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Sunday, July 17, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 281

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RICE-PLANTING SEASON Farmers in a rice field in Barangay Patul, Santiago City, Isabela, uproot rice seedlings for replanting. The province is said to be the rice granary of the North. LEONARDO PERANTE II

Legazpi water samples finally pass UP-NSRI potability test

By Manly M. Ugalde

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Correspondent

EGAZPI CITY—For almost four years after taking over the drinking-water supply of this city, Maynilad finally passed the standard potable drinkingwater test conducted yearly by the University of the Philippines’s Natural Sciences Research Institute (UP-NSRI).

See “Legazpi water,” A2

Boycott of PHL products in China unlikely–expert

By Bianca Cuaresma

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HE geopolitical tensions between China and the Philippines could only drag the economy down if trade relations between the two countries are shut down, a development unlikely for a globalized economy, an economist said.

By Joey Pavia

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Dear Lord, Your readiness to forgive should not be taken as an encouragement to prevaricate. Rather, it is meant to lead us to believe in Your immense love, we trust You and we are grateful for it. O good Father, You love so much Your prodigal children and we are sure You love no less those who never turned their back on You. This heartening message is addressed to all, even to those who, in all honesty, can say that they never lived a life of vice and debauchery.

And the children who claim to love You must learn to have a heart that is loving, as caring and as forgiving as Yours toward their brothers and sisters who may have lost their way in the meanders of life. Amen!

Word & Life, Fr. Sal Putzu, SDB and Luisa M. Lacson, HFL

In a recent commentary following the international tribunal’s announcement, backing the Philippines’s claim over the disputed islands, Tim Condon, ING Bank chief economist in Asia, weighed in on the talked about “boycott” of Philippine products in China.

Recent reports have surfaced showing Chinese netizens calling on their citizens to boycott products made and imported from the Philippines—most prevalently Philippine mangoes.

Turkish coup falters; president in control

Continued on A2

₧2.7-B water-theme park rising in Clark Correspondent

THIS HEARTENING MESSAGE

@BcuaresmaBM

L A R K FR EE PORT—A P2.7billion watertheme park is under construction here, and is expected to be completed by December 2016, an official of a TaiwaneseFilipino company said on Friday.

Dr. Irineo G. Alvaro, president of BB International Leisure and Resort Development Corp. (BBI), said the Aqua Planet water-theme park is rising on a 7.6-hectare area as their firm vowed to provide “a new benchmark” in the leisure, games and entertainment industry in Clark.

“We want to provide something that is not yet in Clark, that’s why we are creating a water-theme park, instead of a golf course,” said Alvaro, who spoke to the members of the Capampangans in Media Inc. on July 15. “We truly believe Clark is the next frontier. That’s why we are

PESO exchange rates n US 47.0990

doing our part to make it a premier destination.”

Alvaro said their water-theme park “is designed by the best Taiwanese engineers and architects, including a professor from Harvard University.” He added they will hire at least 600 workers for Aqua Planet.

“Aqua Planet is an original concept. It’s worth visiting over and over again when it’s done,” he added.

Alvaro said their target markets are “70-percent locals and 30 -percent foreig ners.” Residents of China and Taiwan are their top clients.

He added that, based on a study, the clients of Hong Kong Disneyland are “38-percent to 40-percent Filipinos.”

“Why don’t we do something that will make Filipino families stay and have a grand vacation in our own country than travel elsewhere?” he said.

In 2006 BBI was given the rights to develop a 122-hectare land in Clark, part of which is the

area for Aqua Planet. Alvaro said BBI is planning to invest close to P20 billion for the integrated complex inspired by the Sentosa Island in Singapore.

Among the planned projects are the Holiday Hotels and Villas, Land Theme Park, and the Central District Outdoor Recreation and Equestrian Trail.

Alvaro said their integrated complex “was designed to make people stay longer in Clark.”

BBI is also the owner of the P4billion Midori Clark Hotel and Casino, which is regarded as the first five-star hotel in Pampanga and Central Luzon. It sits on a 4-hectare property, not connected to the 122 hectares.

“We really want the casino to be far from children. We separated the two,” Alvaro said.

He added they are constructing two more buildings in Midori with 200 hotel rooms. The projects are also set to be completed

by December. BBI will hire 1,400 workers for Midori when it’s fully operational.

Turkish soldiers secure the area, as supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul’s Taksim square early on Saturday. Turkey’s armed forces said it “fully seized control” of the country on Friday, and its president responded by calling on Turks to take to the streets in a show of support for the government. AP/Emrah Gurel

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N K A R A , Tu rk e y — Turkey’s president declared he is in control of the country early on Saturday, as loyal military and police forces fought to squash a coup attempt during a night of explosions, air battles and gunfire that left dozens dead.

More than 1,500 military personnel were arrested across the country, said a senior official who was not authorized to speak to the media.

T he state-r un A nadolu news agency said at least 90 people were killed in clashes, including 16 coup plotters, and more than 1,100 were wounded. Colonels and generals im-

plicated in the rebellion were fired and loyal troops rescued the military chief who had been taken hostage at an air base on the outskirts of Ankara.

President Recep Tay yip Erdogan said coup supporters “will pay a heavy price for their treason to Turkey,” according to a transcript of his remarks provided by his office.

“Those who stain the military’s reputation must leave. The process has started today, and it will continue just as we fight other terrorist groups.”

Military chief of staff Gen. Hulusi Akar is taking over the command of the operation See “Turkish,” A2

n japan 0.4472 n UK 62.8630 n HK 6.0745 n CHINA 7.0413 n singapore 35.1040 n australia 35.9271 n EU 52.3835 n SAUDI arabia 12.5594

Source: BSP (15 July 2016 )

BMReports BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, July 17, 2016

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Ombudsman dismisses two hospital staff in Pangasinan

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By Orly Guirao| Correspondent

ANAOAG, Pangasinan—For mulcting indigent patients and defrauding the government in revenues collected as medical treatment and hospitalization bills, two personnel of the Manaoag Community Hospital here were ordered dismissed from the service by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Ordered dismissed in a decision dated June 22, 2016, were Jessie O. Fabia, administrative assistant II and cashier-designate of the hospital; and Richell R. Fernandez, pharmacy aide, of the same facility run and operated by the provincial government of Pangasinan.

Fabia and Fernandez were found by the antigraft body administratively liable of “grave misconduct and serious dishonesty” and were meted the penalty of “dismissal from office.”

The order also cancelled Fabia’s and Fernandez’s civil-service eligibilities, including forfeiture of retirement benefits and disqualification from reemployment in the government service.

Citing Section 27 (1) of Republic Act (RA) 6770, otherwise known as the Ombudsman Act of 1989, Gerard A. Mosquera, deputy Ombudman for Luzon, said the decision “is

immediately executory.”

The decision was endorsed to Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento on June 27 for proper implementation within 10 days from receipt of Mosquera’s communication.

E nt e r e d a s m a l v e r s at i o n through falsification of public documents, violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019, the complaint was filed on March 6, 2015, by Dr. Jeremy Agerico B. Rosario, then Assistant Provincial Health Officer for Hospital Operations (PHO).

The complaint alleged that Fabia caused the billing for P8,000 for the treatment and confinement (August 16 to 20, 2014) of Liza Lagmay, an indigent who availed herself of the provincial government’s “point-of-care” program that awards indigent patients free medical treatment and hospitalization accepted in hospitals and clinics owned and operated by the

provincial government. Fabia, however, reduced the amount to P4,000 after Lagmay pleaded for pity and asked Fernandez to issue the corresponding receipt.

But an investigation later by the PHO revealed that only P81 was reflected as collected in the duplicate and triplicate copies of the original official receipts issued to Lagmay. The duplicate and triplicate copies were also found to have been issued to another person.

On learning of this incident, six other patients who claimed to have been similarly duped by Fabia and Fernandez showed up and presented documents (receipts) equally tampered by the respondents. For this, the Ombusman found probable cause against respondents for seven counts of “malversation through falsification of public documents.”

Earlier, on January 14 the Office of the Governor, in Administrative Case 01-2015, found Fabia and Fernandez liable for “dishonesty, grave misconduct and abuse of authority” and recommended the dismissal from the service of the respondents, including forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from reemployment in the government service.

The point-of-care program is one of its kind in the country introduced by then Gov. Amado T. Espino Jr. in 2014 to help indigent patients who could not afford medical treatment and hospitalization.

LOW TIDE IN BALER Tourists enjoy the serenity of the Pacific Ocean in Baler, Aurora. Known as the surfing capital of the Philippines, surfing competitions are held along Sabang beach in August and September. The area is known for the big waves during those months. FAYE PABLO

Legazpi water. . .

Continued from A1

Maynilad acquired the controversial Philippine Hydro Inc. (PhilHydro) in August 2012 in this city, following the latter’s continued failure to secure certification that water supplied to businesses and residences in this city is fit to drink.

The Legazpi City Water District (LCWD) signed a concession contract with PhilHydro in 2008 to supply 20,000 cubic meters of drinking water to Legazpi’s 22,000 consumer-households. Following this were the succeeding increases in water rates, said Councilor Roly Rosal, chairman of the city’s committee on public utilities. For years, instead of clear drinkable water, brownish and yellowish water came out from faucets being supplied by PhilHydro to many parts of the city.

Forced by the continuing complaints from consumers that LCWD was supplying water unfit for drinking, the city council called for a probe in cooperation with the Department of Health (DOH) after PhilHydro-LCWD blamed the consumers’ poor and aging pipe connections.

Surprisingly, during the committee investigation in 2011, the city council discovered that PhilHydro had been operating in Legazpi since 2008 without the proper business and mayor’s permits, environmental clearance certificate, building permits for its facilities and operational

clearance from the DOH. The report said both PhilHydro-LCWD and the city council agreed for a laboratory test of the water sample to be taken at the PhilHydro site and conducted by the UP-NSRI. The result yielded “water hardness and a total dissolve” against the standard for drinking water. This followed a public warning from the city government that Legazpi water was unfit for drinking.

The city council report said water supplied by PhilHydro-LCWD was not only unfit for drinking, but also unfit for bathing, cooking and laundry.

Failing to secure the demanded clearances from the city government and the DOH, PhilHydro decided to sell to Maynilad.

Then-city Mayor Carmen Geraldine B. Rosa, l who took over her husband Noel Rosal in 2010 after three terms, strongly denied the allegations. Her husband, the former mayor, whom she appointed as the city administrator then, said only a clearance from UP would the city government issue clearances for the water firm even under Maynilad’s control.

With an initial funding of P65 million following its takeover in August 2012, then-Maynilad appointed PhilHydro President Julius Iglesia told the local media in December 2012 and in March 2013 they have acquired the DOH clearance for the standard drinking water.

This was disputed by the city government after a second laboratory test from UP-NSRI declared that the PhilHydro water sample still did not meet the required standard for potable drinking water.

Boycott of PHL products in China unlikely–expert Continued from A1

“China is the Philippines’s third-largest export destination at 13 percent, after Japan at 22.5 percent and the United States at 14.1 percent, so an official boycott that reduced exports to zero would be a significant negativegrowth shock,” Condon said.

“Exports are 48 percent of GDP, so simple arithmetic puts the size of the shock at 6 percentage points,” he said.

However, this is not likely to happen, the economist said, despite calls from angry netizens.

Trade relations are still expected to remain normal between the two countries.

“Closure of the China market would be bad. Netizens take their cue from the government, however,

Turkish. . .

Continued from A1

against the coup plotters, CNNTurk said.

Fighting continued into the early morning, with the sounds of huge blasts echoing across Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, including at least one bomb that hit the parliament complex. Television footage showed images of broken glass and other debris strewn across a lobby leading to the assembly hall.

Government officials, who blamed the unrest on a US-based Islamist cleric, said the coup failed as Turks took to the streets overnight to confront troops attempting to take over the country.

The chaos capped a period of political turmoil in Turkey which critics blamed on Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule, which has included a government shake-up, a crackdown on dissidents and opposition media and renewed conflict in the mainly Kurdish areas of the southeast.

Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) member, is a key partner in US-led efforts to defeat the Islamic State (IS) group and

and the baseline is that cooler heads will prevail and trade relations will go on as before,” he said.

Financial markets have remained calm in the country amid the recent ruling against China.

Just recently, at the sidelines of the BSP’s 13th Awards Ceremony and Appreciation Lunch for Stakeholders in its complex in Manila, Bangko Sentral Gov. Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the central bank has been monitoring the markets with regard to the ruling released.

“We haven’t actually seen an impact so far,” Tetangco said. “Looking at the behavior of the markets today, the conditions here continue to be more affected by developments in the US and Japan.”

Moody’s Investors Service Senior Vice President Marie Diron also said earlier the ruling on claims

to maritime rights has no immediate sovereign credit implications for the Philippines or China.

“Geopolitical tensions can affect countries’ credit profiles if they are likely to have a negative economic impact or if they entail significant fiscal costs or if they hamper policymaking. Per our sovereign methodology, we assess geopolitical strains as posing a very low risk of weighing on sovereign credit trends in China or the Philippines,” Diron said in a statement.

T h e i nt e r n at i o n a l c r e d it watcher said the ruling does not pose substantial effect on either country’s economy, budget of policy effectiveness. “Nonetheless, the dispute does highlight emerging geopolitical issues for the two countries and for the region as a whole,” Diron said.

has allowed American jets to use its Incirlik air base to fly missions against the extremists in nearby Syria and Iraq.

A coup against the democratically elected government could make it difficult for the US to continue to cooperate with Turkey.

Erdogan flew into Ataturk airport early on Saturday and was greeted by large crowds. He told them: “They have pointed the people’s guns against the people.

The president, whom 52 percent of the people brought to power, is in charge. This government brought to power by the people is in charge. They won’t succeed as long as we stand against them by risking everything.”

Turkey’s Police Chief Celalettin Lekesiz said 16 coup plotters were killed in clashes at Turkey’s military police command.

In images broadcast on CNNTurk, dozens of soldiers walked among tanks with their hand held up, surrendering to government forces on Istanbul ’s Bosporus Bridge. Discarded gear was strewn on the ground. People, some holding flags, climbed onto the tanks.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has called all legislators for

an emergency meeting on Saturday, Anadolu reported.

US President Barack Obama urged all sides in Turkey to support the democratically elected government. Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he spoke to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and called for respect for democracy.

The coup attempt began late on Friday, with a statement from the military saying it had seized control “to reinstall the constitutional order, democracy, human rights and freedoms, to ensure that the rule of law once again reigns in the country, for law and order to be reinstated.”

Fighter jets buzzed overhead, gunfire erupted outside military headquarters and vehicles blocked two major bridges in Istanbul. Soldiers backed by tanks blocked entry to Istanbul’s airport for a couple of hours before being overtaken by progovernment crowds carrying Turkish flags, according to footage broadcast by the Dogan news agency.

But the military did not appear unified, as top commanders went on television to condemn the action and order troops back to their barracks. AP

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

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

Oil firms to roll back prices on Tuesday

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

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HE Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Friday a possible price cut in petroleum products.

Director Melita V. Obillo of the Oil Industry Management Bureau, in a text message, said there would be a price rollback for gasoline and diesel in the amount of P0.60 and P0.70 per liter, respectively, on Tuesday.

Oil companies adjust prices on a weekly basis. They will announce on Monday the price movement for the week.

Separately, the agency said on Friday night that oil prices in the international market during the first few days of trading last week reflect a downward adjustment.

“The trend is going down.

Hopefully, this downward trend

will continue,” DOE Spokesman Wimpy Fuentabella said. He attributed the downward trend to oversupply in petroleum products.

On July 12 some oil companies implemented a price rollback in gasoline by P0.80 per liter. Other oil companies implemented a price cut of P0.90 per liter. There was no movement in the prices of diesel and kerosene.

Based on DOE monitoring, Dubai crude decreased week-onweek by almost $0.90 per barrel.

MOPS gasoline and diesel decreased, as well, by about $2.70 and $0.20 per barrel, respectively.

Currently, the year-to-date total adjustment for gasoline is net increase of P1.87 per liter.

Diesel remains at net increase of P5.40 per liter and liquefied petroleum gas at net decrease of P7.80 per kilogram.

Group hits Negros Occidental governor for resisting CARP

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By Jonathan L. Mayuga

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Balad, which badly damaged and severely affected in their livelihood by the supertyphoon.

Roscigno said Italy aims to increase the productivity of 1,500 small farmers and fishermen through the donation to local cooperatives and farmers’ organizations.

The donations include agricultural equipment (handheld tractors, rice threshers) and training modules on production and marketing of local crops.

The embassy also turned over

@jonlmayuga

HE Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) on Satuday assailed Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo G. Marañon Jr. for defying government order placing Hacienda Ilimnan under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

In a statement, UMA SecretaryGeneral Danilo Ramos said Marañon, insisting on the provincial government’s claim over the 155-hect-

Italian envoy turns over P84-M Typhoon Yolanda rehab projects HE Italian ambassador to the Philippines has turned over P84 million worth of post-Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, Tanauan, Leyte and Northern Iloilo.

Ambassador Massimo Roscigno turned over the project to Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. of Iloilo in a ceremony at Casa Real in Iloilo City.

The project targets some of the northern municipalities of Estancia, Conception, Carles, San Dionisio and

Sunday, July 17, 2016 A3

about 1,000 farming and fishery equipment to the towns of Guiuan and Tanauan.

Italy has an important official development assistance program in the Philippines, mainly in the fields of agricultural development, including a P2.8-billion program targeting some of the poorest rural communities in Mindanao and P150 million in various projects for environmental protection and sustainable management of natural resources. Recto L. Mercene

are agricultural area, is now resorting to threat and intimidation.

R amos said the Bureau of Agrarian Legal Assistance (Bala)

of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Central Office finally issued a decision in May this year, denying the Application for Exemption from CARP coverage filed by the Negros Occidental provincial government, which established the Negros First Ranch in the disputed hacienda.

UMA received reports that Marañon deployed personnel of the Provincial Public Safety Company of the National Police, troops from the Army’s 303rd Infantry Brigade and private-security personnel on Thursday.

The move aims to intimidate a group of farmers who have started to cultivate portions of the disputed landholding, the group said.

“The initiative of the Hacienda

Ilimnan Farm Workers Association to plant palay and other food crops within the area clearly sends the message that people are hungry, especially now that sugar workers are reeling from effects of drought and the annual tiempo muerto, or off-milling season, in the sugar industry,” Ramos said.

The Hacienda Ilimnan Farm Workers Association is affiliated with the National Federation of Sugar Workers, a member-federation of UMA. Ramos said Marañon is holding on to the land.

Marañon illegally acquired the area in 2010 to transform it into a sheep and cattle farm, even if the property was already subjected to land reform in 2008.

Policemen nab man with grenade, guns

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A S M A R I Ñ A S C I T Y, Cav ite—Policemen responding to a shooting incident chanced upon a man who was holding a grenade in his right hand and about to flee, as the lawmen arrived in Barangay Datu Esmael in this city on Friday.

The Dasmariñas police officer in charge, Supt. Rodolfo Caoili Hernandez, said a police team that was dispatched to investigate a reported

shooting incident spotted the suspect wielding a hand grenade and about to insert the explosive inside a sling bag.

The policemen arrested the man, who attempted to escape.

Investigatorts identified the suspect as Idadalaw Ontawar Saykalabe, 38, of Block 17, Lot 8, North Gate Executive Village, Barangay Santo Cristo, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Recovered from the suspect were

the hand grenade; sling bag containing a caliber .45 model 1911; three magazines with 17 live ammunitions of caliber .45; and a caliber .22 revolver with defaced serial numbers and loaded with live ammunition.

The confiscated pieces of evidence were documented and turned over to the Firearms and Explosive Office at the National Police general headquarters in Camp Rafael Crame, Quezon City for verification. PNA

A4 Sunday, July 17, 2016

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

New e-passports issued starting August

By Stephanie Tumampos | Special to the BusinessMirror

is used to authenticate his or her identity. The biometric information includes photo, signature and fingerprint. The chip can accommodate additional information.

With high-quality materials for durability, the improvement also includes the design and visa pages of the e-passport that will showcase Filipino pride in its pages. With the Philippine Eagle on its covers and highlighting scenic locations in each region for each visa page, the Philippine National Anthem and the Preamble of the 1987 Constitution are also printed.

But beyond the designs, a latent image as a security feature will also be printed, which can only be seen once the document is viewed at a certain angle. Another security feature embedded

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HE ability of Filipinos to travel has pushed demands to further enhance the e-passport system in the country.

Under a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), APO Production Unit Inc. will launch the new e-passports with improved security and fast-processing time, with an integrated e-passport system that will expedite passport applications further.

The new passports will be printed at APO’s high-security printing

plant in Malvar, Batangas.

The new e-passports, which will be available starting in August, will feature a more secured and fraud-proof document that is consistent with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

An embedded chip inside the e-passport will store biometric information of the holder, which

through these designs is the use of different security-background designs. This feature will prevent the tampering of the visa pages.

Ultraviolet ink designs and watermarks are also added, as well as laser perforation of passport numbers, which have unique shapes that only high-security printing can do.

Jaime Aldaba Jr., APO executive vice president and general manager, explained that intaglioprinting method is used in printing the document.

“The intaglio printing causes an embossed effect on the printed surface, in which the fine lines created in this effect are very difficult to copy,” Aldaba said.

The data center, which keeps all information of each e-passport holder, is modern and secured.

Lanao del Norte town elects 22-year-old vice mayor

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T the age of 20, Mohammad Daud Nabil “Ayran” Dimaporo Lantud made history when he became the youngest sultan of the Royal House of Cabasagan in Lanao del Norte.

Now 22, Ayran wears another feather on his cap—being the youngest vice mayor ever of Pantao Ragat. He is slowly taking over the reins held by his father, Mayor Sultan Nabil Lantud. The elder Lantud saw his son’s potential for leadership.

“While my father is the mayor, I am officer in charge. He will guide me,” Ayran said.

Ayran wants to develop a sports program for the youth to keep them out of trouble. “If the kids don’t have wholesome leisure activities, they will take drugs out of boredom. We hope to engage them in sports initiatives and tournaments,” he said in Filipino. The young politician

President dared to arrest, prosecute lumad leader’s, tribal chief’s assailants

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WO party-list lawmakers on Saturday asked the Duterte administration to investigate the recent killing of a lumad school leader and wounding of a tribal chief.

In condemning the incident, Party-list Reps. Antonio L. Tinio and France Castro of ACT Teachers challenged President Duterte to hold the perpetrators accountable.

“We urge President Duterte to immediately address these latest attacks against the lumad,” they said in a statement.

The lawmakers, citing reports of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao, said motorcycle-riding gunmen killed Hermie Alegre and critically wounded Danny Diarog in Sitio Kahusayan, Davao City, at around 2 p.m. on Friday.

“They were on their way home from a meeting with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples [when the incident happened],” the lawmakers said.

Alegre was an officer of the Parents-Teachers Association of the Salugpungan Ta’ Tanu Igkanugon (Unity in Defense of Ancestral Land) Community Learning Center, or STTICLC, in the sitio, while Diarog is the chieftain of the Bagobo tribe there.

“This attack is as despicable as it is cowardly,” Tinio said.

“Through underhanded ways, these perpetrators kill and maim

Jaime Aldaba Jr., APO Production Unit executive vice president and general manager, shows the newly designed and securityenhanced e-passports for Filipinos, which will be available in August. Stephanie Tumampos

himself enjoys basketball and tennis.

He also envisions more classrooms to accommodate the growing population and to renovate the local hospital so that patients need not travel to Iligan for medical services. Ayran hopes that health will be part of the community services for the poor.

His ultimate dream is to elevate Pantao Ragat’s position from fourth class into a second- or third-class municipality. He believes that the constituents have what it takes. “The people are obedient. They follow our ordinances. Peace and order was never a problem. Before now-President Duterte announced the curfew in Davao, we had already imposed the curfew at 10 p.m.to avoid theft and to clean up the streets. We didn’t want to see kids hanging around. We settled street fights and taught them lessons.” A. Gunting

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lumad leaders, like Alegre and Diarog, who stand with their people in their struggle for land and selfdetermination. By attacking their leaders, they aim to incapacitate our lumad brothers and sisters who only want to serve their communities and live according to their own ways, with their ancestral land and resources,” Tinio added.

For his part, Castro stressed the welfare of the children, saying that schools like those of the Salugpungan are put up and maintained by indigenous communities themselves to fill in the lack of public schools in their areas.

“Attacks, such as this, threaten the right of lumad children to education and a peaceful life. Lumad school and community leaders being targeted by the military, paramilitaries and private armies mean that indigenous learning and the lumad way of life is also under attack,” Castro said.

Tinio and Castro, meanwhile, cited similar threats, such as the public maligning and the recent issuance of a warrant of arrest by a Davao court against the “Haran 15,” who are pinned for assisting in 2014 hundreds of lumad evacuees, including teachers and students of Salugpungan and other mission schools, fleeing from the military encamped in their communities. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Legislator seeks probe into substandard houses for policemen, soldiers

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

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LAWMAKER is asking the House of Representatives to investigate, in aid of legislation, the alleged substandard housing units for policemen and members of the military.

In a house resolution, Party-list Rep. Gary C. Alejano of Magdalo has directed the appropriate House committee to investigate the substandard housing units constructed by the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the members of the Armed Forces and the National Police.

“All socialized housing projects of the government must conform to the highest standards to ensure the quality and sustainability of the housing units,” said Alejano, a former Marine officer.

The NHA is mandated to implement the Armed Forces-National Police Housing Program that seeks to provide permanent housing and security of tenure to low-salaried military and police whose need for housing must be addressed immediately.

“However, in a site inspection personally conducted in Baras, Rizal, and Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, the inspecting group, which included a member of Congress, easily observed the inhumane housing environment for the soldiers and policemen,” Alejano said.

He also added that the units were

“notoriously dubbed as ‘Bahay Kalapati’ due to its uninhabitable condition and substandard construction.” “ T he substand ard housing units suffer from glaring inadequacies, such as unavailability of water and electricity sources, as well as inaccessibility to social services leading to a burdensome life and a hellish residential environment for our soldiers, policemen and for their respective families,” Alejano said.

He added that the units have walls, doors and window panes that are easily breakable; roofs that are easily blown away by strong winds; the hollow blocks used for the foundation and walls were not completely filled in with cement.

According to the lawmaker, the septic tanks were in a very sad condition because of the very thin concrete cover and other pertinent issues related to poor construction.

The substandard housing units “bastardize the sacrifices rendered by our gallant soldiers and policemen, and as guardians of peace and protectors of democracy, the provision of decent housing is a small price to pay for the freedom we’re currently enjoying,” Alejano said.

“The Filipino people, through their elected representatives, would like to condemn these inhumane shelter system being provided our soldiers and policemen who have worked hard to defend the Filipino people,” he added.

National Police, Petron to set up 300 more outposts

By Lenie Lectura

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@llectura

ETRON Corp. and the National Police (PNP) partnered anew to establish 300 additional Lakbay Ligtas police outposts in selected Petron stations nationwide.

In a memorandum of agreement (MOA), both agreed to deploy 210 additional outposts in Luzon and 90 more outposts in the Visayas and Mindanao.

These will be in addition to the 20 pilot Lakbay Ligtas outposts that were established in selected Petron stations in Metro Manila, Bulacan and Laguna last year. These stations are along major roads and highways.

Lakbay Ligtas supports the national government’s efforts to promote safer communities through increased police visibility and crimeprevention awareness.

It also supports the PNP and the Department of Interior and Local Government’s Oplan Lambat Sibat, which integrates the extensive use of checkpoints, mobile and beat patrols, and police operations to prevent the rise of criminality in Metro Manila.

Policemen will regularly man and utilize dedicated Lakbay Ligtas outposts to attend to complaints and for posting and distribution of crime-

prevention materials. The National Police will also train Petron station personnel where there are Lakbay Ligtas outposts on what to do and what numbers to call in case police assistance is required.

“The expansion of this community safety program nationwide is very timely, as the government steps up its drive to stamp out criminality, especially drug-related offenses.

Since Petron stations are already an integral part of their respective communities, we will be able to respond faster and enhance the safety of our fellow Filipinos. More importantly, we laud Petron for always putting a

premium on social responsibility,” Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa, National Police chief, said during the MOA signing.

Petron Vice President for National Sales Archie Gupalor said Petron has the widest network of service stations in the country.

“We are proud to be tapped as one of the National Police’s partners to ensure the welfare of our communities. Our partnership with the police has been very successful in ensuring safer communities. We are now ready to take this further and cast the safety and security net further by going nationwide,” the Petron official said.

A6 Sunday, July 17, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

These empty rocks matter

A

By Kori Schake | Los Angeles Times/TNS Forum

LITTLE-KNOWN court in the Netherlands rattled Asia this week. The Permanent Court of Arbitration concluded that China has no legal basis for its expansive claims in the South China Sea, where China has been attempting to intimidate its neighbors into conceding their rights.

While the overlapping claims are devilishly complicated, the main point is that China, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all have competing claims in the South China Sea. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (to which all, except Taiwan, are parties) permits national sovereignty in waters out to 12 nautical miles and exclusive economic rights out 200 nautical miles. All of the countries want to maximize their hold over gas and mineral deposits, as well as protect their national sovereignty.

China is alone in making claims far in excess of the treaty standards, opposing international arbitration, advancing its claims by force and using civilian fishing fleets as military tools. Although the court has declared China in violation of its international obligations, it has no means to enforce such a decision.

China refused to participate in the legal proceedings and, as expected, has denounced the court’s verdict. What stands between China and its ambition is, therefore, the United States. The US has, for decades, upheld the terms of the Law of the Sea treaty, even though we are not party to it (the Senate never having taken it up). We have taken no position on countries’ claims, other than that they should be resolved peacefully. We ensure freedom of navigation in Asia by routinely sailing our Navy through waters that China claims exclusive rights to.

We conduct military exercises by ourselves and with allies to demonstrate both our willingness and our ability to defend the rules. We encourage cooperation among countries in the region, for example trying to get Japan and South Korea to settle historical grievances and work more closely together. China’s government argues the US is using the treaty as a pretext for isolating China.

In reality, China is isolating itself: The country’s aggressiveness has strengthened America’s alliance relationships across Asia, as countries seek a strong partner to balance against it. What makes China’s policy in the South and East China seas so curious is that it is so contrary to the government’s description of its “peaceful rise.” At the most recent meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations—a regional organization not notable for taking tough, principled stands on security issues—the group issued a unanimous condemnation of China before governments got cold feet and retracted it. China’s behavior is so egregious that other countries now blow up the country’s vessels captured in their waters. It should worry China that so many nations overpowered by it militarily and linked to it economically are willing to challenge it.

In the aftermath of the court decision, China likely will test the US’s readiness to uphold the rules, creating military provocations that could escalate into war. It will redouble the use of civilian fishing fleets for military purposes and will likely try to intimidate Asian countries over which it has economic leverage. The government will argue that because the US is not an Asian power, it should not be allowed to set the rules in Asia. It is reasonable to ask why Americans should care about uninhabited rocks in the South China Sea.

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ONSENSUAL, not confrontational, is the best approach to peaceful negotiation. But before taking up this subject, though, there’s a need to understand what negotiation is all about.

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Part One

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Understanding negotiation

Database

By Cecilio T. Arillo

Interestingly, negotiation is an art of resolving conflicts through discussions and compromises. One of our professors, Dr. William Ury, an original founder of the Harvard’s Program on Negotiation and its consortium partners Tuffs University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), broadly defined it in his lectures as a process of give-and-take communication aimed at reaching agreement with others when some of their interests are shared and some are opposed.

There are four important and timely objectives in negotiation, be it local, national or international, which I learned from the Program on Negotiation for Senior Executives at the Harvard Law School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a humble participant of that prestigious program, let me share my notes and research materials on this uncommon knowledge to our readers.

These objectives are: 1) identifying barriers to negotiation; 2) how to break the barriers; 3) how joint problem-solving alternative works; and 4) how to turn adversarial confrontation to side-by-side peaceful negotiation.

He explained negotiation is not only limited to discussing contentious issues across the table, but is also an informal exchange of ideas when you want to get something from another person.

“For instance,” Ury said, “think for a moment on how you make important decisions in your life—the decisions that have the greatest impact on your performance at work and your satisfaction at home. How many of those decisions can you make unilaterally to reach with others—through negotiation?”

Another outstanding professor, Dr. Xavier de Souza Briggs of the Harvard Kennedy School of

There are four important and timely objectives in negotiation, be it local, national or international, which I learned from the Program on Negotiation for Senior Executives at the Harvard Law School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a humble participant of that prestigious program, let me share my notes and research materials on this uncommon knowledge to our readers.

Government, said: “Negotiation is about learning how to get your way.

Being persuasive about your own interests is a key part of bargaining effectively, and a skilled and wise negotiator knows that the ultimate aim is better agreements that help parties advance a range of interests through jointly decided action.”

Indeed, whether negotiation is on collective bargaining agreement, mutual gains bargaining and other consensual approaches, it is primarily about the elimination of conflict, the promotion of public and private interests in democratic ways, clarifying values, bringing new interests and making power relations more sustainable for the future.

Even if we aren’t personally sitting at the table, our lives are affected by the result of negotiation. For instance, when talks between Philippine Airlines and the union broke down and the pilots went on strike many years ago, business came to a halt and other problems began to pile up.

When business negotiations between suppliers and buyers flopped and the company goes bankrupt, we may become jobless. When talks between the government and its adversaries came to a head, the result may be war. “In sum,” Ury said, “negotiations and consensual building shape our lives.”

In the Philippine setting today, some of our leaders are confronted with an intractable issue that arose from the recent decision of the United Nations Arbitration Court that saw the Philippines winning its case on the four maritime zones defined

in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which China swiftly rejected, having made its decision beforehand that it does not recognize the UN court.

Relatedly, our courts, from the lowest to the highest, and various executive agencies with quasijudicial powers, particularly the labor department and its agencies, average 1.5 million cases a year, arising from disputes or conflicts that could otherwise be avoided in the first place through negotiation, mediation and consensual approaches.

As Ury said you see yourself making an unpleasant decision. If “soft” in order to preserve the relationship, you end up giving up your position. If “hard” in order to win your position, you’ll likely strain the relationship or perhaps lose it altogether.

In his series of lectures at the Program on Negotiation in HarvardMIT-Tufts, Ury offered an alternative: joint problem-solving. According to him, it is neither exclusively soft nor hard, but a combination of both: soft on the people and hard on the problem.

“Instead of attacking each other, you jointly attack the problem. Instead of glowering across the table, you sit next to each other facing your common problem. In short, you turn face-to-face confrontation into sideby-side negotiation,” Ury said.

He said joint problem-solving revolves around interests instead of positions. “Begin by identifying those interests: concerns, needs, fears and desires that underlie and motivate opposing positions. Then explore different options for meeting those interests. As a negotiator, your goal is to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement in an efficient and amicable fashion.”

He argued that joint problemsolving can generate better results for both sides; saves time and energy by avoiding brinkmanship and posturing; and usually leads to harmonious working relationships and to mutual benefits in the future.

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

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Washing veggies in the toilet

M

OLECULAR biologist Henry Miller writes in The Los Angeles Times about our fruitless fondness for organic foods—yes, “foods” in the plural, as Deniece Cornejo put it correctly, it turns out. Sorry, Deniece, my bad.

Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

“The truth is the price premium associated with organic products makes you no healthier,” Miller said. More organic food is spoiled than nonorganic. “Recalls of organic foods amounted to 7 percent of all food units, although organic farms account for only 1 percent of agricultural acreage.”

“CLIF (?)” bars were recalled for containing the bacterium Listeria, which kills hundreds of Americans every year. Chipotle Mexican Grill got karma for boldly proclaiming that it scorns to use GMO ingredients and is totally organic. As a result, 60 customers in 20 states swallowed E.coli and Salmonella contaminated foods—which are the scientific terms for crap.

Genetically engineered crops are precisely engineered to repel bugs and neutralize contaminants,

like mycotoxins. “Unlike organic crops, genetically engineered crops have been exhaustively tested and remain subject to strict government inspection,” Miller said.

And a Stanford study, analyzing data from 237 previous studies to determine safety and health benefits, concluded that organic is no more nutritious than nonorganic, which are far less likely to contain harmful bacteria.

Evolutionary biologist Christie Wilcox explained in Scientific American that organic pesticides pose the same health risks as nonorganic pesticides. Neem oil, a natural bug killer, causes seizures and comas in humans when taken in large doses and in bumble bees in commensurately small doses.

What a comatose bumblebee looks like, I cannot imagine.

Sunday, July 17, 2016 A7

Miller concludes that if you fertilize your organic foods with human waste, it is no better than washing your veggies in the toilet.

He didn’t put it quite that way, but you get his drift.

But be all that as it may, there is a compelling reason for eating organic over none. Organic products are prepared with more care and while they are perishable for lacking preservatives, just pay attention to the expiry date. Those who know organic foods know of their perishability, proneness to rottenness in less time, and exposure to feces, and so they take greater care to remove those perils.

Just dumping chemicals into, say, the preparation of fish sauce may not harm you, but will most surely affect the taste and texture of the concoction.

Why terrorists keep succeeding in France F

RANCE is in the line of fire. Of the 16 terrorist incidents that took place in Western nations this year, five were in France, including the deadliest one—Thursday’s apparent lone wolf attack in Nice, which killed at least 84 people.

Bloomberg View

By Leonid Bershidsky

A little more than a week before the attack, a commission set up by the French parliament gave its version of the reasons for France’s endangered state in a massive report. Apart from an objective threat the country faces, thanks to its colonial past and a failure to integrate North African immigrants, it also suffers from inadequate policing.

“All the French citizens who struck within the nation’s territory in 2015 were known, in one capacity or another, to judicial, penal or intelligence services,” the report said.

“They have all been on file, watched, listened to or incarcerated along their path of delinquency toward violent radicalization.”

As in the case of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, the French security services watched several of the terrorists who later committed the worst attacks of 2015—such as the Kouachi brothers, who massacred the staff of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. They failed to put any surveillance on Amedy Coulibaly, who took hostages in Paris directly after that attack.

Samy Amimour, who last November fired into a crowd of concert goers in Paris, had traveled to Syria, had been questioned and placed under administrative surveillance; but nothing was done after he missed several weekly checks in a row, and a lack of coordination between the police and intelligence services made sure he wasn’t tracked.

Another shooter from the Bata-

“All the French citizens who struck within the nation’s territory in 2015 were known, in one capacity or another, to judicial, penal or intelligence services,” the report said. “They have all been on file, watched, listened to or incarcerated along their path of delinquency toward violent radicalization.”

clan theater, Omar Mostefai, had been identified to the French authorities by Turkish intelligence as a dangerous radical. He wasn’t watched either.

The list goes on. It’s not that the French security agencies lacked the resources to watch the suspected terrorists: According to the report, in 2015 the French security services had a quota for 2,700 people whose communications could be intercepted, but actual monitoring never even approached that number.

French law-enforcement agencies have prevented nine terror attacks since the beginning of 2015, mostly by watching known suspects with Islamic State sympathies, but they have missed too many others. The French law-enforcement bureaucracy is in a permanent state of reform, but the services still often work in their own silos. For example, there is a cooperation gap between the

gendarmerie, which polices rural France, and domestic intelligence.

Many of the future terrorists are radicalized in the French prisons, but only a “prison-intelligence” force of 114 people is supposed to monitor such developments in a prison population of 68,000 and among 235,000 parolees.

Reportedly, 60 percent of French prisoners are Muslims, compared with 8 percent of France’s total population. France has a well-known problem with integrating its Muslim community: It is afflicted with high unemployment and concentrated in ghettos on the edge of big cities, breeding grounds for all kinds of crime, from petty drug dealing to terrorism. Youths with a criminal record are excellent material for radicalization: It gives them a cause for which to fight. And yet, the French government barely has a system for tracking this risk group’s embrace of radical Islam.

That’s how French law enforcement missed the 31-year-old Tunisian-born resident of Nice who drove a rented heavy truck into a crowd of revelers on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais on Thursday.

Like other French terrorists before him, he was known to the police for various petty acts of violence, yet, he was never investigated for terrorist leanings or connections. The parliamentary commission made 40 proposals aimed at boosting France’s capacity to fight terrorism. They range from simple mea-

And while it is true that the nutritional value of organic and nonorganic foods is the same, not all of us are so destitute that we must eat primarily for nutrition rather than for taste. For example, I cannot stress often enough that the way to prepare rice is to wash it so many times that the water is crystal clear, because all the waxiness along with all the vitamins have been washed away. This produces a soft and gleaming yet separately grained bowl of rice. Each grain stands alone teetering on the edge of mush but retaining a firm foothold on its granular autonomy.

We are not on earth just to live, but to enjoy life’s small pleasures, which are well within the pocketbooks of everyone who can at least afford to have a wallet even if he hasn’t much to put in it. So there.

sures, like more target practice for cops—something that might have prevented the Nice truck driver from plowing through the crowds for as long as he did—to the establishment of a stronger prison- intelligence service and better coordination of antiterrorist activities.

That won’t remove the problems at the root of all the French attacks —the hostility between the Muslim community and much of the rest of France and the globalization of terror, which makes France a convenient target because of the linguistic and cultural heritage it left in its former colonies. “We must no longer think in terms of French or French-resident people, but in terms of francophones,” Patrick Calvar, head of France’s domestic intelligence, told the commission. “Thousands of Tunisians, thousands of Moroccans and Algerians can be dispatched into our territory.”

These problems cannot be easily fixed, though. They are probably impossible to resolve in our lifetime, because they were many decades in the making. All France can do in the short term is to improve policing, make it smarter and make sure signals don’t get crossed or extinguished in the bureaucracy.

The French government realizes that, and it’s getting reasonable advice, but while the bureaucratic wheels turn and big structures reform themselves, more attackers slip through the net.

Woman leader could be spark that UN needs P

By Trudy Rubin | The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS Forum

ARIS—When it comes to Western political leaders, we have definitely arrived at The Time of the Woman. Hillary Clinton is the first serious female candidate for US president; Theresa May just took over as British prime minister; and Germany’s Angela Merkel remains the most powerful European politician. Moreover, the nationalist Marine Le Pen will most likely make the final round for French president in 2017.

So why not a woman to succeed Ban Ki-moon for secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) when he steps down later this year? At a time of overwhelming global crises, when the UN is flagging and international institutions are under attack, might a female leader provide the spark to rejuvenate the world body? That’s a question member-states are pondering. Even Ban has weighed in, saying it is “high time for a secretary-general to be a woman.” That would be a big jump for an organization that had a reputation for rampant sexism not so long ago. The top UN official is selected by the Security Council in what used to be a secretive process that generally rotated the job by region.

Last year the rules were changed to produce a more transparent selection process; six of the 12 candidates are women, and the betting is that this year’s choice will come from Eastern Europe. The Security Council will still make the final cut, and will conduct an informal “straw poll” on July 21. I sat down in a Left Bank café with Irina Bokova, one of the leading candidates, who is a Bulgarian diplomat and the first female director general of the Paris-based United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). I asked the elegant, gray-haired Bokova, who is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Russian, as well as her own language, why she thought a woman secretary-general could make a difference.

“We need a critical mass of women to take up serious positions, so it becomes natural,” she told me. “I don’t say we are better than men, [but] it changes the overall culture of doing politics.”

The implication is that a woman might do better at promoting programs for mediation and prevention of war. Perhaps, although we seem to be entering a global phase in which

testosterone-driven violence trumps efforts at conflict resolution. Still, there is every reason that qualified women should have the chance to show their stuff, and Bokova has become a role model for them.

“I put a stress on gender equality by making half my management team women,” she said. Under Bokova, the Unesco has worked intensively to expand education prospects for girls and women in poor countries. Of course, the challenges facing the UN go far beyond gender parity. With xenophobic nationalism on the rise in the West, as well as in Russia and China, the future of multinational organizations is in question.

As civil wars and terrorism increase, UN negotiating efforts to end the Syrian conflict have failed, and its agencies have been deluged by refugee crises and pandemics, such as Ebola. Meantime, peacekeeping operations (with 104,000 troops) are in a negative spotlight, after allegations of sexual abuse by some of its troops.

As for the job itself, the UN’s chief executive must simultaneously function as megamanager, fund-raiser,

mediator and global proselytizer for peace, economic development and human rights. Even when members aren’t listening. I asked Bokova why she would even want the job.

“My husband asks me the same question,” she replied with a laugh.

But she insists—despite a world moving in the opposite direction—that she still fervently believes in multilateralism and the possibilities of preventive action. She is no stranger to uphill battles.

On her watch, the Unesco, whose member-states often take anti-Israel positions, developed a teacher-training program and curricula on preventing genocide and on Holocaust education. Last year she blocked a resolution by the Unesco’s executive board to reclassify the Western Wall of Jerusalem’s Old City as part of a holy Muslim complex while ignoring its status as Judaism’s holiest location. And she successfully fought to get jihadi looting and destruction of ancient Mideast cultural sites, such as Palmyra, officially labeled a war crime.

However, when Unesco members recognized the state of Palestine in

2011, triggering a cutoff of US dues, Bokova had to manage a 30-percent cut to her budget (a skill that led Ban to appoint her chairman of a high-level management committee). Whether Bokova’s experience at the Unesco and as acting Bulgarian foreign minister will suffice to manage, let alone reform, a balky UN staff of 44,000 is a question.

She must also overcome rumors, which she strongly denies, that she is close to Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

She notes that both her children live in the US, one is a US citizen, and her brief meetings with Putin were part of official UN delegations.

Then there are the five other female candidates, including exCroatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic and the head of the UN’s development program, Helen Clark, a former New Zealand prime minister. Not to mention those six male contenders. But by promoting female UN leadership by her example, Bokova has already done the world body a service. Men have few bragging rights when it comes to running the UN. So why not give a highly qualified woman the chance?

Sports BusinessMirror

A8 | S

unday, July 17, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Froome stamps authority on day of mourning at Tour de France

RACING FOR SOLIDARITY H

SPORTS PLUS

WALKER SIZZLES IN NLEX’S VICTORY

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A CAVERNE DU PONT-D’ARC, France—Chris Froome and the other Tour de France leaders laid bouquets on the podium in a solemn ceremony.

There were no kisses, and the usual podium celebrations.

The publicity caravan, which precedes the riders and blasts music, rode silently.

A day after the deadly attack in Nice, France’s biggest sporting event was in mourning.

“I’m not as satisfied as I would normally be. Cycling gets a little less important on a day like this,” said Tom Dumoulin after winning the 13th stage time trial on on Friday.

Froome, second to the Dutch time trial specialist, was in a similar dark mood, despite creating bigger gaps on all of his direct rivals with an impressive performance.

Froome was the strongest of all the main contenders, and limited his time loss to Dumoulin to 63 seconds.

His overall lead improved to 47 seconds on Dutch rider Bauke Mollema. Fellow Briton Adam Yates was third, 2:45 back.

Froome’s main rival in the mountains, Colombian climber Nairo Quintana, was lagging by 2:59, and the first alpine stage was not until Sunday.

“Our thoughts are with all the families affected down in Nice. It’s where I do most of my training,” said Froome, who wore a black armband to his news conference. “It definitely puts things into perspective here.”

Amid reinforced security, the race

Britain’s Chris Froome, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, rides during the 13th stage of the Tour de France.AP

rolled on and thousands of people lined the 37.5-kilometer (23-mile) route in Ardeche to celebrate the Tour and pay homage to the dozens killed and injured by a truck, which drove through beachfront crowds celebrating Bastille Day. There was a minute’s silence after the stage, as the yellow, green and polka-dot

jersey holders plus the stage winner gathered on the podium with bouquets.

“It’s a very sad day,” said Froome, who tweeted a picture of the French flag in the morning.

“I’m affected by all the things that happened in France. My thoughts are with all the families affected by the attack. I want to

express my solidarity with France.”

Froome attended the post-stage news conference with a black armband. He made only a brief statement after race organizers said he would not take questions about his performance on the bike.

“It’s pretty clear today,” said Froome, who lives near Nice in Monaco, “everyone’s thoughts are with those affected down in Nice, and it’s difficult for us to be talking about the race. I do a lot of training on those roads and to see the Promenade [des Anglais] the way it was last night, with bodies all over the place, was just horrific.

My deepest sympathies go out to the affected families.”

The attack, on France’s national holiday, did not deter fans from showing up in numbers at the starting line in the small town of Bourg-Saint-Andeol.

“We can’t let our guard down, but it was important that they continued the race,” said fan Bruno Pruvost after organizers had an emergency meeting with authorities.

“Otherwise, it would be too easy for them.”

There was also a moment of silence at the start, several hours’ drive from Nice, and Tour Director Christian Prudhomme wore a black armband around his blue shirt.

“We want to pay homage to the victims with dignity,” said Prudhomme, holding back tears. “We have been asking ourselves if the race should continue and, after consulting with authorities, we have decided that it should. The Tour de France will continue in a

subdued and solemn manner.”

The publicity caravan, which precedes the riders on the route every day handing out free gifts and souvenirs and blasting loud music, rode silently.

Security had already been reinforced at the Tour this month, with France in a state of emergency since the Paris attacks last November. The three-week race is protected by an unprecedented force of 23,000 police officers, including SWAT-like intervention squads, while security guards perform bag checks and pat downs at the start and finish of every stage.

Eric Luzet, the police liaison officer to the Tour, told The Associated Press that extra security measures were implemented overnight, with 600 police officers overseeing the stage.

Mollema, who was involved in a crash with Froome inside the last kilometer on Mont Ventoux on Thursday, when a TV motorbike was forced to stop on the road because of fan congestion, said his “thoughts are with the people in Nice.”

Froome was awarded the same time as Mollema, a decision that left Mollema unhappy. But the Dutch rider put his rivalry with Froome aside, and had a strong ride on the windy and narrow roads in the picturesque Gorges de l’Ardeche. Mollema was 1:54 behind Dumoulin, while Richie Porte, Tejay Van Garderen and Romain Bardet all lost ground to Froome. Van Garderen sits in sixth place, 3:19 back, with Porte 4:27 behind. AP

PHiL RETAINS BRITISh OPEN LEAD T Frankie MiÑoza holds his trophy after outlasting Miguel Tabuena in a record five-hole playoff.

Vintage Miñoza edges Tabuena in playoff duel

ROON, Scotland—Phil Mickelson wore a black rain suit that he didn’t need until he approached the far end of Royal Troon and already had stretched his lead.

Henrik Stenson opened the curtains at his house expecting to see rain coming down sideways and was pleasantly surprised by the calm.

Good golf and the good end of the draw is tough to beat in the British Open.

Mickelson hit a wedge that spun back toward the cup until it stopped about two postage stamps away on the par-3 eighth

hole, the signature shot in his 2-under 69 that allowed him to back up his record-tying start and take the 36-hole lead in a major for the first time in three years.

“I thought it was a good round to back up the low round yesterday,” Mickelson said. “I played kind of stress-free golf again. I made one or two bad swings that led to bogeys, but for the most part, kept the ball in play.”

He just couldn’t shake Stenson, who timed his birdies perfectly.

The Swede made three straight birdies before the wind showed up and the clouds

miles per hour and rain so heavy at times it was hard to see. “Some draws go your way,” Rory McIlroy said, “and some draws don’t.”

Just look at the leaderboard.

Mickelson was at 10-under 132, the best 36-hole total ever to lead at Royal Troon. Stenson, a runner-up to Mickelson at Muirfield in 2013, was one shot behind. Soren Kjeldsen and Keegan Bradley each shot 68 and were three shots behind. The top 14 players going into the weekend all played on Friday morning. Of the 26 players still under par, only four of them played in the afternoon. AP

TRI-ACTIV SPIKERS RECOVER

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N an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation between the best of the old and new of Philippine golf, Frankie Miñoza didn’t blink and showed Miguel Tabuena the poise and grace needed to win championships in pressure-packed, down-to-the-wire finishes.

In a record five-hole playoff in the sevenyear Philippine Golf Tour (PGT), Miñoza, 56, came through with a couple of spectacular bailout shots in the second and third suddendeath holes to stay in the hunt then pulled off a superb wedge shot to within 4 feet on their fourth trip to the par-5 18th and banged in the putt to nip Tabuena and capture the International Container Terminal Services Inc. Negros Occidental Classic at the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club in Bacolod on Saturday.

Tabuena, 21, hit his approach shot two pins away from the cup and missed.

“I feel good and got inspired by my solid games in the first three days,” said Miñoza, whose third round 63 forced a three-way tie for the lead with Tabuena and Dutch Guido Van der Valk.

The reticent Del Monte shotmer also cited his improved putting courtesy of longtime buddy Artemio Murakami.

“My putting also clicked after I got some tips from Temyong [Artemio Murakami],” added Minoza, who pocked the top P270,000 purse. “But Miguel is good.”

And quick as Tabuena disappeared after the playoff, frustrated over his failed bid to annex a second crown after his Anvaya Invitational romp and to build up some momentum and confidence as he primes up for next month’s Olympic Games in Rio. He took home P185,000.

began to spit rain. He added two more during lulls in the increasingly bad weather. And he wound up with a Friday-best 65 that enabled him to close within one shot of Mickelson.

“I was five back of Phil from yesterday, so of course, I was hoping to gain a little,” Stenson said. “And the way it turned out, I gained quite a lot. It’s still early in the tournament, though.

We’re only halfway through. But so far, so good. I’m happy with the way I played the course. It’s not easy out there.”

Try telling that to the players who had to endure an afternoon of gusts that topped 30

Ruben Gonzales (left) returns a shot as teammate Treat Huey looks on during their Davis Cup doubles match against Chinese Taipei. ROY DOMINGO

Huey, Gonzales keep PHL afloat

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REAT Huey and Ruben Gonzales gave the home team a ray of hope after beating Jui-Chen Hung and Chieh-fu Wang in the doubles match, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, to stay alive in their 2016 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II semifinal tie on Saturday at the Philippine Columbian Association clay courts in Paco, Manila.

After losing the first singles matches, Huey and Gonzales needed to win the encounter, and they did deliver as they displayed a gallant stand against the tough Chinese Taipei pair.

“All of our players are capable in playing doubles. I think the familiarity over the years with Treat was the basis of the decision to put Ruben there,” said nonplaying coach Karl Sta. Maria, as Gonzales surprised everyone when he played instead of Jeson Patrombon.

It was a tight battle in the first set as the Taiwanese pair weathered the surging duo of Huey and Gonzales, barely escaping the slim lead with seven tiebreaks in the exciting opener.

The Filipino standouts knew exactly the necessary adjustments in the second set, as Huey

provided the attack with his deadly forehands straight to the corners. The PHL duo controlled the tempo as they managed to retain the counters of Wang en route to their smooth 6-2 rally.

In the third set, double faults from Wang gave the Philippines a quick 2-0 advantage.

Then Huey and Gonzales rallied from a 0-30 deficit to hold on and lead, 5-2. Aces from the pair also piled the cushion as they clearly overpowered their opponents.

The surge continued in the fourth set as the Filipino showed their much-needed chemistry to overwhelm their Taiwanese foes.

The scrappy pair of Wang and Hung tried to snatch the set with a fierce start, but Huey showcased his experience and consistency with his baseline plays.

The victory saved the country’s campaign as it eyes to advance to the finals of their Group II tie.

On Friday the Chinese Taipei took the first two singles matches as the Philippines’s hope, Gonzales and Frances Casey Alcantara bowed to their respective opponents. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

ETRON bounced back from a loss, beating Amy’s Kitchen in four sets, 25-18, 25-10, 22-25, 25-12, on Saturday in the 2016 Philippine Superliga (PSL) All-Filipino Conference women’s volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

After suffering their first setback of the conference at the expense of RC Cola-Army in straight sets last Wednesday, the Tri-Activ Spikers vented their ire on the Amy’s Spikers to tighten the grip of the solo second spot with a 4-1 win-loss card in the inter-club tourney sponsored

by KLab Cyscorpions, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller and Senoh with TV5 as official broadcaster.

Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, who was limited to only two points in their last match, redeemed herself with 12 hits, while Frances Molina also wound up with 12 markers, highlighted by 10 spikes.

Far Eastern University stars Bernadeth Pons and Remy Palma also stepped up for Petron, chipping in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

“Malaking bagay [itong panalo] kasi galing kami sa talo,” Petron Head Coach George Pascua said. “Basta follow the game plan and ’yung killer instinct nandoon.”

The reigning All Filipino titlist sizzled in the first two sets but Amy’s Kitchen fought back in the third to avoid thw the Tri-Activ Spikers sweep.

But Petron refueled in the fourth frame and accelerated for a 22-12 margin and never looked back to end the match in 89 minutes.

ENRY Walker unloaded 24 of his career-high 44 points to lead NLEX to a 96-90 win over Blackwater in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The former National Basketball Association veteran sizzled from the get-go, hitting five triples in the first 12 minutes of the game, as the Road Warriors grabbed a 31-16 lead after the first period.

The Elite never had a serious run from there on, although Carlo Lastimosa’s drive cut NLEX’s lead to single digit, 81-90, with 2:22 remaining. Walker, who suited up for Alaska last season, delivered the dagger, a threepointer, his sixth in the game, to push the lead back to 93-81 with two minutes left.

Blackwater finished the game strong, 9-3, but time was not on their side to absorb the loss in the game, where former player Gilbert D. Bulawan was given a tribute by the league by having his jersey retired by the young franchise. Bulawan collapsed during the team’s practice on July 3 and was declared dead on arrival at the Capital Medical Center due to heart enlargement. Walker’s solid game came at the right time when NLEX’s Asian import, Rodrigue Akl was a nonfactor in his PBA debut. Joel Orellana

BALIPURE POCKETS V-LEAGUE 3RD SPOT

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ALIPure copped the bronze medal after outlasting Laoag City, 25-27, 25-22, 25-23, 25-19, to sweep their best-of-three series for third place of the Shakey's V-League Season 13 Open Conference on Saturday at the PhilSports Arena in San Juan City.

The Purest Water Defenders again missed the services of Alyssa Valdez, named as the Best Outside Spiker of the conference, but it hardly mattered as they rode on the long-game brilliance of newly crowned Most Valuable Player (MVP) Gretchel Soltones in Game Two. Soltones, who earned her first-ever MVP in V-League, led the balanced attack of BaliPure with 18 hits, highlighted by 14 spikes to follow up her 20-point explosion in Game One. Amy Ahomiro also stepped up for BaliPure in the absence of Valdez, who represented the country in Singapore for the Asean University Games, as she scattered seven kills, five blocks and three service aces for 15 points.

Janine Marciano contributed 12 points, including eight excellent receptions, while Dzi Gervacio and Mae Tajima added 11 and 10 markers, respectively.

Setter Jem Ferrer fed the team with 53 excellent sets. Lance Agcaoili

KOREA, AUSTRALIA ASPAC CHAMPIONS

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Amy’s Kitchen’s Maribeth Lara (left) tries to score against Petron’s Mary Grace Masangkay. NONOY LACZA

“Part ng game din ’yung [pagkatalo sa fourth set] para ma-test din namin kahit papaano ’yung second six namin, para pagdating ng top 4, adjusted na rin sila,” Pascua added. Nobody scored double figures for Amy’s Spikers, who remained winless after five games to stay at the bottom of the standings. Lance Agcaoili

OREA and Australia crowned themselves champions in 2016 Asia Pacific Regional Baseball Tournament after dominating their respective finals rivals on Saturday at Clark International Sports Complex at The Villages in Clark.

Korea gave Japan 11-0 spanking over five innings to repeat as Asia Pacific (AsPac) Intermediate 50/70 champion and book a return trip to the World Series in Livermore, California, where it sets out to defend the diadem. Australia waylaid Guam also in regulation, 10-0, to cop its first ever AsPac Senior League Baseball crown and set its maiden appearance in the SLB Worlds from July 31 to August 6 in Bangor, Maine. Host Philippines capped its campaign in the tourney sponsored by Mister Donut and the Philippine Sports Commission on a winning note as its Senior League representative ILLAM and Intermediate bet Sarangani won their respective battles for third place.

ILLAM leaned on a four-run binge in the fifth to score a 7-3 verdict over dethroned titlist Commonwealth of North Mariana Islands while Sarangani turned back Hong Kong, 13-12. Korea, which is represented by West Seoul Little League, opened the game with five runs off four hits in the top first to seize control even as pitcher Yok Dok woon presided over the defense and dished out a one-hit, five-strikeouts outing.