BusinessMIrror January 30, 2019

COMELEC SEEN TO GRANT EXEMPTION OF VITAL INFRA FROM SPENDING BAN A

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

PLAN by the Executive to seek exemption from the election spending ban for vital infrastructure projects, which the National Economic and Development Authority

ATTY. James Jimenez (center) chats with Aliw Media Group Chairman D. Edgard A. Cabangon (left) and T. Anthony C. Cabangon, BusinessMirror publisher, during a break in Tuesday’s BusinessMirror Coffee Club forum on issues facing the Comelec in the run-up to the May elections. RUDY ESPERAS

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

(Neda) will formally pitch to the Cabinet next week, will likely get the Commission on Elections’s nod, according to its spokesman.

The Neda request to spare the implementation of infrastructure projects from the election spending ban will not be a problem, based on past experience, except if the request is for a blanket exemption, Comelec Spokesman James B. Jimenez told the BusinessMirror Coffee Club Forum on Tuesday.

The Neda pitched the idea of an exemption on Monday, as economic

managers discussed ways of reducing the impact on first-quarter growth of the limited government spending—by as much as P46 billion, per finance department estimates—resulting from the delayed passage of the 2019 national budget.

Neda officials said they will propose at the February 6 Cabinet meeting that the Executive make a formal request to Comelec.

“So, subject to the terms of the actual request, which has not been filed yet, we believe that there is reason to be

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 112

PHL scores low in public sector corruption index

A

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

NOMALIES in the Philippine government were still pervasive last year, as the country scored below average in an annual index measuring public-sector corruption.

The Philippines scored a dismal 36 points in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2018 by nongovernment Transparency International. This put the country at 99th—tied with Albania, Bahrain, Colombia, Tanzania and Thailand—in a survey that covered

180 countries and territories.

Still, the score was a slight improvement from the 34 points the Philippines got in the 2017 cycle, as well as the ranking that was previously at 111th.

The country, however, fared below the global average score of 43

points, and was right at the middle with Thailand when pitted against fellow Southeast Asian economies.

Singapore (85 points) placed 3rd overall in the index, trailed by Brunei Darussalam (63 points) at 31st, Malaysia (47 points) at 61st and Indonesia (38 points) at 89th.

36

The score the Philippines got in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2018 by nongovernment Transparency International. Though a slight improvement from its past score of 34 points, this put the country at 99th—tied with Albania, Bahrain, Colombia, Tanzania and Thailand— in a survey that covered 180 countries and territories On the other hand, Vietnam (33 points) placed 117th, Lao PDR (29 points) at 132nd, Myanmar (29 points) at 132nd and Cambodia (20 points) at 161st.

See “Corruption index,” A2

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

HE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Tuesday told lawmakers that it recorded a shortfall of P82 billion for 2018, with total collection amounting to P1.961 trillion.

In a briefing on the agency’s collection performance for 2018, BIR Assistant Commissioner Alfredo Misajon said the bureau has collected P1.961 trillion—4.01 percent lower than its programmed goal of P2.043 trillion.

Misajon, however, told the House Committee on Ways and Means the 2018 collection was still 10.1 percent higher than its 2017 revenue.

According to Misajon, the biggest shortfalls came from the income tax, value-added tax (VAT) and excise tax components.

The TRAIN law exempts from paying income tax those earning annually P250,000 and below.

VAT collection of P358.27 billion is lower by 17.8 percent than the full-year target of P435.88 billion.

“Also, there are several economic factors affecting the bureau’s collection performance, one of which is the high inflation.... Some of them may go out of the business, or some might have shifted to other kinds

T

HE outstanding debt of the national government as of end-December 2018 reached P7.292 trillion, 9.6 percent higher than the P6.652 trillion recorded in 2017, due to higher domestic borrowings, according to data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

Compared to the end-November debt level of P7.195 trillion, the figure recorded last month was higher by 1.3 percent, data from the BTr showed.

Despite the increase, the BTr said the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio contracted to 41.9 percent in December, from 42.1 percent a year ago. It is lower than the program of 42.1 percent. “ The lower debt-to-GDP ratio is due to the moderate increment in debt as a result of prudent cash and debt management and steady economic growth,” the BTr said.

In December, domestic debt settled at P4.776 trillion, 7.6 percent higher than last year’s P4.441 trillion. The figure was also 1.5 percent higher than the November level of P4.707 trillion.

“For the month, the rise in domestic debt level was due to the net issuance of government securities amounting to P68.79 billion and peso depreciation that increased the value of onshore dollar bonds,” the BTr said in a statement.

The government’s borrowings from offshore lenders ex panded by 13.8 percent to P2.515 trillion, from last year’s P2.211 trillion. On a monthly basis, the amount was 1.2 percent higher than the P2.487 trillion recorded in November.

“Forex [foreign exchange] See “Debt,” A8

‘Slow action on integration puts Asean at trade risk’

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The BIR’s total collection for 2018—4.01 percent lower than its programmed goal of P2.043 trillion, but 10.1 percent higher than its 2017 record

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.4660

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

National government debt expanded to P7.292 trillion as of end-December–BTr

₧1.961 trillion

of nontax consumption,” Misajon said in an interview with reporters.

Misajon traced the lower total excise tax collections to the non-implementation of fuel marking, the sweetened beverage industry’s shift to cheaper ordinary sugar from the more costly high-fructose corn syrup, and the decline in volume of removals in the automobile industry.

According to Misajon, loss of market share by two refineries and the increase in the importations of diesel and LPG have also affected the tax collection for petroleum.

“Petroleum products did not generate excise tax, while the fuel marking project was not implemented,” he added.

Misajon said the appeal for tax exemption of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. and the suspension of operation of some mining companies have also impacted its collection performance.

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Collection of income, VAT, excise taxes tied to ₧82-B BIR shortfall

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See “Comelec,” A8

SEN. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara (left), chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, throws questions to Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua (right) and Deputy Commissioner Arnel So Guballa of the Bureau of Internal Revenue at the public hearing on increasing the excise tax rates on tobacco products. ROY DOMINGO

Final battle on tobacco taxes waged in Senate

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

S

ENATORS are firming up a consensus on a higher tobacco tax ranging from P60 to P90 per pack. But, in an indication of how fiercely the tug-of-war between pro- and anti-tobacco tax hike is affecting lawmakers, the Senate Ways and Means Committee scheduled another public hearing next week.

“We still need more information to determine the [upward]

rates,” Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, the committee chairman, told the BusinessMirror after presiding over Tuesday’s hearing on at least four related Senate and House bills—all proposing increasing the excise tax rates on tobacco products.

Angara added he will “call another hearing next week” on the pending proposals to enable the committee to forge an agreement and fix the higher tobacco tax rate that will be submitted for plenary consideration and final approval.

As the Ways and Means hearing

was under way, nongovernment organizations pushing for higher tobacco excise taxes to fund the universal health care mobilized in areas near the Senate to pressure lawmakers into approving another round of rate hikes.

Those opposing the tax hike presented their own compelling reasons. The day before, five governors of tobacco-producing farmers and 23 tobacco farmer groups presented separate appeals strongly urging senators to defer the See “Tobacco taxes,” A2

UROPEAN firms want the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to hasten its economic integration to improve trade facilitation within the region, an international business leader said on Tuesday.

Investors from the European Union are insisting that the Asean prioritize its economic integ ration to ensure stabi lity in the face of a global trade breakdown. EU-Asean Business Council Executive Director Chris Humphrey said EU firms in the region share a general sentiment the integration is making little to no progress.

He warned that the regional bloc could miss numerous trade and investment opportunities and be exposed to the volatility of the global economy—brought about by the virtual trade war between the United States and China—if Asean integration is further neglected.

“The Philippines, in chairing the Asean [in 2017], was making a start on that [and] came up with some very good objectives in the region, [such as] lowering the cost of trade transaction by 10 percent and doubling intra-Asean trade by 2025. There has been no progress on that so far,” Humphrey said.

See “BIR,” A8

n JAPAN 0.4797 n UK 69.0610 n HK 6.6869 n CHINA 7.7785 n SINGAPORE 38.7861 n AUSTRALIA 37.5919 n EU 59.9791 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9898

See “Asean,” A2

Source: BSP (29 January 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Wednesday, January 30, 2019

House panel issues Diokno show-cause order for snub

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O force Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno to attend the lower chamber’s probe on questionable budget insertions in 2019 national budget, the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday issued a show-cause order against the secretary.

Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso, who pushed for the issuance of the order, said it will allow Diokno to explain why he should not be cited for contempt for not attending the congressional inquiry on P75-billion insertions and alleged anomalous budget practices in the annual appropriations.

“We need to issue a show-cause order for him to explain why he should not be cited for contempt.

We are not satisfied by the statement made by the Presidential Spokesman [Salvador Panelo] that the President [Rodrigo Duterte] does not want him [Diokno] to attend here,” said Veloso.

For his part, House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Rolando G. Andaya Jr. said Diokno should explain his continued absence to an inquiry of a coequal branch of government.

“It is lamentable that the DBM

“We need to issue a show-cause order for him to explain why he should not be cited for contempt. We are not satisfied by the statement made by the Presidential Spokesperson [Salvador Panelo] that the President [Rodrigo Duterte] does not want him [Diokno] to attend here.”—Veloso

secretary continues to deprive us of the opportunity to question him directly on several issues hounding the DBM. We have provided him the proper forum to clear his name of any wrongdoing,” he added.

For the nth time, Andaya, however, said Diokno refused to honor the invitation of the committee.

“The economic managers can prod Congress to pass the national

budget [into law], pero pag imbestigasyon, ’di makasipot [but during investigations, they snub us]. That is the respect that you get from them,” Andaya said.

Also, Andaya said Public Works Secretary Mark Villar confirmed on record his claim that “DBM Secretary Diokno was the mastermind behind the P75-billion insertion in the DPWH allocations for the proposed 2019 national budget.”

Andaya added, “Now that Secretary Villar has categorically denied any responsibility in the P75-billion insertions, it is time for Secretary Diokno to explain fully his role in the conspiracy that stalled the congressional deliberations of the 2019 budget.”

Andaya said Villar came to know about the extra funding of P75 billion only when the DBM released the National Expenditure Program (NEP).

“Who was responsible for the choosing of the infrastructure projects listed in the P75-billion insertions? Where are these projects located? Who encoded the projects that were inserted in the official list submitted by the DPWH to DBM?” he asked.

Diokno: No copy yet

SOUGHT for comment on Tuesday, Diokno said in a text message to the

BusinessMirror, “We have yet to receive the order and we will answer at the right time.”

Meanwhile, Malacañang said they will let Diokno decide on this new development.

“I will leave it to Secretary Diokno—his stand, if he feels that he need the official intervention of the President, then he will raise that in the Cabinet,” Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a briefing.

Asked if it sees nothing wrong with the show-cause order approved by the Andaya-led House panel against Diokno, Panelo said it is within Congress’s prerogative to issue the order.

“First, that’s part of the job of Congress. Unless, there is an abuse of the exercise, then by the Constitution, we will not oppose,” he said.

“W hat I’m saying is, if the show cause is based on just because he was not able to attend because of a valid excuse, that’s premature. But even then, Secretary Diokno has the opportunity to respond.

If you say show cause, you explain to us why because I didn’t go there because of this and that. So… the committee is just asking him to explain,” he added. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz and Bernadette D. Nicolas

Blast probe eyes Jolo church security lapses Continued from A8

“Since then, the Jolo cathedral was guarded by soldiers 24 hours a day,” he said. “We will never know how the bombers got in or near the church as the soldiers guarding the main door all died,” Lorenzana said.

Other soldiers who rushed in to rescue and assist the victims of the first explosion inside the cathedral were also hit by the second explosion.

Lorenzana said the military will carry out the all-out war ordered by President Duterte against the terrorists by intensifying its operation against them, and would also involve civilians as allies.

“This all-out war will continue our operation, combat operations, intelligence operations and we can get the people to cooperate with us to finally identify these people,” he said.

The defense secretary also bared Duterte’s plans to give reward money to hasten the arrest or neutralization of the suspects.

‘Crush Abu Sayyaf’ ADDRESSING the armed forces after he inspected the bombed Catholic church in Jolo on Monday, Duterte gave a short marching order: crush the Abu Sayyaf.

His order came as the two main Moro rebel organizations condemned as “dastardly and cowardly acts,” with the MILF directing its forces in Sulu to conduct deeper gathering of information on the bombers and to coordinate with authorities.

“I ordered you to destroy the organization. I’m ordering you now: pulpugin ninyo ang Abu Sayyaf by whatever means,” Duterte said. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis)-linked Abu Sayyaf, has claimed responsibility for the bombings.

“Ang gawin ninyo, sabihin ninyo pagka-bobombahin mo ’yang lahat, paalisin mo iyong mga tao. Paalisin

mo ’yung mga tao, ilagay mo dito kung saan ako. Ako ang maggastos ng pagkain, lahat. Tapos plantsahin ninyo ng bala [What you will do, tell me if you bomb them, relocate the residents.

Remove the residents and place them in an area. I will spend on their food, everything. And then cut the Abu Sayyaf with bullets],” he said.

“Our duty is to protect the Filipino people. And second is that we have to preserve the nation. Pag nawala iyang Jolo, maski isang island diyan [if we lose Jolo, even one island there], well, we have failed in our mission to preserve the territory of the Republic of the Philippines,” he said.

The President has expressed outrage over the bombings saying that “despite the presence of rebellious groups such as the Moro National Liberation Front of Nur Misuari in Jolo, the Christians and Joloanos continue to live here in peace together.”

He said the Abu Sayyaf was a group “without ideology that declared loyalty to the evil movements of Isis,” so unlike the MNLF of Nur Misuari and the MILF both of which, he said, were waging a revolution.

Duterte earlier met with the blast victims’ relatives at Camp Teodulfo Bautista Multipurpose Hall “where he provided the victims’families financial assistance and vowed to give justice to their loved ones,” the Malacañang information office said.

He also visited the wounded military personnel at the Camp Teodulfo Bautista Station Hospital and awarded them the Order of Lapu-Lapu with Rank of Kampilan.

bombing were likely seeking sanctuary in the hinterlands of Sulu. “It is a known fact that the hinterlands of Sulu since 1990 have been home to terrorist and lawless elements that are used to kidnapping-for-ransom and terrorism activities through the years,” he said.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said “first responders are still working to assist the families of the people killed in the attack, as well as the wounded. We condole with the families of the people who were killed in the attack, and will do what we can to aid the wounded.”

“Human lives are irreplaceable. We also call on our people to cooperate with the authorities in the area. Let us avoid making speculations on this incident as the police conduct their investigation.

Let us continue working for peace in the region. Violence should not deter us from continuing our work to establish a lasting peace in our homeland,” he said.

Stoking religious war

Alert on foreign terrorists

MURAD said the bombings were meant to stoke religious animosity between peoples of different faiths.

“But we will never allow them to succeed,” he said.

MNLF Chairman Yusoph H. Jikiri said the groups responsible for the

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has ordered its personnel to be on heightened alert on the possible entry of foreign terrorists into the country following the twin bombings in Jolo.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said he has instructed immigration

Corruption index. . .

According to Transparency International, over two-thirds of countries scored below 50 points, and only 20 economies made significant improvements, including Estonia and Cote d’Ivoire.

Transparenc y Inter national Managing Director Patricia Moreira said corruption undermines democracy, and the weakening of democracy makes institutions less able to control anomalies Continued from A1

Davao City Mayor Sara DUTERTE-CARPIO said the people of Sulu should not be cowed by the bombings.

“Davao City has also its own experience of terrorism that resulted in death and destruction, but we refused to be cowed or be defeated by the devils behind it,” she said.

“Dabawenyos pray that Jolo and its people will also stand and rise with dignity and strong resolve to overcome this tragedy and deliver the perpetrators to the government so that justice may be served.”

in the public sector.

“With many democratic institutions under threat across the globe— often by leaders with authoritarian and populist tendencies—we need to do more to strengthen checks and balances and protect citizens’ rights,” Moreira said.

The index, which rates 180

officers assigned in various international airports and seaports all over the country to closely monitor the entry of foreign nationals into the country.

“I have instructed our Port Operations Division to alert all its personnel and be on the lookout for suspected foreign terrorists who might attempt to enter the country,” Morente said.

Morente said suspicious foreign nationals into the country should be questioned on their real purpose in entering the country.

“Those who cannot satisfactorily explain their purpose in coming here are to be turned back and booked on the first available flight to their port of origin,” the BI chief stressed.

The decision to place all immigration officers on heightened alert came following the release of a statement by the Islamic State for Iraq and Syria claiming responsibility for Sunday’s bomb attacks.

However, police and military authorities are still looking for other possible culprits.

In light of Morente’s directive, BI Port Operations Division chief Grifton Medina said he has ordered all immigration officers conducting inspection of passengers in the ports of entry to be extra strict in performing their duties. Medina acknowledged that foreign terrorists are likely to use fake passports and visas in attempting to enter the country.

Aside from BI officers performing primary line duties, Medina also alerted and instructed members of the travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) and border control and intelligence unit (BCIU) to be extra vigilant.

TCEU personnel conduct secondary inspection of passengers with doubtful documents and travel purpose, while the BCIU is manned by intelligence personnel tasked to monitor and spot passengers acting suspiciously or exhibiting unusual behavior. With reports

from Joel R. San Juan and Recto L. Mercene

countries and territories by their perceived levels of government corruption according to experts and businessmen, uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is cleanest. Denmark and New Zealand topped the survey with 88 points and 87 points, respectively.

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House okays medical marijuana bill on 3rd and final reading

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

@joveemarie

HE House of Representatives on Tuesday endorsed for Senate approval the controversial medical marijuana bill.

Voting 163 affirmative, five negative and three abstentions, the lower chamber approved on third and final reading House Bill 6517 or the Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act, which seeks to amend Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

The bill seeks to legalize and regulate the use of medical cannabis to benefits patients suffering from debilitating diseases while authorizing public and private research entities to undertake research on the medical use of cannabis.

The measure mandates the Department of Health (DOH) to be the principal regulatory agency for medical cannabis, in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) as the monitoring and regulatory body in the dispensation of medical cannabis.

It also establishes in the DOH an advisory committee on medical use of cannabis which shall serve as the advisory body in the formulation and implementation of policies and regulations.

The bill provides criteria for one to be a qualified medical cannabis physician, patient and caregiver.

It also provides for the licensing and operation of Medical Cannabis Compassionate Center and Medical Cannabis Research and Safety Compliance Center.

It authorizes the University of the Philippines-National Institutes of Health, the Health Sciences Center of the UP System, the Philippine Institute of Traditional and

Asean. . .

Continued from A1

Merchandise trade by the Asean amounted to $2.2 trillion in 2016, of which 23.1 percent was between the regional bloc’s member-states.

Under the integration, the Asean is targeting to reduce cost of trade transaction by 10 percent by 2020 and double intraAsean trade by 2025. Humphrey argued these targets are far from reach, as economies in the region allegedly failed to implement any significant reforms in customs procedure and reduce nontariff measures in 2018.

Humphrey recommended that Asean member-states further remove trade barriers and streamline customs procedures to improve transaction volume within the region.

Otherwise, the regional bloc could fall into the trap of being too dependent on the global economy now challenged by the trade conf lict between the US and China, the business leader said. He explained that too much exposure to the global economy

Tobacco taxes. . .

Continued from A1

next-round hikes, noting how excise taxes on tobacco have been increased successively in the past five years.

The governors said their constituents were reeling from the undue “burden”imposed by policy and lawmakers, even as other agricultural commodities —or other so-called sin products like alcohol—were not taxed as much.

Separate bills UNDER consideration in the Senate Ways and Means Committee are separate bills calling for higher tobacco tax rates, filed by Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, P90; Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian,

Alternative Health Care and other organizations to conduct research on the use of medical cannabis.

The bill, meanwhile, requires the secretary of Health to submit to the President and to Congress an annual report which shall contain basic information on the use of cannabis.

Prohibited acts

THE measure, however, provides penalties for the commission of prohibited acts.

At present, marijuana is tagged as a prohibited substance, just like methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, cocaine and heroin, under the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Under the law, mere possession of at least 500 grams of marijuana, or at least 10 grams of marijuana concentrate (resin or resin oil), is punishable by life in prison plus a fine of up to P10 million.

Carrying lesser quantities of the drug is punishable by 12 to 20 years in prison plus a fine of up to P500,000.

Earlier, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, principal author of House Bill 6517, said Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, had promised to conduct hearings on the proposal.

The bill faces rough sailing in the Senate, however, where key members led by Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III have vowed to block its passage.

Albano said the bill should not be deemed in any manner to advocate, authorize, promote, or legally or socially accept the use of cannabis or marijuana for any nonmedical use.

Earlier, Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza warned that the legalization of medical marijuana would open the floodgates to abuse and addiction and create an unwanted public health emergency in the country. will hamper the strong growth pace of Asean economies.

In the 2018 EU-Asean Business Sentiment Survey by the EU-Asean Business Council, only 12 percent of European firms said they feel the Asean is inching closer to its objective of a single market and production base.

The poll, which covered 338 respondents, also reported 54 percent of EU businesses found the integration process too slow.

Further, it claimed only 42 percent of European firms in the region were affected positively by the integration.

The Asean economic integration envisions a regional bloc that has a single market and production base, a competitive investment regime, with equitable economic development, and fully harmonized with the global economy.

“The overall economic picture is good, but the Asean has to seize that opportunity it has now and make faster progress in regional integration. Otherwise, the window of opportunity will close very quickly,” Humphrey said.

Elijah Felice E. Rosales

P70 and Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao, P60 per pack. The House counterpart version of the tobacco tax bill was pegged at P37.50 per pack.

This developed as Angara’s panel was informed that the Department of Finance was concerned about raising an additional P30-billion revenue to bankroll the Duterte administration’s Universal Health Care program.

However, Gatchalian, chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs, suggested that “the trick is to raise it [tobacco tax] as much as possible,” adding that “we want the optimum to reduce the funding gap.” In the same hearing, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua informed senators that the DOF was “also looking at alcohol products to fill the funding gap.”

The Nation BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, January 30, 2019 A3

Comelec eyes 24-hour shifts in production of poll ballots

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

T

HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is now eyeing 24-hour shifts in the production of ballots to offset the delays in its preparations for the May 2019 national and local polls.

During the BusinessMirror Coffee Club forum on Tuesday, Comelec Spokesman James B. Jimenez finally admitted they are already over a week delayed in their preparation timeline for the midterm elections.

“We have reached the point where we can say our schedule is now really tight,” Jimenez said.

COMMISSION on Elections Spokesman Atty. James B. Jimenez answers questions from the media during the BusinessMirror Coffee Club Forum at the BusinessMirror editorial offices in Makati City. NONOY LACZA

The printing of the ballots was supposed to start on January 24, but it was pushed back to a latter date following the deferred release of the final list of 2019 candidates.

The original release date of the list was on December 15, 2018, but was only publicly released on January 26, 2019, due to pending disqualifications cases of some of the candidates.

“It was turned over to our IT [information-technology] department. They said it would take them five to six days to load it [to our Election Management System],” Jimenez said.

He said the structural renovation at the National Printing Office (NPO) also affected their schedule for the ballot printing.

The Comelec is now targeting to start the printing of the 61 million ballots for the 2019 election on February 2.

24-hour shifts

WITH only around three months left before the midterm polls, Jimenez said they would be implementing a 24-hour shift in the NPO to ensure they will complete the production of the ballots on time.

“We will start working in 24-hour shifts as soon as we start printing at the printing office,” Jimenez said.

Strictly speaking, Jimenez explained, they have no problems with the actual printing of the ballot itself, since the process is automated.

“When the machines are operating at peak efficiency, you are talking about more than a million ballots per day. It could even be pushed to over 2 million per day,” Jimenez said.

The problem lies with the necessary verification of the printed ballots, which would have to be manually inserted to the vote-counting machines for verification.

“It is done by hand. Literally each one of the 61 million ballots will have to be fed to a counting machine,” Jimenez said.

He said they are now mulling over tapping more personnel to help in completing this cumbersome process.

“Depending again on the availability of funds, we will increase our compliment by about 10 percent or we will be diverting people from other

Japan warship ‘JS Ikazuchi’ drops anchor in Manila

By Rene Acosta

A

@reneacostaBM

JAPANESE destroyer commanded by a Japanese female naval officer docked on Tuesday in Manila for a three-day goodwill visit in what was dubbed as the first visit of a warship from a military ally in the country for this year.

The JS Ikazuchi, a Murasame-class destroyer from the Escort Division One of the Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF), with two SH-60K patrol helicopters, dropped anchor at South Harbor, Manila. The warship has a compliment of 220 crewmen.

The Japanese contingent is led by Japanese female naval officer Capt.

Ryoko Azuma, commander of the Escort Division One, according to Philippine Navy Spokesman Commander Jonathan Zata.

Zata said Ikazuchi’s visit to Manila was its first and also for the JMSDF for this year, although this is already the eighth visit to the country of vessels from the Japanese Navy since 2016.

Philippine Navy officials headed by Capt. Mardonio Navarro, who represented Navy chief Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad, accorded the JS Ikazuchi a welcome ceremony upon its arrival, which was later on followed by a news briefing.

In her speech, Azuma said that they berthed in the country in order to deepen the partnership between the two navies “through various opportunities and interaction.”

“I believe that this visit will make a great contribution to further the strong relations between our two countries,” she said.

The Philippine Navy, on the other hand, said the visit “will further enhance and sustain the promotion of peace, stability, and maritime cooperation of the two countries through naval diplomacy and camaraderie.”

Zata said that just like in previous visits by other Japanese vessels, the officers of Ikazuchi led by Azuma will pay a courtesy call to Empedrad before holding pre-coordination meetings.

Both navies will also hold a reciprocal reception along with a shipboard visit on Ikazuchi before a send-off ceremony will be held for the visiting Japanese destroyer through the customary passing exercise.

nonessential task to focus on the verification,” Jimenez said.

No additional cost

THE final ballot for the 2019 elections are expected to contain the names of about 76 senatorial candidates and 132 party-list groups.

The candidates for senators may still be reduced in the coming days, since about 13 of them are still awaiting certificate of finality

in their cases.

The number of 2019 candidates is significantly higher compared to the 50 senatorial candidates and 115 party-list groups in the 2016 ballots.

Jimenez said this led them to use a longer ballot for the 2019 polls.

In 2016, he said, the ballot they used was only about 17 inches. For the upcoming midterm elections, the Comelec will be using a bal-

lot that will be 22 to 25 inches long.

Still, the poll body said it does not expect to incur additional cost from using the longer ballot.

“What we have are rolls of uncut paper, so we could trim it [to our preferred length] as needed. Based from my observation on our available paper [supply], we don’t see any impact cost [from printing] longer ballots,” Jimenez pointed out.

A4 Wednesday, January 30, 2019 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

DOE asks Congress to cancel franchise of 17 power co-ops

A

By Cha Monforte | Correspondent

RANKING official of the Department of Energy has confirmed that the DOE is asking Congress to cancel the franchise of Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Daneco) and 16 other power cooperatives.

In a letter dated January 11, 2019 addressed to House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi recommended to Congress the cancellation of the franchise of 17 “underperforming, financially and technically distressed electric cooperatives.” The list includes Daneco.

The BusinessMirror obtained a copy of Cusi’s letter from a highly placed online source.

Daneco is No. 12 in the list. In descending order, the other electric cooperatives whose franchises were recommended for cancellation are Abra Electric Cooperative, Pampanga III Electric Cooperative Inc., Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc., Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc., Palawan Electric Cooperative, Camarines Sur III Electric Cooperative Inc., Albay Electric Cooperative Inc., Masbate Electric Cooperative Inc., First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative Inc., Ticao Island Electric Cooperative Inc., Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative Inc., Basilan Electric Cooperative Inc., Sulu Electric Cooperative Inc., Tawi-Tawi Electric Coopera-

tive Inc., Maguindanao Electric Cooperative Inc. and Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative Inc. Cusi stated that his recommendation is pursuant to Section 46 of Republic Act 9136 and based on the submission of the National Electrification Administration (NEA).

He also informed that Arroyo is drafting a policy recommendation, for consideration of Congress, to adopt a process of competitive selection for the grant of franchise to potential applicants.

It would be recalled that Daneco is the holder of Franchise Certificate 017 and 103 (for Samal Island) issued by NEA with a permit to operate for 50 years—from 1973 to 2023—for its coverage areas in the whole of Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte (excluding Panabo City, Sto. Tomas, Braulio E. Dujali and Carmen that are serviced by Davao Light and Power Corp.).

Daneco was rendering excellent ser vice to its more than 150,000 member-consumers and categorized by NEA as A+ Mega Large Cooperative until after July 2012 when it was embroiled into

a hostile and divisive leadership row, eventually ripping apart the once single Daneco entity into two factions, the Daneco-NEA and Daneco-CDA (Cooperative Development Author it y) that fought against each other in legal battles and at times manpower mobilization confrontations until more than a month ago.

In the period, there were at least three still unresolved killings of Daneco-NEA officials suspected to be connected to the conflict.

The mainstream Daneco-NEA or Daneco Inc. is though largely victorious in this six-year legal battle, even as Daneco-CDA group’s registration with the CDA has yet to be nullified as sought by Daneco Inc. as of this writing.

As a consequence of the longdraw n conf lict, Daneco Inc.’s collection went so low and amid financial hemorrhage through the crisis years until it accumulated total debts of P2.1 billion to various power suppliers at present. Its power service has been characterized by frequent power interruptions, rotating or prolonged brownouts and insufficient power supply.

On August 10, 2017, the NEA took over the management of the ailing Daneco Inc. through its Task Force Duterte-Northern Davao Power pursuant to NEA’s step powers, with a promise of regaining Daneco’s lost old glory.

But at present, the new management officials are still preoccupied in completely putting off the remaining irritations posed by the spent, thin Daneco-CDA, and in solving the problems in high systems loss, low collections, power pilferage and repayment to

its power debt.

DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella confirmed on Tuesday the agency’s recommendation to cancel Daneco’s franchise.

“Yes, it did not reach Category A as required by Secretary Alfonso Cusi and NEA” Fuentebella said in a text message when asked to confirm about Cusi’s recommendation letter addressed to Speaker Arroyo dated January 11 this year.

In November last year, the NEA ordered Daneco-CDA to cease from collecting bill payments.

Two groups operating in Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte have been causing confusion among the member-consumer-owners (MCOs) because both Daneco-NEA and Daneco-CDA are collecting bill payments.

NE A Genera l Manager Edgardo Masongsong said Daneco-NEA settles its obligations with power suppliers and other government agencies. He said Daneco’s accounts receivables ballooned to P2.5 billion. Its collection efficiency also dropped to 60 percent and its system loss rose to 19.53 percent.

“This situation had adversely affected the financial viability of Daneco Inc. as evidenced by the July 2018 Monthly Statistical Financial Report, which showed an aggregate amount of P2.283 billion as indebtedness to the power suppliers,” NEA had said.

“The empirical data indubitably show that the unhampered tortuous operation of DanecoCDA brought about the financial woes of Daneco Inc. to the extent of the looming power disconnection by the power suppliers,” it added. With Lenie Lectura

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Cusi tells PNOC: Find best option on negotiated sale of banked gas

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

E

NERGY Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi has directed the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) to submit a final report on the planned negotiated sale of the remaining 97.67 petajoules (Pj) Malampaya banked gas.

“As DOE secretary, let’s look for the best option. So, I required [the] PNOC management, led by [retired] Admiral [Reuben] Lista, to submit the recommendation, studies [on] what are the best options,” Cusi, who is also the exofficio chairman of PNOC, said.

The report is due on the next scheduled PNOC board meeting. “I will call a special board meeting that will deal on banked gas,” said Cusi.

The PNOC board has authorized the PNOC management to enter into comprehensive discussions or negotiations below the $6.616 per gigajoules under the Ilijan gasfired power plant’s gas and sale purchase agreement.

Under a negotiated deal, the Ilijan price will become PNOC’s price ceiling.

Iljan power plant, one of the gas plants fueled by the Malampaya gas facility, has a contract with the Malampaya consortium that will expire in 2022. Unused Malampaya gas is more known as banked gas. PNOC-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) is part of the Malampaya consortium.

In 2009, PNOC bought 108.6 Pj valued at P14.4 billion from the DOE, of which, 4.61 Pj was sold to the Power Sector Assets and Liabi lities Management Corp. (PSALM) in 2013 for P937 million.

PNOC also sold 6.324 Pj to Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. in 2015 for P2.5 billion.

The remaining 97.67 Pj is valued

at $700 million to $750 million.

“I am wiling to sell it below than $6.6,” said PNOC President Reuben Lista.

He said in an interview last week that there are three interested firms that have signified interest to purchase the remaining banked gas. He declined to identify the firms, saying they have yet to submit a formal letter of interest.

“Three are interested, aside from First Gen. I can’t disclose until their intention is put on paper,” said Lista.

Previously, Lista said that aside from First Gen and Ilijan, “there are two new [ones] showing interest. One is putting [up] a plant in Limay and the other in Batangas.”

Limay LNG Power Corp. earlier told the DOE that it is planning to build a LNG (liquefied natural gas) facility for its own use in Limay.

Meanwhile, Tanglawan Philippines LNG Inc. secured from the DOE a notice to proceed with its LNG project in Batangas.

Tanglawan is a joint venture between Philippine fuel retailer Phoenix Petroleum and China’s largest LNG importer and terminal operator China National Offshore Oil Corp. Gas and Power Group Co. Ltd. It plans to put up its LNG terminal in Batangas.

Tanglawan was earlier considering two sites in Batangas. One used to be the refinery location of Chevron (Caltex) in San Pascual, Batangas, and the other is a former project site of AG&P, which is along Anilao in Batangas.

Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos told reporters last week that Tanglawan and AG&P have signed a conditional sale and that “it was submitted to us.”

However, AG&P said this was “false” as “no legal agreement exists or has ever existed.”

Senate OKs on 2nd reading bill to tap Malampaya Fund to stave off electricity rate hikes

T

HE Senate approved on second reading on Monday a bill which will use a portion of the Malampaya collection

to defray a looming hike in electricity prices caused by stranded power sector privatization costs, which will be passed on to consumers.

The measure, principally authored by Sen. Ralph G. Recto and sponsored by Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, taps a part of an estimated unspent P204 billion in government royalties from the Malampaya natural gas production to settle P244 billion in Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) debts that will start to mature in 2019.

When the government sold off assets from the previous National Power Corp. state monopoly, it was left with outstanding liabilities which were not included in the sale.

The said obligations were assumed

by PSALM, which then passed these on to consumers through a Universal

Charge, Recto explained.

“This explains why our electricity bill contains that seemingly innocuous item called Universal Charges or UC. It is where these stranded costs are lumped together with other unitemized payables,” Recto said.

Recto said this orphaned debt...assumed

by PSALM, will hit P566.2 billion by 2026, the year PSALM’s corporate life will end.

By the end of 2031, PSALM’s outstanding obligation is forecast to further rise to P595.6 billion as PSALM is expected to borrow to service payables.

Recto said PSALM’s debts can be settled the old way: by passing it on to consumers, which will have to pay an additional 86

centavos per kilowatt-hour once the pending petitions for the Stranded Debts and Stranded Contract Costs are approved.

“Or there is the painless way: by using the Malampaya Fund to wipe the slate clean,” Recto said.

Based on the fund’s January 2019 unspent balance of P231.9 billion, some P56.13 billion will be used as replacement of the UC which is scheduled to be shouldered by consumers.

Recto said his bill complies with Presidential Decree 910, and the Supreme Court ruling on the matter “because the proceeds will be plowed back to an activity which is related to energy.”

DENR launches cleanup of Manila Bay in 3 CL provinces

By Ashley Manabat | Correspondent

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MASSIVE cleanup of Manila Bay in three provinces of Central Luzon was conducted by more than 5,000 individuals from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here and other government agencies, local government units (LGU), business sectors, academe and civil-society organizations on Sunday.

The DENR said this is to avert further degradation of the historic bay and bring back its water back to a level that is safe for swimming.

In a news statement, the DENR said current fecal coliform level in Manila Bay is at 330 million most probable number per 100 milliliters. The acceptable level for Class SB water, which is deemed safe, is 100 MPN/100 ml.

According to Paquito T. Moreno Jr., executive director of the DENR regional office, the cleanup was conducted simultaneously in the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga and Bataan in Region 3, Metro Manila in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Cavite in Region 4A on January 27 as ordered by Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu.

It signaled the start or “D-day” for the launching of massive cleanup and rehabilitation effort of the bay, he added.

“Bringing back Manila Bay to its origi-

nal state is a gargantuan task for the DENR which requires a lot of commitment, cooperation and support from other government agencies, LGUs, business establishments, civil-society organizations and other stakeholders,” Moreno said.

He explained that the launching of the Manila Bay cleanup in Central Luzon was conducted at the Obando River in Barangay Tawiran in Obando, Bulacan; Guagua River in Barangay Sto. Filomena in Guagua, Pampanga, and in the more than 700 meter stretch of the Mariveles coastline in Barangay Lucanin in Bataan.

“Actual cleanup was conducted in these areas while the total volume of waste collected was more than 5,000 kilograms,” he said.

“Three thousand mangrove species were also planted in these sites to protect our coastal areas,” he added.

Moreno emphasized that phase one of the rehabilitation program is the cleanup and water quality improvement, which involve the actual cleanup of designated esteros and waterways to reduce fecal coliform level and toxic discharges from establishments and the implementation of solid waste management.

Enough with reclamation

LAWYER Antonio Oposa Jr., who won a Supreme Court decision for the rehabilitation of Manila Bay 10 years ago, has opposed the

implementation of development projects along the coasts of Manila Bay that will involve land reclamation.

Interviewed by the BusinessMirror at the sidelines of a news conference during the launch of the Battle for Manila Bay in Pasay City on Sunday, Oposa said if the government will continue to allow land-reclamation projects to continue, it should drop altogether the idea of saving Manila Bay. “We were talking a while ago and I told them that if I will be asked about land reclamation, I will say that let us stop this cleanup and pour concrete pavement. Let us reclaim the entire Manila Bay. Of course, I was being sarcastic,” he told the BusinessMirror.

Cimatu, in an earlier interview, said part of the rehabilitation of Manila Bay calls for the massive reforestation of mangrove and beach forest, starting with the Las PiñasParañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area and a thorough review of land-reclamation projects along Manila Bay. According to Oposa, land reclamation will not help save Manila Bay because it will only attract people, including squatter families, who will eventually contribute to the degradation of the coastal and marine environment.

“If we will reclaim at all, let it be for public parks and open space,” he said.

With Jonathan L. Mayuga

A6 Wednesday, January 30, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Our penchant for PX goods

I

N the 1970s until the early 1980s, “Made in the USA” products, more popularly known as PX goods, were fashionable among Filipinos. In those days, the United States still retained a military facility at the Clark Air Base in Angeles City in Pampanga, where PX goods flowed out of the base in abundance. As these US products could be procured from the military base, PX goods became a status symbol of sorts for shoppers who believed that the quality of these items was far superior to local products.

PX goods were not necessarily cheap, which was why Filipinos patronized them, because they were seen as indicators of economic or social status. Thus, wealthy homes usually have an abundance of PX goods on display. In fact, one of the popular expressions at the time was “stateside,” which was used to refer to music, foodstuff and other goods from the USA. However, the withdrawal of American forces from Clark after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 and the non-ratification by the Senate of the proposed extension of the Philippines-US Military Bases Agreement killed the thriving PX trading in Pampanga. Then came the imports from other countries after the Philippines joined the World Trade Organization in 1995. Naturally, the terms “PX goods” and “stateside” were slowly forgotten. They were replaced by the word “imported.” And Filipinos started embracing everything imported.

Our penchant for imported products was not confined to potato chips and chocolates. The ensuing years saw the Philippines buying agricultural products from neighboring Southeast Asian countries that have found ways to make farming more efficient and cost-effective. The trade deals forged between and among countries and the fall of average tariff rates have made it easier for the Philippines to buy the food items needed by its growing population.

Because agricultural products such as milled rice were cheaper then, at least before the global rice price crisis of 2008, Philippine officials were more partial to importation than investing in agriculture to fix the problems of Filipino farmers. Importation was easier—the government would just wait for a few months for the food items needed by the population. Waiting for shipments was more cost-effective for the national government than fighting with Congress for money and overhauling policies to reform the farm sector.

As inflation rose to unexpected levels following the implementation of government’s tax reforms last year, economic managers were forced to admit that Philippine agriculture needs urgent assistance. Despite this admission, the solution they advocated was akin to the one that made us hostage to the global rice price crisis in 2008—import food items, such as sugar. This time, they do not want the solution to be temporary. Economic managers want to allow the unimpeded entry of the sweetener.

While it’s true that no country can produce all the food requirements of its population, the Philippines can produce all the sugar needs of the domestic market. The Philippine sugar industry even exports the sweetener to the United States, which allocates a quota for our sugar farmers. Allowing the unimpeded entry of imported sugar is like saying that the government would rather abandon a dollar-earning sector than cooperate with stakeholders to find ways to improve output and reduce prices.

Imports are cheaper, but buying from abroad helps foreign farmers. It’s true that local farmers are also consumers, but robbing them of a source of income would only make them poorer. Data from the Sugar Regulatory Administration showed that 75 percent of sugarcane farms have sizes less than 5 hectares, which means that the majority of sugarcane farmers are not big-time producers. Subjecting them to more intense competition, at a time when they have to contend with the ill effects of climate change, would make them lose their livelihood. This will not in any way help the government’s poverty-reduction efforts.

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Who are affected by the US ban on temporary work visas for Filipino workers?

Susan V. Ople

SCRIBBLES

F

ROM January 19, 2019, to January 18, 2020, the United States government will no longer issue category H-2A and H-2B working visas to Filipino workers. H-2A visas are issued to qualified temporary nonagricultural workers, while H-2B visas are meant for temporary agricultural workers. Both visa categories involve seasonal work in the US. Are our US-bound nurses and physical therapists affected by this one-year ban? According to friends in the recruitment industry, our nurses and other medical workers in the US hold EB2 and EB3 visas, which are not covered by the ban. In fact, there remains a keen interest among medical institutions, including nursing homes in the United States, to hire more nurses and therapists from the Philippines.

How will this ban affect students applying for visas under the work and travel scheme? So far, J-1 visas were not mentioned as being a part of the ban. Nevertheless, there is wisdom for the Philippine government to cast a sharper eye toward excessive charges leveled against these students by unscrupulous local partners of USbased companies. Unfortunately, there is no single government agency accountable for developing and monitoring the standards, protocols and marketing practices in recruiting Filipino students to work and study in the United States. I heard that

some companies that market US internship for students have links with lending companies that offer exorbitant interest rates to enable parents to comply with “guarantee bonds” to ensure that the students will return home after the internship ends.

I asked Thomas Taylor of Janus International, a company based in Florida and Virginia, about internship opportunities for Filipino students under the J-1 visa. The American businessman noted that a lot of US-based companies, especially in the hospitality industry, are happy to hire young Filipino interns because they possess the right values, are eager to learn and speak excellent English. To protect the work and travel industry that involve mainly Filipino students bound for the US, he suggested that our government could develop ethical standards for local companies that recruit Filipino students to join US-based internship and work/study programs.

Last year, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration

(POEA) processed less than a thousand work contracts for the United States. Given the small numbers involved, should we be concerned about the US temporary work visa ban? Yes, because the reason given does not put our country in a good light. According to the US government, the US embassy in Manila has been identified as the source of approximately 40 percent of the total T-visas issued worldwide from 2014 to 2016. A T-visa allows victims of human trafficking from overseas to stay in the United States for a period of four years while fighting for his or her legal rights. About 60 percent of Filipinos issued T-visas applied as human trafficking victims deployed under the H-2B visa category.

Based on this development, it seems that our government needs to review the present system of screening and deploying workers and student interns to the United States to ensure that any and all forms of human trafficking would be avoided. The visa ban should be our own wake-up call. Part of this review should also focus on the issue of overstaying workers—the other reason cited by the US government for the visa ban.

Mr. Lito Hernandez, head of the Industrial Personnel and Management Services Inc. or IPAMS, said that the POEA should also look into the rising incidence of absconding workers or workers who intentionally break their contracts to move to another employer or to seek help in coming home due to personal reasons, thus putting the foreign employer and recruitment agency in a legal bind. As a veteran recruitment

PCSO is stronger than ever Florante S. Solmerin

FACT IS MIGHT!

P

HILIPPINE Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Alexander “Mandirigma” Balutan reported the agency’s sales in 2018, which reached a whopping P63.55 billion against the P37 billion annual sales during the previous administration.

Despite the passing away of his younger brother, Bobby, a retired officer of the Philippine National Police, Mandirigma still managed to grace the press conference on Tuesday at Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City.

“I am in deep sorrow for the untimely demise of my beloved bother Bobby. Words are not enough to describe my profound relationship

with Bobby since childhood. We had fond memories that would forever be etched in my heart. Many times, as your big brother, I have comforted you with my warm embrace while you cry on my shoulder during bad times. You are one and only Bobby, I love you bro, you will surely be missed. Farewell…” said Balutan in his Facebook post.

For those who do not know

Mandirigma, he is an officer and public servant with integrity, embodying his alma mater’s three core values —“Courage, Integrity and Loyalty.”

And he is living a simple life.

This year, the PCSO is planning to create more exciting games to increase the agency’s revenues and probably surpass the P63.55-billion collections every year.

In one of my interviews with Mandirigma aired over DzRH, Radio Natin FM, DzRH news television and on Facebook live streaming DzRH Manila, “Mandirigma sa Kawanggawa,” he mentioned that the sales revenue might hit a plateau due to the expansion of Small Town Lottery (STL) which now has 88 corporations playing nationwide.

In fact, STL has contributed P26.1 billion to the PCSO’s P63.55 billion revenues in 2018. STL is the secondhighest earning product of PCSO. According to Assistant General Manager for Gaming Sector Arnel Casas, it is possible to increase PCSO

agency owner, he has had his share of horror stories involving overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that make false accusations to justify their transfer to a different employer despite an existing contract.

In my interview with POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia, he said that an advisory would soon be issued to remind OFWs to follow the US Homeland regulations. “The POEA will defer to the wisdom of the Department of Foreign Affairs [DFA] regarding the US temporary work visa ban. We will be asking the licensed agencies with workers in the United States to strictly monitor the conditions of these workers.

For those affected by the visa ban, the POEA will hold a dialogue with the industry for possible alternative labor markets.”

If the decision to stop the temporary work visas at least for the H-2A and H-2B categories is but part and parcel of President Trump’s “America First” campaign promise, then this is a political decision that falls squarely with the US authorities. Nevertheless, for our own peace of mind, we do need to ascertain whether or not the human trafficking angle raised concerning our temporary workers holds true. According to a source within the DFA, the secretary of foreign affairs fully intends to discuss the temporary ban with his counterpart. Until then, we have no choice but to wait for further developments.

Susan Ople heads the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, a nonprofit organization that deals with labor and migration issues. She also represents the OFW sector in the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.

earnings if the agency will launch the mobile texting games using smart phones to place bets in Lotto and STL. Apart from that, Roger Ramirez, manager of the Product Standard and Development Department of the PCSO, confirmed that the PCSO Board has approved the launch of a new lottery game this year. The PCSO needs to strengthen its revenue collection through its new, meaningful and exciting games to generate funds to support the health programs of the government and the different charity programs of the PCSO. Of course, this is a challenge to the department of AGM for Branch Operations Remeliza Gabuyo, who needs to look after the expansion of branch offices in the regions.

At present, there are 67 PCSO branches. According to Mandirigma, he will put up PCSO branch offices in every region before the end of President Duterte’s term in 2022.

E-mail: fetad@yahoo.com

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019 A7

What Microsoft can teach Facebook about playing nice

May faces losing control over Brexit despite gamble on backstop

A

Despite a last-minute gamble aimed at buying off rebels in her Conservative Party, the prime minister will face a knife-edge battle to block a proposal that would hand Parliament the power to delay the process and prevent a no-deal divorce.

The leadership of the opposition Labour Party was preparing to order its MPs to vote for the amendment, put forward by Labour’s Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles as May scrambled for a compromise all sides could support.

In a dramatic meeting on Monday evening, the prime minister effectively abandoned the agreement she’s spent the past 18 months negotiating with the EU and threw the weight of her government behind a separate proposal to rewrite the deal.

May urged hundreds of Conservative politicians crammed into a room inside Parliament to support another amendment that would strip out the so-called backstop plan for the Irish border, wrecking a compromise she’s agreed to with the EU in the hope of securing one with her own party.

By Alex Webb | Bloomberg Opinion

S another European Commission mega-fine on Alphabet Inc. nears, it prompts the question: Can the Google parent ever free itself from the specter of penalties from the region’s regulators? The same goes for Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc., each of which is facing scrutiny for how they handle data. They could do a lot worse than looking to a fellow West Coast tech giant for a playbook.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Microsoft Corp. was the European Commission’s nemesis. For most of the first decade of the millennium, the firm was under fire over the way it bundled products with its then-dominant Windows operating system. It became the subject of what were then record fines.

Fast-forward to 2019, and Microsoft is firmly in regulators’ good books. That’s the result of a concerted effort to turn things around. Silicon Valley, take note.

For a long time, Microsoft’s approach to the Commission was antagonistic. Its attitude seemed to be that “these European bureaucrats just don’t understand technology, they’re wrong.” That pig-headedness was well exemplified by the €860 million ($982-million) fine officials imposed in 2008 for failing to comply with an earlier ruling.

About five years ago, the company’s attitude started to shift. It realized that, more than just obeying the letter of the law, it had to be seen as a positive actor. It turned up the soft diplomacy: having top executives such as President Brad Smith meet more regularly with policy-makers, and hosting drinks parties in Brussels. It helped that, in 2014, Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as CEO, bringing with him an approach characterized more by humility than hubris.

It went further. The technology industry was rattled in 2013

by Edward Snowden’s revelations of the extent of US surveillance.

Perhaps opportunistically, Microsoft pushed to redefine itself as a privacy advocate and lock arms with the Commission in objecting to US demands for access to data.

Google needs to find similarly common ground, and it could start by toning down moves that seem like threats, such as when it said last week it might shutter Google News in Europe in response to a planned copyright law which might force it to pay publishers more. Playing nice would help burnish the firm’s standing in Brussels as the investigation into alleged anticompetitive behavior in digital advertising winds down.

Amazon is, meanwhile, in focus for the way it might use data to imitate products that third-party vendors sell on its site in order to squeeze them out.

The volume of criticism of Facebook is soaring amid concerns over the spread of false information on its platform, and its granular data

on user habits.

Microsoft also offered remedies, which made it seem more cooperative. For Internet Explorer, it decided to let Windows users choose which browser they wanted to use, after the regulator criticized how it linked the two products. That sort of industrial solution plays well in Brussels.

But in this case, it also fed a fundamental change in the company’s business. The browser option helped Google’s Chrome steal market share from Explorer. That would make it all the more urgent for Microsoft to find revenue elsewhere. Personal computing now accounts for less than half of sales, and the shift toward other businesses can be explained in part by regulatory pressure.

For Google and Facebook, this makes it even more important that they find revenue streams that don’t rely on targeted ads.

That business accounts for almost all of the two companies’ sales, and depend on mining user data in a way that is drawing official scrutiny.

Facebook sometimes appears guilty of the mindset that was once symptomatic of Microsoft, namely, thinking that regulators are dumb and don’t understand its business. When Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg was quizzed by members of the European Parliament about privacy issues last May, he proved evasive and tried to unilaterally end the meeting when the line of questioning became difficult.

Lawmakers were outraged.

Perhaps Zuckerberg recognizes he needs outside help: After reportedly trying to lure Smith from Microsoft, he ultimately hired former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to head global lobbying efforts. He faces a colossal challenge to change the company’s image given the pervasive European ill will toward the company’s founder and his lieutenant, Sheryl Sandberg.

As dire as relations might look for the tech firms, there’s still scope to turn them around. In 2014, former European Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes tweeted a selfie of herself with Smith with the words “A selfie with Brad Smith from @Microsoft? I never would have believed if you predicted it 10yrs ago.”

If Microsoft can do it, and become the world’s most valuable company once again in the process, so could they.

T

By Thomas Penny | Bloomberg Opinion

HERESA MAY faces losing control of Brexit to Parliament on Tuesday in a series of crucial votes that will shape Britain’s split from the European Union.

Resolving the impasse

MAY’S move was intended to win over hard-line Brexit backers who

joined with opposition MPs on January 15 to reject her EU divorce package. It was the biggest government defeat in the House of Commons for more than a century and prompted two weeks of soul-searching and debate over how to resolve the impasse inside the government.

Previously implacable factions in the Conservative Party have even held private talks to seek a consensus around asking the EU for a modified backstop and an extra year’s transition. WhatsApp discussions between politicians, including leading euroskeptic Jacob Rees-Mogg and Pro-EU Nicky Morgan, were made public on Monday night and confirmed by the two sides. If the House of Commons does not ratify a Brexit agreement, the UK will tumble out of the bloc with no new trading terms in place on March 29. That risks a recession, a hit to the pound and a crash in house prices, according to official analysis from the authorities in Britain.

Irish backstop

MAY, who will close Tuesday’s debate, now hopes her Tory party will say clearly what it wants to change in the deal she’s struck with the EU. Her aim is to send a message to Brussels that the Irish border backstop must be ditched or radically redrafted,

and persuade the EU to change position so a new deal can pass through Parliament.

According to an EU official, though, the amendment proposed by Graham Brady has little chance of persuading the bloc to make compromises. The proposal appears to only leave scope for the backstop to be overtaken by a better solution—of which there is no evidence of one at this point. It will be “extraordinarily difficult” for the UK to win concessions or remove the backstop unless it moves its own red lines, the official said.

May, who will meet with her cabinet on Tuesday morning, also faces major hurdles when her latest gambit is put to a test in a vote expected in the Commons later in the day.

‘String things out’

SO far, May’s euroskeptic colleagues in the European Research Group have said they’re unlikely to be persuaded to support her call, though they will not finalize their position until just before Tuesday’s votes.

Instead, the Cooper and Boles plan could now win more backing from politicians who are determined to stop a no-deal Brexit and ensure they have the power to delay the UK’s divorce from the EU if necessary.

“When will the PM understand that the ideological leaders of the ERG do not want a deal? They just want to string things out until it is too late,” Boles said in a posting on Twitter. “Pragmatic Conservatives should support the Cooper amend-

Bloomberg Opinion

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HE Trump administration will press China to prove it can keep promises in talks this week aimed at ending the trade war, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, as the US ratcheted up legal pressure on one of the biggest examples of Chinese technological might.

In a sign of the importance the White House is placing on the talks, President Donald J. Trump is expected to meet China’s top trade negotiator, according to Mnuchin at a briefing on Monday in Washington.

The round of talks on Wednesday and Thursday will cover US demands for structural changes to China’s economy and Beijing’s pledge to buy more

American goods.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the nation’s top trade negotiator, had already arrived in Washington by Monday local time, the state Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday. PBOC Governor Yi Gang and Vice Finance Minister Liao Min are among the delegation members, Xinhua said.

But before the meetings even start, any expectation for big progress was complicated by growing tension between the two countries over Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. US prosecutors on Monday filed criminal charges against the company, accusing it of stealing trade secrets and committing bank fraud.

The Huawei case and the US’s demands in the trade talks, taking place on different tracks, strike at the same

‘A clear message’

LABOUR will not formally say if it will order its MPs to back the plan until House of Commons Speaker John Bercow announces which amendments have been chosen for consideration on Tuesday morning, but three people familiar with the leadership’s thinking said it was minded to support it.

If Labour whips its support, May’s minority administration will need most of its own rebels to fall into line while hoping that Labour MPs who are concerned at being accused by voters of frustrating Brexit will abstain or vote with the government.

Even so, Brandon Lewis, the chairman of May’s Tory party, said he is “very optimistic and hopeful” that his colleagues will get behind the new backstop-killing amendment. “It will allow the prime minister to go back to Brussels with a clear message,” he told reporters after the meeting.

“We want to get this vote through tomorrow.”

Marriott sued by housekeeper over guest sexual misconduct

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By Rebecca Greenfield | Bloomberg Opinion

ETICIA VALLEJO, a housekeeper at a Marriott hotel in Irvine, California, said that back in the summer of 2017, a drunk male guest groped her while she was cleaning the hotel lobby bathroom. As he did so, he offered her $50.

In an interview, Vallejo, 51, said that when she told one of her supervisors, the response was laughter—and a joke to the effect of “he should have offered you $100.” This wasn’t the first, or the last, incident in a hotel bathroom, said Vallejo, who has worked at the Marriott location for 18 years. Men often urinate in front of her and make inappropriate comments or advances. It’s a regular occurrence for female housekeepers, she said.

The picture she painted echoed her lawsuit, filed Monday in California Superior Court. In it, Vallejo alleged that her supervisors at Marriott Irvine didn’t do enough to protect her from guest misconduct, creating a hostile work environment. She repeatedly asked for a sign to keep people out of bathrooms while she cleaned, according to the complaint. Previously, the hotel had signs which also served to block guests from entering, she said, but management discontinued their use as “old-fashioned.”

Eventually, Vallejo was provided with a small sign that didn’t block the bathroom entrance, she said. As for the alleged assault, she said management didn’t respond. “They didn’t investigate,” she said. “There’s no protection.”

Lawyers for Vallejo said she filed a notice with the California Department

of Fair Employment and Housing and was issued a right-to-sue letter prior to filing the lawsuit. In her complaint, Vallejo is seeking unspecified damages and injunctive relief.

“Marriott International has a longstanding commitment to the well-being of associates,” said Jeff Flaherty, a company spokesman. “Marriott has a global policy that strictly prohibits harassment of any associate by any other associate, manager, supervisor, vendor, guest, client or customer.” He declined to comment on Vallejo’s lawsuit.

“She herself was powerless.

She couldn’t decline to clean the restroom.”

Her case comes after a year of agitation by Marriott employees who have been pushing for increased safety measures to protect against customer harassment. At a shareholders meeting last May, eight other female Marriott employees who worked in hotels across the country shared similar experiences or urged executives to take action.

This winter, an almost two-monthlong strike did result in wage increases and stronger sexual harassment protections for thousands of unionized Marriott workers. The Irvine Marriott, however, wasn’t unionized at the time.

In her complaint, Vallejo describes in detail the incident in the bathroom and

her repeated requests for a sign. When Marriott did provide her with one in December, she said, it was the size of an 8 ½ x 11-inch sheet of paper. “Men still come into the bathroom,” she said in an interview. According to her complaint, management’s “failure to provide adequate protection” resulted in a “consistent pattern of conduct which occurred on a regular and frequent basis.”

“The hotel has placed her in this obviously dangerous and untenable situation,” said Lauren Teukolsky, Vallejo’s attorney. “She herself was powerless. She couldn’t decline to clean the restroom.”

In a statement on September 6, Arne Sorenson, chief executive of Marriott International, said the chain is focused on “deterring and combating harassment of any kind.”

Over the last year, the #MeToo movement, which initially focused on the entertainment industry, CEOs and whitecollar workers, started to illuminate the experiences of low-wage, service workers. Last year Walmart and McDonald’s were both hit with claims of workplace sexual harassment. And, in September, hundreds of McDonald’s workers protested conditions at the fast-food chain, demanding the company do more to protect its employees. In public statements, both companies have said they don’t tolerate workplace harassment.

Vallejo is the sole plaintiff in her lawsuit, which names two Marriott subsidiaries and eight unidentified parties as defendants. Three other women who work at the Irvine Marriott shared similar allegations of harassment with Bloomberg, and what they said was a lack of action by management. “They

Trump to wade into China trade talks as US targets Huawei

By Andrew Mayeda

ment tomorrow and shoot the no-deal fox.”

In an effort to appease those Tories who are proposing to back Boles and Cooper’s plan to delay Brexit, May promised they would have another chance to vote to stop Britain leaving the bloc without a deal, according to people in the room on Monday. She said the government will come back to make a statement to Parliament on the next steps if no Brexit deal has been agreed by February 13.

objective: ensuring China plays by global trade rules and abides by laws as it emerges as a technology power.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, speaking about the Huawei indictments, said on Monday that the trade talks and legal case are separate matters.

One of the key issues at the trade negotiations will be enforcement of China’s agreements, Mnuchin told reporters during a White House briefing on Monday. “We expect when we get a deal, that that deal will be enforced,” he said. “The details of how we do that are very complicated.”

Meeting agenda

CHINESE policies on intellectual property and forced technology transfers will also be important

topics at the table, he said. Trump is expected to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a top adviser of President Xi Jinping, Mnuchin said.

The US delegation will be led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the White House said.

The US group will also include Mnuchin, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Larry Kudlow, and Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro.

Trump and Xi have given their officials until March 1 to reach a lasting truce to a trade war that has hurt the world’s largest economies.

The two sides will discuss “structural changes” to China’s economic system, as well as Chinese pledges

to buy more US goods and services, according to the White House.

“We have another 30 days after this,” Mnuchin said. “My expectation is that we will make significant progress.”

The negotiation comes at a tense time for US-China relations. In a 13-count indictment in Brooklyn, New York, the US government alleged Huawei, two affiliated companies and its chief financial officer of fraud and conspiracy in connection with deals in Iran. A 10-count indictment in Washington State accused the company of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile USA Inc. and offering bonuses to employees who succeeded in getting technology from rivals.

The Trump administration hasn’t

never listen to us,” said Lilliana Rodriguez, one of the three women. She has worked at the Irvine Marriott for 18 years. “They always tell us what is important are the guests.”

Hotel workers are particularly vulnerable to workplace harassment. An analysis of claims filed with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by the Center for American Progress found that more than a quarter of complaints came from industries with large numbers of service sector workers.

“Somebody needs to listen to us.

This is enough.”

Hotel unions have made protecting workers from sexual assault a key demand since 2012, when a housekeeper at a New York hotel accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then head of the International Monetary Fund, of sexual assault.

Strauss-Kahn denied the allegations and reached a settlement with the housekeeper, but the high-profile case resonated throughout the industry. Since then, hotels and municipalities have taken some steps to protect employees, including the passage of laws in Chicago and Seattle requiring hotels to provide a panic button to those who work alone in guestrooms or restrooms.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association, of which Marriott is a member, challenged the Seattle law, which a state appeals court overturned in December. The group said in a statement at the time that “while the initiative was passed under the guise of employee safety, it included several regulations that have nothing to do with safety, such as work rules and health insurance requirements.”

succeeded in convincing the Chinese that charges against Huawei and trade negotiations are unrelated, said Matt Gold, a former deputy assistant US Trade Representative. The tactic could backfire, he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “President Trump has made a big mistake by allowing the Chinese to draw the conclusion that the two are related,” Gold said. “It makes it more difficult for us to negotiate trade when the Chinese feel we are enforcing our export laws to gain leverage for a trade negotiation.”

Huawei has been the target of a broad US crackdown over allegations it has stolen trade secrets, violated sanctions against Iran and sold equipment that could be used by China’s Communist Party for spying.

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Blast probe eyes Jolo church security lapses

By Manuel T. Cayon

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@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

HERE may be “procedural” lapses in the twin explosions that hit Sulu’s Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo as the bombers managed to sneak the bombs inside the church and in its compound, Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said on Tuesday.

This, as the Bureau of Immigration went on heightened alert for the possible entry of foreign terrorists, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) directed its members in Sulu to do deep-information gath-

ering on suspect groups.

Sunday’s twin bombings blamed on the Abu Sayyaf Group killed at least 21 people and wounded more than 90 others in the worst attacks against civilians in the province.

“Dabawenyos pray that Jolo and its people will also stand and rise with dignity and strong resolve to overcome this tragedy and deliver the perpetrators to the government so that justice may be served.”

—Duterte-Carpio

“Was there [a] lapse? While we were briefed that all people going inside were searched, it is possible that there may be lapses in the procedure,” said Lorenzana.

The military initially agreed

w it h t he pronou ncement of Lorenzana, adding that it will reconstruct the events leading to the blasts by interviewing witnesses and gather more data so that it can revise security protocols.

“Just the mere fact that a bomb exploded inside the church means there were lapses. As to how it actually happened, we will never know, as the soldier on duty also died in the blast,” said Military Public Affairs Office chief Col. Noel Detoyato.

Four up to six men, whom the military said are members of the Ajang-ajang Group of the Abu Sayyaf, are being viewed by investigators as suspects behind the two bombings.

Meanwhile, the MILF directed

its members in Sulu province to conduct deep background checks on the possible suspects and help government probers.

MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim said he directed the MILF in Sulu “to intensify their information gathering and to cooperate and coordinate with concerned local authorities investigating the incident.”

He said the MILF has assured the government it will help gather information leading to the identification of the bombers, and will coordinate with the security sector.

“This early, the forces of terrorism, wherever they are coming from, are bent to keep us in the cycle of violence, distrust and

hatred, which we want to put an end to,” Murad said, in apparent reference to earlier apprehensions that the bombers wanted to derail the promise of peace and development offered by the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), on which the first of a two-step plebiscite was held on January 21.

Intel on church attacks

LORENZANA said that before the attacks on Sunday, there were already reports as early as August 2018 that terrorists would attack churches in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga, with Jolo as the “most probable” target.

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Bicam panel scraps budget for corruption-prone dredging ‘PROPOSALS TO LOWER

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HE 2019 national budget has zero budget for dredging activities, which Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, described as “a rich source of corruption.”

This, after the bicameral conference committee, hearing the disagreeing provisions of the 2019 General Appropr iations Bill, adopted the motion of Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson to scrap the budget for dredging activities,

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confident that it will be granted, again subject to the concern that if it is a blanket [exemption] or overbroad, then that might change,” Jimenez told the BM Coffee Club, which was joined by members of the Aliw Media Group of the Cabangon Chuas.

Jimenez explained that if the

Drilon said, calling it an unprecedented development.

“Contracts with contractors for dredging activities will not be funded. The reason is: Dredging contracts with private contractors are the biggest sources of corruption, and the preferred insertions in the budget by legislators. Billions are allocated for dredging,” Drilon said.

“A m a j o r a m e n d m e nt i s that there will be no budget for

dredging. Because dredging is the rich source of corruption. How can you measure how many cubic meters of mud did you dredge?” Drilon said in a television interview earlier.

Instead, Drilon said the budget will be used to fund the purchase of dredging equipment lodged under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“Citing what I did for the Iloilo River, Senator Lacson moved that all the amounts allocated

for dredging be used for the purchase of dredging machines.

This was adopted by the bicam,” Drilon said “That’s what we did in Iloilo. We purchased dredging machines, so up to now, five years after, we’re still dredging without any additional expense,” he added.

Drilon said that henceforth, as a matter of policy, dredging will be done in-house, by the DPWH, not by private contractors.

scope of the request is too broad or that a request for a blanket exemption is being proposed, then the Comelec will have to mull over whether to grant the request or not, since inclusions in line with a blanket exemption are not clear.

“We look at these kinds of requests favorably, but we have to look at the specifics of the request.

More common than not, the Comelec doesn’t reject those kinds of

requests. The Comelec remains aware of the role of spending in national development, in the progress of the nation. So we do not unnecessarily stand in the way,” he added.

Jimenez stressed that the spending ban is only focused on preventing “the use of government funds for political purposes.”

“So the ban is really aimed at those projects which are clearly being undertaken at a particular

time before providing a particular political metric,” he added.

Projects that have already been started even before the onset of the election period are usually not halted, according to Jimenez.

“And as a general rule, if a project is already implemented even before the election period starts, we don’t prevent those,” the poll official added.

TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE AREA AFFECTING THE SOUTHERN SECTION OF MINDANAO NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING THE REST OF THE COUNTRY as of 4:00 pm - January 29, 2019

Humanitarian projects

HE said an exemption on the spending ban is also being done for projects that are humanitarian in nature, citing as an example a situation when a typhoon hits the country and bridges are needed to help people in certain areas.

“The problem may [arise] if there will be a request for a blanket exemption. That might be a problem because asking for a blanket exemption will be tantamount to asking for a blank check.... If you are not specific, the Comelec also has a say in that, because remember...the expenditure of public funds for a political purpose doesn’t only happen at the local level,” he said.

‘Too risky’ to stall

ON Monday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia revealed that the Neda will appeal to the Comelec to spare some public infrastructure from the spending ban.

He explained that some government projects, including the rollout of the national ID system, are just “too risky” to stall.

He pointed out that the exemption is particularly important if the government will continue to operate on a reenacted 2018 budget.

Pernia reported that the gover nment is ma k ing “ def inite progress” in infrastructure development, with 61 big-ticket projects amounting to P2.73 trillion already approved by the Neda Board.

Of the 75 flagship projects under the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program, 44 projects are under various stages of implementation, 24 are under pre-investment study and the remaining seven are up for a review.

Congress will hold sessions until February 8. Lawmakers will go on recess from February 9 to May 19 for the midterm elections.

CRIMINAL AGE LIABILITY UNDULY TARGET POOR’

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

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@BNicolasBM

LUMNI of the University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) expressed “grave concern” over the efforts of lawmakers to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to 12 years old.

In a position paper, the 73 alumni of the UPSE questioned the effectiveness of MACR legislation in deterring crime and participation of juveniles in criminal activities.

The UPSE alumni also called on lawmakers to junk the bills as these “fail the criteria” they have set in terms of “discernment, consistency of legislation, effectiveness and efficiency, fairness and social norms.”

They warned that more children from poor families will be on the losing end once the proposal is enacted.

“We, alumni, of the University of the Philippines School of Economics, express our grave concern over House Bill 8858, otherwise known as ‘An Act Expanding the Scope of the Reformation and Rehabilitation of Children in Conflict with the Law and Strengthening the Social Reintegration Programs.’

We likewise voice our serious concern over the Senate counterpart bills that are similar in content to HB 8858. These are Senate Bills 1603 and 2026,” their position paper read.

They said the proposal merely addresses the technique that uses juveniles as accessories to commit crimes, and warned that criminals will adapt and will use a different strategy and technique in response to the change in the law.

“Lowering the age of criminal responsibility does not deter commission of the crime because the criminal will look for an alternative way to commit the crime. He can, for example, deploy other children who are below 12 years old to commit the crime,” it read. “Using children between the age of 12 years old

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fluctuations on both dollar- and third-currency denominated debt contributed the biggest increment to external debt amounting to P8.26 billion and P14.33 billion, respectively, along with net availments on foreign loans, which added P6.02 billion,” the BTr said.

The government’s total guaranteed obligations as of Decem-

BIR. . .

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Moreover, the implementing rules and regulations for taxes for cosmetic procedures have still not been issued.

“But overall, the collection of the BIR, despite the perfect storm that hit us, the high inflation and the deteriorating peso-dollar rate,” was satisfactory, he said, adding, “we survived, in fact we registered a double-digit increase in our

and 18 years old to commit crime will not stop either.”

Instead of pushing for the measure, the group urged the government to step up efforts to capture and convict criminals, which will make punishment of crimes credible.

Citing statistics from the Philippine National Police from January 2002 to December 2012, the UPSE alumni said children committed only 2 percent of the total number of crimes.

“To be sure, the main causes of crime, especially crimes against property where children are involved, include poverty, lack of education and lack of productive opportunities or gainful employment. Thus, the majority of children who commit crime come from the poor,” the paper read.

“The predictable outcome of further reducing the minimum age of criminal responsibility is having more children from poor families being detained or imprisoned. A sledgehammer is being used to crack a nut, as it were, considering that the children account for a tiny fraction of total crimes,” it added.

Although the group ack nowledged that the existing Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 has weaknesses, it said the law causes the “least harm” in comparison to pending measures lowering the MACR. “We instead urge our legislators to affirm the implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 and seek ways to improve its practice by emphasizing restorative, not punitive, justice,” the paper read.

On Monday, the measure was approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading. President Duterte and Speaker Gloria MacapagalArroyo have already expressed their support for the measure.

The initial version of the House bill sought to lower the MACR to nine years old, but this was changed after it sparked outrage from various groups and critics.

ber reached P487.586 billion, or 2 percent higher than the P478.113 billion recorded in 2017. Compared to the P471.79 billion recorded in November, the December figure posted an expansion of 3.3 percent.

Broken down, domestic guaranteed debt stood at P197.537 billion, while external guaranteed debt amounted to P290.049 billion in December.

According to the BTr, 34.5 percent of the total debt stock were sourced externally, while 65.50 percent were borrowed onshore. Rea Cu collection, so that’s the good sign, and hopefully this year, we expect that the business environment will continue to prosper.”

Misajon said the BIR collection target for 2019 is P2.339 trillion.

For his part, BIR Commissioner Cesar R. Dulay said the bureau will “have to do everything to reach the target.”

“We have programs already. We have a program of intensified audit, and we have to continue with our Run After Tax Evaders program,” added Dulay.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

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Faster growth, lower inflation seen for 2019

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By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

ETTER economic conditions are seen for the Philippines this year, as growth prospects are slightly brighter than in 2018, while local price growth is likely to see a “drastic drop” for 2019.

In its annual media economic briefing in Makati City on Tuesday, Standard Chartered Bank economist for Asia Chidu Narayanan said the Philippines is expected to grow 6.4 percent for this year. This is higher

than 2018’s 6.2-percent performance, but below the government’s ambitious 7-percent to 8-percent target growth range for this year.

Narayanan said consumption will still be the biggest component

of the country’s growth story this year, but the public spending due to infrastructure projects, as well as expected invesments, will be the “swing factor” for the country to grow a little faster this year.

Inflation—which peaked to 6.7 percent in September and October in 2018—is seen to fall to 3.5 percent on average for 2019, before eventually falling below 2.5 percent in 2020.

The projected sharp drop of prices in the country has been attributed to a confluence of pull factors for 2019, where all of the factors that pushed inflation last year—including more taxes, higher oil prices and increase in food prices—will all decline this year. High base effects from last year will also come into play.

The sharp drop in inflation, Narayanan continued, will increase the space for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to move into a more accomodative stance this year, after several bouts of agressive rate hikes in 2018. Standard Chartered’s base case, however, is for the BSP to bring down its reserve requirement ratios (RRR) and not cut its main monetarypolicy rate for 2019.

Narayanan said they expect the BSP to cut the banks’ RRR to 16 percent for this year from the current 18 percent—a move that is seen to be in tranches. However, an underachievement of growth in the first half of 2019 will increase the likelihood of a rate cut from the BSP before the year ends, the economist said.

Despite the rosier outlook for domestic indicators, Standard Chartered economists see a dismal performance for the Philippines’s currentaccount position, thereby spilling over to the peso’s performance for 2019. Narayanan said the country’s current account will still be in deficit for 2019, but will likely be smaller than in the previous year.

The reason behind their persisting current-account deficit forecast includes strong import growth on the back of the country’s infrastructure projects, coupled with a lower export growth because of the uncertainty in the global trade environment.

This deficit is seen to spill over the peso’s performance for the year— which is expected to hit 54 to a dol-

lar by end-June and 55 to a dollar by end-2019. For 2020, the peso is expected to remain at 55 to a dollar.

Data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed the peso closed trade on Tuesday at 52.43 to a dollar.

Narayanan said the projected depreciation of the peso is likely to be “gradual and modest” and will likely be due to still sizable import goods that will push the current-account deficit to a deficit territory.

Among the downside risks to the peso forecast include more aggressive rate hike from the US Federal Reserve, an unsuccessful resolve to the US and China’s current trade talks and significant increases in global oil prices.

Megaworld Corp. allocates ₧65-billion capex this year M EGAWORLD Corp., the property-development ar m of businessman Andrew Tan, said it is allocating P65 billion in capital expenditures (capex) this year, mainly for residential, office and mall projects across its township developments, as well as for land acquisition and investment properties.

This year’s capex allocation is slightly higher than last year’s P60

billion. About 80 percent of this year’s capex is allocated for property developments across its 23 mixed-use developments in the country, while the remaining 20 percent will be used for land acquisition and investment properties. “We are ramping up the residential properties in our portfolio this year as we have seen a remarkable spike in residential demand across our townships, both in Metro Manila and in the provinces.

Likewise, we remain focused on cementing our leadership in the office category by launching more office spaces, and we are looking into opening more lifestyle malls as we keep track of our goal towards P20 billion in rental revenues by next year,” said Kevin L. Tan, the company’s EVP and chief strategy officer.

Megaworld is set to launch 28 new residential towers this year, which are expected to generate P90 billion

in residential sales, it said.

The company is also expected to start the construction of five new office projects and complete its ongoing mall and commercial properties across the country.

About five new office towers are expected to start construction in Uptown Bonifacio in Taguig; Capital Town in San Fernando, Pampanga, and Westside City in Parañaque, covering around 116,000 square meters

(sq m) in gross leasable spaces.

Also, five new office towers are expected to be completed within the year in Uptown Bonifacio, Iloilo Business Park, Arcovia City in Pasig and Pampanga, with total gross leasable area of around 189,000 sq m.

Five commercial properties are also expected to be completed within the year in McKinley Hill in Fort Bonifacio, Arcovia City and Davao Park District in Davao City. These

will give an additional 9,000 sq mof gross leasable spaces in our commercial retail portfolio.

“On our rental portfolio, we are allocating most of our capex in the completion of new office and lifestyle mall developments across our townships,” Tan said. By end-2019, Megaworld’s leasable properties are expected to climb to 2.14-million sq m, with office properties accounting for almost 60 percent.

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

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ANA to invest $95M in PAL

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

APANESE airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) is investing $95 million (P5.009 billion) into Philippine Airlines (PAL) for a 9.5-percent stake in the carrier currently striving to become a five-star airline through several transformation initiatives, including fleet and route expansion programs.

Under the deal, ANA Holdings Inc. will take in a minority share in PAL Holdings Inc. through the acquisition of the shares from Trustmark Holdings Corp. of billionaire Lucio C. Tan.

ANA Holdings President Shinya Katanozaka said his group invested in the Filipino airline because of its “potential” as a “multiawarded flag carrier” and the growing demand for air travel

in the Asean via the Philippines.

“Asia is a key growth market and we believe Philippine Airlines is in an excellent operational position to capitalize on both the strong uptick in air traffic growth, as well as the vibrant, expanding Philippine economy,” Katanozaka said on Tuesday.

Jaime J. Bautista, the president of the Philippine flag carrier, said the investment of ANA will help his group achieve its goal of becoming a five-star carrier by 2020. Currently, the company is expanding its fleet and route network to roughly 100 jets and 80 destinations in four continents.

He said the announcement came as his group celebrates the 70th year of its service to Japan this month.

“It is a great privilege to celebrate this historic occasion by strengthening our ties with ANA,

as we aim to build a relationship that is mutually beneficial with an eye to a more progressive future,” Bautista said.

PAL has been on a search for potential strategic investment for the past half decade. This marks the first time in PAL’s 78-year history that a foreign company will invest in the company.

“It is a working relationship that will create a fusion of knowledge, skill and expertise, and will help propel PAL towards growth and ultimately, the five-star status,” PAL Spokesman Cielo M. Villaluna said in a text message.

However, she noted she is not privy to whether or not Tan’s group is still open to more possible foreign investors in PAL. Bautista was in a meeting as of writing time.

Completion of the investment is subject to certain closing conditions.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Reyes to step down as Meralco president

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ANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) President Oscar Reyes will step down in May this year after having served the utility firm for eight years.

Reyes, who will retire on May 28 this year, will be replaced by Ray Espinosa, current chairman of the Philippine Star and Business World.

T he a n nou ncement wa s made by Meralco on Tuesday, a day after the company’s board of directors held a meeting.

Meantime, Espinosa was designated as Meralco’s deputy CEO effective January 28, reporting directly to Reyes.

Reyes used to be Meralco’s EVP and COO before he took over Manuel V. Pang-

ilinan’s role as president and CEO. Pangilinan is Meralco’s chairman.

Espinosa has been a director of Meralco since May 26, 2009.

He is also the chairman of the Finance Committee of the board. He will be introduced as Meralco’s new president and CEO during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on May 29.

Espinosa served many key positions in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).

These include chief corporate services officer, regulatory affairs and policies head, ePLDT president and CEO, among others. He once led TV5 Network and Cignal TV as president and CEO. Lenie Lectura

AboitizPower to issue ₧16.8-billion bonds in H2

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

A

BOITIZ Power Corp. said on Tuesday it will issue in the second half of the year P16.8 billion worth of bonds, the third tranche of a P30-billion package under its shelf registra-

tion with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“The third-tranche bonds are expected to be offered to the general public in the second half of 2019 and shall be listed with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. [PDEx] as and when issued,” the power firm said.

Proceeds will be used to fin a nce pl a n ned acqu isit ions, future investments and other corporate requirements. AboitizPower issued the first tranche on July 3, 2017, in the amount of P3 billion; and the second tranche on October 25, 2018, in the amount of P10.2 billion.

On Tuesday, the board of directors approved the issuance of up to P16.8 billion fixed-rate retail bonds out of the P30-billion bonds registered in 2017 under the shelf registration program of the SEC. The power firm said last year that earlier proceeds were used

Pamalakaya wants biz held accountable for Manila Bay degradation

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

B

IG businesses operating along Manila Bay should be held accountable for contributing to the degradation of the coastal and marine environment in Manila Bay. The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said this after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) issued a closure order and notices to various establishments for violating environmental laws, particularly the Clean Water Act, at the launch

of the “Battle for Manila Bay,” an ambitious P47-billion, seven-year rehabilitation program to save Manila Bay. Among those issued notices of violation for releasing polluted water into Manila Bay were SM Corporate Office, SM Prime Holdings, SM Ferry Terminal, SMDC Sea Residences, Lola Taba Lolo Pato Seaside and Aliw Inn. SM Group earlier issued a statement stating that the official findings from the joint inspection with the LLDA held last January 16, 2019, is an isolated case involving only one of their tenants.

It said the matter was immediately corrected.

The SM Group said it will im-

mediately meet with the LLDA and discuss the corrective measures already implemented to address the problem.

“On the other notices of violation served, we will comply with the five-day grace period given to respond with the corrective actions already undertaken. The SM Group is in full support of the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program of the government,” the statement said.

“It became clear who are the biggest source of pollution in Manila Bay. It’s not the fishermen and residents who are being blamed, but establishments like SM that dump their wastes in the fishing ground. Worse, we [fish-

ermen] have become the victims of the degradation of our ocean are being evicted now,” lamented Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya national chairman and a fisherman in Rosario, Cavite.

Hicap, a former Anakpawis party-list solon, chided the Manila Bay Interagency Task Force’s plan to demolish dwellings of hundreds of thousands of informal settler families in pursuit of the government’s so-called rehabilitation campaign.

Pamalakaya said the said SM establishments and other businesses situated along Roxas Boulevard were reclaimed lands that had already inflicted destruction in Manila Bay’s ecosystem.

SENATE MINORITY LEADER CITES GROUND FOR POTENTIAL REVOCATION

Drilon uncovers Mislatel franchise flaws

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

S

ENATE Minority Leader Franklin Drilon uncovered alleged shortcomings that could lead to the revocation of the franchise Congress granted to China-linked Mislatel as the third telco in the country, seen to compete with Smart and Globe Telecom.

Drilon, however, clarified at the outset that “the entire country, including me and the Senate, really see the need for a third telco player, because our Internet services are probably the poorest in some parts of the world.”

The senator added: “It may be an exaggeration, but we are only faster than Afghanistan. There is no question that we need to do this [open door to third telco].

But my theory is, we should not make waste. Because we are in a hurry, there is a tendency that ‘haste makes waste.’”

The Senate Minority Leader, for a start, cited existing rules of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which,

he said, provides that the third telco player must have a valid legislative franchise.

“That’s where the issue is being raised,” Drilon said, adding Section 7 of the Mislatel franchise states that “within one year from the grant of the certificate of public convenience by the NTC, Mislatel must commence operation and continue to operate for at least two years.”

He asserted that no less than new Mislatel President Nicanor Escalante himself “admitted they have not operated.”

T he senior law ma ker e xplained why there was such a provision in the Mislatel franchise.

“Because we don’t want them to just ask for franchises in order to make commercial transaction,” he said.

Drilon confirmed the provision was added because the awarded franchise may just be sold to another party after being granted by Congress. “Yes. That’s why they must commence operation and that is why when they apply, we examine them whether they have the capacity.”

He said the granted franchise to operate cannot be sold to another party “because that is a privilege... a franchise is granted for public interest. And, therefore, the grantee must be able to fulfill the obligations granted under the franchise.”

Asked if the House of Representatives alone can decide if a franchise has been revoked, Drilon replied: “No. The point is, we did not even know that the control of the franchise was granted because we were never informed. The first time we knew that the control was transferred [was] when I started to ask questions in the last hearing.”

“The fact of the nonsecuring of Congress’s approval was revealed by Mr. Escalante. There is no question that we need a prior approval. The best proof today is that the company of Dennis Uy, Udenna, is asking for permission to buy the majority in Mislatel.

It is pending,” he added.

Drilon made it clear that the sale of 70 percent of Mislatel to the Escalante group should have obtained congressional permission.

to refinance the medium-term loan of its wholly owned subsidiary Therma Power Inc., repay its short-term loan obligations, and for general corporate purposes.

BDO Capital Corp. was appointed as issue manager, as well as joint lead underwriter with BPI

MUTUAL FUNDS

Capital Corp. and United Coconut Planters Bank.

The power firm’s current attr ibutable power capacit y is 3,200 megawatts of which 1,200 MW is renewable energy. It set a target-energy capacity of 4,000 MW by 2020.

January 29, 2019

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

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 269.17 -12.17% 4.84% 4.04% 6.72% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.4929 -10.86% 13.39% 4.12% 3.62% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 4.1543 -13.72% 6.71% 2.36% 6.44% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.9562 -6.6% N.A. N.A. 7.38% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC.* 0.8851 N.A. N.A. N.A. 7.85% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 5.5744 -10.9% 4.65% 3.21% 5.75% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * 123.21 3.48% N.A. N.A. 5.8% ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.8942 -13.12% -2.9% N.A. 7.42% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 52.9572 -10.73% 6.17% N.A. 7.63% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 548.85 -11.05% 4.52% 3.15% 6.63% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.3319 -8.62% 6.27% N.A. 6.21% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 39.0794 -9.13% 7.11% 5.84% 6.68% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC.* **** 1.0547 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 5.3462 -10.66% 7.04% 5.88% 7.81% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 893.06 -10.49% 6.91% 5.96% 7.79% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.9123 -10.17% 4.09% N.A. 5.93% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 4.3256 -10.37% 6.53% 4.29% 6.57% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 1.028 -10.82% 6.79% N.A. 7.72% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.7258 -7.19% 7.99% 4.75% 6.42% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* ***^ 119.4301 -10.14% 8.08% 7.05% 7.84% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $0.9834 -17.53% 8.07% 1.44% 5.84% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.1935 -11.12% N.A. N.A. 8% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.7343 -10.21% 1.31% -0.06% 5.03% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.3072 -8.75% 3.88% 1.87% 4.44% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.6541 -6.36% 1.73% -0.26% 4.34% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* 1.3657 -9.19% N.A. N.A. 4.71% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.9157 -6.49% 3.16% 2.77% 3.94% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.6343 -10.08% 1.59% 1.71% 2.98% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 16.4672 -8.94% 1.9% 1.77% 3.52% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* 2.1608 -6.48% 3.55% 3.68% 4.27% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.8259 -7.81% 3.31% 2.61% 4.78% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.968 -8.31% 2.78% N.A. 5.02% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.03551 -1.5% 0.09% 1.81% 0.74% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9637 -12.99% 5.42% -0.02% 2.94% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.4985 -8.36% 5.93% 2.06% 5.75% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0468 -8.57% N.A. N.A. 3.64% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 344.68 2.12% 2.13% 2.06% 0.38% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ^^ 1.8699 -0.94% -0.37% -0.27% 0.58% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.982 5.42% 5.35% 5.26% 0.38% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1429 1.53% 1.55% 1.76% 0.58% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.224 0.28% 0.31% 0.6% 0.67% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP. * P 1.5882 -1.9% -0.33% 0.28% 1.52% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.8844 -3.8% -1.05% 0.17% -0.9% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.5628 1.87% 1% 1.05% 1.3% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.9094 -1.08% -0.32% N.A. 1.88% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.814 0.73% 1.42% 1.41% 1.74% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.5648 0.34% 1.07% 0.97% 1.62% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $449.91 0.95% 2.21% 3.07% 0.36% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є213.62 -0.06% 1.22% 1.57% 0.46% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.1383 0.83% 1.11% 2.15% 1.11% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $0.0249 - 0.4% 0.68% N.A. 0.4% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP.* $1.6933 -4.1% -0.74% 1.09% 0.18% MAA PRIVILEGE DOLLAR FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. MAA PRIVILEGE EURO FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. ЄN.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC* $1.0406 -2.28% -0.58% -2.39% 0.29% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.1995 -1.75% 0.89% 2.88% 1.3% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.0571609 0.26% 0.96% 1.86% 0.32% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.8994 -3.43% 0.22% 1.87% 0.95% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 121.39 3.11% 1.98% 1.65% 0.46% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1826 1.93% 0.76% 0.53% 0.06% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.2227 2.79% 2.32% 1.67% 0.3% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC.* $1.0178 1.86% N.A. N.A. 0.19%

* - 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 • Wednesday, January 30, 2019

B3

DA: Cow leather exempted from imports ban

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

T

@jearcalas

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday said cowleather imports are not banned in the Philippines, as the temporary ban imposed by the government covered only pig products from countries struck by the deadly African swine fever (ASF).

A g r icu lture Secretar y Emmanuel F. Piñol dismissed news reports that the memorandum orders he issued to authorize the ban on pig products also included cow leather. What was covered by the memos, he said, is leather of pig origin.

Piñol made the pronouncement after local news reports indicated that Pampanga acting governor Dennis Pineda asked the DA to exempt a local bag-manufacturing company from the import ban.

“DA Memorandum Orders No. 23 and 26, series of 2018 issued on January 25 banned the importation of domestic and wild pigs and their products as emergency measures to prevent the entry of ASF

virus into the Philippines,” Piñol said in a Facebook post.

“ASF is a severe threat to the swine industry, and its introduction threatens food security and challenges the livelihood of pig producers,” he added.

Piñol advised importers to source their pig-skin leather requirements from ASF-free countries, as the virus could survive in hog’s skin or fat up to 300 days even if the product is dried.

Nonetheless, the DA is planning to send an inspection team to China to scrutinize tannery facilities and find out whether these facilities are compliant with international sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

PIGLETS suckle from a sow at a pig farm in Tianjin, China.

“The Bureau of Animal Industry [BAI] is now conducting risk assessment on the introduction of ASF virus through the importation of leather products from China,” Piñol said.

“Also, BAI is considering sending an inspection team to China to

GIULIA MARCHI/BLOOMBERG

visit the tannery facilities to check compliance with GMP [good manufacturing practice] and HACCP [Hazard analysis critical control points],” he added.

There is “no published treatment or vaccine” for ASF, according to the World Organisation for

Animal Health (OIE).

The OIE advises ASF-free countries to impose stringent import policies that would “ensure that neither infected live pigs nor pork products” enter their territories.

The DA had appealed to traders to avoid importing pork prod-

Senate okays bill aiming to hike PHL gold reserves

W

ITH a total of 12 votes, the Senate on Tuesday approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to exempt small-scale miners from paying income and excise taxes when they sell their gold to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The proposed measure sought to amend a requirement from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which imposed a 5-percent withholding tax and a 2-percent excise tax on the sale of gold to the BSP, according to Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara, author and sponsor of

Senate Bill 2127.

Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, said that between the years 2005 and 2010, the BSP purchased close to 1,000,000 troy ounces of gold or 2,362 gold bars produced from small-scale mining activities.

He said the BSP’s gold purchases drastically declined to 35,000 troy ounces in 2012 after the BIR imposed the tax requirement in 2011 and further slid to 14,700 troy ounces of gold in 2017.

As of September last year, he said, the BSP had only purchased

7,600 troy ounces or an equivalent of 19 gold bars.

The reduced sale of gold, he said, had constrained the BSP from increasing the level of the country’s gross international reserves (GIR).

“We have seen the Philippines’s GIR drop to a seven-year low at $74.8 billion as of end-October 2018, $5.8 billion lower than the same month [in 2017],” Angara said in a statement.

He explained that central banks worldwide hold on to gold as part of their international reserves because it is less susceptible to for-

eign exchange controls and is less volatile as compared to the value of major currencies. Maintaining an adequate level of GIR, he said, would further improve the Philippines’s creditworthiness.

Angara said the country’s adequate levels of GIR would translate to higher credit ratings and lower borrowing costs for both the national government and the private sector.

“The measure enables the BSP to better build up the country’s GIR by buying domestically produced gold from small-scale miners

using pesos,” he said.

“This bill also helps small-scale miners, who prefer to sell their gold to the BSP, which ensures that they would be able to receive a fair price for their gold, instead of selling it to the black market where prices are below market levels,” he added.

Angara urged lawmakers to look beyond the revenues collected from gold transactions, which amounted to a low P30 million in 2018 compared to the benefits that would be enjoyed by the country with an increased GIR.

Purina wants your dog to save the planet by eating fish heads

F

I L L R o ve r ’s b o w l w it h crickets and Asian carp, and keep the grass-fed beef steaks for yourself—it’s better for the environment.

So says Nestlé SA’s Purina, which is experimenting with a new line of pet food featuring untapped ingredients like insects and invasive fish species. The menu goes against the grain in the $90-billion business, whose growth has been driven by dog and cat owners serving up meals that increasingly resemble their own—including organic, grainfree, vegan and even “humangrade” options.

Those new-age recipes may sound more appetizing than traditional pet food, made up of all the bits and byproducts people didn’t eat that are ground up and pressed into morsels to disguise their provenance.

There’s just one problem: The richer diets take a higher toll on the planet, too, conflicting with the food industry’s push for sustainability.

“For us, the question is: how do we make sure we can continue feeding our pets?” said Chris O’Neil, senior brand manager at Nestlé Purina.

In a test launched in October in the Chicago area, a Purina start-up called RootLab is selling pet food with new proteins like crickets and Asian carp, which threaten to overrun native fisheries in nearby

Lake Michigan.

RootLab also gives common pet-food proteins like chicken organs a fresh, sustainable spin.

In an effort to build consumer acce pt a nce for u npa l at able sounding ingredients whose nutritional benefits the company says have gone unrecognized, it lists them on the front of the bag instead of hiding them in the fine print.

“There’s an opportunity to change perceptions and reedu-

c ate wh at prem iu m mea ns,” said Martin Guerrieria, a director at market research firm Kantar Millward Brown. “Premium can mean what’s best for your pet—and what’s best for the environment.”

Growth pillar

AS consumers lose their taste for packaged foods, cats and dogs are a bright spot. Chief Executive Officer Mark Schneider has singled out pet food

as a driver of growth at Nestle, the world’s No. 2 provider behind Mars Inc., according to Euromonitor.

Other big players are upping the ante. Last year, General Mills inc. splurged $8 billion on Blue Buffalo Pet Products, while J.M. Smucker Co. bought Ainsworth Pet Nutrition for $1.9 billion and Amazon.com Inc. started Wag, its own brand of pet products. Each of them offers recipes aimed at the premium pet-food

consumer, including grain-free formulations and proteins normally seen on fine-dining (and log cabin) menus, like venison and wild boar.

Pet-food producers are shifting strategy because of the increasing challenge of feeding the world’s growing populations of people and household animals. Livestock contributes an estimated 14.5 percent of human-caused greenhouse gases, according to the United Nations. Start-ups like The Honest Kitchen and Ollie, responding to pet-food recalls, misleading marketing and what they see as supply-chain opacity, tout the human-grade quality of their ingredients, prompting concerns that they’re taking food people could eat and putting it in dog bowls.

“With the trend toward feeding animals more human-quality foods, you’re going to see those pain points if those products are going to be needed for human food,” said Christy Slay, director of technical alignment at the Sustainability Consortium.

One solution is to feed pets those high-nutrient parts that aren’t palatable for humans, according to Tom Cumberlege, associate director of the Carbon Trust. RootLab pushes the envelope in this regard, embracing ingredients that might feature on a child’s recipe for witches’ brew—including cod heads. Bloomberg News

ucts from “high-risk” countries, or those near countries struck by ASF, such as Germany, to protect the local hog industry.

“I am asking importers to show their patriotism by ensuring that they do not import pork from highrisk countries,” Piñol told reporters in a recent news briefing in Quezon City.

“We cannot actually stop [importers], but we can only appeal to them. We are appealing to their sense of patriotism, as [the hog] industry involves millions of poor Filipino farming families,” he added.

Piñol a lso u rged tou r ists, returning residents and overseas Filipino workers, to refrain from bringing in pork products as pasalubong, especially from ASF-affected countries.

He said the entry of ASF in the Philippines may jeopardize the government’s plan of shipping local meat to new markets abroad, such as Singapore.

The government has intensified its biosecurity measures to prevent the entry of ASF virus in the country. These include the installation of foot baths in all international land ports and seaports, as well as the mandatory inspection of luggage and shipments for pork products from ASF-affected countries.

Trade certificates to hike export receipts, local agri firms told

F

ILIPINO agricultural companies, particularly those exporting coconut products, should seek trade certifications to increase the value of their shipments, according to an international inspection firm.

Control Union Regional Manager Sanjaya K. Pathirage said global consumption of organic food, especially in the United States, is continuously increasing, indicating demand for such agricultural products.

“Consumption of organic food in the US grew by 6.4 percent. That’s a 30-40 percent increase in consumption in five years. That’s not too far from now.

And imagine the increase in demand in terms of volume. And somebody has to supply,” Pathirage was quoted as saying in a statement.

Pathirage explained that the commitment of nations to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) drives the demand for organic food products.

“They implement actions the world will agree on. It’s not just 193 memberstates, but the private sector committed to it [SDGs],” he said.

“Global warming is real, glaciers are melting—Europe is hitting 40 degrees.

People are complaining. These changes are interesting. It will change the way we do business,” he added.

For example, big firms such as Procter & Gamble, chemicals firm BASF, and Cargill have already started producing “sustainable certified” coconut oil in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Pathirage said Filipino agricultural companies could tap certification schemes such as the Global Good Agricultural Practice and ISO 22000 to increase sales.

“ISO 22000 is a food safety tool.

Organic is increasing value. It helps increase volume of sales profitability and pricing,” he said.

“It helps you build topline. Fairtrade USA has now recognized coconut as product within their scheme, and they’re working toward improving it,” he added.

Pathirage also said millennials would serve as a “vital market” for certified organic products as these young people care more about the planet than the previous generations.

“The way millennials make choices have changed a lot. The way they look at the world. The value they perceive is very different from previous generations,” he said. “They want to make responsible decisions to make betterment of the planet.” Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

B4 Wednesday, January 30, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The World

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Wednesday, January 30, 2019 B5

US charges against Huawei may poison China trade talks

W

ASHINGTON—The Trump administration’s unveiling of criminal charges against the Chinese tech giant Huawei has complicated high-level talks set to begin on Wednesday in Washington that are intended to defuse the trade war between the administration and Beijing.

The Justice Department charged on Monday that Huawei had violated US sanctions against sales to Iran and stolen trade secrets from T-Mobile, a US partner. Those charges cut to the heart of some of the administration’s key complaints about China’s trade practices.

Analysts said the trade talks would likely proceed, but reaching any substantive agreement would probably be harder. And unless the two sides can forge some sort of accord by March 1, US tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports are set to rise from 10 percent to 25 percent.

“The Chinese will keep talking,” said David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former US Treasury official. “They won’t be happy with the Justice Department action, but I think they would like to keep it separate from the trade talks.”

Representatives of US business groups privately raised concerns that the administration’s actions could poison the atmosphere between the two sides. Any backlash in China against the indictment of Huawei, one of the country’s global powerhouses, could limit Beijing’s ability to agree to anything that might be seen as bowing too willingly to US demands.

The Justice Department has also charged Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou. The United States is seeking to extradite Meng, who has been held in Canada since December 1.

Sarah Sanders, the White House spokesman, was asked whether the criminal charges against Huawei were linked to the trade talks with China and amounted to a carrot-and-stick approach.

“No, those two things are not linked,” she said. “They are a totally

Chinese tech giant Huawei, top exec face criminal charges in US

W

A SHINGTON—T he Justice Department unsealed criminal charges on Monday against Chinese tech giant Huawei, a top company executive and several subsidiaries, alleging the company stole trade secrets, misled banks about its business and violated US sanctions.

In a statement, Huawei denied committing any of the violations cited in the indictment. The charges were announced just before a crucial two-day round of trade talks between the United States and China are scheduled to begin in Washington. Trade analysts say they could dim prospects for a breakthrough.

The sweeping indictments accuse the company of using extreme efforts to steal trade secrets from American businesses—including trying to take a piece of a robot from a T-Mobile lab.

The executive charged is Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Canada last month.

The US is seeking to extradite her, alleging she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran. David Martin, Meng’s lawyer in Canada, didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Meng is out on bail in Vancouver and her case is due back in court on Tuesday as she awaits extradition proceedings to begin.

Huawei is the world’s biggest supplier of network gear used by phone and Internet companies and has long been seen as a front for spying by the Chinese military or security services.

“The company denies that it or its subsidiary or affiliate have committed any of the asserted violations of US law set forth in each of the indictments,” the company statement said. Huawei is “not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng,” it added, “and believes the US courts will ultimately reach the same conclusion.”

Prosecutors say Huawei did business in Iran through a Hong Kong company called Skycom, and Meng misled US banks into believing the two companies were separate.

“As I told high-level Chinese law-enforcement officials in August, we need more law-enforcement cooperation with China,” acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker said at a news conference

with other Cabinet officials, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. “China should be concerned about criminal activities by Chinese companies—and China should take action.”

The officials provided details from a 10-count grand jury indictment in Seattle, and a separate 13-count case from prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York.

Among the accusations, prosecutors say Huawei stole trade secrets, including the technology behind a robotic device that T-Mobile used to test smartphones.

Beginning in 2012, Huawei hatched a plan to steal information about T-Mobile’s robot, named “Tappy,” and Huawei engineers secretly took photos of the robot, measured it and tried to steal a piece of it from T-Mobile’s lab in Washington state, according to prosecutors. T-Mobile declined to comment.

The Huawei case has set off diplomatic spats among the United States, China and Canada. President Donald J. Trump said he would get involved in the Huawei case if it would help produce a trade agreement with China. But Ross said on Monday that the indictments are “wholly separate from our trade negotiations with China.”

The two countries agreed on December 1 to negotiate for 90 days in an effort to defuse worsening trade tensions.

Trump has postponed a scheduled increase in US tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent during the talks. A breakdown in negotiations would likely lead to higher tariffs, a prospect that has rattled financial markets for months.

Monday’s announcement of criminal charges “is certainly not a propitious sign for US-China trade tensions and could hamper prospects for even a partial deal in the coming weeks,” said Eswar Prasad, an economics professor and China expert at Cornell University.

There is no allegation Huawei was working at the direction of the Chinese government. In past instances, the US government has singled out Beijing in corporate or digital espionage and has recently charged several Chinese hackers and intelligence officials. AP

separate process.” This week’s negotiations were already facing low expectations. “We are anticipating no big outcomes this week,” Erin Ennis, senior vice president at the US-China Business Council, said on Monday before the Huawei charges were announced.

The Trump administration, with support from US businesses, wants China to make fundamental changes to its economy that China is reluctant to accept and that will be difficult to verify, analysts say. The administration has accused Beijing of deploying predatory trade tactics, ranging from requiring US and other foreign companies to hand over technology in return for access to the vast Chinese market to outright cyber-theft.

Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative and lead negotiator in this week’s talks, wants China to toughen its protections of intellectual property and to stop unfairly subsidizing its state-owned enterprises.

“The scope of these talks will be the broadest and deepest in US-China history,” Larry Kudlow, a top White House economic adviser, said on Monday.

Yet, reaching the kind of deal the United States wants could prove elusive, if not impossible. Chinese officials deny that they force US companies to transfer technology. And they regard the support of their state-owned companies and the acquisition of cuttingedge technology, much of it from abroad, as vital to China’s economic development.

US companies in China say that forced technology transfers typically happen at the local level and stem from informal pressure by Chinese officials, which would make it difficult to verify whether Beijing has complied with any major agreement.

In previous rounds of talks, China has shown little inclination to yield to the administration’s demands.

“China has yet to show any indication that it is ready to address US and global concerns about its structural issues,” said Scott Kennedy, a China specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The two sides are pretty far apart.”

Beijing has previously offered to increase its purchases of US products, notably soybeans and other agricultural goods, as well as natural gas.

This would help address Trump’s concern about the gaping US trade deficit with China. Beijing could also open more industries to US companies and pledge better protection for US intellectual property. In return, China could press the US to remove the tariffs that President Donald J. Trump imposed last year.

Derek Scissors, a China expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said that China would likely accept such a deal, if it were offered. Doing so would outweigh any concerns China has about Huawei.

“If they think they can get the deal that they want, they won’t cancel the talks over Huawei,” he said. AP

Beijing tells US to stop Huawei crackdown

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EIJING—China called on Washington on Tuesday to “stop the unreasonable crackdown” on Huawei after the US escalated pressure on the tech giant by indicting it on charges of stealing technology and violating sanctions on Iran.

Beijing will “firmly defend” its companies, a foreign ministry statement said. It gave no indication whether Beijing might retaliate for the charges against Huawei Technologies Ltd., China’s first global tech brand and the biggest maker of network switching gear used by phone and Internet companies.

Huawei denied committing any of the violations cited in Monday’s indictment by the Justice Department.

The charges are the most serious allegations yet against Huawei, which has spent a decade battling US accusations that it is a front for Chinese spying and a security risk.

The Chinese foreign ministry complained Washington has “mobilized state power” to hurt Chinese companies “in an attempt to strangle fair and just operations” for political reasons. “We strongly urge the United States to stop the unreasonable crackdown on Chinese companies, including Huawei,” said the statement read on state TV. It said Beijing will defend the “lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies” but gave no details.

The charges unsealed on Monday accused Huawei, which passed Apple Inc. in mid-2018 as the second-biggest global smartphone brand after Samsung Electronics Ltd., of trying to take a piece of a robot and other technology from a T-Mobile lab that was used to test smartphones.

The US charges included no allegation Huawei worked at the Chinese government’s direction. But Washington has previously accused Beijing of involvement in cyberspying and theft of industrial secrets. It has charged several Chinese hackers and intelligence officials.

Huawei also is charged with

using a Hong Kong front company, Skycom, to trade with Iran in violation of US controls. Prosecuters allege Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, lied to banks about those dealings.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested on December 1 in Vancouver, a development that set off a political firestorm between China and Canada.

“We urge the US to immediately withdraw the arrest warrant against Miss Meng Wanzhou and stop making such kinds of extradition requests,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang.

Huawei, headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, has rejected the US accusations.

“The company denies that it or its subsidiary or affiliate have committed any of the asserted violations of US law set forth in each of the indictments,” a Huawei statement said.

Huawei is “not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng, and believes the US courts will ultimately reach the same conclusion,” it said.

Meng is out on bail in Vancouver and is due in court on Tuesday as she awaits extradition proceedings.

Huawei’s US market evaporated after a 2012 congressional report said it and Chinese rival ZTE Corp. were security risks and told phone companies to avoid them. But Huawei says the scrutiny has had little impact on its business elsewhere.

The company says it serves 45 of the 50 biggest global telecom carriers and forecasts its 2018 global revenue should exceed $100 billion for the first time despite the tension with Washington. Huawei said US prosecutors rejected a request to discuss the investigation following Meng’s arrest. It also noted the allegations in the trade secrets charge were the subject of a US civil lawsuit that already has been settled. The latest charges could dim prospects for USChinese trade talks due to start on Wednesday in Washington. AP

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019

The World BusinessMirror

In boldest move, Trump slaps oil ban on Venezuela

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HE Trump administration dealt its toughest blow yet to the authoritarian Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, issuing new sanctions on the nation’s state-owned oil company PDVSA that effectively block his regime from exporting crude to the United States.

The move ratchets up pressure on Maduro to resign and cede power to National Assembly leader Juan Guaido by cutting off the regime from the market where it gets the bulk of its cash. The US and other countries recognized Guaido last week as Venezuela’s rightful president, and he said on Monday he would take control of Venezuelan accounts abroad and appoint new boards to PDVSA and its Houston-based subsidiary Citgo Petroleum.

President Donald J. Trump assailed Maduro in a letter to Congress explaining an executive order he issued sanctioning PDVSA and Venezuela’s central bank. The action would bolster Guaido, he said, while accusing Maduro’s re-

gime of “human-rights violations and abuses in response to antiMaduro protests, arbitrary arrest and detention of anti‑Maduro protesters, curtailment of press freedom, harassment of political opponents and continued attempts to undermine” Guaido’s government-in-waiting.

“The US is holding accountable those responsible for Venezuela’s tragic decline,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

US officials had long been hesitant to apply sanctions on Venezuelan oil because they did not want to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the country. But with Maduro and Guaido, a 35-yearold engineer-turned-lawmaker, locked in a struggle for support in

the streets and the military, they decided it’s now worth the risk.

Guaido so far hasn’t been able to sway the armed forces to his side but he’s tapped deep public discontent with an economy beset by hyperinflation and vast shortages of food and medicine.

In an interview with CNN en Español, Guaido said that he had spoken to Trump, but did not provide any details.

National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters at the White House that Trump’s action would block $7 billion in Venezuelan assets and reduce the country’s exports by $11 billion over the next year, though Maduro is sure to attempt to sell PDVSA’s crude elsewhere. Bolton urged Venezuela’s military to accept a peaceful transfer of power to Guaido.

Mnuchin said that Citgo would be able to continue to operate but won’t be allowed to remit money to the Maduro regime. Its proceeds must instead be held in blocked US accounts. The Treasury secretary added that in the “short term” he expects “modest” impact on US refineries.

He noted t he sanctions wouldn’t affect oil already purchased that is being shipped, and said he didn’t expect US gas prices to rise. Bloomberg News

www.businessmirror.com.ph

US reports ‘agreements in principle’ with Taliban

IN this photo released by the Afghan Presidential Palace, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani (center) speaks to US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad (third from left), at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, January 28, 2019. The Afghan president’s office said that Khalilzad shared details of his recent talks with the Taliban in Qatar with Ghani and other Afghan government officials. A statement from the office quotes Khalilzad as saying he held talks about a cease-fire with the Taliban but that there has been no progress yet on that issue. AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE VIA AP

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ABUL, Afghanistan—Negotiators for the United States and the Taliban insurgents have reached “agreements in principle” on key issues for a peace deal that would end 17 years of war in Afghanistan, the top US envoy said on Monday.

The statement by US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad followed six days of talks last week with the Taliban in Qatar, where he urged the insurgents to enter into direct negotiations with the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Ghani on Monday assured Afghans that their rights will not be compromised in the name of peace with the Taliban, who have been staging near-daily attacks against Afghan forces, causing scores of casualties every week. Their offensive has not let up despite the severe Afghan winter and the insurgents now hold sway over nearly half of the country.

Khalilzad said in an interview with The New York Times that an agreement in principle was reached with the Taliban on the framework of a peace deal “which still has to be fleshed out” that will see the insurgents commit to guaranteeing that Afghan territory is not used as a “platform for international terrorist groups or individuals.”

He said the deal could lead to a full pullout of US troops in return for a cease-fire and Taliban talks with the Afghan government.

In his statement released by the US Embassy, Khalilzad said, “We made progress on vital issues in our discussions and agreed to

agreements in principle on a couple of very important issues.”

“There is a lot more work to be done before we can say we have succeeded in our efforts but I believe for the first time I can say that we have made significant progress,” he said.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he has been briefed on the talks and described them as encouraging, but he also told reporters that the department has not been directed to prepare for a full withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Speaking before a meeting at the Pentagon with Shanahan, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said any discussion about the withdrawal of Nato forces from Afghanistan would be premature. He said Khalilzad had briefed Nato allies on the talks weeks ago.

“We are in Afghanistan to create the conditions for a peaceful negotiated solution,” Stoltenberg said. “We will not stay longer than necessary, but we will not leave before we have a situation that enables us to leave or reduce the number of troops without jeopardizing the main goal of our presence and that is to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for international terrorists once again.”

He added that he believes it’s too soon to speculate on withdrawal because “what we have to do now is to support the efforts to try to find a peaceful solution. We strongly support those efforts.”

Ghani sought to assure Afghans that no deals would be made without Kabul’s awareness and full participation.

“Our commitment is to provide peace and to prevent any possible disaster,” Ghani said in an address to the nation. “There are values that are not disputable, such as national unity, national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Ghani’s office said he and Khalilzad met late Sunday in Kabul to discuss details from the talks.

Khalilzad’s statement emphasized the inclusion of the Afghan government in the talks.

“There is a false narrative that Afghans are not included. That is not true. The Afghan voice is there,” he said. “We are working together to get to a comprehensive cease-fire.

We are working with the Afghan government, with international partners, to find implementing mechanisms to reach these goals.”

Khalilzad has met with the Taliban on a number of occasions in recent months in the latest bid to end America’s longest war. The US invaded Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks to topple the Taliban, who were harboring Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.

The statement from Ghani’s office also claimed that the Taliban demanded from Khalilzad the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan, but that there was also no agreement on that issue.

T he statement added t hat Khalilzad has no authority to discuss issues such as a future Afghan administration but that his goal is to facilitate an intra-Afghan dialogue, meaning direct talks between the Taliban and Kabul. AP

Australia’s TPG abandons mobile network plan over Huawei ban

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ANBERRA, Australia—Australian company TPG Telecom said on Tuesday it had abandoned the rollout of what would have been the country’s fourth mobile network because of a ban on Chinese giant Huawei, which would have been the main equipment vendor.

In light of the ban announced in August, “that upgrade path has now been blocked,” TPG’s statement said.

Australia blocked Huawei and Chinese mobile device maker ZTE Corp. from its 5G network due to security concerns. The government said involvement of a company “likely to be subject to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government” presented too much risk.

Several governments have been scrutinizing Huawei over its links to the Chinese government. The private

Chinese company started by a former People’s Liberation Army major in 1987 suffered a setback in the US market in 2012 when a congressional report said it was a security risk and warned phone companies not to buy its equipment.

The US Justice Department unsealed criminal charges on Monday against Huawei, two of its subsidiaries and a top executive, who are accused of misleading banks about the company’s business and violating US sanctions.

The company is also charged in a separate case with stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile, according to federal prosecutors.

Prosecutors are seeking to extradite the company’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, and allege she committed fraud by mislead-

ing banks about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran. She was arrested on December 1 in Canada.

TPG said it had explored other options but concluded “it does not make commercial sense to invest further shareholder funds...in a network that cannot be upgraded to 5G.” TPG Executive Chairman David Teoh said: “It is extremely disappointing that the clear strategy the company had to become a mobile network operator at the forefront of 5G has been undone by factors outside TPG’s control.”

Some analysts suspect TPG’s abandonment of its mobile network plan could be focused on a deal to merge the company with Vodafone Hutchison Australia, Australia’s third largest telecommunications provider. AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Success through happiness

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HAVE often pondered the relationship between happiness and success and I have come to the definitive conclusion that they are directly correlated. This is nothing new and it has very strong support from business concepts such as self-fulfilling prophecy and market expectations. Essentially, this means that when you expect something to happen, your actions will precede the actual event and dictate what actions you will take to reflect your expectation.

For example, if you expect the peso to depreciate against the US dollar and the general sentiment of the market is the same, then people will start selling the peso and buy the US dollar in anticipation of the depreciation of the peso. This will, of course, create a demand for the US dollar and an increasing supply of the peso which will result in the depreciation of the peso. Of course, there are fundamental factors or events that may lead people to have a certain expectation that would logically lead to the depreciation of the peso. Events such as higher imports than exports, declining OFW remittances, political uncertainty or a weak domestic economy, will lead people to conclude that the peso will depreciate and their actions will lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What about happiness, how will that translate into success?

Intuitively, when a person is happy, they are in a more positive frame of mind, friendlier, patient, listen better and have a better attitude.

All of these provide a fertile ground for opportunities to prosper and be taken advantage of. There are a number of books on the power of positive thinking, which documents exhaustive studies that support the phenomenon of visualization and how your mind can change your world.

In my own experience, if I am happy, I tend to be more creative, better utilize networks built over the years, come up with superior

FINEX FREE ENTERPRISE George S. Chua win-win solutions, and of course improve my chances of success.

The beauty with all of this is that it becomes a self-perpetuating upward spiral. The happier you are the more successful you become and the more successful you are the happier you get!

Of course success and happiness brings many other advantages. Without a doubt, happiness reduces stress which is well known to have serious consequences to your health such as triggering cancer, hypertension and other disorders. Studies have also shown that countries with a higher per-capita income have in general longer life spans. We can only expect that the more successful you become, you will have more access to better health care, better nutrition, better living conditions and better education, all of which results in a longer life span.

Try it out for yourself, if you are ill tempered and grouchy, chances are people will avoid you and not bother to communicate with you.

You have little or no chance to make friends. On the other hand, if you have a pleasant disposition and a smiling face, you will be more approachable and it will be easier for you to make friends.

Who knows, maybe one of these new friends may be able to help you in something or be a key to an opportunity.

Success through happiness is a sure thing. Even if you do not achieve material success, just being in a state of happiness is success in itself!

Comments may be sent to georgechuaph@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

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Malaysia’s CIMB rolls out all-digital banking platform

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ALAYSIAN banking giant CIMB formally launched its banking presence in the Philippines on Tuesday, with the establishment of its flagship branch as the nation’s first all-digital and mobile-first bank.

CIMB Bank Philippines Inc. completes t he CIMB Group’s banking footprint in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, making it one of the regional financial giants with a physical branch present across all 10 nations in Asean.

“We are extremely pleased to begin serving customers in the Philippines,” CIMB CEO of Group Ventures and Partnerships Effendy Shahul Hamid said. “This completes CIMB’s operating footprint in Asean and we look forward to bringing a truly differentiated and

digital proposition to the market.”

Hamid echoed the view that Internet and mobile penetration in the Philippines remains one of the highest in the world, “a clear sign of the progressive and modern society we hope to serve.”

CIMB Philippines CEO Vijay Manoharan said the all-digital platform aims to “meet the unmet needs” of the growing Philippine digital financial consumers.

“Consumers of today and tomorrow need innovative financial solutions that are relevant to their needs, as well as help them

get ahead and advance their financial well-being; but they don’t necessarily need a physical bank,” Manoharan said.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier, who was one of three speakers at CIMB Philippines’s launch on Tuesday, said CIMB’s launch in the Philippines affirms the solid position of the local banking system, as well as the strong economic ties of the Philippines and of Malaysia.

“We are filled with enthusiasm to welcome CIMB Bank to the Philippine banking industry,” Fonacier said. “The all-digital platform that you are bringing to our shores sends a strong signal of the readiness of the country to embrace full digitalization of banking services.”

CIMB Philippines currently offers three types of savings account.

All accounts with CIMB Philippines can be applied and opened online via its app. Its accompanying physical card will then be delivered to the registered address.

Manoharan said unsecured loan

offerings will be offered by March and April while other digital financial products are expected to be launched by the second half of the year.

The CIMB Philippines CEO said they are looking at an initial 100,000 account holders in the near term before diversifying their operations further in the country.

CIMB officials said only the Philippines and Vietnam are their target countries for an all-digital banking platform in the region.

To deliver their online banking services, CIMB Philippines will deliver some of their services through partnerships with 7-Eleven and DragonPay, both with a combined total of 8,000 customer touchpoints nationwide.

Aside from a quick online account opening with their app, the bank also aims to lure more clients by offering no initial deposit in its savings account offering with no maintaining balance requirements. Transactions done through their app also carry zero transaction fees. Bianca Cuaresma

BTr sees weak demand for 1-yr T-bills

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

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N V ESTOR S using the tap facility of the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) have shown weak demand for one-year Treasury bills (T-bills) as bids fell short of the P8-billion offering at P4.3 billion.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said in a text message the market’s appetite for higher rates

included T-bills offered through the tap facility as Monday’s auction was marked with undersubscription.

Bids came in below the P8 billion on offer and at an average annual rate of 5.946 percent. Nonetheless, the auction committee still awarded the full P4.3 billion in tenders.

“Banks would like to get higher rates,” de Leon said in reply to questions sent via text.

During the primary auction for the T-bills, the auction com-

mittee said investors are flocking to longer-dated securities as seen through the bids presented, with the 364-day T-bill having tenders as much as P19.747 billion. This prompted the BTr to award in full the P8 billion on offer for the debt paper.

The rate for the T-bill fell by 2.30 basis points to 5.946 percent coming from 5.969 percent in the previous auction.

The Treasury’s 10 government

securities eligible dealers that utilized the tap facility are mostly commercial banks.

De Leon added maturing securities for January and February amounts to P11 billion and P70 billion, respectively.

“We also have a maturity of about P11 billion that would also be [increasing] liquidity,” she said.

“There is also a forthcoming, big maturity on February [19] of about P70 billion.”

BDO Foundation, OWWA, BSP to unveil program for OFWs Dominguez calls for heightened vigilance vs illicit cigarette-makers A

FINANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III is flanked by Philippine National Bank Director Lucio Tan (left) and William Go of CTBC Bank (Phils) Inc. during the 2019 Annual Reception for the Banking Community on January 28 in Makati City. Dominguez has called for vigilance against illegal cigarette manufacturers, which legitimate tobacco companies have long complained of. NONIE REYES

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OR AC , Pa mpa nga—T he Depar tment of Fi n a nce (DOF) warned that the underground cigarette business not only evades payment of excise taxes but also exposes consumers to the added hazards of unregulated manufactured products.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III also appealed to the public to heighten their vigilance against the illegal manufacturing and trade of cigarettes.

“We are aware that with the increase in ‘sin’ taxes, there will be greater incentive for evasion. This is the reason we need to heighten our vigilance,” Dominguez said

during the destruction of seized cigarette machines and materials here recently.

Based on figures, he said a single cigarette-making machine can produce 20,000 sticks per minute, which is equivalent to about 9.6 million sticks during an eight-hour shift or 480,000 packs per day.

“At the present excise tax rate of P35 per pack, the government, by destroying these pieces of machinery, has effectively blocked attempts of being defrauded by as much as P16.8 million per day of much-needed revenues for our ‘Build, Build, Build’ program and

investments in human capital,” Dominguez said.

The DOF chief added after Japan Tobacco took over Mighty Corp. in 2017, the taxes collected from the company from roughly the same volume increased by at least P2 billion a month.

“By getting tough against the illicit tobacco trade, the health and fiscal benefits of the sin tax-reform law will be achieved for our people,” he added.

With this, he assured the public that revenue-generating agencies will be unyielding in their efforts to thwart illicit manufacturing and tax evasion. Ashley Manabat

S part of efforts to promote financial inclusion and contribute to the country’s economic growth, BDO Foundation Inc., the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) have joined forces to develop a financial literacy program for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families.

The tripartite initiative will be launched on February 18 in ceremonies spearheaded by BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr., OWWA Administrator Hans Cacdac and the BDO Foundation board of trustees. The partners will sign a memorandum of agreement affirming their commitment to the implementation and deployment of the program.

The financial literacy program for OFWs is in line with the financial inclusion advocacy of BDO Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of BDO Unibank. The partnership project aims to help strengthen OWWA’s financial education initiatives for overseas workers, recipients of remittances and their families. It also contributes to the implementation of BSP’s National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, particularly the pillar on financial education and consumer protection.

The program gains significance as the Philippines remains one of the top recipients of remittances next only to India and China.

“We are staunch advocates of financial inclusion, and as such, we are honored to partner with OWWA and BSP in pursuit of a shared objective,” BDO Foundation President Mario Deriquito said. “The foundation hopes to contribute to the resources and expertise of OWWA and BSP in providing financial education for OFWs. Ultimately, we would like to help OFWs and their families make sound financial decisions that improve their welfare and well-being.”

“Together with our partners, we are finding ways to help overseas workers achieve financial independence. Through this partnership, we hope to contribute to the development of a financially literate citizenry and support nation-building,” Deriquito added.

I n c lu d e d i n t h e p r o g r a m a r e educational materials and training modules—especially developed for OFWs and their families—which will be used in the predeparture and post-arrival orientation seminars facilitated by OWWA. There are also educational materials for OFW families.

T hrough these tools carefully developed by the BSP, OWWA and BDO Foundation, the partners hope to share lessons on saving, financial management, investing, entrepreneurship and avoiding scams to t he t a rget audience.

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#GrabToShop with SM Advantage SEDA VERTIS NORTH PRESENTS FIRST-EVER WEDDING EXPO

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RAB users can now ride and shop at SM using the points they’ve earned from every ride by converting it to SM Advantage card (SMAC) and BDO Rewards points. This exciting tieup between GrabRewards and SM Advantage was recently formalized in a memorandum of agreement signed at Midas Hotel & Casino.

“At SM Advantage, we’re always looking for partnership, so that our members can earn reward points beyond the malls or stores.

We’re happy now that, through our partnership with Grab, our members can now convert their GrabRewards points to SMAC points, wherein they can use it as good as cash in 14,000 checkout counters nationwide,” says Baldwin Golangco, president and chief executive office of SM Advantage.

“We always see partnership as strategic and innovative in creating space, and we recognize SM as the best partner. This GrabRewards and

SM Advantage will give us an opportunity not just the leading riding app, but also payment-provider platform for both customers and passengers for their shopping convenience,” says, Alan Liu, business development and partnerships director of Grab.

Grab users can now convert their 1,700 GrabRewards points to 100 SMAC points thru the Grab mobile App. Converted SMAC points will be posted to the corresponding SMAC account upon successful validation and process of the request. There is no limit on points’ conversion, provided that members have enough points balance. Also, conversion of GrabRewards points to other SMAC member’s account is allowed.

And with that, you can now shop with your converted SMAC points at the SM Store and other SM Retail stores. For more info, visit the GrabRewards catalogue on your mobile app or visit www. smadvantage.com.

C.R.E.B.A., La Salle real-estate law course opens January 19

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HE Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations Inc. (Creba), in partnership with the De La Salle University College of Saint Benilde School of Professional and Continuing Education, will open the land laws and property titling certificate course on January 19.

The course is the second of six modules under the Executive Diploma Program in Real Estate Management offered by the two institutions since 2002. Classes will be held at the ninth floor of the CSB School of Design and Arts Campus at P. Ocampo Street, Taft Avenue, from 1 to 8:30 p.m., and run for four consecutive Saturdays, until February 9.

The joint Creba-De La Salle program covers the entire aspect of the highly complex and multidisciplinary field of real-estate development and management.

Other courses offered for the rest of the year tackle effective real-estate marketing tools, real-estate planning, development and environmental concerns, highest and best uses for real estate, real-estate financial planning and management, and project-feasibility studies.

Discounts are available for Creba members, government personnel and DLSU alumni.

Inquiries may be e-mailed at creba_national@yahoo. com or space@benilde.edu.ph.

OW emerging as a favored and gracious venue for couples celebrating marriage, Seda Vertis North ’s Quezon ballroom i s fa st becom i ng a ke y soc i a l hub of t he northern part of the Metropolis. Known for its understated elegance, the high-ceiling, the pillarless grand ballroom can accommodate up to 450 seated guests, while its other banquet rooms can accommodate from 10 to 120 guests. The highly sought-after events venue will further bring together 52 other parties and vendors of products and services to assist couples on February 17 to prepare for their wedding. “‘Entwine: Weddings by Seda Vertis North ’ will feature a curated list of specialists from designers of br idal gow ns and accessor ies, photographers and videographers, f loral and event stylists, providers of bridal cars, lights and sounds, and giveaways, printers, entertainers,

jewelers, to makeup and cake professionals. It is the first bridal fair of the Seda group. The event will make it convenient for discerning and time-pressed engaged couples, particularly those in the north, to find all that they may need in one venue in just one day,” says Cinty Yniguez, director for sales and marketing of Seda Vertis North in Quezon City.

Irresistible offers from Seda Vertis North and ot her Sed a hotels for wedd ing and pre -wedd i ng pac k ages, spec i a l dea l s f rom exhibitors will also be offered to visitors for a limited period. Grand prizes have also been set aside for guests that book any product or ser vice at the event.

Ynig uez relates that Seda Ver tis Nor th ’s seasoned events team has received war m and encourag ing feedback from the many br ides and grooms it has assisted in just a little over a year, since the 438-room hotel and g rand ba l lroom opened its doors.

T hey appreciate that the hotel ’s w e l l - l it m a i n lobb y a nd ot he r pref unction areas has simple contemporar y lines that comprise t he per fec t v isu a l set t i ngs for photos a nd v ideos. T he hotel ’s wel l l a id- out su ites a nd rooms echo the same desig n theme and are, likew ise, “appea ling v isua l backdrops for a bride preparing to meet her g room and v ice versa,” Ynig uez says.

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Wednesday, January 30, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

DJOKOVIC’S NEXT GOAL: CHASE NADAL, FEDERER

By Howard Fendrich

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The Associated Press

ELBOURNE, Australia—Novak Djokovic sounds like a man ready to embrace the chase.

Already at 15 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic is now only two majors behind Rafael Nadal’s total of 17, and five shy of Roger Federer’s men’s record of 20.

So a day after winning the Australian Open for his third Slam trophy in a row, Djokovic was asked about whether he is pursuing them.

It’s the sort of thing some athletes—including Nadal, repeatedly, over the years— downplay or try to deflect entirely.

Not Djokovic. He’s owning this.

“Well, if I’m still playing and winning Slams, I think it’s logical to conclude that I am,” he said at a photo shoot on Monday. “I’m blessed to be able to win 15. I know there are two guys ahead of me now, in the history of the most Slams won, but I still have time. I’m not rushing.”

That’s his team’s theme.

Late on Sunday night at Melbourne Park, Djokovic’s coach, Marian Vajda, couldn’t stop smiling as he dissected the unbelievably lopsided 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Nadal in the final—and its larger

NAOMI OSAKA’S second consecutive major title helps her rise three spots in the world rankings. AP

ASIA’S FIRST NO. 1 IN TENNIS M ELBOURNE, Australia—Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka is the first player from Asia to top the men’s or women’s tennis rankings—and the youngest woman to make her debut at No. 1 in nine years.

“I feel like I’m literally just still learning,” the 21-year-old Osaka said. “Everyone kind of adjusts to being No. 1 in a different way.”

Simona Halep’s 48-week stay atop the Women’s Tennis Association rankings ended on Monday as she slid to No. 3 after a fourth-round loss to Serena Williams, one year after getting to the final at Melbourne Park.

“The main goal is just to play as good as I can every match, to win every match I play, so the ranking doesn’t really matter,” Halep said.

Halep said the year-end ranking is what is “more important” than where things stand now, “so I will not stress myself about this.”

Osaka’s second consecutive major title, following her success at the US Open last year, helped her rise three spots.

She was born in Japan—her mother is Japanese, her father is Haitian—and moved to the United States when she was three. She has dual citizenship and now is based in Florida.

Osaka is the youngest woman to reach the top since 2010, when Caroline Wozniacki did it at 20.

“People were talking about [me] being No. 1 if I win this tournament. I was able to accomplish that,” Osaka said. “But the ranking was never my real goal. It was just to win this

significance.

Yes, Vajda said, a record seventh championship in Australia means a lot. But he was interested in discussing a different tally.

“More important is the other number that he’s getting up to, 15.

It’s an incredible, incredible number.

I don’t want to go too far, but he’s in a very good position now for going for a little bit more,” Vajda said. “But 20 is still far away. A lot of things can happen. At the moment, Novak feels really good about reaching, maybe, another Grand Slam victory.”

Just one more?

“Yes, one more,” Vajda said with a

hearty laugh, his voice rising as he fiddled with his tournament accreditation pass.

“And then one more. And then one more. And then one more! One by one. Absolutely, his long-term goal is to reach Rafa’s number and, if it’s possible—and his age allows it— Roger’s. Why not?”

A year removed from

tournament.”

The runner-up at Melbourne Park, Petra Kvitova, jumped from No. 6 to No. 2.

Sloane Stephens is No. 4, and Karolina Pliskova went from No. 8 to No. 5.

Williams missed the 2018 tournament after having a baby; her quarterfinal run this time pushed her up five places to No. 11.

Surprise semifinalist Danielle Collins, a 25-year-old from Florida, climbed from No. 35 to No. 23. The woman she upset in the fourth round, three-time major champion Angelique Kerber, dropped from No. 2 to No. 6.

Novak Djokovic’s record seventh Australian Open title allowed him to stay at No. 1 in the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings, and Rafael Nadal’s runner-up showing kept him at No. 2.

But 2017-2018 champion Roger Federer’s fourth-round exit took him from No. 3 down to No. 6.

The player who beat Federer, 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, turned his first run to a Grand Slam semifinal into a career-best ranking of No. 12. AP

considered “the highest level possible.”

Against Nadal, who hadn’t dropped a set in the tournament or a service game since the first round, Djokovic managed five breaks. He also won 25 of the first 26 points he served.

A RECORD seventh championship in Australia means a lot to Novak Djokovic. AP

S SHARAPOVA

surgery to his right elbow, Djokovic is pain-free, ranked No. 1 and, perhaps, better than ever.

The near-perfection with which he won his last two matches—a combined 58 winners and 14 unforced errors in his semifinal and final—was something Djokovic termed “pleasantly surprising” and Nadal

“During the whole match, Novak was very disciplined,” was Vajda’s assessment. “He had so many ups.

He didn’t have any downs.”

And so it is that everything seems in play at the moment for Djokovic.

Four major titles in a row, something he already accomplished from 2015-2016: Why not?

A calendar-year Grand Slam, something no man has done since Rod Laver in 1969: Why not?

Catching up to, and eventually surpassing, Nadal and Federer: Why not?

When Djokovic’s childhood idol, Pete Sampras, won the

2002 US Open by beating his greatest rival, Andre Agassi, in the final, it raised his Grand Slam count to 14. At that point, no other man in the sport’s history had more than 12.

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic had a combined zero major championships back then. Look where that trio stands now.

Sampras had just turned 31 and would never play another match on tour.

Federer is 37, Nadal is 32, and Djokovic is 31. This is a different time.

As Vajda put it: “Roger is an example for all of us.”

So, yes, maybe Federer will add to his total. Nadal seems certain to, especially on the French Open’s red clay.

It’ll be fascinating to see where Djokovic winds up.

“I do want to definitely focus myself on continuing to improve my game and maintaining the overall well-being that I have— mental, physical, emotional—so I would be able to compete at such a high level for the years to come,” Djokovic said, “and have a shot at eventually getting closer to Roger’s record.”

Sharapova finally snares win in Russia in 13 years

AINT PETERSBURG, Russia—Maria Sharapova earned her first Women’s Tennis Association win in her native Russia for 13 years after beating Daria Gavrilova, 6-0, 6-4, in the first round of the Saint Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Monday.

In a win that sets up a second-round match against Russian No. 1 Daria Kasatkina, Sharapova brushed aside her Australian opponent Gavrilova in the first set. Gavrilova raced to 4-2 in

the second but Sharapova won four straight games and closed out the match.

Sharapova has rarely played the Russian tour events during her career, and when she has she’s never got past the quarterfinals.

Sharapova won her only previous meeting with Kasatkina in straight sets in Montreal in August.

Russian veteran Vera Zvonareva advanced to the second round in

Saint Petersburg by beating Ekaterina Makarova, 6-3, 6-4.

The 34-year-old Zvonareva returned to the top 100 in the rankings this month after a six-year absence.

Zvonareva will next play either Julia Goerges of Germany or Maria Sakkari of Greece in the second round.

Also, Alison van Uytvanck defeated Kirsten Flipkens, 6-2, 6-4, setting up a second-round match against fourthseeded Aryna Sabalenka. AP

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Business

C2 Wednesday, January 30, 2019

RED LIONS BAG FOOTBALL TITLE S

Curry holds shooting clinic against Pacers

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NDIANAPOLIS—Stephen Curry’s first-half shooting clinic was virtually flawless.

His championship teammates pitched in, too.

Curry scored 23 of his 26 points in the first half on Monday and Golden State ran away with a 132-100 rout at Indiana for its leagueleading 11th consecutive victory. The two-time defending champions still aren’t satisfied.

“I feel like we can,” Curry said when asked if the Warriors can get even better. “We’re not playing perfect basketball, by any stretch, but we’re playing consistent, focused basketball and we’re still working out some kinks with rotations and stuff like that.”

It’s a scary thought for the rest of the league, especially after the two-time Most Valuable Player turned in another head-turning performance.

Curry made his first eight shots and his first six three-pointers, including a demoralizing 27-foot buzzer-beater that gave the Warriors a 69-48 halftime lead. He finished 10 of 13 from the field with six rebounds, three assists and two steals in just 27 minutes.

DeMarcus Cousins had a season-high 22 points on a night five players scored in double figures and the Warriors had 39 assists.

And all that came on the final leg of a five-game road trip without Draymond Green, who rested, and against the league’s No. 1 scoring defense.

“I was a little worried about this game.

Everybody’s anxious to get home,” Coach Steve Kerr said. “But we finished off the trip the right way. We’ve been more dialed in the last month than we have all season.”

Golden State has won a league-high 10

AN BEDA University turned back Arellano University, 1-0, on Tuesday to repeat as seniors’ division of champion of the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association football tournament at the Philippine Football Federation Training Center at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

Jessie Semblante, a former goalkeeper during his high-school days who played for Don Bosco in Liloan in Cebu, delivered the championshipclinching goal on a penalty kick in the 87th minute.

With 21 titles, San Beda now shares the reputation as the most successful men’s football team with former member De La Salle Green. But San Beda wasn’t as fortunate in the juniors’ section as it was bowed also to Arellano University, 1-0, in the final.

Jimmen Catap scored in the 22nd minute for the only goal the Braves needed to nail their first championship in high-school football since they joined the league almost a decade ago.

It was also Catap who drew the ire of San Beda goalie Chevy Celeste, who was ejected for a dirty

consecutive road games and swept a fivegame trip for the first time since November 2014.

The Pacers played without All-Star guard Victor Oladipo, who had season-ending surgery on his right knee on Monday, and Tyreke Evans, Oladipo’s replacement, because of a sore back. But even at full strength, they may have struggled to weather the Warriors’s flurry.

Indiana gave up a season-high 40 points in the first quarter, and never got closer than 16 after Curry broke a 16-16 tie by scoring eight points to start a decisive 24-6 quarter-closing run en route to its most lopsided loss this season.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this team is going on the up track,” Pacers guard Darren Collison said. “I think we saw tonight, playing against a team like that, how to execute and we can take something from that.”

Myles Turner scored 16 points and Bojan Bogdanovic had 15 but Indiana lost for the second straight Charlotte 101, New York 92 time since Oladipo was injured Golden State 132, Indiana 100 last week. It was the Pacers’s worst loss this season. AP Boston 112, Brooklyn 104

Valdez, Pablo A head stellar all-star cast

NBA RESULTS

GOLDEN State’s Stephen Curry drives past Indiana’s Myles Turner. AP

tackle in the 76th minute.

The Cubs were never the same from there as the Braves hung tough to preserve the win.

College of Saint Benilde, meanwhile, ended Emilio Aguinaldo College’s (EAC) run with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-20 victory also on Tuesday to advance to the finals against defending champion University of Perpetual Help System Dalta in men’s volleyball at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Power-spiking Rubince Abrot had 12 points, including 11 on kills, to help bring the Blazers back to the finals after two seasons.

Saint Benilde also arranged an intriguing title-showdown with Perpetual Help, which swept the nine-game eliminations to zoom straight to the finals. The best-of-three showdown starts on Friday.

Game Two is set on February 8 while a decider, if necessary, will be on February 12.

Letran beat Lyceum of the Philippines University, 30-28, 25-21, 25-20, to advance to the juniors finals against “five-peat-seeking” Perpetual Help.

Denver 95, Memphis 92

STELLAR cast headed by the power-hitting duo of Creamline’s Alyssa Valdez and Motolite’s Myla Pablo will headline the Premier Volleyball League’s (PVL) All-Star Game slated on Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Valdez, the reigning Open Conference Most Valuable Player, and Pablo, a former MVP winner herself, will lead their respective squads in a fun and competitive showdown that would kick off another promising season of the league, which is now on its third year.

The game, which is set at 4 p.m. and will be aired live on ABS-CBN S+A HD Channel 166 and via livestream, also

Atlanta 123, LA Clippers 118 ANTHONY DAVIS tells New Orleans that he wants a trade. AP

DAVIS: I WANT OUT N

EW ORLEANS—Anthony Davis wants out of New Orleans.

And if a trade happens, it’ll be on the Pelicans’s schedule.

The five-time All-Star has told the Pelicans that he wants to be traded to a championship-contending team and will not sign an extension with New Orleans, agent Rich Paul told The Associated Press on Monday.

ESPN first reported Davis’s demand to be traded to a contender, a request he made last week. It is a move that will resonate around the league, one that will have teams trying to see how they can put together a package good enough to land Davis. But the Pelicans made clear in a written statement on Monday afternoon that they’re in no rush, and will wait for the right deal.

“We will do this on our terms and our timeline,” the Pelicans said, adding that they will only accept a deal that “makes the most sense for our team and it will not be dictated by those outside of our organization.”

Translated: The National Basketball Association (NBA) trade deadline is February 7, and if the Pelicans don’t get a deal they want by then, they’re prepared to wait.

“He plans on playing out the season,” Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry said on Monday while Davis was at the team’s training headquarters in Pelicans gear, working out and getting treatment on the injured left index finger that has kept him out of four games. “AD is a professional guy and he’s going to play as hard as he can once he gets well and we’re going to do the best we can to try put our team in position to win games.”

The Pelicans have also asked the NBA to “strictly enforce” any tampering rules associated with the pursuit of Davis, who is having the best season of his career, averaging 29.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game. The NBA is also looking into the trade request itself, since making such a demand publicly would seem to have violated league rules.

Davis will almost certainly become a six-time All-Star later this week when the NBA announces the full rosters for this year’s game that will be played February 17 in Charlotte.

It’s just unclear if Davis will be in Charlotte as a member of the Pelicans.

“It’s the business of basketball,” said New Orleans guard Jrue Holiday, who said Davis is “90 percent” of the reason why he decided two summers ago to sign a five-year, $126 million contract to remain in New Orleans.

The Pelicans next play on Tuesday at Houston.

In Indianapolis, where Golden State played the Pacers on Monday night, the Warriors’s Kevin Durant supported Davis’s trade demand.

“It’s not like the president is shutting down the government. It’s just basketball,” Durant said. “As players, we want guys to do exactly what they want to do in this league.

They have a short amount of time. So why not do what you want?”

Davis’s future has long been in question.

He’s an elite superstar on a team that hasn’t gotten past the second round of the playoffs since he’s been in New Orleans—and in four of his first six full seasons, the Pelicans didn’t qualify for the postseason at all. They entered on Monday 13th in the Western Conference standings, six games out of the final playoff spot with 32 games remaining. AP

JAPAN IN FINAL Forward Yuya Osako scores two goals as Japan beats Iran, 3-0, on Monday night in Alain and will play for a record fifth Asian Cup title against either host United Arab Emirates and Qatar, which will meet in the other semifinal on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi for a berth in Friday’s final. AP

seeks to generate funds for the benefit of Hero Foundation, according the PVL’s Ricky Palou.

“This is our gift to the fans, as well as raising funds for charity,” Palou said.

Ateneo’s Deanna Wong, Maddie Madayag and Dani Ravena, Petro Gazz’s Chie Saet and Jessie de Leon, Creamline’s Michele Gumabao, Mel Gohing and Risa Sato, BanKo-Perlas’s Nicole Tiamzon and Kathy Bersola, Iriga-Navy’s Grazielle Bombita and University of the Philippines’s Isa Molde will form Valdez’s team that will be coached by Petro Gazz’s Jerry Yee. Pablo’s squad, on the other hand, will be composed of Creamline’s Jia Morado and Jema Galanza, BanKo-Perlas’s Jem Ferrer and Joy Dacoron, Ateneo’s Kat Tolentino, Vanessa Gandler and Bea de Leon, PetroGazz’s Jonah Sabete and Cherry Nunag, Tacloban’s Dimdim Pacres, Pocari-Air Force’s Dell Palomata and Adamson-Akari’s Thang Ponce and coached by Ateneo’s Oliver Almadro.

An autograph signing and skills games for fans is set just an hour before the game itself.

Skyrunner Abahan vows to rule Itogon

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HE country’s top female skyrunner Sandi Abahan vows to return to the top podium in the National Skyrunning Championships set in Itogon, Benguet, on February 10.

The winner in 2014, 2015 and 2017 in Mount Ugo in Itogon, Abahan said she is ready to regain the crown she lost to Majo Liao last year when she made a wrong turn and lost six precious kilometers.

“It was a costly mistake and I hope to erase the stigma of that bitter loss,” said Abahan, who will fly to Hongkong this week to vie in the 9 Dragons Ultra, a multi-race three-day event that starts on Friday.

The Hongkong event consists of an 89-km race at 5,070 meters, and another at 50 kms at 3,550 meters.

“Although this is much a pretty different race [Akyathlon] now, because the distance is increased from 42 to 49 km, I expect to do much better this time so I will return to the top podium,” the native of Barlig in Ifugao told on Monday’s press conference at the Department of Tourism-Cordillera office in Baguio City.

The 49-km Itogon race is part of the Pilipinas Akyathlon or the Philippine Skyrunning National Championships series.

It has five sections—the premier 49 km race starts from the Binga (Dam) Indigenous People’s Cultural Heritage Site in Barangay Tinongdan in Itogon to Sitio Lusod, the traditional foot path to Ambasa Village and to the West Summit of Mount Ugo and back to the starting line.

The highest point is set at 2,220 meters (6,700 feet) above sea level with a total elevation gain of 3,750 meters.

There will also be a 25-km race and a 10-km trail run on the same day, while a day before February 9, the Vertical Kilometer or National VK Championship over 5 kms at 1,000 meters will be staged.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2019

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KAWANO, SATO RULE YULO MEMORIAL GOLF T PHILIPPINE Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez resumes agency’s program for athletes aged 15 and below.

DavNor in harness to host Mindanao Batang Pinoy leg

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AVAO del Norte is all set to host the Mindanao qualifying leg of the 2019 Batang Pinoy from February 3 to 9.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William Ramirez said on Tuesday that the situation in the province has subsided following reports of floods in low-lying areas.

“We didn’t cancel anything. They are almost back to normal, including those who are affected by floods. The opening will commence on February 3 [Sunday],” Ramirez said.

Davao del Norte Gov. Antonio del Rosario and Provincial Government Department Chief and Youth and Sports Development Head Giovanni Gulanes expressed nothing but excitement in hosting the premier grassroots multisport program of the PSC. To speed up the rehabilitation of areas affected by floods, the provincial government suspended classes in all levels on Tuesday.

Almost 3,500 athletes aged 15 and below will use the public schools for billeting in the weeklong meet.

The competitions will be in archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, dance sport, futsal, karatedo, lawn tennis, pencak silat, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo and volleyball (indoor and beach).

The Visayas leg will be in Iloilo City from February 23 to March 2, while the third and last leg for Luzon will be hosted by Ilagan, Isabela, from March 16 to 23.

AKASHI KAWANO and Ryuzo Sato pooled a 163 and edged Rolando Ramilo and Alfredo de la Peña in the countback to nail the overall crown, while Mari Hechanova and Junjun Plana took the low gross diadem in the 41st Jose Yulo Memorial Tournament at the North and South courses of the Canlubang golf complex in Laguna recently.

Kawano and Sato combined for an 84 in the first day then put in a 79 to clinch the top honors in the annual 36-hole tournament held

in honor of the former House Speaker. Ramilo and de la Peña shot an 84 in the first round and rallied with a 76 that proved short to snare the coveted title.

Jolly Gomez and Ike Madamba placed third with a 156 on a pair of 78s in the event backed by hole-in-one sponsors The Turf Company and Texas Eagle and Mitsubishi Motors Phil. Corp. with supporters GC&A Club Shares (890-Golf), Pacsports Phils. Inc. and Gardenia as gold sponsors and BSI Medicated Spray and Peter Paul

KOREAN ROOKIE UP ROOKIE pro Hwang Min-jeong takes charge with a 68. AP

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OOKIE pro Hwang Min-jeong banked on a pair of backto-back birdies to open both nines and take charge with a 68, storming to a three-stroke lead as Thai Chonlada Chayanun stumbled at the finish in the opener of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Splendido Ladies Classic in Laurel, Batangas, on Tuesday.

Chayanun actually seized control with a running fiveunder card after 11 holes but failed to ride the heavy

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

600-plus bets vie in Subic triathlon

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ORE than 600 triathletes from around the country are expected to see action in the standard distance My Daily Collagen TRI 1 on February 24 in Subic Bay. The event is a swim-bike-run race set on a course perfect for triathlon first-timers, agegroupers and returning multisport enthusiasts.

Gun start for the 1.5-kilometer swim off Acea Subic Bay Hotel is at 6:10 a.m., followed by a 40-km bike combining flats and climbs and a 10-km run back to Acea consisting of four loops toward All Hands Beach with a sweeping view of Subic Bay. Also featured is a sprint distance course consisting of a 750-meter swim, 18-km bike and 5-km run.

At stake in the event presented by My Daily Collagen and supported by Smart, Saucony, Vitorria, Rudy Project, Acea Subic Bay, Court Meridian Hotel and Suites and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority are medals for all finishers, trophies and gift packs for the winners in each age group, relay and teams.

Registration ends January 31 with a special offer—buy a box of My Daily Collagen upon online registration for a free limited-edition trucker cap from Vamos! My Daily Collagen drink and Vamos cap that could be claimed during the event. One box contains 10 1,000-mg bottles.

(Virgin Coconut Oil) as silver backers.

Sharing the spotlight was Rudy Verano, who drove home a brand-new Mitsubishi Xpander he won in the grand raffle, while Hechanova and Plana assembled a 286 for the team low gross honors.

Other daily winners were Charo Buencamino-Aris Lara, who carded an 83 and nipped Charlie Carmona-

wind that blew from all over, bogeying No. 12, dropping two strokes on the next and yielding another shot on No. 14 of Splendido Taal Golf Club.

She wound up with a 71, dropping instead to joint second with compatriots Saraporn Chamchoi and Punpaka Phuntumabamrung.

“I really enjoyed my game today [Tuesday],” said Hwang, who won at Mt. Malarayat as an amateur in 2015 and posted a record 16shot romp in last year’s Philippine Amateur Open at Riviera. “I played smart and safe because of the heavy wind, but I’m glad because I set up a number of short birdie putts.”

The Incheon native birdied the first two holes, added two more on Nos. 10 and 11 then tapped in for another birdie on the 15th she negated with a bogey on the next.

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Princess Superal, installed as the best local bet in the absence of last week’s Beverly Place leg winner Dottie Ardina and runner-up Pauline del Rosario, blew a one-under card with bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17, dropping to joint eighth at 73 with Wad Phaenchimplee of Thailand.

That enabled amateur and Princess’s young sister Eagle Ace to emerge the best-placed Filipina at joint fifth at 72, with Thais Mookharin Ladgratok and Pimpadsorn Sangkagaro with former Ladies Philippine Golf Tour leg winner Wannasiri Sirisampant and Brunei’s Valerie Tan at 74 and Marvi Monsalve and Daniella Uy turning in identical 75s with Thais Narisara Kerdrit, Preenaphan Poomklay and Nattapan Siritrai, and Korean Lee Ji-hyeon.

Multititled Chihiro Ikeda and former three-time Ladies Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit winner Cyna Rodriguez held sway in the early going but came in ruffled by the gusts with the former limping with three double bogeys at the back that marred her 81 card and the latter, who quit due to poor form after the first round at Beverly Place, squandered an even-par card after five holes, dropping strokes in the next three holes and wobbling with an atrocious 43 for an 82 in the 54-hole tournament.

E-Painters seek 3rd-straight victory against skidding Elite

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ODOM SHINES FOR MIGHTY IGHTY Sports outsteadied Magnolia, 98-97, in a tune-up match at Ronac gym on Tuesday but Coach Charles Tiu remained wary three days before the apparel and accessories team plunges into action in the 30th Dubai International Basketball Championship.

Although the team played much better than its 106-99 win over Blackwater last week, Tiu said his players need to work double time on two aspects—execution and defense.

“The team is slowly improving but I would not consider us ready yet,” said the younger brother of retired Rain or Shine guard Chris Tiu. “We need to play real smart defensively and also need to improve our execution.”

But the good news is that former LA Lakers star Lamar Odom is doing great.

“Lamar looks better every day and our locals

Kath Gonzalez in the countback, and Ashlin Clint Co-Amuan Cedric, who shot an 85 and, likewise, foiled Shoichi Hoshi-Yasuma Koji in the countback at the South course.

Ikuko Kito-Akiko Harada and Nards LevisteJessie Yuzon reigned at the North layout with an 82 and 79, respectively, while Carlo Quimson and Abe Rosal captured the individual low gross diadems with 150 and 151, respectively, while Jay Laurel and Jeffrey Ocampo shot 82 and 80, respectively, to share the low net crowns.

also look okay,” Tiu said.

In fact, it was the 6-foot-10 Odom who rescued the team from the jaws of defeat with his timely three-point shot in the crunch. He finished with seven points.

Mighty Sports owner Alex Wongchuking was delighted with the result of the team’s two tuneup matches, especially with the performance of Ginebra resident import Justin Brownlee and Chinese league veteran Randolp Morris.

“I’m hoping they can sustain their good form and help the team advance to the semis,” said Wongchuking, who coowns the team with younger brother and former Xavier School basketball team manager Caesar.

The team is out to improve its maiden showing in the annual tournament after winning only once in seven games two years ago.

Besides Brownlee and Morris, University of the Philippines star Juan Gomez de Liano and new recruit Jason Brickman also delivered to the delight of a motley crowd.

De Liano held his ground against the pros on the way to scoring 16 points, while Brickman, a Fil-Am, showed the brilliance that has made one of the stars in the Asean Basketball League.

FORMER De La Salle big man Norbert Torres tallies 12 points for Rain or Shine against Ginebra.

AIN or Shine targets its third straight win and in the process add to Blackwater’s woes in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup on Wednesday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Their game is set at 7 p.m. with the secondrunning and unbeaten Elasto Painters (2-0) taking on a winless Elite (0-3) side hoping to tie idle leader Phoenix Fuel Masters (3-0).

Sister teams TNT (2-2) and Meralco (1-2), meanwhile, collide at 4:30 p.m.

Rain or Shine clobbered NLEX, 96-87, in its first assignment then followed it up with an 83-80 escape over Barangay Ginebra in Calasiao, Pangasinan, last Saturday.

In their drubbing of the Gin Kings, former De La Salle big man Norbert Torres and veteran forwad Mark Borboran each tallied 12 points to keep their team afloat against the Japeth Aguilar-led crowd favorites.

But Head Coach Caloy Garcia reminded his players not to take the Elite lightly.

“I reminded the players not to waste our good start and we have to play within our system.

Blackwater is a dangerous team so we shouldn’t be complacent,” Garcia said.

Raymond Almazan is a doubtful starter as he recovers from a sprained ankle.

Garcia wished that his prized big man will be able to play soon.

“I hope he can play tomorrow but he is getting better every day,” Garcia said.

TNT, on the other hand, looks to sustain its hot streak against Meralco.

The Katropa dropped their first two games but regained their composure to beat NLEX (85-80) and defending champion San Miguel (104-93). Ramon Rafael Bonilla

AL MENDOZA alsol47@yahoo.com

THAT’S ALL

Djokovic on a roll IT was unbelievable tennis that Novak Djokovic had dished out in routing Rafael Nadal, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3, to win the Australian Open on Sunday in Melbourne.

The win tied their head-to-head Grand Slam finals record at four Slams apiece, but Nadal is still up by two in majors won with his 17 overall against Djokovic’s 15. Roger Federer is tops with 20.

But Djokovic isn’t just fast closing in on the duo. He is even establishing other records faster than changeovers in the game.

In victory, Djokovic, committing only nine unforced errors against Nadal’s plus-20, pocketed his third straight major after winning Wimbledon in June and the US Open in September.

That made Djokovic the first triple winner of three straight Slam streaks.

Djok’s Sunday triumph also primed him up for a possible fourSlam sweep in a calendar year.

If it happens in the next major that is the French Open, he becomes only the third male to do it after Donald Budge in 1938 and Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969.

You think that’s all there is to it?

Uh-oh.

His Melbourne victory also gave him an unbeaten streak of seven straight Australian finals appearances, but look at this: It also made him the first to win seven Australian Open trophies, peeling off from his six Aussie Open ties with Federer and Roy Emerson.

And should the Serb win the French Open in May-June, he repeats stringing a Grand Slam of all four majors that he did in 2015-2016.

But if Djok is the “monarch of Melbourne,” Rafa (Nadal) is the “king of clay”—the French Open being clay-surfaced.

Not to discourage Djokovic but while the Serb has won the French Open but once, Nadal has clinched it a record 11 times.

The Spaniard is the first and only player, male or female, to win 11 Slams in a single major. No other male player has won more than eight titles at a single major in the Open Era. Remember, Nadal wasn’t in his top form against Djokovic in their 53rd head-to-head duel in Melbourne (Djok won for his 28th), the Australian being Rafa’s first tournament after the US Open in September due to injuries.

So, will Nadal get his revenge four months from now when he manages to secure another Finals duel with Djokovic?

Only Djokovic can answer that.

Truthfully.

THAT’S IT The nation has just lost a media stalwart in Juanito “Jun” Velasco. Jun V has passed on after a heart attack at age 73 on January 25 in his birthplace Dagupan City. A Pangasinan pillar of the press, he was also an icon in national journalism, having been a correspondent for Northern Luzon of the pre-martial law Manila Times before settling with Manila Bulletin, staying there till his passing. He was the editor in chief of the Lingayen-based (Pangasinan) Capitol News at the time of his death. A staunch freedom fighter, Jun V was a political prisoner under the unlamented Marcos dictatorship.

Unknown to many, Jun V, the elder brother of the eminent UP-Diliman Prof. Dr. Dante Velasco, was also a poet of the first degree. Jun V’s book, Entrances, showcases his poetic dexterity. My family condoles deeply with Bebot, Jun V’s kindly wife, their children, grandchildren and all their loved ones. Enjoy your vacation, Compadre Jun.

NO GUARANTEE Sports BusinessMirror

C4

| Wednesday, January 30, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

THE Rams’s Ethan Westbrooks wears a sombrero during Opening Night for Super Bowl 53 as Patriots fan Brian Babikian displays his tattoo. AP

A

By Eddie Pells

CONFUSING, BUT FITTING A

The Associated Press

WORD of warning to all those soon-to-be Super Bowl champions in New England or Los Angeles: Don’t get too comfortable. You might be looking for a job fairly soon.

The National Football League’s (NFL) inexorable trend of going younger and cheaper does not bypass the best teams in the league. In fact, it may help them stay as good as they are.

An Associated Press (AP) analysis of Super Bowl champions over the past seven years revealed that title teams shed an average of 20.4 players off their 53-man rosters from the Super Bowl to Week 1 of the next season.

That’s 38.5 percent. On average, the new players had 1.8 fewer years of experience than the players they replaced.

The findings were in line with data analyzed by the AP that showed a steady trend downward in experience of all teams despite attempts in the 2006 and 2011 collective bargaining agreements to stem that tide. Average experience on openingday rosters has dropped from 4.6 years to 4.3 since 2005.

“I mean, look, there’s a lot of turnover in the National Football League on every team in every year,” Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said. “It’s the National Football League. Teams turn over a lot of players and a lot of coaches every single year, every single team.”

No team does it with quite the high-profile effectiveness as the Patriots, who have collected five Super Bowl titles since 2002, and will be going for No. 6 on Sunday against the Rams.

New England’s five Super Bowl champions turned over an average of 19.2 players the season after they won their titles. The season after their 2015 win over the Seahawks, they brought in 24 new players—the biggest number among all the teams surveyed in this analysis.

How does all this turn out? Not very well, except for the Patriots. Of the past seven Super Bowl teams, none has repeated. Two have returned to the Super Bowl to lose. Two have lost in the playoffs. Three didn’t even make the playoffs.

The 2003-2004 Patriots are the last team to repeat.

Belichick’s famously unsentimental view of rosters, and the players who fill them, has led to some of the most awkward, unpopular and sometimes downright messy break ups in recent memory.

Coming off a season in which the Patriots lost the AFC title game, Belichick traded away linebacker Jamie Collins—to the then 0-8 Browns, no less—in the middle of the 2016 season.

New England won the Super Bowl that year.

Ty Law, Adam Vinatieri, Vince Wilfork, Richard Seymour.

Lawyer Milloy, Jimmy Garoppolo, Wes Welker and Damien Woody. New England said goodbye to all of them when they still had gas left in the tank.

They unexpectedly benched the cornerback who saved the 2015 Super Bowl, Malcolm Butler, at the Super Bowl three years later, then let him go via free agency. Drew Bledsoe got injured in 2001 and his days were numbered. He got traded to the Bills after a backup named Tom Brady stepped in and did fairly well.

Through it all, Brady and Belichick have been the constant.

“Some of it is perception, and some of it is reality,” said Eric Winston, the former NFL offensive lineman who is now the president of the players’ union. “Every NFL team, in certain areas, goes through maturations and goes through the process of, ‘How do we build a team?’ And then it changes. One year, it’s finding a few older free agents who can play. Another, everyone wants to get younger when the Seahawks win with an average age of 26.4.”

The average experience on Seattle’s 2013 Super Bowl champions was 3.66 years, the lowest among the teams AP surveyed. Not surprising, then, that Seattle only turned over 15 players from that roster. Seattle returned to the Super Bowl the next season, but went into a rebuilding mode not long after, with many of the top contributors from the Super Bowl teams becoming too pricey. The team scrambled to put fresh talent around still-young quarterback, Russell Wilson, but has never returned to the Super Bowl.

“Teams will try to find a younger, cheaper option even if the drop off in production isn’t there” from the player they’re cutting ties with, said Seahawks 11th-year offensive lineman Duane Brown. “If they’re not as productive but a little cheaper they’re willing to sacrifice it.”

Even by jettisoning around one-third of their rosters, teams don’t always end up younger the next season. Of the 10 teams the AP analyzed—all seven title teams since 2011, along with the 2001, 2003 and 2004 Patriots—six actually got older. That’s because even with the turnover, essentially two-thirds of the roster stays and ages a year.

That only amplifies the need to work hard at staying young.

Jets offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum recalled conversations he’s had with Assistant Coach David Diaz-Infante, who played on the Broncos title teams in the late 1990s.

“He said, ‘Man, I remember when I was in my room, the youngest person in our room was 29,’” Beachum said. “That’s considered almost older than a geezer now.”

IN THIS aerial file photo taken on January 29, 2014, abandoned cars at I-75 headed northbound near the Chattahoochee River overpass are piled up in the median of the ice-covered interstate after a winter snow storm in Atlanta. AP

PREPS UP FOR SNOW, ICE AHEAD OF SUPER BOWL

A

TLANTA—More than 100 flights have been canceled on Tuesday at Atlanta’s airport and city leaders say they fear ice could slicken streets and freeways just as thousands of fans begin pouring into town for Super Bowl 53.

The winter storm churning into Georgia comes five years after cars, trucks and school buses became marooned on Atlanta freeways in what became known as “snow jam.”

A winter weather advisory goes into effect at 3 a.m. on Tuesday for Atlanta, a city known for grinding to a halt in relatively light snowfalls.

Delta Air Lines is “proactively” canceling about 170 flights at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, its main hub, the Atlanta-based airline announced late on Monday.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday said state offices in more than 30 counties in the northern part of

the state would be closed on Tuesday, including those in the Atlanta area.

The National Weather Service projects that up to an inch (2.5 centimeters) of snow is possible on Tuesday in Atlanta, with up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) in far northern suburbs. Forecasters warn of the possibility of ice-glazed roads and highways.

New England Patriots fan Pamela Wales of Quincy, Massachusetts said it’s the potential for ice that concerns her most. During her visit to Atlanta this week, local television footage reminded her that Atlanta and ice don’t mix well.

“They were showing all kinds of pictures on TV from 2014 when everyone got stuck,” Wales said as she toured Super Bowl exhibits at the Georgia World Congress Center on Monday afternoon.

The potential for black ice is also “the overriding concern” among emergency officials, said Homer

Bryson, director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.

“Temperatures are going to plummet,” the governor said at a Monday news conference.

“It’s very similar to what we saw in 2014 where the roadways will not have time to dry off before the moisture or precipitation on them refreezes,” Kemp said.

“And that’s when you have black ice, and that’s what causes wrecks, which causes gridlock and public safety issues, injuries.”

Road crews on Monday began treating major interstates, state routes and overpasses in north Georgia with brine—a liquid salt mixture—in anticipation of the storm.

The routes that both the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams must use to travel to and from practice venues will also be pretreated, the Georgia Department of Transportation said in a statement.

TLANTA—Super Bowl Media Night is the National Football League’s (NFL) version of a rock concert, with player interviews rather than music.

It’s a Mardi Gras party, complete with the costumes.

It’s a slow-motion stampede conducted mostly by quasimedia members or outright impostors.

Some Los Angeles Rams players and Coach Sean McVay sat at podiums on Monday night, answering questions ranging from serious to outrageous. Other Rams were spread across the mosh pit of a floor at the State Farm Arena, dealing with the microphones and TV cameras and the noise bouncing through the building.

This is the start of the biggest week in American football?

Nowadays, it is.

“Very cool to be here,” said Rams star defensive tackle Aaron Donald, the only unanimous All-Pro this season.

He was, of course, sitting in the safety of a podium.

As he looked out, he might spot a woman in a blue gown strutting for TV cameras that didn’t seem to be searching for anything football related.

Or several people in full Mexican regalia—nice sombreros, for sure—giving their own interviews rather than asking anything about jet sweeps or corner blitzes.

There even was a man dressed in a clown suit from head to toe, wearing the makeup to complement the outfit. How fitting.

“You play all your career to get here,” Donald added.

Presumably he meant to face the American Football Conference champion Patriots on Sunday in the game, not the opening night that increasingly seems to be about anything but his profession. “It’s a blessing to be here.”

Melissa Whitworth, the wife of Donald’s teammate, tackle Andrew Whitworth, didn’t mind the mayhem at all.

On hand with her four children—twins Sarah and Drew, both 7; Michael, who is 6; and Katherine, 4—she has been a fan of Media Night for a while, and was thrilled her husband had gotten there at least.

“After 13 years,” she said with a wide smile, her kids nearby dressed in Rams jerseys with the number 77 and Whitworth on the back. “I love this night. I love everything about this night.”

So did daughter Sarah, who said she didn’t like football—she might have had quite a bit of company among the throngs paying more attention to each other than to the players. Asked if she watched her dad play, she shook her head “no,” noting she preferred ballet.

That certainly beat the scrum going on around the Whitworths. And everywhere else on the floor.

Many Rams were able to break away from the throngs of onlookers and pretend media on the floor to return to their childhoods. Marcus Peters and Dante Fowler Jr., walked onto a makeshift stage on Monday night and played a tossing game for the Nickelodeon show Double Dare.

It was a quick respite for the Los Angeles Rams defensive duo, and cornerback Peters appeared to beat linebacker Fowler in the game. Then they were back into the scrum of microphones and TV cameras.

As for the Patriots, well, the lineup was short.

“We’re having them do physical challenges,” said Marc Summers, the longtime host of the program. “But we’re not getting the Patriots to come over. New England has been here many times and they are confident and are a little over this [scene]. The Rams are having the time of their lives and enjoying participating in everything.” AP

Sunday’s Super Bowl will be played in downtown Atlanta in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which has a roof.

The roof will be open if weather permits, officials have said. There’s a 40 percent chance of showers on Sunday, but highs will be near 58 degrees Fahrenheit (14 degrees Celsius). That’s slightly warmer than average for February 3 in Atlanta, climate records show.

But forecasters say the more immediate threat is on Tuesday, when roads could be treacherous.

“It is often easy to pass judgment on how we in Georgia deal with snow and ice, but for those from the north what you do know is that an ice event is very different than a snow event,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said on Monday.

About 1,900 employees were on call and more than 420 pieces of snow removal equipment were ready, the state Department of Transportation said. AP

God, giver of peace

D

EAR God, You are our refuge and our strength. In confidence, we pray: Lead us to drink of one spirit, Oh God. Refresh our minds and hearts so that we may see anew the giftedness of one another. Sensitize us to the needs of the elderly, the young and the vulnerable in our families and communities. Lead all the faithful departed to share in Your glorious light and life. May the Spirit of God dwell in our hearts and lead us to greater freedom and love. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

SAMSUNG SEEKS TO ELEVATE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE WITH FLAGSHIP STORE

SAMSUNG Electronics Philippines Corp. recently launched its redesigned flagship store in the country, showcasing the tech giant’s new global design standards to elevate in-store experiences.

With exciting interactive zones and state-of-the-art displays in the flagship store in SM Megamall, the sophisticated retail space allows visitors to engage with the brand and its products in new ways.

The largest Samsung store in the Philippines combines sleek aesthetics and cutting-edge technology to deliver the ultimate Galaxy experience.

Drawing customers into the space is the Newness Table, designed to showcase the latest innovations from the electronics giant. The U-shaped Center Bars are built to facilitate one-on-one communication with customers about the devices on display. Digital screens replace product information cards for smartphones and tablets. Various accessories and cases are placed on well-lit Accessory Walls and sleek wooden tables, free for visitors to view and touch.

Also exclusive to the flagship stores is the Gear Table, a dedicated hands-on station featuring the entire line of Gear S watches and straps.

Experience hubs provide access to a diverse range of Samsung devices. Guests can explore stunning virtual worlds with the Samsung Gear VR at the 4D VR lounge. Audiophiles can tune in to crystalclear beats at the Music section, equipped with speakers and headsets from JBL and Harman Kardon.

The Gaming corner takes players at the heart of exciting action with the Curved Gaming Monitor and TVs. Finally, the reimagined and intelligent cameras of the Galaxy S9 and S9+, and Galaxy Note9 take center stage at the photo booth, where users can generate their own AR Emojis and try out the Connected Bluetooth S Pen. The new Samsung Experience Store also houses a team of dedicated customer service representatives.

From device personalization to product queries, they are equipped and ready to answer the needs of clients. Experience Lounges with Consumer Learning Programs are also available for those who want to relax while knowing more about the products.

“Samsung as a brand has always been known to consistently redefine the new normal and to go beyond expectations. Over the years, our mobile phones have set the benchmark for what the consumers need and want,” says James Jung, president of Samsung Philippines. “The new store design heralds a new chapter in Samsung retail, enabling customers to engage with our brand and products in new ways.”

Life BusinessMirror

SUI GENERIS: GET ON A ROLL— AND STAY THERE D4

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

D1

On Twitter, limited number of characters spreading fake info

By SetH BorenStein The Associated Press

W

ASHINGTON—A tiny fraction of Twitter users spread the vast majority of fake news in 2016, with conservatives and older people sharing misinformation more, a new study finds.

Scientists examined more than 16,000 US Twitter accounts and found that 16 of them—less than onetenth of 1 percent—tweeted out nearly 80 percent of the misinformation masquerading as news, according to a study on Thursday in the journal Science.

About 99 percent of the Twitter users spread virtually no fake information in the most heated part of the election year, said study coauthor David Lazer, a Northeastern University political and computer science professor.

Spreading fake information “is taking place in a very seamy, but small, corner of Twitter,” Lazer said.

Lazer said misinformation “super sharers” flood Twitter: an average of 308 pieces of fakery each between August 1 and December 6 in 2016.

And it’s not just few people spreading it, but few people reading it, Lazer said.

“The vast majority of people are exposed to very little fake news despite the fact that there’s a concerted effort to push it into the system,” Lazer said.

The researchers found the 16,442 accounts they analyzed by starting with a random pool of voter records, matching names to Twitter users and then screening out accounts that appeared to not be controlled by real people.

Their conclusions are similar to a study earlier this

month that looked at the spread of false information on Facebook. It also found that few people shared fakery, but those who did were more likely to be over 65 and conservatives.

That makes this study more believable because two groups of researchers using different socialmedia platforms, measuring political affiliation differently and with different panels of users came to the same conclusion, said Yonchai Benkler, codirector of Harvard Law School’s center on the Internet and society. He wasn’t part of either study but praised them, saying they should reduce misguided postelection panic about how “out-of-control technological processes had rendered us as a society incapable of telling truth from fiction.”

Experts say a recent showdown between Kentucky Catholic school students and a Native American elder at the Lincoln Memorial seemed to be stoked by a single now-shut down Twitter account. Lazer said the account fit some characteristics of super sharers from his study but it was more left-leaning, which didn’t match the study.

Unlike the earlier Facebook study, Lazer didn’t interview the people but ranked people’s politics based on what they read and shared on Twitter.

The researchers used several different sources of domains for false information masquerading as news—not individual stories but overall sites—from lists compiled by other academics and BuzzFeed.

While five outside experts praised the study, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, head of the public policy center at the University of Pennsylvania, found several problems, especially with how they determined fake information sites.

Lazer’s team found that among people they categorized as left-leaning and centrists, fewer than 5 percent shared any fake information. Among those they determined were right-leaning, 11 percent of accounts shared misinformation masquerading as news. For those on the extreme right, it was 21 percent. This study shows “most of us aren’t too bad at circulating information, but some of us are determined propagandists who are trying to manipulate the public sphere,” said Texas A&M University’s Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of political rhetoric who wasn’t part of the study. n

YOUTUBE PROMISES TO STOP PROMOTING MISLEADING VIDEOS

SAN BRUNO, California—If you believe the world is flat, don’t count on YouTube recommending videos supporting your theory.

That’s because YouTube is promising to stop promoting so many sensationalistic clips that revolve around scientifically proven falsehoods and other suspect information, such as conspiracy theories revolving around the US government’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York.

YouTube, part of Google, announced its de-emphasis on misleading videos on Friday. It’s the latest example of a widely used digital service trying to stop the spread of misinformation as lawmakers scrutinize the role that technology companies play in distributing potentially toxic propaganda. Both Facebook and Twitter are trying to take similar steps.

The misleading videos will remain on YouTube, even after they are phased out from its recommendation list. AP

Eliminate seven vulnerabilities in industrial IoT platform solution KASPERSKY Lab experts have helped to identify and patch seven previously unknown vulnerabilities in the ThingsPro Suite—an industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform designed for industrial control systems (ICS) data acquisition and remote analysis.

Some of the vulnerabilities found could potentially allow threat actors to gain highly privileged access to industrial IoT gateways and execute deadly commands. All vulnerabilities identified were reported to and patched by platform developer Moxa.

ThingsPro Suite automatically gathers data from operational technology devices running at the industrial facility and submits it to an IoT cloud for further analysis.

However, as much as such platforms are useful to ease industrial IoT (IIoT) integration and maintenance, they can also be dangerous unless they are developed and integrated with adequate security concerns in mind. As such solutions work as a connecting point between IT and OT security domains, vulnerabilities found in them can potentially allow attackers to gain access to an industrial network.

Within two weeks, Kaspersky Lab ICS CERT security researchers conducted a preconceptual study of the product, testing it for vulnerabilities that could be exploited remotely.

As a result, seven zero-day vulnerabilities were found. One of the most severe could allow a remote attacker to execute any command on the target IIoT gateway.

Another vulnerability made it possible for cyber criminals to gain root privileges, providing the ability to change the device’s configuration. Moreover, its exploitation could be automated, meaning that cyber criminals could automatically compromise multiple Moxa ThingsPro IoT gateways in different enterprises and to even potentially gain access to industrial networks of the organizations.

“Moxa is a trusted and respected brand in the industrial systems world. However, despite the company’s vast expertise and experience, its new product had a number of vulnerabilities, which shows that it is important even for industry leaders to conduct proper cyber security tests.

We call on all ICS-product developers to act responsibly, performing regular vulnerability checks, treating the security

of solutions for industrial systems as an integral and essential part of development,” said Alexander Nochvay, security researcher at Kaspersky Lab. “The industrial control systems of organizations in the Philippines are definitely expanding as we speak, particularly in the areas of utilities, telecommunications and manufacturing. We highly advise ICS officers to be proactive in ensuring that the stability of these critical infrastructure is protected in the face of frequent and severe cyber attacks,” said Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager at Kaspersky Lab Southeast Asia.

To keep industrial control systems safe, we advise that companies: n Restrict access of IIoT gateway devices to components of the enterprise’s OT and IT networks to the extent possible; n Restrict access to IIoT gateway devices from the enterprise network and the internet to the extent possible; n Set up monitoring of remote access to the enterprise’s OT network, as well as monitoring of access to individual ICS components (workstations, servers and other equipment)

inside the OT network; n Use solutions designed to analyze network traffic, detect and prevent network attacks—at the boundary of the enterprise network and at the boundary of the OT network; n Use dedicated solutions to monitor and perform deep analysis of network traffic on the OT network and detect attacks on industrial equipment; n Ensure the security of hosts on the enterprise’s IT and OT networks using solutions that provide protection from malware and cyber attacks. n Provide cyberhygiene training to employees, partners and suppliers who have access to the enterprise’s OT network.

To assist companies in choosing OT security solutions, world's leading research and advisory company Gartner has released its Competitive Landscape: Operational Technology Security report. Kaspersky Lab was cited for its solutions under the following categories: OT endpoint security, OT network monitoring and visibility, anomaly detection, incident response, and reporting and OT Security Service.

D2

Pet Corner BusinessMirror

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Kooiker-huh? An intro to Westminster dog show’s new breeds NEDERLANDSE kooikerhondje Escher (left) and Rhett are shown during a news conference at the American Kennel Club headquarters in New York. The Nederlandse kooikerhondje, originally a Dutch duckhunting dog, is one of two breeds eligible to compete in the Westminster dog show for the first time in 2019. AP

N

z

By Jennifer Peltz The Associated Press

EW YORK—Two new breeds. Sixteen new syllables. The grand basset griffon Vendeen and the Nederlandse kooikerhondje make their debuts at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show next month, each getting a nationally televised turn among the more than 200 breeds and varieties on the green carpet at the nation’s premier canine contest.

But Buzz Lightyear, for one, seems to be taking his breed’s big moment in stride. The four-year-old grand basset griffon Vendeen (pronounced grahnd bah-SAY’ grih-FAHN’ vahn-DAY’-ahn) glanced out on Tuesday at the cameras at a Westminster-preview news conference, looked up at owner Brielly Cipriotti, and then lay down on rostrum to do a couple of the things his breed does best: sniff around and induce smiles.

“They’re extremely sweet, and they have a big, goofy attitude,” Cipriotti, of Bealeton, Virginia, said later. She’s excited about the exposure that the breed—a low-slung, long-eared, hardy hound developed in France to hunt rabbits and hare—stands to gain from Westminster.

About 3,200 dogs, ranging from wee Malteses to strapping mastiffs, are entered to compete at next month’s show, which includes agility and obedience competitions along with the breed judging that leads to the signature Best in Show trophy. It will be awarded on February 12 at Madison Square Garden and live on FS1. The relatively new agility and obedience contests are open to mixed-breed dogs.

Dobby, a corgi-terrier mix, is making his fourth try at the agility title. But even if he wins, it won’t be the most eventful thing that has happened at Westminster for owner Stefanie Kappus.

Her husband, Toby, proposed to her as she came out of the agility ring last year.

“He keeps saying, ‘What am I going to do to top that this year?’” joked Kappus, of Milford, New Jersey.

New breeds appear at Westminster after getting recognized by the American Kennel Club. The process takes years and includes setting standards and having hundreds of dogs spread around the country.

The merry, clever Nederlandse kooikerhondje

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Wilmer Valderrama, 39; Christian Bale, 45; Phil Collins, 68; Charles S. Dutton, 68.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Stand up for your beliefs, and make a difference in your community, workplace or circle of friends. How you approach life and the suggestions and solutions you make will draw positive attention to you and what you have to offer. Turn this into a progressive year filled with hopes, dreams and wishes. Trust your judgment and forge ahead. Your lucky numbers are 6, 10, 23, 29, 31, 36, 45.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Interacting with people who have something to offer will lead to greater opportunities. Sign up for a course or participate in an activity that interests you. Do a background check before you trust someone with your money or your personal information. HHHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Dedicate more time to gathering information and facts before you decide to get into a debate with someone who can influence your position or advancement. Knowledge will determine how well you do. Don’t underestimate the competition. HHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You’ll learn quickly.

A partnership looks promising, but before you take a leap of faith, make sure you are dealing with someone reputable. Ask around and rely on reviews to help you make a sound decision. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Don’t make a change for the wrong reason. If someone pushes or pressures you, back away and do your own thing. Be confident in your ability to come up with your own means and methods to accomplish what’s best for you. HHH

e (pronounced NAY’-dehr-lahn-seh KOY’-kehr-hahndjeh) was initially trained to help Dutch duck hunters by attracting the birds’ interest and then luring them into net-covered canals.

“It’s the Pied Piper of the dog world,” said owner Rod Beckstead, of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, as he showed off two-year-old Bandit on Tuesday.

The breed remains versatile and easy to teach to do dog sports and other things; some even serve as cadaver dogs, he said.

Westminster is regularly protested by animalrights activists who deplore dog breeding as appearance-focused and detrimental to mixed-breed dogs that need homes. The club portrays the show as a tribute to all canines.

The Westminster Kennel Club show spans events on February 9, 11 and 12, with parts broadcast on Fox and Nat Geo Wild. A “Meet the Breeds” event, featuring both dogs and cats, unfolds alongside Westminster on February 9. n

A foster-based rescue group lets the dogs out for puppy yoga GREEN BAY, Wisconsin—It’s one thing to roll out your mat and do Downward Dog. It’s another to pull off the iconic yoga posture with actual doggies down at your feet.

One stretches your spine. The other tickles your toes. Together, it’s called puppy yoga, and it’s as adorable as it sounds. You’ve heard of yoga with goats? Same concept, but with more tail wagging, clumsier paws and the occasional squeaker toy, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported.

Gather on Broadway and Lucky 7 Dog Rescue hosted their first Yoga with Puppies class in downtown Green Bay, a joint fund-raiser that sold-out faster than you can say Adho Mukha Svanasana (the proper name for Downward Dog).

Fifty human participants followed along as Molly McCain of Jenstar Yoga & Dance Llc. in De Pere calmly guided them through a beginner’s class of how to slow down their breaths, let their day go, plant their hands, draw their

www.businessmirror.com.ph

belly back and reach for the sky.

The 13 canine participants, however, were having none of that following-instructions stuff. They were there for one reason and one reason only: to play.

The pups were allowed to roam freely, kind of “Who Let the Dogs Out” style. They rubbed shoulders as they mingled from mat to mat, chased each other between outstretched legs, ran around in circles, licked faces conveniently positioned at eye level and got into comical wrestling matches at the instructor’s feet.

Whenever there was a puppy traffic jam by a single mat, volunteers were there to keep the puppy love moving around the room.

“The puppies just kind of do their thing,” said Maddy Szymanski, president of Lucky 7, the foster-based Green Bay rescue group she founded in 2015. “They play, they run around, they cuddle, they jump on each other, they interact with the guests, and in the

meantime, they just enjoy themselves.”

Their presence means it’s not your typical yoga class. People take timeouts for selfies. There is no shame in plunking down on your mat and petting when everyone else is standing up and stretching. Staying focused on your breathing tends to go out the window when a dog in a sparkly pink sweater comes racing down the row and cracks everyone up.

The dogs—14 weeks and younger— were all either Lucky 7 dogs up for adoption or recent adoptees whose owners have agreed to bring them to community events to help spread the word about the rescue group.

Janae Mancheski, of Green Bay, was there as a Christmas gift from her mom, Justine Mancheski. It was a chance for some mother-daughter time and some serious puppy cuddling.

“This is probably one of the more distracting times I’ve done yoga, but it was so worth it,” Janae said.

For the puppies, the class is a way to

learn to play with other dogs, hear new noises and interact with strangers—all things that help in their socialization, Szymanski said. Jack is in training to be a service dog, for example, and Finley to be an emotional support dog.

Puppy yoga doesn’t just connect mind and body but also people and pets. “We’re really trying to change the way people view animal welfare,” Szymanski said.

“A lot of times people think it’s dogs in kennels that don’t have anywhere to go, and they think of it as being sad and overwhelming. So we’re trying to change the way people think about getting involved in a rescue [to foster or volunteer].”

By the time the hour-long class was over, the two-legged participants felt relaxed, but the four-legged ones were flat-out pooped. A few were conked out on the floor or curled up on laps.

“They tend to only have an hour’s worth of energy,” Szymanski said.

“They tucker out quick.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): What are you waiting for? If change is needed, make it happen. Own your responsibilities, and make moves based on your needs. Socialize and network and you will make connections that will lead to relationships that will help you personally and professionally. HHHHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Take a step back and talk to someone you admire and respect. Getting a unique perspective on a situation you face will give you the insight you need to make a decision. HH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Get away from your home turf and explore new territory.

What you discover will inspire you to make changes to the way you live or handle people who are too demanding. HHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Learn all you can and explore your options. Don’t let someone make decisions for you. Keeping the peace will not buy you the freedom you want. Speak up and make choices that will help you reach your goals. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’ll be distracted easily. Refuse to let someone put ideas in your head that aren’t valid or use emotional tactics to get you to do something you shouldn’t. Stick to tried-and-true friends who offer stability. Romance is highlighted. HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Demands will be made, but that doesn’t mean you have to agree. Weigh the pros and cons and do what’s in your best interest. If someone wants to take a risk, walk away and do your own thing. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Look for an opportunity to use your skills to bring in more cash. Take action and start something that will help you build a strong base for something you want to pursue. HHHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Proceed with caution. Someone will feed you false information or use persuasive tactics to get you involved in something that isn’t going to make you look good. Protect against a broken heart, ill health and emotional manipulation. HH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are industrious, original and outgoing.

You are clever and helpful.

‘flip-flops’ BY PAUL COULTER The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Passport mark 6 Soccer legend Mia 10 “Dear old” relative 13 Avid 14 Pago Pago’s place 15 “Now I get it!”

16 Box office bomb about primatology?

19 Like -2, vis-à-vis -1 20 Bend (over) 21 Andean animal 22 Little 23 Excursion 24 Box office bomb about a work-shy guy?

31 Country singer LeAnn 32 “Cool!”

33 Coke’s partner 35 Sandler of Big Daddy 36 Runs, as a river 38 Plumbing snake’s place 39 Architect I.M. 40 Atoll protector 41 Discussion group 42 Box office bomb about God’s

annoying insects?

6 Intensifies, with “up” 4 47 Like cookie dough 48 Word with “energy” or “flare” 50 Dining hall offering 52 Old woman’s home of rhyme 56 Box office bomb about Stephen’s scary stand-up?

59 Hot-___ balloon 60 Desert relief 61 Saturday Night Fever music 62 “Baloney!”

63 Frosh-rushing group 64 Beasts of burden DOWN 1 Close tightly 2 Duct-___ wallet 3 Long, long time 4 Hoarder’s house, e.g.

5 Positive aspect 6 “Funny” 7 Cry to a pastor 8 Floor cleaner 9 Food court regular 10 Bush’s press secretary

1 “Beg pardon...”

1 12 Modern miner’s matter 14 Animal in a roundup 17 Dog biter 18 Sacha Baron Cohen title role 22 Scream director Craven 23 “___ the night before...”

24 Mouse’s hazard 25 Like some TVs 26 Certain ding from a phone 27 Not masc. or neut.

28 Switch words 29 Handful 30 Just swell 34 Blend 36 Come clean, with “up” 37 DiCaprio, to fans 38 Amigo 40 “Tsk-tsk” or “tut-tut” 41 Church bench 43 Desktop with a 27-inch model 44 Cafeteria carriers 45 Angel’s headwear 48 Twinkle source 49 Birth state of seven presidents

0 Tableland 5 51 Make shorter, say 52 Follows a snowy trail 53 Blow off steam?

54 Enough, for some 55 Freudian topics 57 Fold, spindle or mutilate 58 Org. that may say no to drugs Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Show BusinessMirror

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

The ‘Phantom’ endures T

D3

By Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez

HE “phantom” in Gaston Leroux’s French novel, The Phantom of the Opera, has often been cast as a tragic antihero.

His biggest crime, perhaps, is falling in love with female protagonist Christine Daaé, and in his desire for acceptance, he becomes violent and selfish. Yet, at his darkest and most vulnerable, these qualities only make him more human; susceptible to hurt, frightened by solitude.

He gets an enduring moment of redemption just before the curtain falls, and verses from Leroux’s work haunt theatergoers as they ponder on the human flaw as something to be applauded rather than overcome: “He had a heart that could have held the entire empire of the world, and, in the end, he had to content himself with a cellar.”

The phantom’s moral purpose, like many other parts of himself, remains hidden behind his mask.

Was he a villain or a victim?

The Philippine theater scene will have to decide for itself again as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical masterpiece, with lyrics by Charles Hart and script

by Lloyd Weber and Richard Stilgoe, makes its long-awaited return to the country running from February 20 to March 31 at The Theatre at Solaire in Parañaque City. “One of the amazing things about Phantom is that it transcends language and time,” said Kristen Blodgette, the musical supervisor. “In every audience, there seems to be something that resonates [about the story].”

The musical, which first had its Manila run in 2012 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, is produced

by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions and presented by telecommunications giant PLDT, as well as Concertus Manila, the same entertainment company which brought Les Misérables in 2016, Wicked in 2017 and The Lion King in 2018 to local theaters.

“The Phantom of the Opera put Filipino theater fans in a spell on its Philippine debut almost seven years ago, and we’re thrilled to bring back the legendary musical for more Filipinos to enjoy,” said Oscar Reyes Jr., senior vice president and head of consumer market development for PLDT and Smart.

The Phantom of the Opera opened in Broadway in 1988, and is the longest-running title of all time by an eight-year margin. It premiered in London’s West End in 1986, the second longest-running after Les Misérables and the third longest-running West End show overall, after The Mousetrap.

In 2018 with more than 70 major theater awards, including seven Tony Awards, four Olivier Awards including Best Musical, and a cult following of patrons no one has ever seen, the production celebrated its 13,000th performance and three decades onstage by being the first theater production to reach worldwide grosses of $6.5 billion and over 140 million in viewership.

“There’s something about the universality of a love

story. Even in this generation, it’s something that still echoes with us,” said choreographer Denny Berry, who was responsible for setting and maintaining 12 productions of the show.

Rehearsals for the local staging is now in full swing, consisting of 130 cast, crew and orchestra members, with more than 230 costumes designed by the late international designer Maria Björnson.

“We bring an international cast who are very talented people. We also set our goal of putting up a production that would be able to give the audience the same quality they would get from Broadway or West End,” said Associate Director Arthur Masella.

Of all the iconic roles in musical theater, being the “Phantom” may be the most intimidating—with lead casts often played by such luminaries as Michael Crawford (who won a Tony). This year’s edition stars Jonathan Roxmouth, who returns to play the title role after the 2012 World Tour of the musical.

Following his successful stints as Che in Evita and Pharaoh in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, he is joined on tour by Meghan Picerno, who takes on the role of the phantom’s beautiful young soprano and

protégée Christine. Rounding out the principal cast is Matt Leisy, who will be playing the role of Raoul.

Barely a month before the musical officially opens, cast came together for an open rehearsal arranged for the Philippine media on Wednesday. One of the highlights was when Roxmouth and Picerno performed “Music of the Night.”

The original cast recording of the musical sold 40 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling cast recording of all time.

Expectations are as high as they come, but Masella is confident that this production will match those staged in New York and London. According to him, everything from orchestra calls and rehearsals to stage setup went through rigorous inspection to make sure that the production looks and sounds like it did when the show opened in 1988.

“One should take the opportunity to recreate a production. People want to hold onto the classics. The show has not aged, it does not feel dated in the writing, it does not feel dated in the staging, and it does not feel dated in the stage craft,” he said. “The original creative team, who we represent very proudly in the

MUSICAL Supervisor Kristen Blodgette (from left), Associate Director Arthur Masella and Associate Choreographer Denny Berry speak to members of the press at The Phantom of the Opera’s open rehearsal on January 23.

world, still does a magnificent job in creating this production. The Phantom of the Opera struck in a way that I don’t think often happens.”

Berry shares Masella’s optimism: “I think we managed to assemble one of the best dancing ensembles that we’ve put throughout the 30 years of working on this show. I’m proud of them all.”

Blodgette, for her part, shared: “It’s not just about bringing an international team in Manila. We’re working with a Filipino crew, and crew from around the region, and that is invaluable. We learned things about [your] culture, we learned about the way people work, and we’re really proud to be here, and the Philippines should be proud of the people they bring to this industry. There’s a lot to celebrate.”

The Phantom of the Opera has been considered the most “haunting romance” in musical theater history.

It tells the story of unselfish love, one that is dark and did not really turn the beast into a handsome prince.

Still, the legend and the music of the strangely lovable antihero endure, because somewhere there’s almost always a phantom hiding in the corner, waiting to be unmasked. n

‘Glass’ is No. 1 again, McConaughey’s ‘Serenity’ flops

By Jake Coyle | The Associated Press NEW YORK—Matthew McConaughey notched one of the worst debuts of his career, Oscar nominees saw only modest bumps, and M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass easily remained No. 1 on a quiet weekend in movie theaters. The weekend’s two new wide releases— McConaughey’s tropic noir Serenity and the updated King Arthur tale The Kid Who Would Be King—both flopped with moviegoers, who, instead, continued to flock to Glass and Kevin Hart’s The Upside.

Shyamalan’s sequel to Unbreakable and Split sold $19 million in tickets according to estimates on Sunday, a decent 53-percent drop from its opening weekend. In 10 days of release, Shyamalan’s self-financed thriller has made $73.6 million domestically and $162.7 million globally.

The Upside, starring Hart and Bryan Cranston, also stayed lodged in second place with $12.2 million in its third weekend.

The weekend’s biggest budget new entry, The Kid Who Would Be King, opened poorly with $7.3 million against a $59 million budget.

The 20th Century Fox release, produced by Working Title, was written and directed by Attack of the Block filmmaker Joe Cornish. In his modern-day London version of the legend, a working-class boy pulls Excalibur from a stone.

Though The Kid Who Would Be King drew good

reviews (86 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and was largely pleasing to audiences (who gave it a “B+” CinemaScore), Cornish’s film came in on the low side of already undersized expectations.

Smaller still was Serenity, from the recently launched distributor Aviron Pictures. Though boasting a respected writer-director (Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders and maker of 2013’s Locke) and a starry cast including Anne Hathaway and Jason Clarke, Serenity made only a minor disturbance at the box office with $4.8 million in ticket sales.

The film, about a fishing boat captain on a mysterious island, was lambasted by critics (21 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences agreed, giving it a “D+” CinemaScore. The film, made for about $25 million, is among McConaughey’s weakest performing wide-release debuts, behind only 2017’s Gold and 1996’s Larger Than Life. For Hathaway, it’s a new low.

Several Oscar contenders added theaters over the weekend to capitalize on Tuesday’s nominations.

Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, nominated for five awards including best picture, received the biggest bump, taking in $5.4 million in its widest releases yet (2,430 theaters in its 11th week of release), along with $5.7 million overseas. Green Book was the only Oscar film to crack the top 10. Bohemian Rhapsody, which has already surpassed $600 million internationally, added another $8.7 million overseas. It also took in $2.5 million domestically.

On Wednesday, an expose published by The Atlantic detailed numerous accusations of sexual assault with minors against Bryan Singer, the director of the Freddie Mercury biopic. Singer, who was fired from the production during shooting, has denied the claims. The Favourite, which tied Roma with a coleading 10 Oscar nominations, added 517 theaters to gross $2.6 million in 1,540 locations. The critical Dick Cheney biopic Vice also expanded, drawing $1.8 million from 1,557 theaters.

The weekend was quiet even by the low standards of January. Tickets sales were down 30 percent from the same weekend last year, according to comScore.

After a 2018 of record box office, the slow start to 2019 is putting Hollywood in a hole. Overall ticket sales are down 12.7 percent from the same point last year.

Once Upon a Deadpool, the PG-13 version of Deadpool 2, was the No. 1 film in China where it opened with $21.4 million.

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. Glass, $19 million ($23 million international) 2. The Upside, $12.2 million ($1.1 million international) 3. Aquaman, $7.4 million ($7.8 million international) 4. The Kid Who Would Be King, $7.3 million ($1.9 million international) 5. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, $6.2 million ($2.8 million international) 6. Green Book, $5.4 million ($5.7 million international) 7. A Dog’s Way Home, $5.2 million ($4.5 million international) 8. Serenity, $4.8 million ($1 million international) 9. Escape Room, $4.3 million ($7.4 million international) 10. Mary Poppins Returns, $3.1 million ($3.9 million international).

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the US and Canada), according to comScore.

1. Glass, $23.6 million 2. Once Upon a Deadpool, $21.4 million 3. Extreme Job, $20.5 million 4. Creed II, $13.8 million 5. White Snake, $9.9 million 6. Ralph Breaks the Internet, $9.5 million 7. White Snake, $9.5 million 8. Bohemian Rhapsody, $8.8 million 9. Aquaman, $7.8 million 10. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, $7.7 million.

MAESTRO Yoshikazu Fukumura

MOZART, BRAHMS FOR PPO FEBRUARY CONCERT

CONTINUING its 36th concert season, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) will hold its sixth concert on February 8, 8 pm, at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (Main Theater) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Under the baton of Maestro Yoshikazu Fukumura, the PPO will perform Carl Maria von Weber’s “Der Freischutz Overture,” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Symphony No. 39, K.543 in flat major” and Johannes Brahms’s “Symphony No. 2, op 73 in D major.”

Originally, the program for the Concert Series V was set to feature Hungarian pianist and conductor Maestro Tamas Vasary, through the auspices of the Embassy of Hungary in the Philippines. But due to unforeseen circumstances, the Hungarian Maestro could not perform in the country.

Maestro Fukumura has added a dynamic and innovative chapter to the constant evolution of the PPO as its music director and principal conductor since 2016. Considered as a maverick in the classical music scene in Japan, Maestro Fukumura moved to his new post after his stint with Tokyo Ballet, Kyoto Municipal Symphony and Nagoya Philharmonic.

After learning conducting in one of Japan’s most prestigious music schools, he has come a long way to conquer the international classical music scene, gaining reputation as one of the most revered conductors not just in his home country, but also in Europe, Latin America and Asia, where he finds a huge satisfaction in working with Asian orchestras.

For inquiries, call the CCP Box Office at 832-3704, or TicketWorld at 891-9999, or visit www.culturalcenter.gov.ph.

D4

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Image BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESSILOR CAMPAIGN WINS FIRST GOLDEN WORLD AWARD

Get on a roll–and stay there SUI GENERIS CARLO ATIENZA

biblisko@gmail.com

‘T

HIS is impossible,” I said to myself as I was given a project of creating an onboarding program for implementation in all sites around the world. It was a daunting project but I also found the task exciting and challenging. Unnerving, too: I did not know where to start. So many things raced through my mind, like people I need to talk to, logistics, manpower allocation and the myriad details which could go wrong.

And because I was obsessing about these things, I was not able to do anything for a day or two except to focus on my other projects. On the third day, I had to force myself to start planning for the onboarding project because my director wanted to talk to me about it the following day. I wracked my brain for a plan because I had been procrastinating and putting it off for some time. I thought I still had time to come up with a strategy but I ended up scrambling for something to present.

One time or another, we have procrastinated.

We have put off something which we needed to do at work or in the house. Like when we keep putting off cleaning a pile of books in a corner of our room which has become a wall of paperbacks. Or the time we swore we would clean the garden—only to wake up one morning to a garden of weeds and your ornamentals have all died. Or the time when your boss asked you to do a report, and just when you thought she had forgotten all about it, she suddenly

asks for it. We have all been guilty of procrastinating.

I have learned a few things on how to overcome procrastination through the onboarding project. One of the most important lessons I have learned is how to eat an elephant.

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

Monumental tasks are made easier when you break them down into smaller tasks. You cannot take on one big project all in one day. Take, for example, organizing your house. If you want to organize everything in it, start with one area at a time. You can start with your bedroom and if your room is big, you can still break it down into several more areas, like your closet, your bed (and whatever is under it), your books, your gadgets, and any other special space or corner you have in your room. This way, a seemingly insurmountable task becomes bite-sized and easier to digest.

Once you have divided it into smaller tasks, spread it out into daily tasks and make a checklist.

This will help you have a visual cue of your progress, aiding you in identifying which tasks you need to complete first. It also serves as a motivator because the more tasks you accomplish and tick off, the more you are encouraged to finish everything in your list.

Checklists are a good way of providing direction to your day, and help you approximate the time needed for each task.

Which will also help you in rewarding yourself.

One of the things people forget to do is to reward themselves for accomplished tasks. This is especially helpful when you have a plethora of tasks waiting to be finished. Rewarding yourself can help you get over the exhaustion from finishing a chore, and replenishes you for the next task on the list. Your reward does not necessarily have to be big. You can reward yourself by watching an episode of your favorite Koreanovela, or eating your favorite snack, or going out with friends. Just make sure your reward will not get in the way of you completing the other tasks. Your reward is meant to reinforce your resolve

to finish not just the tasks for the day, but the entire project as a whole. The reward you give yourself creates momentum for your next tasks.

Speaking of momentum, the laws of physics also apply to tasks. Think inertia. A body at rest remains at rest unless a force acts on it. The same goes for the tasks in your checklist. Keep moving.

Start somewhere and keep on doing it. Some people advise doing the easiest tasks first so you can have a sense of accomplishment which should propel you to finish what you have started. Others say do the difficult ones first because you need most of your willpower and effort in the beginning. For me, choose whichever works for you at a given time because the most important thing is to just keep on moving and moving. And when you are done with a task, reward yourself.

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” goes the saying. One of the reasons why we procrastinate is that gnawing feeling that doing these tasks interfere with our down time. We think that because we do not have enough time for play, it is only perfectly reasonable to take our sweet time in accomplishing out tasks. Like in the case of cleaning each room of the house: we think doing so would get in the way of our fun because we would rather do something else.

But by doing a checklist and rewarding ourselves accordingly, we create a pattern which will help us get out of the doldrums in organizing our house and stay on a roll.

It took some time for me to get myself going for the onboarding project. But surprisingly enough, the first phase of the onboarding program was well-received by senior leadership in the corporate headquarters.

There were several hiccups and small wins along the way but my team and I have done well, thanks to our checklists and small-win celebrations.

What have you been putting off lately? Maybe you can start with writing it down, breaking it apart into tasks and plan the rewards along the way. You would be surprised to see in the end that it was not so impossible after all. n

EYE Can Succeed, an advocacy campaign by renowned opthalmic optics company Essilor dedicated to improving Filipino lives by improving sight, won its first global award, the Golden World Awards for Excellence in Public RelationsHealthcare category. Held at the Hotel Catalonia, Barcelona Plaza in Spain and attended by delegates from 60 countries worldwide, the GWA awarded Essilor’s Eye Can Succeed for successfully providing free eye-care services to 10,000 Filipino senior high-school students and distributing prescription glasses to those in need.

The campaign was spearheaded by Essilor Vision Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the brand. Dubbed the “Oscars of PR,” the annual Golden World Awards is organized by the International Public Relations Association, the leading global network for public relations professionals.

It is the world’s most prestigious PR award-giving body that recognizes the best in public relations practices worldwide in different categories.

Receiving the gold award in behalf of Essilor Philippines were (from left) Essilor Spain Consumer and Categories Marketing Manager Hugo Velasco, PR Manager Adriana Garcia and FuentesManila President Edd Fuentes.

BINOD CHAUDHARY, chairman of The Farm at San Benito, with Miss Universe Catriona Gray.

THE FARM AT SAN BENITO GRANTS HONORARY MEMBERSHIP TO MISS UNIVERSE 2018 CATRIONA GRAY

IN December 2018, The Farm at San Benito welcomed Miss Universe 2018 winner Catriona Gray as an honorary member. Binod Chaudhary, chairman of The Farm, granted Gray the award to commemorate her win in the leading international pageant.

This year Catriona will have to tour around the world to perform her duties as the reigning Miss Universe. The Farm at San Benito opens its doors to Catriona, who is entitled to seven nights of personalized health programs and other perks to help her feel good and stay strong enough to do her tasks better. An eco-luxury holistic medical wellness resort, the multiawarded The Farm at San Benito (www.thefarmatsanbenito.com) boasts of effective and holistic treatments that heal and soothe one’s mind, body and spirit.

The Farm at San Benito offers a variety of worldclass detox programs, including Detox D’Lite, an all-inclusive four-night program. There are also programs for diabetes prevention, heart health, pain management and mental health.

Quick ways to boost your savings in 2019 By kelSey SHeeHy NerdWallet CHEERS, friends! It’s a new year. Time to set some well-intentioned—but typically doomed— resolutions. Lose 20 pounds. Read 50 books. Save $5,000. Those big resolutions are sexy. They sound impressive when you tell friends. They’re also unlikely to last past Groundhog Day. This year, ditch the lofty goals and focus on simple money-saving moves you can handle while nursing last night’s hangover. These quick changes take less than 30 minutes each and can help you hit your goal without cramping your style.

SAVE THE CHANGE, AUTOMATICALLY Connect your bank account to an app like Qapital or Acorns to round up each transaction.

Spend $12.50 on an Uber ride, for example, and the app rounds up to $13, putting the extra 50 cents into a savings or investment account. The change adds up quickly, says Tim Kenney, founder and financial adviser at TK Pacific Wealth Inc. in Del Mar,

California. “I have a client who started this in the middle of [2018] and has almost $2,000 saved already,” he says.

You can also tell Qapital to save a set amount every time you spend on a splurge, like Postmates delivery.

UP YOUR APY Do you have money saved at a brick-and-mortar bank? Move it to an online savings account. Your annual percentage yield, or APY—the money your money earns—will increase from 0.09 percent (the national average at traditional banks) to over 2 percent. Here’s what that looks like: n $1,000 saved in a traditional account earning 0.09 percent will earn $1 a year. n $1,000 saved in a high-yield savings account earning 2 percent will earn $21 a year.

The more money you set aside, the more interest you could earn.

INCREASE YOUR 401(K) CONTRIBUTION A SMALL bump in your contribution can have a sizable impact on your eventual nest egg. Don’t see

how? Let’s break it down.

Say you’re 25, earning $30,000 a year and contributing 5 percent to a 401(k). Stay steady at that rate and you would have $285,451 in your account by the time you turn 67 (assuming a 6 percent return).

But up your contribution to 6 percent and you’ll have $342,541 when you retire.

That’s $25 more from your paycheck each month, but it turns into an extra $57,000 to live on in retirement—and this doesn’t factor in the inevitable raises you’ll receive, ‘cause you’re a boss. Trust me, your future self will thank you for this.

Don’t have a 401(k)? Set up a low-fee individual retirement account, an IRA, through an online automated investment management service, and build up your contributions annually.

GET CASH BACK SIGN up for a credit card that pays you back. Pick one that gives you cash back for specific purchases (gas and groceries, anyone?) or a general card that rewards you for all your purchases.

Don’t want a credit card (or can’t qualify for a

rewards card)? Try an app that gives you cash back at specific merchants. Honey, a browser extension, finds coupon codes and on some purchases, you can earn rewards, which can be redeemed for gift cards to retailers like Amazon, Target and Sephora.

CANCEL DORMANT SUBSCRIPTIONS NETFLIX. Hulu. HBO Go. Spotify. ESPN Plus.

Birchbox. Stitch Fix. Blue Apron. Those monthly fees add up—big time. Do an audit of your subscriptions, cancel the ones you forgot you had, keep the ones you can’t live without and consolidate with a roommate/ partner/family member where you can.

Save $120 in 2019 by canceling your Spotify subscription and going with the free version. Save an additional $60 by ditching ESPN Plus, because your fantasy football team tanked in the playoffs—again.

“The amount can seem very little, but the amount isn’t the point,” says Miguel Gomez, a financial adviser at Lauterbach Financial Advisors in El Paso, Texas. “The point is being mindful about what you’re spending.” And that builds good habits that will help you save even more money over time. AP

BusinessMirror E1 | Wednesday, January 30, 2019 • Editor : Tet Andolong

SAN Jose Residencias

P.A. Properties issues perpetual notes for a five-year development plan

By Roderick L. Abad

A

The lack of housing in the country is expected to reach 10 million units in the socialized, economic and lowcost housing segments by 2030.

Out of its 137 hectares of landbank, the firm has already completed a total of 40 affordable housing communities with 16 more housing communities under construction.

In 2017, the company executed a partnership deal with Japanese real-estate developer Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp. to develop three township projects, such as the 11-hectare Idesia 1 in Dasmariñas, Cavite; 26-hectare residential and commercial project in Dasmariñas, Cavite; and 17-hectare housing and commercial project in Lipa, Batangas.

Collectively, these 54-hectare projects are projected to generate a revenue of P11.25 billion. P.A. Properties has a capitalization of P3.3 billion as of October 2018.

@rodrik_28

S part of its capital-raising initiative, P.A. Alvarez Properties and Development Corp. (P.A. Properties) has successfully tapped the domestic equity market through the issuance of the first tranche of its perpetual notes offering.

The proceeds at an undisclosed amount will be used to bankroll a portion of the company’s property development and land-banking initiatives in line with its future expansion.

“The successful launch of the perpetual notes program provides us additional legroom to acquire more properties to meet our five-year development plans,” said Romarico Alvarez, chairman of P.A. Properties.

The Laguna-based real-estate firm has partnered with PNB Capital & Investment Corp. and institutional lenders for the issuance.

“As the issue manager and lead arranger, we are delighted to be able to take part in P.A. Properties’s

SAINT Joseph Richfield

fund-raising activity considering that this is a landmark issuance— the second of its kind ever issued in the domestic capital market,” said PNB Capital President and CEO Gerry B. Valenciano.

“Moving forward, we see that more and more companies will issue perpetual notes as the market becomes familiar with hybrid securities,” he added.

The Perpetual Notes were issued under Rule 10.1 of the 2015 SRC Rules as an exempt transaction.

In this regard, the securities were offered only to primary institutional lenders.

Following the success of the com-

JOHN G. LU (from left), president, P.A. Properties; Romarico T. Alvarez, chairman of the board, P.A. Properties; Tsuneo Wakabayashi. president, HHPC; Yusuke Kusu, EVP, HHPC. (Back, from left): Peter Jude T. Alvarez, board member, P.A. Properties; Elrey T. Ramos, board member, P.A. Properties; Kazumasa Ohchi, senior GM, HHPC; and Masahiko Toda, GM, Overseas Business Division, HHPC

pany’s initial offering of fixed-for-life senior perpetual securities, Alvarez bared their plan to issue more in the first three months of the year.

“Given the positive reception of the market, we’re aiming to issue the final tranche in the first quarter of 2019,” he said.

P.A. Properties is one of the largest developers of low- to mediumcost housing communities for over two decades, with an inventory of about 19,000 residential units in Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan, Pampanga and Metro Manila.

With nearly 25 years of experience

NUVISTA Homes

in developing affordable housing and communities, it is well-positioned to capitalize on the huge housing backlog via its five-year development plans for 25 future projects estimated to build 15,000 more housing units and generate up to P25 billion in revenues.

Homegrown P.A. Properties recently signed the second and third jointventure agreements with Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp., an Osaka-based real-estate firm involved in property development and land, house and condominium sales. The new joint-venture agreements are part of the five-year plan of HHPC to launch two to three projects every year with P.A. Properties up to year 2023.

Business

E2 Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Real estate and ‘feng shui’ Amor Maclang

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FIRST DIBS IN REAL ESTATE

N edge over the competition is a valuable asset for any business, the best ones possessing the potential to make or break its future. It’s no different in the realm of real estate—and feng shui offers the perfect opportunity to seize that higher ground. More than a quick fix or shallow trend, feng shui is an ancient Chinese discipline wellgrounded in its techniques to assess the potential of any given property to attract health, wealth and happiness: all the trappings of a desirable and profitable location.

Here to broaden our horizons, Master Judith Eugenio, an internationally certified feng shui expert, shares her knowledge and expertise on the subject.

Knowing the master

A MASTER practitioner of feng shui based in Cebu, Philippines, Master Judith Eugenio boasts 10 years’ worth of experience in her discipline and offers her services through the Judith Eugenio Global Bazi & Feng Shui Consultancy, alongside her various social-media channels. She has traveled the world in her passionate pursuit of feng shui and received direct tutelage from Master Kevin Foong of Kevin Foong Feng Shui Academy

& Consultancy in Singapore. Master Judith now represents Kevin Foong feng shui Academy in the Philippines. Her expertise lies in San He feng shui techniques balanced by Landform feng shui, but her feng shui practice also includes Yin Yang Bazi, Qi Men Dun Jia Face Reading, San Yuan Qi Men 64 Hexagram, and Xuan Kong Da Gua. Over her professional career, Master Judith has completed more than a thousand Bazi analyses for her clients.

A worthwhile investment

THE Chinese believe life’s fortune comes from harnessing the Cosmic Trinity of Heaven Luck, Earth Luck and Man Luck. A triumvirate for

making the most out of opportunities: Heaven Luck is life’s given, as it delves into the potential twists and turns of one’s destiny; Earth Luck found in natural wells of energy or qi that can be tapped for good fortune; and Man Luck is manmade as it depends on a person’s actions and outlook on the possibilities presented by their Heaven and Earth Luck. All parts of equal importance, these three should be paid equal attention for the fullest gains, with systems and techniques to aid in each. However, as we home in on the competitive realm of real estate—Earth Luck, better known as feng shui, takes center stage as the prime medium to finding the most auspicious, hence desirable, properties.

As we begin to explore feng shui, Master Judith stresses that there is nothing spiritual or supernatural about it. Rather, feng shui is a Chinese discipline grounded in millennia of study, with practical techniques that anyone with the drive can learn. These techniques examine locations and spaces for their different qi and the existing balance between them, discovering a property’s capacity to bring in health, prosperity, and happiness and how this can be further improved. Feng shui thus shows itself to be a worthwhile investment indeed, not only for homeowners but also entrepreneurs and investors, as a strong indicator of good value and promising potential.

Among the various techniques Master Judith is learned and practiced in, she goes on to offer her knowledge on Landform feng shui and San He feng shui as her areas of expertise, and as the techniques that together provide the most complete reading of a property to showcase its prospects.

Natural wealth

IN feng shui as in real estate, it’s all about location, location, location.

Master Judith’s combination of techniques lends even more weight to this as it acts on a 70-percent external and 30-percent internal ratio of reading locations and spaces. The internal gives focus to the home or building itself, while the external looks into the land formations that surround it—which we’ll peer into through the lens of Landform feng shui.

Qi occurs naturally in our surroundings, resolving within moun-

tains and carried along by veins of water like streams and rivers into the larger bodies of the oceans and seas. It’s little wonder then that mountains and bodies of water are cornerstones of Landform feng shui.

The technique’s readings will often reach for these natural formations for explanations, answering crucial questions that will determine the quality and quantity of qi, and ultimately the fortune, received by a property.

The first and foremost step in Landform feng shui: Master Judith searches for the closest natural formations to a property, making use of applications such as Google Maps to look outward to its surroundings.

Proximity to mountains affects relationships and health, while closeness to rivers determines the wealth and opportunities that will come along; places found within just the right distance of these formations are in a favorable position to receive outflowing qi and enjoy the good luck that comes with it.

This certainly makes them ideal properties for anyone to purchase, whether to build on or invest in. To pull on prime examples right here in the Philippines, Forbes Park is a known, well-to-do area and Fort Bonifacio a popular, booming hub of commerce and both lay close to Pasig River, which further meets with Marikina River for a gush of qi and wealth.

Before closing the gap with these natural formations, however, their quality must also be taken into account. Rich earth and clean waters brimming with qi will flourish with life, easily seen in the plants, trees and vegetation therein. Rivers with meandering forms and other bodies of water with contoured shapes are also considered auspicious in feng shui.

Though, be mindful of what lays between these formations and your property. Qi degrades as it crosses places like factories and landfills, spoiling in quality by the time it lands on your lot.

There are also natural formations that should simply be avoided, like swift-running rivers gushing in straight paths and polluted land, as they can carry negative qi or Sha Qi. Rather than the fortune that good qi yields, Sha Qi drops misfortune, challenges and obstacles.

It would be in your best interest to forgo land in these less than ideal circumstances.

MASTER Judith Eugenio

Beyond scenic views, location is a major key to unlocking a bounty of Earth Luck, and Master Judith assures us that Landform feng shui is the strongest approach for it.

While it is an additional factor to consider when weighing in on real estate, feng shui definitely narrows down the list to choice cuts of land flush with potential for prosperity.

Build for success

WHILE a property’s location is a major key to tapping into the right energies, the various features of a building and their positioning within comes as a close second.

Now going indoors, Master Judith assesses qi and its flow within establishments through San He feng shui. Going forward, it should first be noted that this technique, or any system of feng shui for that matter, doesn’t require the purchase of “cures,” ornaments, or the like.

They do nothing for one’s luck, contrary to popular belief. San He feng shui instead harks back to Landform feng shui in emphasizing the need to place things in the right space or position in order to effectively invite and store qi.

Any structure with a roof and four walls, be it an office, home or simple room, has the capacity to store qi. The difference between

them lays in their most important features, and how to best position them to facilitate qi to the right purpose. For a home, the key pieces are the main door, stove, and bedroom, their positions ideally promoting good health, relationships and wealth. Meanwhile, commercial establishments look to welcome success and good relations among staff and customers in the positions of the main entrance, managing office, and work areas; these further differ depending on the size and type of enterprise it’ll house.

Although, while the key features vary for every establishment, one remains a constant: the main entrance. Qi only comes in through the main entrance, thus its proper placement is the most crucial of all.

Be sure to locate it in the sector of the building that conforms based on the external landform, going with the flow rather than against it. This ensures that wealth and opportunities brought over by water or mountains will be guaranteed to make it inside.

While an expert eye like Master Judith’s is recommended in pinning these important features to their best positions, it’s wise all the same to keep them in mind while looking through your next property.

Filinvest City’s green design guided by LEED-ND certification

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ILINVEST City in Alabang is once again making a remarkable stride in transforming the landscape of the Metro South, as it actively seeks the prestigious and coveted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) Plan Version Four Certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

LEED for Neighborhood Development was initiated to recognize large-scale townships that successfully protect and enhance the overall health, natural environment and quality of life. The LEED-ND rating system clarifies the sustainability of neighborhoods using an integrated set of smart growth, new urbanization and green construction principles.

A future-ready, master-planned urban center

FURTHERMORE, in keeping with USGBC’s thrust, Filinvest City was envisioned as a future-ready, master-planned community that is responsive to the needs of the changing times.

“Filinvest City embodies the principles of smart growth with

walkable streets and an inviting mix of trees and development to foster a sense of community,” said Dean Barone of Barone International, Filinvest City’s LEED consultant. “It is a place with its own unique character and function where people live, work and play and interact with the community.”

Filinvest City has proudly established itself as the world-class central business district (CBD) of Metro South, harmoniously blending modern, state-of-the-art urban lifestyle and innovative masterplanning with green, open spaces and eco-centric features that make it a walkable and bike-friendly community. Its management believes that achieving economic progress and prosperity can and should be done without sacrificing nature and ecological balance. The master plan was reviewed and enhanced further to include more nature-friendly features and amenities. With this vision, Filinvest City was also cited for Best Mixed-Use Development at the Asia Pacific Property Awards.

A self-contained, sustainable convergence hub

EASE of movement with accessi-

“We want Filinvest City to be an experiential CBD, for residents and workers to experience the city at a ground level—that their daily lives won't end at their offices or homes, but rather extend to the parks and other play components provided for them,” said Don Ubaldo, Filinvest Alabang Inc. vice president for townships.

A progressive fusion of nature and modernity

bility at its core, allowing for true pedestrianization, is at the heart of Filinvest City. As a sustainable community, it strives to cater to diverse needs of existing and future city dwellers. It has established it-

self as a modern metropolis where a quality range of residential options, lifestyle centers, and community hubs are available for every lifestyle, with schools, public and private hospitals, and government institutions

nearby. Apart from being a thriving business district, Filinvest City stands in a class if its own Garden City with the enhancement of green spaces and parks, and pedestrianand cyclist-friendly streets.

A VERDANT garden and breathable city—where modernity and nature meet—is what sets Filinvest City apart. Lush landscapes and open spaces are provided as areas of convergence for the whole community—locators and residents, as well as their guests. Thus, Filinvest City is a more conducive working and living environment compared to other CBDs, which are saturated and have fewer open spaces.

Other streetscape enhancements are in the pipeline, proof of Filinvest City’s further commitment to green living. Plans include the Central Park along Promenade Avenue and the Creekside Park development from Palms Pointe Village down to Festival Alabang.

sMirror

Wednesday, January 30, 2019 E3

EXPERIENCE HOTEL LIVING AT GRAND HYATT MANILA RESIDENCES

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UXURIOUS hotel stays need not be only for special occasions, holidays or trips for business and pleasure.

With the second tower of Grand Hyatt Manila Residences opening its doors, a distinguished few now have the chance to own a hotellike home and enjoy every day the renowned hospitality, services and amenities attributed to the Grand Hyatt brand.

Grand Hyatt Manila Residences South Tower completes a two-tower residential development that solely carries the Grand Hyatt brand in Southeast Asia. Calling Grand Hyatt home means having the luxury of hotel-like perks such as concierge and housekeeping services and a beautiful, inspiring environment that provides more than comfort, ease, exclusivity and security. It also means having a private access to Grand Hyatt Manila hotel, where more

luxurious experiences and dining pleasures await.

A Grand Hyatt home comes with a highly coveted Globalist membership to the World of Hyatt loyalty program, which allows members to earn points for availing hotel services and redeem rewards, such as dining and spa experiences and room upgrades.

At Grand Hyatt Manila Residences South Tower, residents get to savor a lifestyle of grandeur and privileges lived out in creatively and efficiently designed living spaces. The residential structure is the epitome of luxury, standing tall at 50 stories with an elegant wraparound glass design and 188 spacious units with above-average floor-to-ceiling heights and a private balcony that gives breath-

COMMUNITY

taking views of the Metro.

It also features high-end facilities such as the Glass Function Room, set against a backdrop of picturesque landscaping, thus, ideal for gatherings and celebrations; the pool deck and lounge that beckons bonding moments among family and friends; the Teen Entertainment Zone equipped with the latest gaming technology; and the Children’s Play Area where the little ones can safely frolic.

True to the famed Grand Hyatt tradition of impeccable design and service, Grand Hyatt Manila Residences South Tower offers an upscale address and a one-of-a-kind community that fosters premium living.

Grand Hyatt Manila Residences South Tower is strategically nestled within Federal Land’s Grand Central Park, a 10-hectare mixed-use development set to be the cradle of upscale lifestyle and business with fully integrated residential, commercial, retail and special interest spaces.

For more information, visit https://federalland.ph.

The real deal on incinerators

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INCINERATORS that use the most innovative process—called pyrolysis technology—break down large molecules of waste, produce no smoke, smell or loud noises and reduce carbon emission from waste transfer.

ROPER solid waste management in the Philippines remains a serious problem. In the midst of the alarming increase of garbage Filipinos generate, resulting in garbage-filled streets, rivers, and drainage, as well as insufficient overburdened landfills, the country is still searching for an effective solution to its waste problem.

In an effort to reduce and eventually obliterate the worsening effects of the overwhelming increase of garbage on health and environment, the government, specifically the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), is looking into smart alternatives with less environmental impact.

One such alternative is the use of incinerators. An incinerator is an equipment used for burning waste materials at high temperature until it is reduced to ash.

Depending on the type and capacity of waste, there are different kinds of incinerators: rotary kiln, which are mostly used in developed countries; grate incinerators, which use waste-to-energy technology; and liquid, gases and fumes incinerators, which are used for thermal destruction of gas and fumes and are not suitable for the incineration of solid waste.

In the Philippines, the Clean Air Act of 1999 banned the use of incinerator be-

cause it is believed to emit poisonous and toxic fumes. However, in 2002, the DENR released a clarification on the incinerator ban in the country and wrote, “Section 20 does not absolutely prohibit incineration as a mode of waste disposal, rather only those burning process which emit poisonous and toxic fumes are banned.”

Incinerators convert municipal solid waste into a useful by-product. It uses a lot of processes to minimize the risk to health and environment. The most innovative process is the use of pyrolysis technology. Pyrolysis is coined from the Greek terms pyro or fire and lysis or separating. It is the industrial process of breaking down large molecules of waste, such as agricultural residues, scraps, tires, and nonrecyclable materials into smaller molecules of gas, oil and carbon black. The common by-product of pyrolysis technology is ash, which can be mixed with aggregates for construction purposes.

Many incinerators now have no smoke, no smell nor loud noises. If integrated with solid waste management, incinerators can reduce carbon emission from waste transfer, reduce cost of solid waste disposal and promote zero-waste-to-landfill.

Incinerators can be used in multiple, endto-end solutions that provide immediate solution to complete sustainable solid waste management in the country.

Entrepreneur

E4 Wednesday, January 30, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Food van biz bags sizeable investment in BBC’s ‘My Million Pound Menu’ show

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ONDON—London-based Filipino street food operator BBQ Dreamz secured a whopping €350,000 investment after wowing a panel of investors during the first episode in the second series of BBC Two’s My Million Pound Menu, a reality show that hopes to give emerging food businesses a big boost in the competitive food industry last January 9.

“In a business investment, you need more than a good idea,” said bar and restaurant investor Charlie McVeigh, who invested on BBQ Dreamz. “At the very least, you need a good idea, a great team, and in this case, we already got what we already know, is a sensational product. So to put money behind that doesn’t feel like that great a risk.”

The other prospective investors during the episode included Nando’s Group Strategy Director Jane O’Riordnan, bar and restaurant investor behind the success of big take-out brands such as Domino’s Maurice Abboudi, and MEATLiquor Managing Director Scott Collins.

After a preliminar y round and a two-day road test at Manchester, McVeigh and Abboudi each offered to invest in BBQ Dreamz. Owners Lee Johnson and Sinead Campbell eventually took McVeigh’s offer to establish a

permanent restaurant.

BBQ Dreamz is founded by Johnson, a Filipino who moved from the Philippines to the United Kingdom when he was eight, and his Irish partner Campbell, who hails from Tuam, Galway. The two met 13 years ago in a university and have been running BBQ Dreamz in the past four years.

During the show, Johnson and Campbel l impressed the investors with their signature lechon kawali—a 24-hour cooked crispy pork belly with radish, coriander and celery, grilled satay duck hearts, sticky adobo chicken wings, and their vegan adoboglazed crispy caulif lower and sesame green beans.

“When people first saw me, an Irish girl do Filipino food, they were quite judgmental. They would ask me straight out, why are you cooking this food? And that’s why I used to hide a lot behind Lee. But over time

Young man shows way to entrepreneurial baking

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio Contributor

F SINEAD CAMPBELL and Lee Johnson are on the mission to share the joy of devouring Filipino food.

MATT WRITTLE/EVENING STANDARD

now, I can say that I’ve worked really hard and I know what I’m doing,” said Campbell, who has developed a deep familiarity with Filipino cuisine over the years.

Since the establishment of BBQ Dreamz, the couple has been innovating Filipino dishes from traditional recipes Johnson learned from his mother and grandmother as he was growing up.

Filipino food? What’s that?

“FILIPINO food is sort of difficult to nail down because it comes from a lot of different cultures,” said Johnson when asked to describe Filipino food.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, he echoed the opinion of the investors that Filipino cuisine is only starting to become popular in the UK. “Filipino Food is virtually unknown in the UK. The public need

Food is a powerful way to tell the story of culture.

It becomes the starting point of a conversation and for many, a springboard toward knowing more about the culture that shaped that cuisine. Every time people dine at a Filipino restaurant or experience one of the many monthly Filipino supper clubs, they often emerge knowing a little bit more about the Philippines.”—Lagdameo

educating and that’s a big ask,” said the show’s presenter Fred Sirieix.

In the past year, the Philippine Embassy in London through its cultural diplomacy unit aggressively and actively promoted Filipino food through partnerships with the Filipino Food Movement UK, a group of foodies and Filipino-British chefs who are keen on pushing Filipino food into the mainstream.

“Food is a powerful way to tell the story of culture,” said Ambassador to the UK Antonio M. Lagdameo. “It becomes the starting point of a conversation and for many, a springboard toward knowing more about the culture that shaped that cuisine. Every time people dine at a Filipino restaurant or experience one of the many monthly Filipino supper clubs, they often emerge knowing a little bit more about the Philippines.”

BBQ Dreamz can be found at the popular KERB street food markets all over London. People can get their Filipino food fix from BBQ Dreamz at their Paddington site on Wednesdays, West India Quays on Thursdays, and King’s Cross Granary Square on Fridays. On Saturdays, BBQ Dreamz cooks at Brockley Market.

For more information, visit www. londonpe.dfa.gov.ph or https://www. facebook.com/pg/PHLinUK and @philippinesinuk on Twitter.

7-ELEVEN’S FIRST STORE IN SAMAL ISLAND

Philippine Seven Corp., the exclusive local licensee of worldrenowned C-store chain 7-Eleven, continues to expand its franchise operations in the Mindanao region with the opening of its first store in Samal Island. The new outlet, franchised by Jonathan Santos, is along Babak-Camudmud Road., Igacos, Davao del Norte. Apart from the Samal Babak outlet, PSC is also eyeing to open two more stores in other trade areas in Samal this year, namely Wharf and Peñaplata. Samal is part of the Metropolitan Davao area 2 kilometers from Davao City, the largest city and the primary economic center of Mindanao.

Currently, PSC operates a total of 220 stores in Mindanao, with 144 franchise-owned and 76 corporate-owned outlets. 7-Eleven offers suitable partners two ways to benefit from a proven system: Regular New Store Franchise (open a new 7-Eleven store), and Property Conversion (convert an established business or properties into a 7-Eleven franchise). For more details on 7-Eleven’s franchise opportunity offerings, call (02) 7269968, 0920-9508651, 0917-8711686, e-mail franchising@7-eleven.com. ph or visit www.7-eleven.com.ph.

OR 30-year-old James Anton Uy, owner of Cubcakes Bakery, winning the Bakery Fair competition in 2013 organized by the Filipino Chinese Bakery Association Inc. (FCBAI) was a realization that he could be a successful entrepreneur.

“As a novice [at] that time, I saw the opportunity to pursue the path toward entrepreneurship,” Uy said in a recent interview with the news media at the sidelines of an FCBAI event in Quezon City.

Uy, a respected baking and cake decorating instructor who bested even some of the more established names in the local baking industry during the competition, is a contributor for the internationally known Satin Ice (Satinice.com) for Cake Design Inspirations, as well as in various local magazines like Wedding Essentials, Wedding Digest and Real Brides Magazine.

The youthful Uy said his enterprise actually opened in 2012 with only four people helping him.

Through the years, Cubcakes has developed a stellar record in making wedding cakes catering to the high-end marker.

Although he looks forward to bake cakes for celebrities, Uy has been asked by private companies to bake cakes on behalf of their celebrity clients.

“Cubcakes looks forward to work directly with celebrities in their activities that will need our services,” he said.

Uy said the Internet has played a major role in helping entrepreneurs like him to sell his products, particularly social media that allows clients to access Cubcakes’s products in a convenient and faster way as clients don’t need to go to personally visit a store to check on the products.

Based on his experience, Uy found social-media’s platform Instagram a useful tool to promote Cubcakes because his clientele use the platform to check the latest cake designs. “In Facebook, it is a mixed market,” he said.

Although it looks easy on the surface to use social media, Uy said, a user must study the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of social media. “You also have to spend money in promoting your products,” he explained.

“Opening a social-media [account] doesn’t necessarily mean people will instantly buy your product. You have to know the behavior of your target market first,” he added.

Since 2015, Cubcakes has been focused in making wedding cakes.

Although it is a seasonal thing, Uy said a wedding cake maker must know the pricing mechanism to remain sustainable in the business.

With the proliferation of homebased cake bakers, Uy said many bakers don’t realize they are losing in the business until it is too late.

Uy said a basic knowledge in economics is important to make the business sustainable. Nevertheless, in the long run, the entrepreneur should learn the ropes of the business.

The food technology graduate said his educational background has helped him in “troubleshooting” the business. “If something goes wrong, you can easily spot it,” he said.

Peter Fung, the president of the FCBAI, said the bakery business is a regular fixture in a typical barangay in the country. “This shows that the baking industry is an entrepreneurial platform to lots of Filipinos,” said Fung.

According to its survey released in 2013, the Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) noted that 3,000 or 20.3 percent, of the 16,000 of the manufacturing establishments are makers of breads, pastries, cakes, pies and other similar perishable bakery.

Moreover, the baking industry has attracted foreign players such as the Singapore-based Gardenia. Conglomerate San Miguel Corp., through its subsidiary San Miguel-Purefoods, also entered the bakery business by opening its Kambal Pandesal brand.

Fung said FCBAI also wants to attract the millennial and generation Z groups to try their hand in the baking industry. He added the industry needs young blood to grow and sustain the industry. “We need young people to carry on the tradition and innovate toward the new era for the next generation,” he pointed out.

Even without government subsidy, Fung said the industry has survived proving its resiliency during challenging times. “We at FCBAI hope the Bakery Fair can promote, strengthen and also elevate standards of the Philippine bakery industry not only as part of the country’s dietary, lifestyle and culinary culture, but also to help boost economic development through expansion of small and medium-scale enterprises or SMEs,” Fung said.

The three-day Bakery Fair will feature exhibitors, seminars and demonstrations by local and international experts. All kinds of modern baking supply and equipment will be showcased and the public is invited to participate from February 15 to 17 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

EO Philippines’s Ang says mentoring student entrepreneurs pivotal to raising a new generation of entreps

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OUNG people see things in a different yet equally valuable lens and this is visible in the way they do and handle their businesses.

Young entrepreneurs think out of the box.

They provide solutions to current community problems and people’s needs in a quick manner through distinct products and services.

However, they tend to act based on their instincts and look over logical strategies which are key to successful businesses.

Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Philippines Chairman Julie Ang said mentoring student entrepreneurs is pivotal to raising a new generation of businessmen and businesswomen in the country.

“This is the fifth year that we’re holding a competition but this is the first time, under my term, that we have entrepreneurship. It is not that impactful to students to have competition only, okay you come and compete and then no more, but mentorship allows them to learn from big entrepreneurs,” said Ang. EO is a global, peer-to-peer network of more than 13,000 influential business owners with 181 chapters in 57 countries. It was founded in 1987 to help leading entrepreneurs learn and grow toward success. Ang said they have opened the mentorship program to all universities.

“We have mentees from Cebu, they were not

chosen to be a Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards [GSEA] candidates but they’re being mentored, we also have a single mom and a student who is baking and being mentored by our Cebu member,” she said, adding that they want to reach out to students who depend on their business as their livelihood.

On January 12, EO Philippines held its fifth GSEA Competition where student entrepreneur Bea Battung of University of the Philippines in Diliman won. She will represent the country at the global GSEA finals to be held in Macau in April 2019.

Battung is the owner of Prima Facie, a company that creates sneakers from water hyacinths. It was

established in 2017 in an aim to solve the problem of clogged waterways and massive flooding in the coastal communities brought about by the prevalence of water hyacinths in rivers. “Buy a shoe, clean a river. That is our company’s mission. In every pair sold from our Ananda shoeline, a pair of slippers is donated to the less fortunate,” Battung said. Through her business, Battung said she wanted to promote local industries, empower communities and advocate for environmental awareness.

Another young entrepreneur Paul Andrei Medina wanted to help solve the malaria problem in the municipality of New Corella, Davao del

Norte, while providing livelihood for persons with disabilities (PWDs) through his business, Green Rubber (GRUB) and upcycling.

“Sa GRUB po gumagamit kami ng [At GRUB we use] rubber tires from scrap yards and motor shops at libre po lahat iyon [and all those are for free].

We help the PWDs, they do easy tasks like cutting of the rubber and we pay them by pair,” he said.

Medina said his business gives hope to people in New Corella, one of the 32 poorest communities in the country, especially the PWDs that they can succeed despite hardships.

“I’m a PWD myself who had a hard time applying for a job, and I wasn’t accepted because I

wasn’t physically fit. With this business, there’s no discrimination for me and I can encourage other PWDs that together we can do something for the community while earning,” he added.

Medina is unable to fully use his right hand after an accident.

Recognizing the ingenuity of young Filipino entrepreneurs, Ang said their organization would continue to mentor the youth as a way of giving back to the community.

“We also want to raise Filipino entrepreneurs who are courageous to take risks to be able to create positive changes in the society through their businesses,” she said. PNA