by the higher settlement prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, powerplant outages during the supply month of October and the lower dispatch of plants.

Consequently for 2017, economists’ forecast to inflation rose higher at 2.9 percent, from 2.8 percent as they earlier projected.

Both economists’ projections are within the central bank’s target band of 2 percent to 4 percent for both years.

As widely expected by the market, the country’s average inflation rate for the year has formally missed its 2015 target range, with the Philippine Statistics Authority’s announcement of a 1.5-percent inflation rate in December 2015.

Inflation for December at 1.5 percent brought the full-year inflation average to 1.4 percent.

Outlook…

Continued from a1

continued to see “sustained resiliency” in the Philippines’s ability to push its growth, despite the dragging factors largely emanating from the challenging external environment. The central bank said earlier it has retained its assumption of BOP for 2015 at a surplus of $2 billion, or 0.6 percent of the country’s GDP, despite lower projections across subcomponents of the country’s BOP. Bianca Cuaresma

NewsSunday

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

‘Bank clients may cancel contracts without penalty’

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HE Bangko Sentral recently reminded the public of their right to “cooling off” with respect to contracts with banks and other central bank supervised financial institution (BSFI).

Cooling-off is the right of the clients of the BSFI to cancel their contract without penalty.

As such, BSFIs should give their clients at least two banking days from the signing of the contract to cancel the transaction.

“This right to cooling-off is one of the key requirements of the new BSP Financial Consumer Protection Regulation that seeks to empower clients by giving them the opportunity to reconsider long-term investment decisions,” the central bank said.

The central bank added that cooling-off is applicable only to individuals and not corporations, partnerships and associations.

This shall cover investment in long-term financial instruments, with a remaining term of at least one year such as government securities, corporate bonds and long-term negotiable certificate of deposit.

To avail himself or herself, the client should notify the BSFI in writing about his intention to terminate the agreement within the cooling-off period.

The client shall shoulder only reasonable amount of processing or administrative fees plus any mark-to-market costs from the signing of the contract up to its cancellation.

Banks also should disclose these costs, including the benchmark from which market value of the financial instrument will be determined, prior to the signing of the agreement or in the agreement. Bianca Cuaresma

BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 17, 2016 A3

Complaints vs erring cabbies up 43 percent in 2015–LTFRB

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HERE has been a significant rise in number of complaints of erring taxi drivers last year, data from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) showed.

The agency’s records showed that complaints increased by 43.03 percent in 2015 to 6,944 cases, compared to the 4,855 recorded in 2014.

This data came from the LTFRB’s public assistance and complaints desk annual report which also includes reports from its 24/7 hot line No. 1342 and reports from the social media.

In 2014, the majority of these complaints dealt with drivers who refused to convey passengers (1,012 cases); followed by drivers who have showed rude behavior (946 cases) and drivers who have overcharged passengers (790 cases).

Meanwhile in 2015, there were more drivers who exhibited rude behavior (1,082 cases), followed by complaints of drivers who overcharged (892 cases) and finally drivers who refused to convey passengers (860 cases).

LTFRB Board Member Ariel Inton said the increase in the number of complaints against erring taxi drivers must have been

43.03% Increased of complaints in 2015 to 6,944 cases compared to the 4,855 recorded in 2014

a result of the use of the social media as a venue to relay their complaints.

“The use of the social media helped a lot because communicating has become so much easier. We can monitor and act swiftly on it sometimes, even before an actual complaint is reported,” Inton told the Philippines News Agency.

“We get in touch with the complainant and encourage them to actively prosecute. We want to be proactive,” he added.

Inton also pointed out that the LTFRB hotline number launched last year has also made it easier for complaints to be

better accommodated.

“Previously, people would complain about how it takes time before complaints are addressed and how they lose interest in pursuing the complaint.

Now, we really want to be on top of this. We don’t want to waste time,” Inton said.

He further noted that, while the LTFRB only had jurisdiction on a publicutility vehicle franchise, it was fortunate for former LTFRB Executive Director Robert Cabrera was named Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief after the resignation of Alfonso Tan Jr. LTO is responsible for the suspen-

PAL sets flights to Jeddah, Kuwait Comelec: Half of 43,000 vote-counting

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

L

EGACY carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is expanding its Middle Eastern routes with two new destinations, targeting the almost half-a-million Filipino migrant workers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as its primary market.

The new flights, which will start from January 17 to 19, will also cater to leisure and business travelers to and from the Arabian Gulf. The two routes also bring to seven the flag carrier’s total number of Middle East destinations, which includes Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dammam, Dubai and Riyadh.

“Opening up new routes to and from the Middle East, such as Kuwait and Jeddah, enables us to serve the flight needs of our kababayan who work overseas. Our flights aim to provide our Filipino compatriots, as well as leisure and business travelers the distinct Philippine Airlines brand of service,” PAL President and COO Jaime J. Bautista said on Friday.

He noted that the flag carrier will enjoy a captive market of 190,000 Filipino workers in Kuwait, and an estimated 300,000 in Jeddah.

“Jeddah serves as a gateway for pilgrimages to the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Pilgrims may now choose PAL for their travels in observance of the Umrah and Hajj,” Bautista explained.

He expressed confidence that the company will post high yields from the new markets, given the airline’s track record of having high load factor in new routes.

The airline’s new Airbus A330-300s will be used for the new Middle Eastern routes.

Graph courtesy of Land Transportation and Regulatory Board

machines now here still with Customs

A

BOUT 43,000 units out of the more than 97,000 vote counting machines (VCMs) to be used in the May elections are now in the country, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

However, Comelec Spokesman James Jimenez clarified that half of that number are still in the custody of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

“There are now 43,000 units of VCMs in the country, meaning to say they are in the Philippines right now. Unfortunately, around 24,000 of them are still in Customs.

Hinihintay pa namin na lumabas from Customs,” he said.

A total of 20,244 units now in Comelec custody are now in the poll body’s warehouse in Santa Rosa City, Laguna, he added.

“Of that number, 19,739 have already been tested and accepted by the Comelec,” Jimenez said.

He added that the commitment of the vendor-

JIMENEZ: “Of that number, 19,739 have already been tested and accepted by the Comelec.”

manufacturer of the VCMs, Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM), is to deliver all the machines by the end of this month.

Jimenez said the poll body is still within the time line for the preparations in connection with the forthcoming polls.

“The status of our preparations, right now...everything is still within the timeline, so wala tayong pangamba. We are pretty confident that everything will still flow smoothly,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jimenez reported that the printing of the ballots has

been moved to early February.

“As far as the ballot printing is concerned, we’ve revised the timeline a little bit so instead of starting on January 27…we are going to start printing on February 1. We want to be sure that all of the names that we are going to actually put out will be accurate to make sure na walang problems down the road. In any case, that’s just three days’ difference,” he said.

Jimenez added that prior to the scheduled printing, the Comelec will come up with a partial list of the candidates’ names for the public to be able to check on the names that might be included on the final list.

“It’s still an unfinished list but it will be a smaller list, let’s say the list of everyone who filed their Certificates of Candidacy. Just to be very clear, that wouldn’t be a final list of candidates yet but we are getting closer to that,” he explained. PNA

Low fuel prices disadvantageous in long run–DOE. . . and special gasoline products with at least 10-percent ethanol blend.

Another negative impact is “it makes alternative fuels and technology development uneconomical,” the agency said, but more important, falling oil prices “makes renewable energy [RE] less attractive and competitive.”

Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada explained that in the power sector the cost to produce power is passed on to the consumers. For the power plants that utilize fossil fuel to generate power, this would eventually translate in lower power rates.

However, the developers of RE are already feeling the pain of lower oil prices.

Investing in RE is capital intensive, yet, many do so because they believe that the benefits of RE outweigh the cost implications associated with it.

“With lower oil prices, we will slightly feel the impact of RE. If oil prices are higher, RE will be cheaper,” Monsada said.

It is the DOE’s goal to achieve at least 30 percent of installed generating capacity of RE in the power mix. This goal is still achievable, but not in the immediate future.

Based on the 2014 DOE Power Statistics, 25.64 percent of the country’s total power

generation is sourced from RE facilities, or equivalent to installed generating capacity of about 32.87 percent of the country’s installed capacity. At preset, coal is the dominant fuel in the mix. Many power firms generate power from coal because it is the cheapest fuel among all power sources.

But the mix keeps on changing. By 2020, some 23 new coal-fired power plants are expected to be put up.

The PEP also cited that exploration investments in the country would be affected.

It said lower oil prices “slows down indigenous oil and gas development.”

The DOE launched Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) 5 in 2014, with 11 petroleum areas offered. There was a low turnout of investors, with only four proposals received by the agency, of which, three have been qualified for evaluation.

PECR is a transparent mechanism that allows the government to develop and utilize indigenous petroleum resources under a service-contract regime through partnerships with qualified local and international exploration companies.

Monsada, however, downplayed the possible negative effects of the continued drop in oil prices which may have in oil-

exploration investments, saying investors are aware of it and that they are “not dependent on short-term developments.”

Last, the PEP said lower oil prices “dampens energy efficiency and conservation efforts” by the government.

On the other hand, cheap fuel is good news to motorists as they frequent the roads more often.

Shell Philippines Country Chairman Edgar O. Chua, in an interview, noted an increase in sales volume as some drivers gas up more often in anticipation of traffic jams.

“Yes, it helps. However, this is not the kind of volume we want to see. Besides, traffic turns off people from driving,” Chua said. “What we want to see is increased productive usage of fuel, and not fuel gone to waste.”

Phoenix Petroleum Corp. Vice President for External Affairs Raymond T. Zorilla said in a separate interview that some of its service stations benefit from the unfortunate traffic situation in the metropolis.

“It depends on the location. There are certain stations within Metro Manila with high sales volume as a result of this,” he said. “The behavior in this situation is that you tend to load more gas when you

sion of driver’s licenses.

Inton earlier expressed interest to pursue a review in the transport agency’s standing orders and memorandum circulars.

He pointed out that such reviews involve the selection and supervision of the drivers by the operators since the burden of the driver’s actions are always blamed on the operators who were granted the franchises.

Stiffer penalties are also being looked into, he said.

Inton said that a review of the socalled boundary system should also be done immediately. PNA

continued from a1

know that you will be caught in traffic.

It’s better to load up when stuck in traffic,” Zorilla explained.

Eastern Petroleum Corp. Chairman Fernando L. Martinez noted that “this behavior of our motorists is just but practical.”

“Yes, it is definitely a contributor in increasing sales volume. At times, the motorists can no longer choose a particular oil firm where he wants to gas up. Whatever gas station is nearby, be it one of the big three or not just one of the small players, it doesn’t matter anymore. What is important is that they have enough gas to get to their destination,” Martinez shared.

A few months back, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the traffic woes cost the Philippine economy at least P3 billion a day.

He said that a Japanese study in 2012 found that time lost by people stuck in traffic and the extra cost of operating vehicles in gridlock in Metro Manila and nearby areas amounted to P2.4 billion a day.

But with an even bigger population to date, coupled with more vehicles using the roads, he said P3 billion is a conservative estimate. The cost over a year is 0.8 percent of GDP.

‘Obedience thicker than blood’–INC

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N the face of the most recent allegations being hurled against the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), particularly those coming from expelled INC member Lolita Hemedez and her group, the INC released an official statement on Friday to shed light on these claims.

“The Iglesia Ni Cristo administration vehemently denies the malicious allegations being hurled against us. The INC leadership will never do anything that can ruin the reputation of the Church,” INC Spokesman Edwil Zabala said, citing the INC’s official statement in reaction to the cases of estafa and falsification of public documents filed

by Hemedez.

“We have firm belief in our country’s justice system, and since we have taken legal measures, let us allow justice to take its course in accordance with the law. We have complete trust that just like in the previous lawsuits against us, the truth will eventually come out and it will be revealed who are telling the truth,” he said.

The INC also said that it would proceed with the proper legal proceedings for the ejectment of Hemedez and sibling Felix Nathaniel “Angel” Manalo from the INC housing at 36 Tandang Sora Avenue in Quezon City.

“In the event that Lottie and company will refuse to vacate peacefully and voluntarily, the leadership will have to push through with its eviction case against her,” Zabala said.

Zabala added that the INC administration also reiterated its position that obedience to God’s teachings in the Bible takes precedence over everything else, and that “obedience is thicker than blood” citing a verse in the Bible.

He added that the INC administration’s position that the Church was not a “family corporation” and that Lottie and Angel were not exempt from following the INC doctrines, all of which are based on the Bible.

Hemedez had claimed that it was her brother’s responsibility to take care of them, referring to INC Executive Minister Brother Eduardo V. Manalo.

Zabala said Hemedez and her group should be reminded of the primary responsibility of any INC member, which was to follow the Church’s teachings, including submission to the Church administration which is also based on the Bible.

“We wish to reiterate that the INC is not a family corporation. It is a religion that stands firm in obeying God’s teachings in the Bible.

Hence, even the regulations implemented within the Church are based on the Bible,” he said.

SundayV

Busine

A4 Sunday, January 17, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

editorial

Infrastructure as bottleneck

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HE Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program, recently launched by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for the purpose of increasing industrial investment and generating new jobs in the economy, deserves support. Achievement of the two objectives will accelerate attainment of the country’s long-term development goals, particularly that of improving the lives of our working people.

The DTI announced that some P27 billion worth of fiscal and nonfiscal incentives are available to those who will participate in the CARS program.

The program provides perks for investments in the manufacture of large whole-body plastic parts and other strategic parts of motor vehicles not currently produced locally. Large-body plastic parts refer to center consoles, instrument panels, bumpers and door trims. Strategic parts refer to parts specific to any enrolled model which are not currently produced in the Philippines at the original equipment manufacturer’s standards. Participants in the program must agree to the production of at least 200,000 units of any car model to benefit from the perks.

At this point, two car-manufacturing companies—Toyota Motor Philippines and Mitsubishi Motors Philippine Corp.—are expected to join the program. The DTI is scanning the horizon for a possible third participant. On their part, local parts makers are already looking forward to significantly expanding their business.

The program targets to generate 200,000 new jobs, bring in fresh investments worth $1.2 billion and increase vehicle sales to $9.2 billion in the next few years.

Once under way, the program will surely place additional strains on the country’s transportation infrastructure. Given its notorious inadequacy— the cause of billions of pesos worth of output not produced and the incalculable emotional distress suffered by motorists trapped daily in traffic gridlocks—this infrastructure can effectively retard the growth of the land motor-manufacturing industry in the country.

To be sure, there are Dream Plans for the establishment of an extensive transport network in Metro Manila and surrounding areas, but their completion is years away. It seems obvious in the meanwhile that the expansion of our land-transportation infrastructure can no longer be postponed.

Nobody is expecting miracle solutions from him, but as long as Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya is there, collecting his salary and enjoying the perks of high office, it is incumbent on him to institute measures that will deal with the country’s worsening traffic issues.

Never mind the e-vehicles that, apparently, are beyond the reach of ordinary operators of jeepneys and tricycles; what about the electric road train— that 40-meter-long train-like bus that can accommodate 240 commuters per ride—that the Department of Science and Technology announced recently as capable of easing Metro Manila’s traffic, or the two-deck bus so popular in London, Hong Kong, Singapore and other cities? Why don’t we try these out?

It has been said repeatedly that deficiencies in infrastructure are a deterrent to development. For once, let us acknowledge this observation and do something about it.

Senate should investigate Kadiwa first before reestablishing it

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ANDIDATE for Vice President Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. is absolutely right that to address the skyrocketing prices of basic goods and commodities and help farmers get the best prices for their crops, the Kadiwa Store System (KSS) must be reestablished.

Database

By Cecilio T. Arillo

Gospel

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Before he does this, however, he should first file a resolution strongly urging the Senate to investigate as a whole what happened to the successful multibillion-peso KSS established in 1978 by his visionary mother, former First Lady and now Rep. Imelda Romualdez Marcos of the Second District of Ilocos Norte. Now 86, she is running unopposed as a reelectionist.

It can be recalled that there were 400 Kadiwa Centers that Mrs. Marcos set up in many parts of the country after opening the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) in Taguig that cut down the number of 70 intervening layers ran by heartless middlemen doing business from the farm gates to the markets to less than six and, thus, tremendously reduced the prices of prime and basic commodities that people usually buy in private and public markets at very high prices.

Interviewed by this writer for Imelda, a best-selling book published

by Amazon’s Kindle and CreateSpace sometime in 2012, Mrs. Marcos said: “That was a very successful operation that I launched and it pains me every time I remember what Cory Aquino [referring to the late President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino] did to it. I was told later that she dismantled the operation because her business cronies wanted to control the multibillionpeso commodities distributions, including the market of sugar produced at her Hacienda Luisita.

“We bought the FTI complex covering 120 hectares for only P500 million in 1977 and one of the post-Marcos governments sold it for more than P25 billion through a privatization scheme.

“Because of neglect, squatters occupied a portion of the prime property.

The complex was also saddled with a P1.2-billion debt.

O

“During our time, the commercial complex was highly profitable and had no borrowings.”

“The Kadiwa [Store] System enabled the public to buy goods at cheaper rates and the farmers to sell their crops without having to worry about transportation costs, eliminating also the middle men who forced prices up,” Bongbong said.

Mr. Marcos recommended that for prices to stay steady, the government should buy the goods when the supply is excessive and sell them when stocks are inadequate.

Scoring the current system in the government which is more focused on importation rather than giving priority to the needs of the farmers, Mr. Marcos said in the vernacular: “Iba na ang ginagawa kasi katulad ng NFA [National Food Authority], imbes na pinag-aayos ang presyo ng bilihin ay panay na lang import. Kailangan na natin palitan iyan.”

Mr. Marcos also emphasized the need to save the “dying” agricultural sector in the country in the face of the Asean integration.

“Ang masasabi natin sa mga nakaraang taon ay naghihingalo na talaga ang agricultural sector sa Pilipinas. Kailangan nating balikan ito at ayusin dahil ang mangyayari sa integration ay magtatanggal na ng import limit. Sa ngayon, mayroon lang tayo hanggang ilang tonelada ang pwede i-import. Pagdating ng Asean integration, tatanggalin na iyon.

Kailangan ihanda natin ang lahat ng sektor lalo na sa agrikultura,” Senator Marcos concluded.

TRCFI, another multibillion-peso project, should also be investigated

ANOTHER successful multibillionpeso Marcos project that the Senate should look into is the Technological Resource Center Foundation Inc. (TRCFI), which was initially funded in the 1980s with P20 million from the coconut levies originally intended for the scholarship program of deserving children of coconut farmers.

TRCFI grew into a multibillion-peso non-governmental organization.

The foundation was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with Mrs. Marcos as the founding chairman; Onofre D. Corpuz as vice chairman; and Jose Conrado

N the third day, there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with His disciples.

When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

Now six stone jars were standing there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons.

Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled

Benitez, Edmundo Reyes and Jose Yulo as board members. Corpuz, Benitez and Reyes have since passed away.

In addition to the initial budget, TRCFI received grants and aids of more than P230 million from other countries. After a few years, TRCFI’s assets grew into a multibillion-peso private enterprise.

Its assets included P14 million in cash, four plush villages (Ecology I, Ecology II, Ecology III and Ecoville), a building and a big prime lot at the corner Buendia Avenue and Edsa, seven staff houses in Purok Madera Imelda, a big hatchery farm in Parañaque City, bank investments, a plane, a helicopter, and a fleet of expensive cars, among other things.

After the Edsa Revolution, the Aquino government quietly took over control of TRCFI, replaced Mrs. Marcos and other trustees, and named her executive secretary, the late Joker Arroyo, as chairman; her relative Herminio S. Aquino as vice chairman; and Fulgencio Factoran, Jose M. Kalaw and Pablo de Borja as board members.

Unlike others assets that the Marcos family had something to do with, TRCFI was not sequestered.

But over the next few months, some of its multibillion-peso assets disappeared one after the other and on February 17, 1987, the name of TRCFI was mysteriously changed to Philippine Development Alternatives Foundation (PDAF) and was registered with SEC under No. 72296. Then SEC Associate Commissioner Rosario N. Lopez approved the registration. The names of Arroyo and Factoran no longer appeared in the registration.

Before Mrs. Aquino left the presidency, Executive Secretary Catalino Macaraeg quietly turned over PDAF to Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chairman David Castro without a complete inventory of its assets.

The PCGG filed antigraft charges before the Ombudsman against Mrs. Marcos and Benitez for diverting the P20-million coconut-levy scholarship funds to TRCFI. Strangely, the PCGG did not implead the people who took over the TRCFI, who dissipated its assets, and who changed its name to PDAF.

them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now, draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it.

When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”

This, the first of His signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.—John 2:1-11

Voices

essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, January 17, 2016 A5

God bless America

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S the ancient art of rhetoric requires, the Harvard-educated Obama began his last State of the Union address with a joke. This breaks the ice and closes the distance.

Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

“Tonight marks the eighth year I have come here to report on the State of the Union. For this final one, I’m going to try to make it shorter.

I know some of you are antsy to get back to Iowa”—for the primaries.

He even offered to advise them on how to work the delegates. Later he remarked, in sly support of campaign-finance reform, that politicians hate to ask for money. He had famously raised quite a lot of it himself. Campaign finance would spare them the humiliation.

So he was one of them—a politician; one of those, he said, who do not have to worry about health care, pensions and job security (all lifetime perks of electoral posts), because getting reelected—and getting the money for it—gets easier the more you do it. And since it is an election

year, he did not pretend, like ours do, that he is not a lame-duck president—or that he can influence the electorate in the coming election.

Obama disdains to do that—out of respect for the American voter. He deplores the politics of power even as he scorns the politics of money.

On his way out, he will not try to influence what comes after he steps down. That, too, does not lie within his power or desire to achieve. He puts his faith, not in a preferred successor, but in the decency and practical sense of the American people.

This time next year, he said, he will stand among them—a citizen, with a responsibility for democracy like that of the American president.

He held back on a legislative agenda, out of courtesy to his successor—and from plain practical sense in an election year. But in four things he would persist. Four things all Americans want for themselves, across the varied political and regional, religious and attitudinal divides, of an America whose diversity is a proud heritage and the world’s envy. These are the same things, Pulse Asia discovered, that the Filipino people want for themselves:

health care, education, jobs with decent wages so they can save for emergencies and pay for a home of their own and, finally, security from crime. And so Obama talked to Filipinos as well when he expressed his abiding four concerns for Americans.

“First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy.” America—and our country—must adapt to and acquire a new economy. Either that or die from the infection of a dead and decomposing one.

The challenge is to make the transition from the old to a new economy as least painful—and as least shameful—for common people.

The rich have offshore accounts.

“Second, how do we make technology work for us and not against us.” In other words, how can Americans profit, rather than lose, from scientific advances. Forget his reference to climate change.

“Third, how do we keep America safe”—in America’s case from red necks and ragheads—“and lead the world without becoming its policeman.”

And “finally, how can we make our politics reflect what’s best in

[Americans] and not what is worst?”

These are not, I noted in another Teditorial, the sexy concerns, like singling out race and religion for hate, that grip the attention of media. But they are the abiding concerns of Americans—and Filipinos.

One critic called Obama’s speech boring—after a while, it tended to be that. But Obama’s unyielding attachment to clear facts and obvious truths gripped the mind again, before it drifted away again.

Obama is one of the finest writers in the English language. As it was with Lincoln, the majestic cadence of the King James Bible is the template of his expression. But he turned away from that graceful talent and to step down, as it were, and sit on a porch and talk in everyday language.

He even pretended to stumble over words, as though he wasn’t reading from a teleprompter.

He firmly foreswore that music in words that would have carried the moment into history. He spoke plainly—so Americans might not miss the message for the music of his words. He wanted to bring Americans together, in a common under-

standing, of their common fate, so that they might bond in trust, and band in effort, for a cause in which they can all agree, not to make, but to keep America great.

This was his last sacrifice: A plain speech in place of a soaring final State of the Union of which he is totally capable, as the natural-born American he is: Black like the American earth worked by African slaves in American plantations—and not a Cuban from Canada or another from Florida—or a rich man with a blonde caterpillar on his head.

What is important is not who takes his place, but what he or she will do to keep America great.

Great in the way that America taught the world: That true greatness lies in being a beacon of hope, a home of the brave and a city on the hill, the world’s wonder, as Cory Aquino said in the very same Congress.

It took an Obama for Filipinos again to listen to an American president as if he were the better version of their own. God, indeed, blesses America, when she is herself the country of all the good people—of the world.

Obama’s not bluffing on closing Guantànamo

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By Josh Rogin & Eli Lake | Bloomberg View

RESIDENT Barack Obama is determined to close the prison at Guantànamo Bay, and if he decides to do so without Congress, there may be little his opponents can do to stop him.

SincehisStateoftheUnionaddress on Tuesday, when Obama reiterated that he will “keep working” to shut down the prison, the administration has sped up the effort significantly. Ten prisoners were transferred this week. Ninety-three prisoners remain, 34 of whom have already been cleared for release.

On Thursday Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he had sent a detailed, written plan to Obama laying out how to move the remaining prisoners to the US. The White House is to submit that plan to Congress soon.

That strategy directly challenges existing laws that not only prevent Obama from moving Guantànamo prisoners to US soil, but also bar the Pentagon from spending congressionally appropriated funds to do so. Obama, in a series of sign-

ing statements, has consistently rejected the validity of those laws, arguing they infringe upon the executive’s powers.

Military law experts told us that if the White House defies Congress, lawmakers’ options for stopping Obama are limited.

“It would be difficult for anyone to intervene,” said Rachel VanLand-

ingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School who served as a judge advocate in the Air Force. “If he really wanted to do it, he could, but it would come at a huge political cost.”

That cost could include a long court battle over the constitutional separation of powers. But the federal courts are unlikely to intervene quickly because it’s largely a political issue, several experts said, meaning that the Obama administration would be history before a final ruling on the legality of its approach.

And at that point, the prison could already be closed.

Congressional leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have said the president’s anticipated action could amount to asking the US military to break the law, but the military is not likely to see it that way.

“Military members are required to follow all lawful orders, but there’s a legal presumption that orders are lawful,” VanLandingham said. “The military is going to salute smartly.”

Congress’s record on stopping Obama from releasing prisoners is not strong. Congressional leaders were incensed when in 2014 the president used executive authority to release five Taliban commanders

from Guantànamo to trade them for US Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who is now set to stand trial for desertion.

Last December House Armed Service Committee Republicans issued a report that says Obama violated a statute that required a 30-day notification to Congress on the transfer of any detainees. The Government Accountability Office agreed and added that the Pentagon misused funds for the transfer.

Outgoing Southcom commander, Gen. John Kelly, said last week that the military was directed to transfer the Taliban five secretly, without alerting reporters who were on the base.

“It was a dicey transfer,” he said. “All of us were down there. We were doing the transfer, and we never got caught.”

Obama has come close to saying he will shut the prison with or without congressional approval. At his yearend news conference, the president said, “We will wait until Congress has definitively said no to a well-thoughtout plan with numbers attached to it before we say anything definitive about my executive authority here.”

On Tuesday morning White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told reporters that the

president would employ “audacious executive action,” for the rest of the year, on several issues that could include Guantànamo Bay. He said the main question Obama will use when considering whether to use executive action is, “Why not?”

Asked about Obama’s plans to close the prison, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday, “Hopefully, he will fail.” He added: “I’m a supporter of Gitmo. I hope it stays open. I think we should add more terrorists to it.”

The White House would get support from many Democrats. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein, who was against the Bergdahl trade, told us this week the prison should be closed.

“It removes one of the biggest drivers of hostility toward this country,” she said.

The wildcard in such a scenario is Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain. McCain has traditionally supported closing the prison, but he is frustrated with what he sees as White House intransigence.

This week, he told us he was open to considering the plan, but skeptical that anything the White House

submits can get Republican support.

“It depends on the plan. I would support presenting it my colleagues to see if we could get a majority vote,” McCain said. “There’s been so much unilateral action that there’s a lot of anger about this.”

Moving the Guantànamo prisoners to US soil has another advantage for the Obama administration: Being inside the US makes it possible for prisoners to be tried in civilian courts. By barring transfers from Guantànamo, Congress had kept many of them in the military commissions system and also given the military and intelligence community greater access to interrogate them.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr told us the prisoners should stay where they are to maintain that access: “It’s still a viable thing to be able to tap back in to these individuals.”

When it comes to Guantànamo, the president’s “lame duck” status is a misnomer. Politically, he is now free to act without Congress, saving his successor the problem of Guantànamo. But he may spawn a new problem: a court battle over the constitutional separation of powers.

Philadelphia newspapers enter exciting new chapter

By Jackie Soteropoulos Incollingo

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| The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS Forum

ITH a bold and innovative plan, HF “Gerry” Lenfest—now the former owner of the company that runs The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com—has put Philadelphia at the forefront of exploring a new economic model for struggling metropolitan newspapers.

Lenfest’s decision to donate the properties to a nonprofit institute is a gift to the region’s citizens, but it is an even larger gift to the future of journalism, given the critical role that news and information play in our democracy and the troubled economic t imes facing many media outlets.

As a former Inquirer reporter who now teaches aspiring journalists, I am excited by this deal’s potential.

For the last several decades, newspa-

pers have been fighting precipitous drops in circulation and advertising.

In addition, the technologies of this journalism industry combat zone keep changing.

Traditional print newspaper readers continue to migrate to the digital world and increasingly get their news on smartphones and tablets.

Philadelphia’s newspapers—along with every other big-city American newspaper—have struggled to make meaningful innovations in the digital realm in order to bring in the revenue to sustain awardwinning public-interest journalism in the tradition of The Inquirer and Daily News.

I hope that transferring ownership of the newspapers and their digital home, Philly.com, to a nonprofit journalism institute will ease the economic demands on both journalists and business managers. But there are still bills to pay, and the newspapers and web site will continue to operate

as for-profit enterprises.

There are notable examples of nonprofit journalism, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom ProPublica.org; the Marshall Project, a digital site that focuses on the criminal justice system; and the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, which has operated under the Florida-based nonprofit Poynter Institute for decades.

A nonprofit designation won’t protect newsrooms from the disruption wrought by technology and shifting audience preferences, but the change could liberate journalists and digital innovators to experiment with content and its delivery, as well as seek alternative funding sources.

Lenfest’s plan will free these news outlets to seek more grants and donations to support specific journalism projects and investigative reporting by allowing a tax deduction for donors, which wasn’t possible before. Lenfest’s gift could

even usher in a new newsroom profession, grant-writer and fundraiser, to seek support for the often costly and time-consuming work of public-affairs journalism.

Finally, I am encouraged by Lenfest’s decision to include academic leaders on the institute’s board of managers, including the deans of journalism and communication schools at Temple, Penn, Columbia, and the City University of New York.

Professors and researchers in universities across the nation conduct extensive studies on journalism, digital communication and news consumers. But few studies are conducted collaboratively among scholars and journalism professionals.

By connecting his institute to academia, Lenfest could provide new impetus for journalists and researchers to work together to understand what brings users to public-affairs news content; what structures and formats are best at conveying news; and how audiences use and share

news in their daily lives.

Thirty years ago two professors—William R. Elliott of Southern Illinois University and William L. Rosenberg of Drexel—studied news audiences during the September 1985 Philadelphia newspaper strike. They, like others before them, suggested that readers turned to the newspaper in part out of a powerful daily habit. Perhaps researchers today, working in tandem with Philadelphia media and newsrooms in other cities, can help news organizations better adapt to changing technologies and audiences. Together, they might find the path to make reading news—either printed or digital—continue to be a powerful habit, and one worthy of financial support.

Journalists, industry analysts and academic researchers like me should be excited by what’s happening in Philadelphia. We will be watching Lenfest’s new media institute closely.

A6 Sunday, January 17, 2016

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www.businessmirror.com.ph

More laws needed to cover protected areas–BMB

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HE country’s top biodiversity official late last week underscored the need to strengthen the country’s protected-area (PA) system through the enactment of more laws that will cover more areas for protection and conservation.

Despite being the key to the strategic conservation of the country’s rich biodiversity, the management of the country’s PAs receives limited budget for its sustainable development and day-to-day operation.

This is due to the fact that of the 240 PAs, only 13 are backed by legislation, hence by law, protected from destructive activities, including development projects not sanctioned or approved by protected areas management boards (PAMBs), Director Theresa Mundita Lim of the Biodiversity Management Bureau said.

There is no specific budget allocation for development of these PAs, except for the lumpsum appropriation in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s (DENR) budget for operation divided among the agency’s line and staff bureaus and field offices.

BMB is a line agency of the DENR. Under the 2016 General Appropriations Act, a budget of P1 billion has been earmarked for PA development program out of the DENR’s P21.8-billion total budget. Another budget item, for wildlife conservation and protection, has been allocated, P72.2 million.

240PAs Only 13 are backed by legislation

The operation of the PAs partly relies on the revenues generated by the PAs that are remitted to the Integrated Protected Areas Fund (Ipaf), a trust fund for PAs; 75 percent of which is now automatically retained by the PAs by virtue of the Ipaf Automatic Retention Law signed by President Aquino in 2014, but will take effect only this year, with its implementing rules having been approved only last year.

On top of these, under the special provisions for the DENR’s budget, P30 million has been allocated for the PAs, to be charged against the remaining 25 percent of trust fund for the PAs. The two budget items comprise the DENR’s total budget for the entire PAs and wildlife sector. But these are considered “maintenance budget,” as they are earmarked for personnel services and maintenance and other operating ex-

penses of the agency.

PAs get budgetar y support from generous local governments that have jurisdiction over the PAs through the designated PA superintendents or managers; or PAMB, the highest policy-making body of a PA. However, only 177 of the 240 PAs have established PAMBs. Most of these PAMBs are understaffed, and most of those employed in the DENR regional, city or municipal offices perform multitasking to cover for the PAs operation.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines a PA as “a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystems services and cultural values.”

According to the IUCN, PAs are at the core efforts toward nature conservation and services they provide, such as food, clean-water supply, medicines and protection from the impacts of natural disasters.

PAs in the Philippines range from large natural parks to landscapes and seascapes, wildlife and marine life sanctuaries and monuments.

They are governed by PAMBs, headed by the DENR’s regional, provincial or city and municipal officers, with governors, city and town local chief executives, other officials or representatives of national government agencies and representatives from non-governmental organizations.

There are many pending bills in the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives seeking

to declare or designate certain areas as a PA under the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act. Lim, in particular, supports the passage of the proposed Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act this year, which will strengthen the protection of 100 PAs. This way, she said at least 100 PAs will get more protection and, hopefully, given priority when it comes to budget allocation.

The proposed measure filed

by Sen. Loren Legarda passed the third and final reading in the Senate, but a counterpart bill in the House of Representatives is taking the back seat, stalled at the committee level by debate over the coverage of five PAs in Palawan in the bill.

Lim said the country’s 240 PAs cover around 5 million hectares of forests, which serve as home to thousands of unique, but threatened, wildlife species.

“Once a PA is backed by a legislation, it is expected to receive more protection and budgetary support,” Lim said.

“They will also be protected by law against destructive activities or conversion for other land-use policies,” she said.

Lim added that the operation of the PAs is important in protecting the country’s threatened wildlife species, some of which are considered endangered and critically endangered, or at the brink of extinction.

This requires the hiring of permanent PA personnel and more forest protectors or bantay gubat and bantay dagat, whose job is primarily to protect the PAs and the wildlife that thrives within the areas.

To encourage community support and prevent destructive activities that threaten the integrity of the forest and marine ecosystems, she said upland and coastal communities should be provided with livelihood support.

“Without sources of income and livelihood, the communities will be forced to cut trees and harvest forest products or wildlife,” she said.

Through livelihood programs, she said upland dwellers will not be swayed to engage in destructive activities, such as slashand-burn farming or kaingin, charcoal making, or worse, illegally cutting trees or harvesting forest products.

Among the country’s critically endangered species and their habitats that are being monitored by the DENR are the Philippine Eagle, the Philippine tamaraw, Philippine crocodiles, Philippine tarsier, marine turtles, dugong and butanding.

Some of the country’s PAs have gained international recognition, being listed either as a United Nations World Her itage Site, Association of Southeast Asian Nations Heritage Park (AHP), or Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat or Ramsar site, which the Philippine government is committed to conserve and protect.

The Asean Centre for Biodiversity, which acts as secretariat of the AHP Program, has called for an increase in the budget allocation for the country’s eight AHPs to boost conservation and protection efforts in these key biodiversity areas. Jonathan L. Mayuga

‘Very dry’ first half of 2016 seen

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HE prevailing strong El Niño will further affect Philippine rainfall patterns, likely causing in 2016’s first-half “very dry” conditions, mostly across the Visayas and Mindanao.

State-run Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) gave such warning as this agency forecast for the January-March 2016 period below-normal to way below-normal rainfall in the country owing to El Niño.

“By the end of March, about 40 percent of the country, or 32 provinces, will likely experience meteorological drought conditions,” the weather bureau said late last week in its latest seasonal climate outlook.

Pagasa defines drought as three consecutive months of way-below-normal rainfall condition.

Such condition is characterized by more than 60-percent reduction in rainfall from average levels.

Data that Pagasa presented at this month’s El Niño forum showed at risk for drought by end of March 2016 are the central Philippine provinces of Palawan, Albay, Camarines

Sur and Catanduanes all in Luzon, as well as Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, Biliran, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar and Samar all in the Visayas.

Pagasa also forecast drought by then in Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental, South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, Basilan, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces all in southern Philippines’s Mindanao.

The data, likewise, showed the country can expect between 16 and 31 dry days during 2016’s first quarter. Between 26 and 31 dry days are likely in March alone across 16 of 18 regions nationwide, the data further showed.

January to March is the northeast monsoon’s peak period, but tropical cyclone activity that can bring rain to the country is at its minimum then, Pagasa noted.

For such three-month period, Pagasa forecast one to two tropical cycloness in the Philippine Area of Responsibility. PNA

Palace still optimistic on BBL’s passage

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AGUIO CITY—Malacañang is still hopeful that Congress will be able to pass the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) before it goes on recess for the May 9 national and local elections.

This was the message delivered by lawyer Armi Beatriz Bayot of the Office of the Solicitor General and a member of the legal team of the government negotiating panel with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Bayot on Friday said that despite the lateness of the hour, the present administration was still optimistic that the BBL would be approved by both Houses of Congress within the next three weeks.

Congress resumes sessions on January 18 after its Christmas recess.

The optimism was shared

by Independent Rep. Nicasio M. Aliping Jr. of Baguio City, who said the House Committee on Local Governments had already passed the measure on second reading and was now in its period of amendment before it would be deliberated by the House in plenary session for third and final reading.

“I am optimistic that all the Cordillera lawmakers will support the passage of the BBL because, like Mindanao, we are also expecting to create our own autonomous government,” Aliping said.

Bayot said BBL was a product of over 500 consultations among a cross section of the Mindanao population in order to gather as much information to craft the bill.

“Mindanao and the Cordillera have a common experience under-development, and BBL will, hopefully, be the answer for Mindanao, at least,” Bayot added.

BBL would also be the answer for the decades-old problem of poverty and government neglect, which is the experience and which also started the secessionist movement by the Moro National Liberation Front in the late 1960s, Bayot said.

“If BBL were passed then, there would be no longer any reason for armed groups to continue fighting the government,” she said.

Likewise, BBL could stop terror groups from getting a foothold in Mindanao, she added.

“Although there is no assurance that terror groups will not locate themselves in Mindanao, the fact that closing the economic gap would lessen people from joining these terror organizations,” Bayot added. PNA

FPIP, Osaka prefecture ink M.O.U. Economic zone operator First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP), a subsidiary of Lopez-led First Philippine

Holdings Corp. (FPH), has reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the prefecture of Osaka, Japan, to enhance efforts in promoting the entry in FPIP of more investments from Osaka. FPIP President Ferdinand Edwin S. Co Seteng (sixth from left) and Osaka Prefecture Vice Governor Hiroshi Ueda (fifth from left) signed the MOU on January 13. The photograph shows FPH Chairman Federico R. Lopez (fourth from left) and Ueda shaking hands after the signing ceremonies. Also in the photo are (from left) Henry Co, FPIP senior adviser; Sumita Hiroyuki, executive officer and general manager, Aviation Sales and Marketing, New Kansai International Airport Co. Ltd.; Ikuzawa Katsuhiko, director, Investment and Growth Support Division, Department of Commerce, Industry and Labor, Osaka Prefectural Government; Romulo Manlapig, commercial counselor, Philippine Trade and Investment; Francis Giles B. Puno, FPH president; and Joaquin Quintos IV, FPH senior vice president.

Sports BusinessMirror

Sunday, January 17, 2016 A7

CAVS DOWN ROCKETS H

OUSTON—Cleveland wrapped up its longest road trip of the season with a 91-77 victory at Houston on Friday, stretching its lead in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Central Division to five-and-a-half games.

The Cavaliers capped six straight away games with a convincing win which boosted their lead over Chicago, which was beaten at home

by Dallas.

Indiana, placed third in the Central, failed to make ground on Chicago as the Pacers lost on home court against Washington, while Northwest leader Oklahoma City comfortably beat a sliding Minnesota thanks to a Russell Westbrook triple-double.

Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving scored 23 points, and LeBron James added 19 for the Cavaliers, who led by double digits at halftime and were 20 points up in the third quarter before easing up, perhaps with their mind on Monday’s big game against Golden State.

Dwight Howard had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets, while James Harden was held to just 11 points on 2-for-10 shooting; he missed all five of his 3-point attempts.

Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki hit a

Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James (23) sails past Houston Rockets’ Clint Capela (15) on the way to the basket. AP

Adidas launches Messi campaign

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DIDAS launched recently its “I’m here to create” campaign to honor Lionel Messi’s record fifth Ballon d’Or trophy—a celebration not of Messi’s records, but of his most jaw-dropping moments in football. Adidas has presented Messi with a new platinum boot, containing real platinum elements never seen before on a football boot.

The platinum Messi 15 marks the star’s achievements in football—gold is for winners and platinum is for the greatest.

The platinum boot design is based on the current in-line Messi15 model and uses pearlescent Argentinian premium leather, enhanced with pure metallic platinum elements.

The Messi logo and the adidas logo are both made out of real platinum, and the back of the boot is embossed with four gold and one platinum embellished dots to commemorate Messi’s record of Ballon d’Or titles.

The Spanish phrase found on the insole of the boot “el más grande de todos los tiempos” means “the greatest of all time.”

Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA opens ninth season

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HE Jr. National Basketball Association (NBA) /Jr. Women’s NBA (WNBA) Philippines 2016 will return to the Philippines for the ninth consecutive year from January 23 to April 24.

The program is free and open to boys and girls aged 10 to 14. It teaches the fundamental skills, as well as the core values of the game at the grassroots level in an effort to help grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches and parents.

During the 2015-2016 season, the Jr. NBA/ Jr. WNBA program reached more than 6.5 million youth in 32 countries.

The program is comprised of four stages— skills clinics in schools and communities, Regional Selection Camps, a National Training Camp and an NBA experience trip. The skills clinics will be held nationwide from January through April with stops in Bukidnon, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Dagupan, Davao, Iloilo, Metro Manila and Puerto Princesa, and first-time locations in Batangas, Catanduanes and Cavite.

Select players from these clinics will have the opportunity to showcase their skills in tryouts during the Regional Selection Camps, which will be held in Baguio City (February 20 and 21); Davao (February 27 and 28); Cebu (March 5 and 6) and Metro Manila (April 9 and 10). The top 50 boys and 24 girls from the Regional Selection Camps will advance to the National Training Camp in Manila from April 22 to 24.

vital late 3-pointer and scored 21 points to lead the Mavericks past Chicago 83-77.

Nowitzki’s 3-pointer with 2:15 to play put the Mavericks up 79-72, and Chicago’s Jimmy Butler missed two 3-pointers in the final 12 seconds as the Bulls tried to rally.

Deron Williams added 18 points for the Mavericks.

Derrick Rose, back in the lineup after missing a game with knee pain, led Chicago with 18 points.

Oklahoma City’s Westbrook had his 23rd career triple-double, leading the Thunder to a 113-93 victory over Minnesota.

Westbrook finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth triple-double of the season, despite sitting out the fourth quarter with his team in control. He bounced back after being ejected on Wednesday against Dallas following skirmishes.

Kevin Durant had 21 points for the Thunder, while Andrew Wiggins scored 25 points for the Timberwolves, who have lost nine straight.

Washington notched a fourth straight victory with a 118-104 win at Indiana.

John Wall had 28 points, while Bradley Beal added 22 points for the Wizards, who outscored

the Pacers 20-4 in the first seven minutes of the second quarter and 35-19 overall in the period to take control.

Paul George had 21 points to lead the Pacers.

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Bucks to a 108-101 overtime win against Atlanta. Khris Middleton scored 26 points for the Bucks while Michael Carter-Williams blocked Jeff Teague’s shot at the horn, sending the game into overtime.

Paul Millsap had 23 points for Atlanta. An injury-depleted Miami rallied to win 98-95 at Denver, led by a Hassan Whiteside tripledouble of 19 points, 17 rebounds and 11 blocks. Boston’s Isaiah Thomas scored 19 points against his former team to lead the Celtics past Phoenix 117-103.

New Orleans’ Ryan Anderson hit six 3-pointers and had a season-high 32 points, while Anthony Davis dunked a Jrue Holiday alley-oop lob with two seconds left to give the Pelicans a 109-107 win over Charlotte.

Portland’s Damian Lillard had 33 points and 10 assists to power the Trail Blazers to a 116-104 win at Brooklyn, which has lost 11 of its past 12 home games.

ALASKA, SMB BEGIN SERIES S AN Miguel Beer’s (SMB) title defense starts on Sunday with June Mar Fajardo’s status on limbo, as the Beermen face Alaska in Game One of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Fajardo failed to finish Game Six of their semifinal series against Rain or Shine on Friday with San Miguel advancing to its 36th final apperace after their 90-82 win.

But the victory came with a prize as Fajardo, the reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the league, had to be carried out by stretcher after Elasto Painters’ Jireh Ibanes accidentally hit him at his left knee while boxing out the 6-foot-10 San Miguel center.

According to Beermen Team Manager Gee Abanilla, Fajardo’s PCL, or posterior cruciate ligate, and the ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, were intact but the left knee was put on an immobilizer to prevent any damage.

“We’re not sure if he can play [in Game One] but the good news for June Mar is nabugbog lang ang tuhod niya,” Abanilla said.

San Miguel mentor Leo Austria admitted that losing Fajardo in the final series against the Aces will be a big blow for them to defend their All-Filipino crown. But he’s confident that other players can step up like what they did in Game Six against Rain or Shine.

“Nariyan pa naman sina Yancy [de Ocampo], Jay-R [Reyes] to help the team pero malaking kawalan talaga si June Mar,” said Austria, who is eyeing his third PBA title.

“It’s hard to face Alaska especially with the

Roger Federer of Switzerland smiles during a press conference ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne. AP

FEDERER: BIG 4 STILL EXISTS

M June Mar Fajardo(15) of San Miguel against JR Quinahan (48) of Rain or Shine. NONOY LACZA

kind of defense they are applying,” he added.

The Aces of Head Coach Alex Compton had a relatively easy semifinal series against GlobalPort, winning their own duel in five games to give them extra rest going to the best-of-seven championship series.

Alaska tries to avenge its finals loss

to the same team last season in the same tournament that went to full distance.

“This is a different series. I believe last year’s defeat is over. San Miguel won and they deserved it,” Compton said. “This year, we need to take the lessons from last year and have a better performance.” Joel Orellana

LADY BLAZERS BACK IN FINALS C OLLEGE of Saint Benilde (CSB) gained enough momentum going to the finals of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 91 women’s volleyball tournament.

Despite the tall order of the stepladder format, Lady Blazers Head Coach Macky Carino, who has been with the team for three years, said the Lady Blazers are really motivated to return in the big stage, ending their six-season finals drought.

“My only motivation for them is to seek payback because these are the teams who beat us during the eliminations and, at the same time, is to bring back CSB in the finals,” Carino said after dethroning Arellano University (AU) in straight sets 25-20, 25-22, 25-23,on Friday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

The win put the Taft-based team in the finals against San Sebastian College, which holds a thrice-to-beat advantage for

sweeping the elimination round.

Capitalizing from its fiery first two sets, CSB was close to end the match in straight sets with a 21-16 spread. However, the defending champion Lady Chiefs mounted a come back in the third set as they shackled the Lady Blazers through their defense to score the six of the next seven points to equalize the match at 22-apiece.

But luckily for the Lady Blazers, Arellano committed back-to-back errors to give CSB the match point, 24-22.

Lady Blazer Ranya Musa had a chance to seal the win but her service went wide which, allowing the Lady Chiefs to shoot for a deuce, 23-24. Jeanette Panaga emerged as CSB’s hero as she nailed the match-winning drop over two Arellano blockers.

“That was really my play for them,” Carino shared. “AU’s defense already checked our rotation. They put two blokers on Jeanette so I adjusted her in the middle

slightly separated from the blockers and it worked.”

“She is my key factor. She had an up and down performances during the eliminations so I told her to just focus in the semifinals,” he added.

Panaga rose to the occassion with 21 points on nine attacks, six aces and six blocks.

As the Lady Blazers made it to the finals after a tough stepladder journey, they are now set to face the biggest challenge of their lives as they tangle with undefeated San Sebastian College, which has a thriceto-beat advantage while, the Lady Stags only need to win twice to seal the title.

However, Carino, who is now on his firstever finals stint as CSB’s mentor, is not afraid of the daunting challenge, as he believes that his players have gained enough self-esteem and preparation from their rousing semis victories as the Season 91 title showdown begins on Tuesday. Lance Agcoili

ELBOURNE, Australia—Roger Federer says the so-called Big Four in men’s tennis—he, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal—still exists, with one possible notation and an addition.

“Novak deserves like a little star next to his name right now because he’s been doing extremely well,” Federer said on Saturday.

The Australian Open begins on Monday with Djokovic set to defend his 2015 crown and aim for title No. 6 at Melbourne Park. Last year Djokovic won 27 of his 28 matches in Grand Slam tournaments, capturing three majors and finishing runner-up to Stan Wawrinka at the French Open.

That run left Djokovic unquestionably as No. 1, with Murray second, Federer No. 3, Wawrinka ranked fourth and Nadal, after a series of injuries, back to a spot in the top 5.

Order restored, Federer says.

“Who’s had the most success? The top 5 guys really, with Stan, you know, Murray, myself, Novak and Rafa,” Federer, who plays his first-round match on Monday. “Now the rankings are back to more normal again after Rafa’s worked his way back up.”

Djokovic, in the same half of the draw as Federer, will open his defense against Chung Hyeon of South Korea and, if results go with rankings, could meet No. 7 Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals and Federer in the semis.

Federer, who has won four Australian titles among his 17 majors, opens against Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, and possibly Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second and No. 27 Grigor Dimitrov in the third. No 2-ranked Murray will open against Alexander Zverev of Germany and, in the same half of the draw, 2014 champion Wawrinka takes on Dmitry Tursonov.

Nadal, who could meet Wawrinka in the

quarterfinals, opens with a tough encounter against fellow Spaniard and 2009 Australian Open semifinalist Fernando Verdasco. Nadal beat Verdasco in an epic five-setter that year and went on to win the title.

“Not a lucky first round, I think, for me. For him either,” Nadal said on Saturday. “Will be a tough match.”

Asked to reflect on the 2009 result, Nadal said: “Obvious that that match gave me the chance to win the only Australian Open that I won. That was an unforgettable memory for me. “ Nadal won three titles last year, but it was the first year since 2004 that he hadn’t won a major. He was beaten by Djokovic in the Qatar Open final two weeks ago and lavished praise on the Serbian, saying he was virtually unbeatable in that match.

He continued the sentiment on Saturday.

“Novak is playing at [a] better level than the rest of the players now, that’s obvious,” Nadal said. “The way he’s playing, it’s difficult to see him losing matches. Just can congratulate him for making that happen. “ Murray says he knows well and has practiced recently with his Tuesday opponent, the 1.98-meter (6-6) Zverev.

“It will be a tough match,” Murray said. “He serves well. For a big guy, moves pretty well ... obviously improving all the time.”

Murray and his wife, Kim Sears, are expecting their first child in February. On Saturday he reiterated earlier comments that he would return to London immediately if she went into early labor, even if it was between the semifinal and the January 31 final and it left the tournament without a championship decider.

“For me, my child is more important to me, and my wife is more important to me, than a tennis match,” Murray said.

Sports

201 days

BusinessMirror

AUGUST 5, 2016

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Sunday, January 17, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph

2016 Olympics facing deep cuts unseen in decades

RIO IN TROUBLE R IO DE JANEIRO—Cuts, cuts and more cuts.

That’s the situation facing international sports federations, with just over six months to go before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazilian organizers will be meeting next month with federation leaders, and World Rowing Executive Director Matt Smith already knows what to expect: He’s bracing for news that 4,000 temporary grandstand seats at the rowing Olympic venue won’t be built.

At the swimming venue, several thousand seats have already been slashed. And the world governing body for sailing learned more than a year ago that bleachers it wanted had been ruled out.

Television viewers won’t notice when South America’s first Olympics open on August 5, but Rio organizers are scaling down everywhere to eliminate about $500 million to balance the operating budget of 7.4 billion reals ($1.85 billion).

“I’ve been around since Los Angeles in 1984 and we haven’t been in such a situation where a country that is staging the games is in such a vulnerable situation,” Smith said in an interview with the Associated Press (AP).

Brazil was booming when it was awarded the games in 2009. Now it’s buffeted by the worst recession since the 1930s. The currency has plunged almost 50 percent against the dollar, and inflation is over 10 percent and

Partial view of the Tennis Center at the Olympic Park for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio organizers are slashing everywhere to reduce millions in spending to balance the operating budget. AP

rising. In addition, President Dilma Rousseff is facing impeachment, partly driven by a billion-dollar bribery scandal at state-run oil

company Petrobras.

“We haven’t had to face anything like this,” Smith said. “It was a bold move to go to an

emerging country. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) deciding to go to South America was a really important, strategic issue—but with all the associated risks.”

Hit by cash-flow problems, Rio is reducing the use of unpaid volunteers. Transportation is being rejigged. Few competition results will be available on paper, and Olympic sponsor Panasonic has stepped in to give unprecedented financial help to run the opening and closing ceremonies.

Organizers backed away from plans to have athletes pay for air conditioning in their rooms, but rooms in the Olympic Village won’t have televisions.

The IOC is trying to find a positive angle, talking up austerity after the overall $51-billion figure associated with the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics scared away many potential bid cities.

“We are looking into each and every budget item,” Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games Executive Director, told the AP this week in Rio. “I think this is setting a new benchmark. The result is heading in the right direction. They [organizers] have found efficiencies, and I wouldn’t call it cuts.”

Like many, Dubi believes Rio’s natural beauty will make up for everything else.

“No one is saying that the Olympic experience will be affected. On the contrary, Rio will be magic,” Dubi said.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes is almost bragging about the cutbacks as Brazil spends about $10 billion in public and private money to organize the games. Paes is seen as a possible 2018 presidential candidate who hopes to get traction from the Olympics.

“Come on, we are not China, we are not England,” he said this week at the handover of the Olympic basketball arena. “We are not a rich country. So, every time I can cut some of the budget for Olympics—we will do it. This is not going to be the Olympics of wasting money.”

Alan Tomlinson, who studies the Olympics at the University of Brighton in England, said the IOC was altering the script “to make pragmatism sound like idealism.”

“That kind of message is for the global public,” Tomlinson said in an e-mail. “The promised benefits to the local communities— and the public of the host city and nation— are beyond the reach of the IOC.” Cuts aside, Rio is facing other problems: n Ticket sales are lagging. Only about half of the 4.5 million domestic tickets have been sold. Rio organizers say Brazilians do everything at the last minute. n Guanabara Bay and the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon—venues for sailing, rowing and canoeing—show astronomically high virus levels, documented in an ongoing study

by AP. Organizers can’t fix the contamination and are implementing only stop-gap measures, which will leave the health of more than 1,000 athletes at risk. n Rio will use about 85,000 soldiers and policeman for the games, the largest contingent in Brazilian history. The number is about twice what London used in 2012. Some of the effort will be aimed at keeping gangs from hillside favelas from reaching Olympic venues. n Researchers have found evidence of the dengue-like Zika virus in Brazil and have linked it to a surge of birth defects in the country.

Zika is most prevalent in Brazil’s northeast but has spread south to Rio. The mosquitoborne diseases are worst in the southern hemisphere’s summer months of December, January and February and less troublesome in the drier winter month of August when the Olympics will be held. n A 16-kilometer (10-mile) subway extension to take riders from central Rio to the Olympic Park in the western suburb of Barra da Tijuca is likely to be finished just a few weeks before the games open. The untested line is a risk.

“The governor [Luiz Fernando Pezao] himself is going every week to the construction site to ensure that it will be delivered on time,” Dubi said. AP

Agut wins ASB Classic as ill Sock retires

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UCKLAND, New Zealand—Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut won the ASB Classic singles title, when his American opponent Jack Sock was forced to retire with illness while trailing 6-1, 1-0 in Saturday’s final.

Sock said after his 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 semifinal win over top-seed and four-time champion David Ferrer that he came close to withdrawing from that match after waking on Friday with “flu-like symptoms.” His illness had fully taken hold by the time of the final in hot conditions at the Auckland Tennis Center and Sock lasted only 28 minutes before being forced to retire.

He showed little energy during the first set which Bautista-Agut wrapped up in 20 minutes.

Sock then had a long discussion with the tour trainer, doctor and supervisor before deciding to come for the second set.

He immediately dropped serve for the third time in the match and at that point signaled that he couldn’t go on. “I just want to tell everyone that, hey, I’m sorry that I couldn’t finish the match,” Sock said. “But I wanted to come out and at least attempt it. “Like yesterday, you never know what can happen. I feel like I owed you guys at least an effort to come out here and play.”

It was Bautista-Agut’s third Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour singles title after his wins in 2014 at Rosmalen and Stuttgart.

Along the way he beat two former champions: defending champion Jiri Vesely in the opening round and two-time champion John Isner in the quarterfinals. Bautista Agut then achieved one of his best wins when he beat second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals.

“I had an amazing week,” Bautista Agut said. “I had many good wins and I was playing wonderful tennis here.

“I feel sorry for Jack. I want to congratulate him because he’s in really good shape, he had an amazing year last year and I want to wish him good luck for the rest of the season.”

Bautista Agut said his win over Tsonga sent him into the final full of confidence. He quickly recognized his opponent was ailing and moved Sock around the court until the American was forced to withdraw. “After a win like yesterday, it’s one of the matches you dream of when you’re young,” he said. “It’s why you’re working so hard, to play these matches with amazing atmosphere, with the crowd in the night matches is the best.”

Michael Phelps prepares to compete in the men’s 100-meter freestyle in the Arena Pro Swim Series. AP

Phelps wins 100 butterfly in Arena Pro Swim Series

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USTIN, Texas—Michael Phelps was satisfied with one race on Friday night but not the other.

Preparing for his fifth Olympics this summer in Rio, the 30-year-old Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly on Friday night in an Arena Pro Swim Series event.

Phelps finished in 51.94. He won the gold medal in that event at the 2012 Olympics in London. He retired after London with 22 career medals, 18 of them gold, but returned to swimming in 2014.

Phelps was sixth in the 100-meter freestyle on Friday, an event won by Nathan Adrian in 48.91. Adrian won the gold medal in the event in London.

“I thought I finished well in the 100 fly,” Phelps said. “My freestyle stroke isn’t fully there, which is frustrating. Being a bodylength behind at the 50, it’s not really a place where you want to be. I didn’t die. I finished well. I thought the last 10 meters of the 100 free were great.

“The biggest thing for tonight is I’m happy to be able to do that double and go 51.9.”

Adrian wasn’t thrilled about his performance in 100 free.

“It’s an OK race,” Adrian said. “It wasn’t good. I really wish that was just a semifinal swim so I could come back tomorrow night and try to pull off a good one.”

Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden won the women’s 100 free style and 100 butterfly in 53.12 and 56.38, respectively, both times the best ever in the United States.

“I couldn’t have wished for a better start to the year,” Sjostrom said. “I’m very surprised with the times. It’s fast this early in the year.

I’m very happy to do those times.”

Katie Ledecky won the 400 freestyle in 3:59.54, the fifth-best time ever. Ledecky holds the world record and seven of the top 8 times ever. The 18-year-old American won the 800 free style in London.

Earlier Friday, Ledecky was second behind Sjostrom in the 100 freestyle.

“It’s a good night,” Ledecky said. “It was my first time going under four minutes with another event. I thought tha was really good coming off the 100.” AP

Prince Ali asks Fifa to investigate Sheikh

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ONDON—The campaign to succeed Sepp Blatter as International Football Federation (Fifa) chief turned bitter on Friday when a presidential candidate asked for an investigation into whether his main rival is trying to break election rules.

Prince Ali bin al-Hussein accused Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa of a “blatant attempt to engineer a bloc vote” by signing a pact between the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) he heads and its counterpart in Africa.

With 54 voters, Africa has the biggest say in the February 26 presidential vote by Fifa’s 209 federations. The four-year accord is between the AFC and the Confederation of African Football headed by Issa Hayatou, who is also acting Fifa president following Blatter’s ban.

It will be up to Fifa election watchdog Domenico Scala, who chairs the audit and compliance committee plus the electoral committee, to decide whether there is anything wrong with the Africa-Asia deal being announced six weeks before the vote. AP