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Sunday, June 4, 2017 Vol. 12 No. 234

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Stop that TRAIN

Continued on A2

Skypixel | Dreamstime.com

SOLONS APPEAL TO SENATORS TO DELETE ‘ANTIPOOR’ PROVISIONS IN TAX BILL

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ollowing the swift passage of the Duterte administration’s first tax-reform proposal in the House of Representatives, some lawmakers have expressed confidence that their Senate counterparts will not allow the “antipoor” provisions to remain in the bill.

Martial law seen boosting farm output in Mindanao

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

he Department of Agriculture (DA) shares the sentiment of the business community that the declaration of martial law in the entire Mindanao would bring more boon than bane to the economy. such as those with ongoing violence, but as a whole, martial law will not affect agricultural production [in Mindanao],” Piñol said.

“In fact, if I would hazard a guess, I think this martial law would result in even more productivity,” Piñol added.

Fleyeing | Dreamstime.com

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the agriculture sector would not be affected by martial law and, in fact, it could even benefit from such heightened security measure.

“Agriculture will never be affected by martial law. There could be areas that would be affected,

Continued on A2

PESO exchange rates n US 49.7810

n japan 0.4471 n UK 64.1329 n HK 6.3894 n CHINA 7.3141 n singapore 35.92220 n australia 36.6986 n EU 55.8294 n SAUDI arabia 13.2760

Source: BSP (2 June 2017 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, June 4, 2017

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Martial law seen boosting farm output in Mindanao Continued from A1

Piñol said the declaration by President Duterte to put the entire region of Mindanao under martial law sends a strong signal to rebel groups, particularly those who have been attacking agricultural companies, to stop their violence in the area.

“We all know that there are armed groups who are harassing the banana companies and burning their equipment. That will stop because the government has intensified its operations now,” he said.

“The small farmers, for example, who are being asked to give revolutionary taxes on a monthly basis, and cannot go to their farms because of fear, now they can go to their farms because they are safe.

So, I think it [martial law] would even contribute to greater productivity [in Mindanao],” he added.

The Mindanao region is the top producing region of bananas and other high-value crops in the country.

Amid the peace talks between the government and leftist groups, there have been reports that rebel groups have been causing chaos to banana companies resulting in millions of losses.

Interventions

The DA has also started its interventions in the Mindanao region, particularly to those farmers who have been affected by the violence caused by the Maute Group. The agency is set to extend food aid and

PiÑol: “If I would hazard a guess, I think this martial law would result in even more productivity.”

emergency loans to farmers and fishermen affected by the ongoing fighting in Lanao del Sur.

Piñol said he has directed all regional offices of the DA in Mindanao to start milling rice, which will be distributed to the farmers, fishermen and their families displaced by the conflict.

“A poultry company based in Davao City, Anas Breeder Farm, which is now producing canned ready-to-eat rice with chicken afritada or adobo, has pledged to produce enough volume to be able to provide halal food to evacuees who belong to the farm sector,” Piñol said in a news statement.

“Anas Breeder Farm owner Jonathan Ng Suy said the firm’s donation will be coursed through the DA, and will be continued for a certain period of time,” he added.

Piñol said this is the first time that the canned ready-to-eat rice meal will be offered to the public, as it is not yet commercially available.

“The distribution of the rice and the canned goods will be based on the listing of farming and fishing families available through the

national directory of farmers and fishermen from the Department of Budget and Management [DBM],” he said.

The DA chief said the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC) will also be directed to validate the list of Lanao del Sur farmers and fishermen and to provide emergency loan assistance through its survival and recovery (SURE) loans program.

“Each family will be entitled to a survival loan of at least P5,000 and when things get back to normal, they could apply for a loan under the recovery program amounting to at least P20,000,” Piñol said.

In view of the difficulty in locating farmers and fishermen affected by the conflict, the DA said it will rely mainly on the listing of the DBM for the extension of the loans.

Piñol said the distribution of the rice, canned goods and other food items would be done by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Rice situation

The National Food Authority (NFA) said it has already released 3,000 50-kilogram bags of rice intended for the victims of the ongoing battle between the military and the Maute Group in Marawi City.

The NFA said a total of 2,200 bags were withdrawn by the DSWD from the food agency’s warehouse in Tacurong, 1,000 bags more from Region 12 office and 1,200 bags from NFA Maguindanao.

Fire rages at the suspected Muslim militant positions following air strikes by helicopter gunships as Philippine Marines walk to the frontline in the continuing assaults to retake control of some areas of Marawi City last Sunday. Philippine forces launched fresh air strikes on Sunday to drive out militants linked to the Islamic State group after days of fighting left corpses in the streets and hundreds of civilians begging for rescue from a besieged southern city. AP/Bullit Marquez

“[Meanwhile], the Office of Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo also withdrew 500 bags from NFA Cagayan de Oro City and the Office of Civil Defense of Cotabato withdrew 300 bags from NFA Iligan. The stocks are for distribution as food assistance to affected families in Marawi City,” the NFA said.

The NFA assured that its office in Marawi City and warehouse are now secured by the military after the warehouse was ransacked on May 25 by Maute members who ran away with some 100 bags of rice.

The food agency said the prices of regular and well-milled rice in Lanao del Sur and neighboring provinces have remained stable in spite of the ongoing battle in Marawi City.

“Continuous market monitor-

ing by the NFA showed that the price of regular milled rice [RMR] in Lanao del Norte, where its capital city, Marawi, is the center of fighting between the military and Maute rebels, even decreased by 5 percent after the siege, from P36 per kilogram on May 22 to P34 per kg on May 24, while well-milled rice [WMR] remained at P43 per kg during the period,” the NFA said.

“In Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental, which are about two to two-and-a-half hours away from Marawi, the price of RMR remained stable at P34.50 per kg and P36.50 per kg, respectively, while WMR also remained at P41.50 per kg and P42.50 per kg, respectively,” the NFA added.

The NFA said it continues to monitor the rice situation not only

in Mindanao, but in the entire country for possible major spikes in the price of the staple. The NFA noted that the places affected by the violence and highly populated urban areas are “vulnerable” to rice price hikes during this time of emergency.

“We can never put our guard down, especially because the NFA is mandated to ensure national food security and stabilize rice supply and prices in the market at any given time,” NFA administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino said.

“Even as we focus our sights on what is happening in Marawi, we still have more than 100 million Filipinos banking on us to ensure that they will always have rice on their tables at any given day,” Aquino added.

Stop that train Continued from A1

Party-list Rep. Gary C. Alejano of Magdalo said he believes that senators will move to exclude provisions in the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) that will affect the prices of basic commodities and services.

“Sen. [Sonny] Angara, who is the chairman of Ways and Means Committee of the Senate, and other senators have already intimated that the Executive, through [the] Neda [National Economic and Development Authority], must consider proposals to remove or amend provisions that are antipoor, particularly the imposition of the higher excise tax on oil and gasoline products,” he said in a text message to the BusinessMirror.

The Senate is expected to deliberate on the tax-reform bill when session resumes on July 24.

“Such hike will affect basic commodities and services that the poor are availing. Without such compromise, I am afraid the proposed measure will be lost altogether,” Alejano added.

Petrol price spike

Earlier, Deputy Speaker and Liberal Party Rep. Romero S. Quimbo of Marikina City also urged the Senate to carefully consider the Department of Finance (DOF)-backed tax measure.

“[I am urging the Senate to] revisit the new taxes that will be inflicted on the poor,” said Quimbo, a former chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Party-list Reps. Antonio L. Tinio and France L. Castro of ACT Teachers, for their part, condemned the passage of the “antipoor” tax-reform bill.

The lawmakers said the new excise taxes on petrol and expanded value-added tax (VAT) will hit low-

income earners and poor families.

House Bill 5636 includes a P6 tax on petroleum products that could cause prices of basic goods to rise. The P6 per liter excise-tax increase will come in three tranches of P3, P2 and P1, respectively, in three years starting 2018.

Tinio and Castro have voted against the bill on the last session day of Congress before it adjourned sine die.

Citing DOF data, the party-list lawmakers said the excise taxes on petrol products will increase overall inflation rate by 1.5 percentage points, nearly doubling inflation from its current rate to 3.3 percent, while food prices in 2018 will increase by up to 1.6 percent, fares will increase by up to 4.9 percent and power rates by up to 1.1 percent.

The lawmakers, citing the DOF data, also revealed that the combined effect of oil excise and VAT expansion will reduce the monthly take-home pay of subsistence poor (Decile 2) households by up to P1,400. Middle class (Decile 10) and minimum-wage (Decile 7) households will have greater take-home pay due to lower income taxes, but inflation will cost them around P4,316 and P1,667, respectively.

Hardest hit

“Contrary to allegations of the Duterte administration, the burden of oil excise and broader VAT will not be borne by the rich. What the Lower House approved today [Wednesday] are regressive taxes that will slam into the poor in the form of higher prices of basic commodities and services,” Tinio said.

“Fixed-income earners may at least have relief due to lower income taxes, but what about minimum-wage earners, those in the

informal sector and without source of income? They will have no benefit at all from this bill,” he added.

For her part, Castro said the Duterte administration aggressively pushed for the bill knowing fully well that the TRAIN will run over all Filipinos, most especially the poor.

“New excise taxes will be slapped into products and services daily used by the people on top of the existing VAT, making life harder for the Filipino masses,” he said.

“We also denounce the bundling of income-tax relief together with the passage of new and heavier taxes. Instead of fully answering the just demand for tax justice, the government will drive more of our people deeper into poverty, and widen the gap between the rich and the poor,” she added.

Infra funding for whom?

The Neda has said the revenues from the tax reform are needed to fund infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration.

“In reality, this infrastructure [projects are] intended for export processing zones, giant mining companies, haciendas, agri-business ventures and tourism, mainly foreign investors in them [and] not the people, especially the poor who will be squeezed dry with these new taxes,” Tinio said.

The administration’s tax-reform package seeks to lower personal income-tax rates, expand the VAT base, adjust excise taxes on petroleum and automobiles, impose excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and ease the rates of estate and donor’s taxes.

Under the bill, workers earning P250,000 will be exempted from paying personal income taxes.

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Highly educated drug users fuel boom in illicit narcotics trade on ‘Dark Web’

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OSCOW—The increase in drug purchases on the “Dark Web” is driven by relatively young, well-educated drug users, Global Drug Survey coauthor Dr. Monica Barratt told Radio Sputnik.

Drug markets on the Dark Web are thriving in many European countries, according to the latest annual Global Drug Survey.

The Global Drug Survey researched the drug-taking habits of 120,000 people in 50 countries across the world. It found that the largest increase in Internet drug purchases was in the UK, where the proportion of users buying on the Dark Web has increased from 12 percent in 2014 to 25.3 percent this year. The UK was third only to Finland and Norway, where 41 percent and 27 percent of users used the Dark Web to buy drugs last year.

“The increase we saw in the UK was seen in a few other countries, but there were also some decreases, so it certainly wasn’t the case that across the board every country experienced this kind of increase,” Barratt said.

“We know from previous studies that people who use the dark net to buy drugs do so because they’re able to access a wider variety of drugs, they’re able to access drugs that are of greater purity.

“So it may be that the UK and some of the other countries in our survey are cottoning onto that now,” Barratt explained.

The Dark Web is also providing users with the opportunity to experiment with many different drugs. Most Dark Web users say it enabled them to obtain and try at least one new drug type.

Globally, MDMA is the drug most often bought on the Dark Web, with 49 percent users obtaining it there. Cannabis and psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, 2C-B and DMT, are also commonly bought on the dark net.

“More addictive drugs, like heroin and cocaine, are also there, but they’re much less commonly purchased, at least through our sample.” The survey found that people who order drugs over the Dark Web are more likely to be male, younger, employed and have higher levels of education than the average for the sample.

“They are a highly educated group. It’s not necessarily the sort of drugs supply that is accessed by all kinds of people who use drugs.

Naturally, people who don’t have

this kind of quite sophisticated technology available can’t really just go onto the dark net and press a button and get a drug delivered.”

“There’s a lot more that you have to do, in terms of having Bitcoin, having a fixed address where you can actually receive the package and so on, so it’s not necessarily open to all groups in society,” Barratt said.

The Dark Web is an anonymous part of the Internet, which can’t be accessed by a typical search engine. A special Web browser, such as Tor, disguises the identity of Web users by routing traffic through a complex network of servers.

The first online marketplace for drugs and other illicit wares on the Dark Web was the infamous Silk Road, which was launched in 2011 and shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2013.

Many users turn to Tor in an attempt to ensure privacy online, but there are still aspects of the network that can be monitored.

For example, information about transactions in Bitcoin, the main currency used on the Dark Web, is stored publicly.

“I wouldn’t say that Bitcoin is anonymous, it’s actually incredibly open in the sense that the blockchain is available for anyone to view but all you can really see there is a transaction that went from point A to point B, you can’t really see who owned the wallet.”

“Tor is not necessarily going to be anonymous when the gateways for Tor can actually be monitored,” Barratt pointed out.

Preventing drug use requires a combination of several different approaches. For example, Australian public policy takes a three-pronged approach of supply reduction, demand reduction and harm reduction.

“If you are relatively happy with things that are going on for you, you have good employment, family life, social connections and engagements, then you’re less likely to have problems with drug use. So, demand reduction can also mean just strengthening what’s going on in the society you live in.”

“We have a lot of resources around the world dedicated to supply reduction, but supply reduction isn’t going to solve drug harm related problems so it’s important to have those three pillars, that’s certainly the Australian approach,” Barratt said. Sputnik

Aussie PM says China must rein in North Korean regime

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ustralia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull implored China to rein in North Korea, saying the regime was becoming increasingly reckless and must be curtailed.

“China has the greatest leverage over North Korea and with the greatest leverage comes the greatest responsibility,” Turnbull, 62, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday. “We look to Beijing to bring the pressure to bear on the regime in Pyongyang, to bring it to its senses so that it ceases threatening the peace of the region with its reckless conduct.”

Speaking ahead of his most-anticipated foreign policy speech since becoming prime minister in September 2015, Turnbull also urged China to respect the rule of law as its economic and military might grows.

He brushed aside questions about the reliability of President Donald J. Trump as an ally, and said the US-Australia relationship was “in the best of health”.

North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric, as well as regular missile and nuclear tests in defiance of United Nations resolutions, have continued to vex the international community. That’s added to pressure on China, the regime’s only major ally, to rein in its errant neighbor.

Trump has warned that all options, including military ones, were on the table, adding that the US was prepared to act without China. A key strategic ally of the US in the Asia Pacific, Australia has long sought to find a balance between supporting

American interests and engaging with China, its biggest trading partner.

Turnbull’s government is uneasy about Beijing’s military build-up in the South China Sea, which contains some of the world’s busiest trading routes. China has reclaimed thousands of acres of land to build artificial outposts on reefs, adding airstrips, lighthouses and port facilities to better project influence over the waterway.

“It is important that as China rises, as its economic power grows, as its influence grows, that it does so peacefully and in a manner that respects the rights of all other countries,” said Turnbull, who will give the keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s most high-profile security conference, in Singapore on Friday. “It is vitally important that China respects the rule of law and respects the principal that might is not right.”

Like other nations, Australia faces the challenge of adjusting to Trump’s style of leadership and doubts about his commitment to Asia. Australia’s normally steadfast relationship with the US suffered a jolt in January when Trump abruptly ended a phone call with Turnbull, telling the prime minister he had spoken to four other global leaders that day and “this was the worst call by far”. Trump later blasted a refugee resettlement arrangement with Australia, agreed to by former President Barack Obama, calling it a “dumb deal” in a late-night tweet. Bloomberg News

Sunday, June 4, 2017

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Russian banker: Trump facing witch hunt in ‘new Cold War’

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.S. politicians have turned an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the presidential elections into a witch hunt to settle domestic political scores, according to the head of Russia’s second-largest bank.

“This is effectively a new Cold War,” VTB Group CEO Andrey Kostin said in an interview at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday.

“It is, absolutely, from the side of America.”

Congressional investigations into whether Donald J. Trump or his associates had improper contact with Russia are heating up, with the probes shifting toward a public phase that’s inching closer to the president himself.

Fired Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey may testify as soon as next week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he will face questioning over whether Trump urged him to drop the Russia probe. The Senate panel also plans to hear at some point from Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-inlaw and one of his closest aides.

Trump has continued to dismiss the probes—abeling them a “witch

hunt” in a tweet on Wednesday— saying that Democrats are still sore about losing the election. Kostin also described them that way and said they were damaging USRussian relations already at a low.

“Russia is just some kind of playing card in domestic politics, when a substantial part of the American elite who are

opposed to Trump is preventing him from performing his duty as president,” said Kostin, whose bank is under US sanctions. “ The Russia relationship is held hostage to this.”

Russian sanctions

Kostin dismissed the threat of new sanctions against Russia, although he said he’s no longer counting on relief from the penalties. After Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections last year, when he pledged to build better relations with Russian President Vladmir Putin, Kostin predicted that sanctions against Russia imposed in 2014 after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine would be eased or scrapped.

Bipa r t i s a n le ade r s of t he Senate Banking Committee announced a plan on Wednesday

Russia is just some kind of playing card in domestic politics, when a substantial part of the American elite who are opposed to Trump is preventing him from performing his duty as president. The Russia relationship is held hostage to this.”—Kostin

to strengthen sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine and in Syria, where Russian forces have conducted air strikes since 2015 in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against rebels backed by the US and its allies.

Russian officials have grown increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress in restoring relations with the US under Trump after ties all but collapsed with the Obama administration. Putin and Trump may meet for the first time at the Group of 20 summit in Germany on July 7 and 8.

Former diplomat

Trump sparked fierce controversy in the US last month by firing Comey, who was heading the investigation into possible collusion between his presidential campaign and the Russian government in the 2016 elections.

Kostin, a former diplomat in the Soviet Union’s embassy in London, defended Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, whose meetings with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Kushner are at the center of the investigations.

“For an ambassador, the more contacts he has, the better he performs,” Kostin said. “I don’t see why this is considered to be treason in America. Ambassadors exist for only one reason: to have contacts.

Bloomberg News

UK pollsters see May upping majority even as lead shrinks

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rime Minister Theresa May is on track to increase her parliamentary majority in next week’s UK election, according to a Bloomberg survey of leading pollsters that shows there’s a clearer consensus about the result than recent polls suggest.

One week before the vote, six of the UK’s best known polling companies-ICM, Ipsos MOR I, ComRes, Opinium, Sur vation and YouGov—agree that May is far better positioned to win than her main rival, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn. Five of the six see a majority of at least 40 seats in the 650-member House of Commons with one estimated range going as high 200.

May called the snap election in the hope of winning a bigger majority and a mandate for her vision of Brexit. While she started the campaign with a 20-point lead over Labour, the polls have narrowed dramatically, pushing sterling lower. One YouGov survey on Thursday put the Tories just four points ahead of Labour.

Despite the shift, the pollsters i n Bloomberg ’s su r ve y agree that May is still heading for a clear victor y. In Britain’s f irst-past-the-post system, a party can win a big majority without a majority of the popular vote as the election is decided in about 100 key seats.

May’s ratings for leadership and economic competence are ahead of Corbyn’s—gauges that have a better track record of predicting the outcome than vote-share forecasts. Pollsters expect fewer young, poor voters to show up and more older richer ones, helping the Conser vatives.

E st i m ates of M ay ’s l i ke ly majority in the House of Commons after the June 8 election clustered in the range of 50-100 seats. That compares with just 17 in the last parliament and would boost her power base as she prepares for Brexit. The lowest estimate was 32, while the most bullish was an estimated range of 50 to 200 seats.

“Things can change at short

notice but my expectation is that the Tories will cruise home with a working majority probably in the region of 80 to 100 seats,” said Martin Boon from ICM. “I don’t think there’s a possibility of Labour having any kind of majority.”

The UK polling industry is still struggling to shake off its collective failure to call the 2015 general election and the Brexit referendum last year. Pollsters are correcting their models, but were doing so with an eye to the next election in 2020. May’s early election call has caught them on the hop.

YouGov came out with a new projection model this week that ind icated May cou ld lose 20 seats—enough to strip away her majority in Parliament. The result pushed the pound lower and provoked anger in Tory campaign headquarters, with two of May’s most senior election strategists taking the rare step of publicly attacking the company. It also surprised rival pollsters.

Bloomberg News asked senior pollsters on Wednesday and Thursday who they expect to be prime minister after the election,

whether there will be a majority government, how big will that majority be, and whether Labour can still win. Below are the answers:

Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos MORI

May is set for a healthy majority of at least 50 seats, which could become a landslide of as many as 200. “In this type of election, which has switched back to twoparty politics, once you start polling in the 40s you can win big.”

Tony Blair won his landslide in 1997 with 43 percent of the vote.

The “numbers behind the polls”— such as the relative ratings of the leaders and who’s best to manage the economy—all still favor May.

Joe Twyman, head of political polling at YouGov

May shou ld get a major it y of 40 to 60 seats. “A lot cou ld stil l happen. T he Tor ies have not had a good campaig n. Labour have had a better one, but star ted from a low base. Tur nout w il l be cr ucia l g iven how age is now such an impor tant socia l cleavage in Br itain.”

Adam Drummond, senior research manager at Opinium

May is on course to win a majority of 72, based on the latest data.

Even if the Tory lead narrows further, she should still have a majority of 50 to 70, partly because the party’s so far ahead of Labour among older voters “who always go out to vote”.

Andrew Hawkins, chairman and founder of ComRes

The narrowing of the poll gap between May and Corbyn was the difference between an “enormous” and a “sizable” majority.

“We are still expecting the majority to be north of 70 and quite possibly north of 100. The sheen has come off Theresa May’s honeymoon but it hasn’t actually shifted voting behavior yet.”

Damian Lyons Lowe, chief executive of Survation

Survation data point to a majority of 32 for May. “Jeremy Corbyn’s prime ministerial credibility has increased significantly but he is still way behind Theresa May.” Bloomberg News

A4

The World BusinessMirror

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Top miner sees ‘huge demand’ lift from China’s new Silk Road

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hina’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative can deliver a major boost for commodities and will add about 150 million tons to global steel demand, according to BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest miner.

$1.3T

The total estimated cost of infrastructure plan to develop infrastructure and rebuild ancient trading routes from China to Europe overland and by sea under China’s Belt and Road Initiative

The plan to develop infrastructure and rebuild ancient trading routes from China to Europe overland and by sea has seen projects initiated worth about $1.3 trillion, according to Melbourne-based BHP, the biggest exporter of coking coal and the third-largest iron ore supplier. Investments worth $313 billion to $502 billion could be funneled to 62 Belt-Road countries over the next five years, Credit Suisse Group AG said last month.

“Ever y where where we see the infrastructure being built, on the back of that there will be economic development that will trigger copper demand, which

will trigger energy demand,” BHP Chief Commercial Officer Arnoud Balhuizen told reporters on Thursday in Melbourne. “Steel produced in China will be used along the road, and that, of course, is good for demand for our commodities.”

BHP on Thursday lifted force majeure restrictions at Chile’s Escondida copper mine, where workers carried out a 44-day strike earlier this year, Balhuizen told reporters. Coking coal sales continue to be subject to restrictions following a cyclone in Australia in March, he said. The producer declined 0.7 percent to A$23.73 on Thursday in Sydney, extending its decline this year to 5.3 percent.

The “One Belt, One Road” initiative promises “huge demand for resources, services and technology”, and is “an opportunity like no other”, Balhuizen said earlier in a speech. BHP gets about 43 percent of full-year revenue from China and a total of at least 68 percent from Asia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

China’s plan, lauded by President Xi Jinping as a “project of

the century”, has the potential to generate about 120 million tons of crude steel demand, according to Citigroup Inc. Increased appetite from infrastructure will support steel even as there’s a slowdown in China’s housing sector, Templeton Emerging Markets Group Executive Chairman Mark Mobius said last month in an interview.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans for rural electrification, which aim to supply power to every citizen by 2019, and the drive to provide more affordable housing, will also boost commodities and are likely to “have a material impact on demand for coal, iron ore, copper and petroleum”, Balhuizen said in his speech.

BHP sees global demand for potash growing at 2 percent to 3 percent a year through 2030, as the world’s population rises and crop demand swells by 50 percent by 2050, he said. BHP may seek board approval for its Jansen potash project in Canada as early as next June, the producer said last month. Bloomberg News

Syria’s rebels are down but not out G

AZIANTEP, Turkey—They are veterans of Syria’s rebellion, trying for years to bring down President Bashar al-Assad.

But these days they’re doing little fighting with his military. They’re struggling to find a place in a bewildering battlefield where several wars are all being waged at once by international powers. Syria’s civil war has become a madhouse of forces from Turkey, the United States, Syrian Kurds, the Islamic State (IS) group, al-Qaeda, as well as Assad’s allies Russia, Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraqi and Afghan Shiite militias—all with their own alliances and agendas.

Syrian rebel factions, battered by defeats and as divided as ever, reel around trying to find allies they can trust who will ensure their survival. “We have become political dwarfs, fragmented groups, which hardly have control over the closest checkpoint, let alone each other,” said Tarek Muharram, who quit his banking job in the Gulf to return home and join the rebellion in 2011.

Over the years he fought alongside several different rebel groups, including ones backed by the US. Now he has now joined the alliance led by the al-Qaedalinked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

Rebel leaders have limited options— none of them good. They can line up behind Turkey, which is recruiting factions to fight its own war in Syria against Syrian Kurds primarily, as well as IS militants.

Or they can ally themselves with alQaeda’s affiliate, the strongest opposition faction. It leads a coalition that is still battling Assad and dominates the largest cohesive rebel territory, encompassing the northwestern province of Idlib and nearby areas. Or they can try to go it alone.

Despite differences with Washington, all of them hope for support from the US. But they feel it has abandoned them after deciding to arm and finance Kurdish-led militias to fight IS. They see an enemy in IS but also potentially in the Kurds, who have carved out their own territory across northern Syria. Now in the fight against IS, the Kurds could capture Sunni Arab-majority regions, like Raqqa and Deir el-Zour, to the alarm of the mainly Sunni Arab rebels.

The Associated Press (AP) spoke to a series of veteran rebels who move between Syria and Turkey and found them desperate for resources and support but intent on fighting for years to come.

The tattooed fighter

Nothing blurs Muharram’s vision and determination to fight Assad. Not the loss of his beloved Aleppo. Not the hours he and his comrades now spend in a small apartment in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, watching TV and smoking, waiting for the next battle.

The fall of Aleppo was a watershed moment. It cost the rebels there their strongest base, their resources, their homes.

Uprooted, they needed new allies.

factions have joined, al-Nokrashi said.

The alliance has yet to fight a battle, but he’s hopeful.

“I feel there are lessons learned...from previous mistakes.”

The al-Qaeda hunter Syrian refugees perform during a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, which began in 2011 with protests, in Gaziantep, southeastern Turkey. Turkey, host to the largest refugee population in the world, including more than 2.9 million Syrians, according to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, is on the frontline of the current crisis. AP

“We had reached a dead end,” said the 39-year-old Muharram. So he and his group, Noureddine el-Zinki, which was once backed by the US, joined al-Qaeda’s alliance.

The move caused many of his group to break away. But for Muharram, anything else would have required too many concessions.

Turning to Turkey or US would mean becoming “a mercenary fighting whomever the sponsor wants, whatever the dollar dictates”. He would have had to take part in Russian-backed negotiations, “giving up the revolution’s principles...and accepting Assad for a longer period,” he said.

Muharram said he has his personal differences with al-Qaeda. He pointed out that he doesn’t always pray, for example, and he smokes. He sports a wolf-head tattoo on his arm, something militants frown on.

But he said the al-Qaeda-led alliance has kept its weapons pointed in the right direction, against Assad. He and the 50 men he commands would drop their guns rather than be pushed to fight it.

The alliance has financial clout and can provide services in its territory. It has the resources of Idlib’s and neighboring rural parts of Aleppo province to sustain the fight without relying on outsiders— farmland, water wells, supplies of fuel and weapons. Its fighters are mainly locals and well-disciplined, and the few foreign fighters, including Afghans and Chinese, don’t interfere in residents’ affairs, unlike the foreign jihadis of IS. Both Turkey and the Kurds so far avoid a fight with al-Qaeda-linked militants. But if Turkey is tempted to move against the alliance, Muharram said, it has pressure cards, including a border crossing with Turkey and territory near a Kurdish enclave, a potential thorn in Ankara’s side. The fight to remove Assad is far from over, he said.

“The revolution will end with a ballot box. There is no legitimacy for a new Syria without elections.”

The rebel without a land

He defended his hometown of Daraya outside Damascus for years under a bloody, destructive siege by Assad’s troops. But finally resistance collapsed, and last summer he and his fellow fighters were forcibly displaced north to Idlib.

It was a humiliating and disorienting move for Capt. Saeed al-Nokrashi and the 700 men in his faction, Shuhada al-Islam, part of the US-backed Free Syrian Army umbrella.

Idlib was strange territor y, and dangerous—not because of Assad’s forces or air strikes, but because of Idlib’s overlords, the al-Qaeda-linked group.

The militants immediately kidnapped some of his best fighters.

“This was to pressure us to join them, and if we do, they will protect us,” alNokrashi said, speaking at his home in the southern Turkish town of Reyhanli and holding his 6-year-old son, born during the Daraya fighting.

The fighters were eventually freed.

But the incident highlighted the more complicated world they were in.

“We were insulated in Daraya,” he said.

“Our confrontation was only with the regime.

Now the choices are many.”

The threats are, too. The IS group is a concern, as are the Syrian Kurdish forces, who he said are trying to “create a separate state in the north.” Then there are pro-Assad Iran and Shiite militias.

“Syria can’t be one unified state except by expelling all those parties,” al-Nokrashi said.

His fighters are languishing in Idlib.

They struggle to make ends meet and are focused on their families, reunited after long separations during the siege. Some have opened food shops, bringing the Damascus area’s cuisine to Idlib.

A few of his fighters joined al-Qaedalinked group. The others have to deal with its pervasive security agencies that monitor all factions closely—“just like the regime’s security agencies”, said al-Nokrashi, a former Syrian army officer.

Al-Nokrashi tried turning to diplomacy.

He attended one session of the Russiabacked talks in the Kazakhstan capital Astana, where rebel commanders were received with much fanfare and sat briefly in the same room as the government delegation. He became disillusioned and boycotted the following meeting.

But he may have found his refuge. In recent weeks, the US, Turkey and Western and Gulf countries backed a new attempt at a coalition against Assad known as the Northern Front Operation Room. So far, 17

He drives around Turkish seaside city of Iskenderun with another car of Syrian bodyguards and aides behind, fearing attack even here.

Lt. Col. Ahmed al-Saoud, commander of the US-backed Division 13, has been living almost permanently in Turkey since al-Qaeda’s affiliate attacked him and his group in Syria last year. When he tried to return home in April, an ambush by the group’s fighters was waiting for him. He survived, but one of his commanders was killed.

Al-Saoud’s claim to fame has been his relentless fight against the radical group, which has tried to gain a foothold in his hometown, Maaret Numan, in Idlib. His anti-extremist stance got him arrested by IS in 2013, until protests forced the militants to release him—a sign of his support base in the area. Al-Saoud, a defector from Assad’s military, has received Western aid from the start. He feels let down that the US is throwing its weight behind Kurdish militias.

“We can’t be temporary allies for a certain stage and then they drop or back me as they please,” al-Saoud said.

What particularly miffed him, he said, is when US troops deployed to create a buffer between Kurdish fighters and Turkish troops in northern Syria. “Aren’t we worthy of defending?” he said.

He fears US support will only deepen the Kurds’ determination for self-rule, leading to the division of Syria, in the process boosting support among Sunni Arabs for al-Qaeda.

During a recent AP visit to his home in Turkey, al-Saoud was constantly on the phone with his commanders back home, who in his absence are trying to understand shifting alliances and battlegrounds.

In one call, he reassured a commander bewildered by the Americans working with the Kurds. Another complained how hard it is to negotiate with Islamist factions, which are also trying out alliances to counter the power of al-Qaeda.

Al-Saoud also has joined the Northern Front Operation Room. But he is skeptical.

It is led by Islamist factions, minimizing the role of more secular groups like his.

He fears the coalition will cost him his direct contact with the Americans and his independence, pull him from the fight against al-Qaeda and diminish his prestige—his “charisma”, as he puts it.

Moreover, he sees it as imposed by outside powers that can’t agree among themselves, dooming it to fail. “Unify your vision, then pick a leader for a unified [rebel] front,” he said.

“My aim is a Syria free of Assad and of terrorism,” he said. “We will remain the popular face of this fight.” AP

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Comey expected to testify before Senate, but Donald J. Trump may try to block him

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enators expect the former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director, James B. Comey, to testify next week about his conversations with President Donald J. Trump, congressional officials said on Wednesday, setting up a test of the White House’s willingness to cooperate with investigations into Trump’s associates.

Putting the highly anticipated hearing on the calendar would force Trump to decide whether to invoke executive privilege and try to prevent Comey from testifying.

Comey is expected to be asked about several conversations he had with the president, including one in which he says Trump encouraged him to stop investigating his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn.

Separately, the House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas on Wednesday to Flynn and the president’s longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, for documents and their testimony. And in an unusual move, the Republican chairman of the House panel— who has recused himself from leading the investigation—unilaterally issued a series of subpoenas to the intelligence community. The chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, Republican-California, is seeking information about how Obama administration officials handled sensitive information about Trump associates.

B u t C o m e y ’s t e s t i m o n y wou ld be t he most sensat iona l moment to d ate in a cont ro versy t h at h a s eng u l fed t he Trump administration from its beginning. Congress and a Just ice Depa r t ment specia l counsel a re invest igat ing whet her Tr u mp’s a s so c i ates col lude d w it h Russi a to medd le in t he 2016 president i a l elect ion.

Courts have recognized a president’s constitutional right to keep his discussions a secret in most instances. A White House spokesman had no comment on whether Trump planned to try to block Comey’s testimony. It is a delicate decision with political and legal consequences.

“If they claim executive privilege, politically it gives the appearance that there’s something to hide, which just amplifies all the criticism,” said Mark J. Rozell, a George Mason University professor and the author of a book on the history of executive privilege.

US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian hackers and propagandists worked to tip the election in Trump’s favor, and investigators want to know whether anyone around Trump helped that effort. Trump has repeatedly denied that anyone did.

Some in Congress have suggested that Trump was trying to obstruct the Justice Department investigation by demanding Comey’s loyalty, asking him to drop the inquiry, and then firing him in May after being rebuffed. Trump has fueled that suspicion by publicly disparaging FBI investigation, say ing that he was thinking about the case when he dismissed Comey, and then telling Russian diplomats that the firing had relieved pressure on him.

Robert S. Mueller III, the Justice Department special counsel, has the authority to investigate obstruction. Current and former law enforcement officials have said FBI agents will most likely question many White House officials as part of that case. Comey’s testimony could be relevant to Mueller’s investigations.

Comey kept detailed memos on his meetings. The FBI has refused to give them to Congress, citing Mueller’s investigation. But Comey has told Congress he is willing to testify publicly, and Mueller has so far not tried to stop him.

The Justice Department has wide latitude to demand documents and testimony as part of a criminal investigation, even when executive privilege applies.

That means Mueller would most likely prevail if he tried to force Comey to speak to his investigators, even over White House objections. Having Comey testify before Congress, however, would spare Mueller a legal fight.

Trump has made it much harder to assert executive privilege by repeatedly and publicly referring to his conversations with Comey, Rozell said. “How can you amplify your views publicly and then, in response to a legitimate inquiry, say ‘I’m sorry, I can’t talk about that’?” Rozell said. Trump, he said, “has not been careful”.

Several congressional committees want Comey to testif y about his firing, but the former FBI director chose to appear in front of the intelligence panel, where he has performed well over the years. At his last cong ression a l hea r i ng , before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee a week before he was fired, he was sharply criticized by Republicans and Democrats for how he handled the investigation into Hillar y Clinton’s e-mail ser ver last year.

As the Senate committee prepared for Comey’s testimony, House investigators moved forward on Wednesday with their own inquiry.

Both Flynn and Cohen, a longtime associate of Trump who acted as a spokesman during his campaign, refused to comply with the House panel’s initial requests, forcing it to issue subpoena for the information.

T he subpoenas were issued to Fly nn Intel Group Llc., Flynn’s fir m. T he fir m was paid more than $500,000 to represent Turkey in a dispute w ith the United States gover nment while Fly nn was adv ising the Tr ump campaig n. He belated ly registered as a foreign agent for that work after being forced out of the Tr ump administration for misrepresenting his communications w ith the Russian ambassador to Vice President Mike Pence.

Separately, Rep. Adam Schiff, Democrat-California, dismissed accusations from Carter Page, another Trump adviser who is under scrutiny, that the committee is preventing him from testifying.

Schiff, the House panel ’s top Democrat, said the investigation would first review relevant documents before inter v iewing witnesses. “And while we anticipate inter views to begin shortly, we have agreed that the pace of those inter views will be dictated by the needs of the investigation and not the preferences of outside parties,” Schiff said in a statement.

Tr u mp t hrew h is ow n f uel on t h at f i re on Wed nesd ay.

“So now it is repor ted t hat t he Democrats, who have e xcor iated C a r ter Page about Russia, don’t wa nt him to test if y,” he sa id in a ser ies of Tw it ter posts. “He blows away t heir case aga inst h im & now wa nts to c lea r h is na me by show ing ‘t he fa lse or m islead ing test imony by Ja mes Comey, John Brenna n...’ Witc h Hu nt! ” Brennan was Central Intelligence Agency (CI A) director during the Obama administration. The House committee also issued three subpoenas related to the “unmasking” of Trump associates within classified reports, according to a congressional official. The subpoenas went to the National Security Agency, the FBI and the CIA, the official said. New York Times News Service

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Makati, Marikina see action in PFL

Lance Agcaoili

ALBERTO CONTADOR aims to optimize his form but limit his level of fatigue.

CYCLINGNEWS

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LBERTO CONTADOR closed out a two-week training camp at altitude on Tenerife, where he trained with four of his Tour de France teammates—André Cardoso, Michael Gogl, Matthias Brändle and Fabio Felline.

The Spaniard said he is taking a much more conservative approach to his preparation for the Tour this year, aiming to optimize his form but limit his level of fatigue.

“I’m being super conservative in this training camp,” Contador said in a TrekSegafredo video blog. “I’m thinking completely about arriving at the Tour with the best condition, being fresh, not arriving with fatigue, because it’s very easy to do too much work here, overtraining yourself and not letting the body recover. That is perhaps the main difference from other years.”

Contador arrived at the strategy after last year’s disastrous Tour—where he crashed in the first two stages then abandoned on stage 9.

In 2015, he finished a disappointed fifth in an

MAGIC JOHNSON (left) of the Los Angeles Lakers and Danny Ainge of the Boston Celtics played major roles in perhaps the biggest rivalry in National Basketball Association history. AP

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Y the time the Los Angeles Lakers met the Boston Celtics for the third time in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals in the 1980s, defensive stopper Michael Cooper had enough with Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and the rest of the Celtics.

“It’s respectful to acknowledge the person that you’re playing, but I’m not taking you out to dinner,” Cooper said, thinking back on those days. “I’ll spit in your food before I eat with you.”

Lakers vs. Celtics. Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson. East Coast vs. West Coast.

It’s the rivalry against which all others are measured, the one essentially responsible for the modern NBA evolving from a fringe sport that put its championship series on tape delay to a global sensation built around the most recognizable athletes in American sports. And as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors prepare to face off in the finals for the third straight season, the teams that have grabbed a stranglehold on the rest of the league over the last three seasons are drawing comparisons to the game’s greatest matchup.

“I think basketball-wise it’s going to be great,” said Celtics Hall of Famer Kevin McHale, now an analyst for NBATV. “That is going to lend itself to people talking about it years from now. But really, [the Lakers-Celtics] was the birth of the NBA and the average fan across the country was that Larry-

Magic time. It was completely unique unto itself.”

McHale was directly involved in one of the defining moments of the rivalry, when he clotheslined Lakers forward Kurt Rambis on a breakaway lay-up during Game Four of the 1984 finals in Los Angeles. It’s a play that lives in Celtics lore, the gritty, Northern Minnesota forward blasting the Showtime Lakers right in front of Jack Nicholson. The play touched off a mini-brawl between the teams and helped spark a Boston comeback that leveled the series that the Celtics went on to win in seven games.

“We knew how dirty they could get. I loved it back then,” said Cooper, who now coaches the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA. “In today’s game, he would’ve got a two- or threegame suspension. Back then, it made it fun. Rambis’s neck wasn’t broken? OK, get up. Kevin got dunked on a couple times and we made a big melee out of it. You come out and live to play another day.”

The more often the teams met on the big stage, the more heated the rivalry became. Celtics forward Cedric Maxwell gave James Worthy a choke sign after he missed a free throw. Bird went toe-to-toe with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

It’s the kind of edge and nastiness that is often said to be lacking in the modern NBA with the high salaries and player movement. But last year’s series—won by Cleveland in seven games—had its share of tension, from LeBron James’s dismissive scoff at Stephen Curry after blocking his shot in Game Six to Klay Thompson suggesting James “got his feelings hurt” to James stepping over Draymond Green in Game Four, a confrontation that led to Green’s suspension

CONSERVATIVE APPROACH TO TOUR unsuccessful attempt for a second Grand Tour win after his Giro d’Italia triumph.

After some tumultuous years under Oleg Tinkov, his first season with Trek-Segafredo is all about tranquilo, including his camp in Tenerife.

“Tenerife is an ideal place to work,” Contador said. “There’s the altititude, we are about 2,300 meters, but other than that, being here allows you to be calmly centered on the bike, optimizing the time, not only the training time but also the rest, having a good diet, and being dedicated 24 hours a day to the bicycle.

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“It gives me a tranquility, peace and confidence that later in competition is very, very important.”

From Tenerife, Contador will have a brief stopover at home before heading to Saint-Etienne for the start of the Criterium du Dauphine, and once there will continue to be cautious with his efforts.

“At the Dauphine, I want to get the first bit

of intensity before the Tour,” he said. “I’m sure I’m going to be a bit at the limit. That’s why I want to come into the race calm, and to take advantage of it only to pick up racing rhythm.

“If I see that I am too tight, I’ll slow down, although it’s difficult for me, but it’s what I have in mind. Since November, it is something I have been putting in my head, because I think it will be the smartest way to face the Tour de France.”

After the Dauphine, Contador will analyze his performance there and top off whatever he needs in a second training camp. “I’ll include more tempo, more intensity, or, depending, more calm in approaching the Tour de France,” he said.

“In the end, the only thing I’m worried about is being healthy, and arriving to the start of the Tour de France in optimal condition.

Every year cycling is more mathematical, but fortunately it is still not entirely mathematics and depends many times on training and also the feeling and how you know your body to arrive in optimal condition.” Cycling News

PATAFA DROPS 4 ERRING MEDALISTS T

HE Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa) trimmed the composition of the national team that will compete in the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games—dropping four Filipino-Americans because of misconduct and failure to abide by the body’s rules.

Patafa President Philip Juico confirmed on Thursday that hammer throw record-holder Caleb Stuart, SEA Games 100-meter champion

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BENCHMARK OF RIVALRIES

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AYA Makati and JPV Marikina shoot for their third victory when they take on Stallion Laguna and Ilocos United, respectively, today in the Philippines Football League.

Their matches will be held simultaneously, set at 4 p.m., with Kaya Makati hosting Stallion Laguna at the University of Makati Stadium and JPV Marikina battling Ilocos United in its temporary home at the Biñan Football Stadium.

Japanese striker Takumi Uesato booked the league’s first hattrick as Marikina beat Stallion Laguna, 4-0, on Wednesday in Biñan.

Ghanaian striker Jordan Mintah, meanwhile, was involved in the four goals scored by Kaya FC Makati, which downed Ilocos United, 4-2, also on Wednesday at the Quirino Stadium in Vigan City.

Both squads are eyeing their third victory. Kaya is currently on the third spot with seven points on two wins, a draw and a loss, while JPV Marikina is in fourth place with six points on two wins and two losses.

Stallion Laguna and Ilocos United, on the other hand, are still looking for their first win after absorbing two losses and a draw each in their first three matches.

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Kayla Richardson, long-distance runner Jessica Barnard and long-jump specialist Donovan Arriola were dropped from the team for the August 19 to 30 Games in Malaysia.

“They did not submit any report to us.

These athletes failed to tell us the status of their training. It goes to show that they do not want to follow our rules at Patafa. We need to monitor their preparations but we received nothing,” Juico said.

Juico stressed that the association needs to know the progress of the athletes and said the “unprofessional manner” the athletes displayed resulted to their exclusion from the team.

The Patafa had earlier warned misbehaving

athletes to get in shape or they will be cut from the delegation to the SEA Games.

Richardson and Stuart, Juico said, did not show up at the National Athletics Open in Isabela last march, enough grounds to remove them from the team.

Patafa is eyeing 10 gold medals in Malaysia, but with the exclusion of the four Filipino-Americans, the target is no longer attainable, according to Juico.

Rio Olympian Mary Joy Tabal, who recently broke the nine-year-old 21-km national record in the ScotiaBank Ottawa Race in Canada, still has to secure her slot in the the national team.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Kayla Richardson won’t be around to defend her 100-meter gold medal.

and the turning point of the series.

“I’m hoping there’s some real fiery competitiveness and some dustups and guys willing to fight each other for it,” McHale said. “I think that’s fine. There should be that feeling.”

The Lakers and Celtics met three times in four years, with Los Angeles winning in 1985 and 1987. The only thing that prevented four straight meetings was a Houston Rockets upset of the Lakers in the 1986 Western Conference finals, something that McHale laments to this day. The Celtics desperately wanted the Lakers because they knew Magic and Worthy and Kareem would push them to their competitive limits.

“I think the Lakers were one of those teams that you knew you could play well and still lose. We had a good enough team where if we played well, normally it just took care of itself,” McHale said. “We’d win. If we played well, the outcome was determined just by our play. Against the Lakers, you could play really well and still lose.”

When two teams play that often at the highest level, there are no more secrets, no tricks to be pulled, no gimmicks said Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, whose Detroit Pistons faced the Lakers in back-toback finals in 1988 and 1989.

“The intensity level is off the charts, just in terms of the team competition and also the individual competitions on the court,” said Thomas, now an analyst for NBATV who has recently started importing Cheurlin Thomas champagne from France. “Both of you really do know each other so well. You know all of their

tendencies, all of their habits, all of their plays.

“Then it becomes a game of concentration. Who can concentrate for that two-and-a-half hour period without making a mistake?”

For the most part, the Cavs and Warriors have tried to downplay any talk of acrimony or tension, with Curry saying this week “you can call it a rivalry, but it’s still in development.”

In many ways, when Game One tips off on Thursday night in Oakland, California, a new generation of NBA fans will get to understand what it felt like to watch the Lakers and Celtics battles from the 1980s that their fathers and grandfathers still rave about.

But McHale remembers sitting in his office as an executive with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the mid1990s and finally reflecting on how far the league had come. Salaries were skyrocketing. The game’s influence was growing overseas and the NBA Finals—the ones that were shown on tape delay during McHale’s first championship with the Celtics in 1980—were now must-see, prime-time television.

All that success couldn’t have happened without Larry, without Magic, without those three epic showdowns between the Lakers and the Celtics.

“It was like somebody seeing color TV for the first time,” McHale said of being a part of that history. “There was a whole different vibe that had nothing to do with the game.

It was the NBA just growing. It’s different. That was like watching the moon walk. There’s never another thing like that. That was just amazing.” AP

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Sunday, June 4, 2017

Science

BusinessMirror

Sunday

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Biotech spares forests, cuts down chemical use in farms

GM crops planted in 185M ha worldwide

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By Manuel T. Cayon | Mindanao Bureau Chief

iotechnology experts have reported increased production in 2016 in a rebound from stymied production the previous year due to regulatory barriers and persistent resistance from environmentalists.

But they insisted that progress in production—both in yield per area and total farm area planted—has spared forest lands from being invaded for farm production and has sharply cut down chemical use in farms, a potential that they hope would draw sharp interest from producers and governments.

Not on ly w a s 2016 noted for a rebound in biotechnology crop production, it also marked a spike in global production of genetically modified (GM) crops in the last two decades, and got more countries to adapt it, according to Dr. Paul S. Teng, chairman of the board of trustees of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application (Isaaa).

L ast year Isaaa has noted that biotech crops were planted in 185.1 million hectares in 26 countries, which involved 18 million farmers.

“This is the fastest adapted crop technology in recent times,” the group said, citing the dominance of the developing world in the number of countries planting the GM crops.

Three developing nations— Brazil, Argentina and India— landed in the top five, with the US leading the list with its 72.9 million hectares, and Canada on the fourth spot.

T he potent i a l for w ider g lob a l a d apt ion of b iot e c h nol o g y w ou l d l a r ge l y h i n ge on gover n ment s con f ront i ng t he increasing u rgenc y to f ind food for t he i r people a s l a nd s rem a i n con st a nt a nd popu l a t ion ke pt mu lt iply i ng.

To increase production yield per acre or per hectare of area would be likely a current arena, “even if you start with the hybrid variety”, Teng said.

812,000 The number of hectares planted to genetically modified (GM) corn in the Philippines, making the country remain the top grower of GM crops in Southeast Asia Philippines top biotech grower in SEA

In the Philippines, Teng said the area planted to GM corn, for instance, has increased 16 percent to 812,000 hectares “as the country remains to be the top grower of biotech or GM crops in Southeast Asia”.

The Philippines ranked 12th as global producer of the GM corn today after it was also the first country in Southeast Asia to plant the crop in 2003, he added.

The Philippine government approved its commercial production a year earlier.

The increase in area planted to corn was equivalent to 110,000 hectares, the Isaaa said.

GM corn is the leading GM crop in the country that is already being produced commercially. Three other crops are in their research and development stages. These are t he stem borer-resistant Bacillus thuringiensis eggplant, ringspot virus-resistant and delayed ripening papaya and the fortified beta-carotene golden rice.

The progression in commercial production of GM corn was ascribed to “favorable weather conditions and high local demand for livestock and feed stocks”.

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application (Isaaa) released recently its 2016 report Global Status of Commercial Biotech/GM Crops. Discussing the report with science journalists are (from left) Dr. Paul S. Teng, chairman of the board of trustees of Isaaa; Dr. Vivencio R. Mamaril, OIC director of the Bureau of Plant Industry; and Dr. Gil Saguiguit Jr., director of Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture. Lyn Resurreccion

The increase is also reflected in the adaption by more farmers “mainly because of better income compared to non-GM corn,” Teng added. The increase though, was slight, at 65 percent for some 406,000 farmers.

What was significant in this number of farmers, he said, was that they average 2 hectares, a size common among small “resource-poor” Filipino farmers.

The Isaaa 2016 report, which was launched in Beijing, China, early this month, said Filipino farmers earned $642 million in the period 2003 to 2015. For 2015 alone, the GM-corn planters earned $82 million. The increase in hectarage and production was accounted by the 13 approvals granted by local governments for the cultivation of GM corn.

Challenge for poor regions

Although the developing world accounts for the big number of countries adapting biotechnology, the challenge was to increase its planting to, and yield per area, on crops that they heavily import from the developed economies.

Asia, for instance, which appears consistently green in any color-coded food production map,

imports heavily on soybean from countries with minimal agriculture area but are known for high yields per farm area.

The potential to catch up and cut down on imports, is emerging for the developing, or poor, regions of the world. As of 2016 there were 19 countries in the poor region adapting biotechnology, although many of them raise GM crops for food, feeds and processing, unlike Chile and Costa Rica in South America that were growing modified crops already for export.

W hi le countr ies were a lso adapting hybrid varieties of their food crops, Teng said this may provide the step closer to adapting biotechnology, which he said “should not be clouded in fear over their effects on the environment and human health”.

Isaaa noted that countries using biotechnology for farm production were adapting to the demands of their other food sectors, such as livestock. Brazil, it said, currently the largest GM crop-producing country among developing economies, may still raise its GM-maize production, as it expects its porkand livestock-industry expands to meet the consuming market.

On becoming a successful DOST scholar

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very year, a deluge of students apply for the scholarship offered by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Recently, the DOST’s Science Education Institute (SEI) announced the 2,196 passers under the Junior Level Science Scholarship (JLSS) Program.

In t he reg ion, DOST Davao reg ion has recorded 247 JL SS appl ica nts, 72 of who qu a l if ied. T he nu mber has sig nif ica nt ly increased, since t here were 57 qu a l if iers out of t he 218 e x a m inees in 2015.

T he jour ney of ever y DOST scholar does not stop at ta k ing the scholarship exams. T hey have to maintain their grades and, upon graduation, they are required to render ser v ice to the countr y for a per iod equiva lent to the number of years they enjoyed the scholarship.

In 2016 DOST Davao region has produced 11 scholars who graduated with honors out of the 54 scholar graduates.

One of them is Kim Dianne Lig ue, who graduated magna cum laude from the University

of the Philippines Mindanao A graduate of BS applied mathematics, Ligue said she didn’t know any of the scholarships offered by DOST. Some of her classmates were already DOST scholars. She really wanted to be one.

That is why upon learning that the agency would have another scholarship exam, she immediately grabbed the opportunity.

“I prepared for the DOST exam more than the UPCAT [University of the Philippines College Admission Test],” Ligue said.

Consequently, she passed the exam and started to enjoy the scholarship in her sophomore year.

Cr unching numbers was a piece of cake for her. She didn’t have a hard time maintaining her grades, as she was passionate about mathematics.

“Choose the course you want to do for the rest of your life,” Ligue said, reiterating that if one is passionate about the course one is taking, it wouldn’t be too difficult for one to do anything.

When asked what it takes to be a successful DOST scholar, Ligue has this to say: “You do not have

Kim Dianne Ligue gives an inspirational message during the seventh DOST Scholars’ Congress.

to graduate magna cum laude. The fact na scholar ka karon [you are already a scholar], successful ka na [you are already successful].”

She said through her scholarship, she has helped her parents in many ways. Meanwhile, Engr. Kev in Cabante, a DOST scholar g raduate who placed four th in the 2016 Electr ica l

Eng ineer ing Board Exam, said in an inter v iew that being a DOST scholar was challenging. “[It was] both cha l leng ing and happy, kay kailangan mag [you have to] maintain ug [your] grades kay lahi ang [because it is a huge] prestige as a DOST scholar,” Cabante said.

As advice to all the DOST scholars, he said, “Aim high. If you fail, [still] aim high.”

This year’s qualifiers of the JLSS exams had an orientation and contract signing at the University of Southeastern Philippines-Obrero campus. There were also orientations conducted for the scholars in Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental, Davao del Sur, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley Province.

T he DOST hopes t hat t he scholars will eventually pursue science and technolog y (S&T) careers, not just to increase the numbers of scientists and engineers, but also to strengthen the countr y’s capabilities in S&T through their knowledge and expertise. KeziahSuzaineW.Francisco/S&T News Service

The regulatory barriers put up against GM crops has pulled back production through years, and Isaaa said there had been successes in some countries, including the Philippines, which has formed a four-Cabinet level interagency regulatory body.

Dr. Vivencio R. Mamaril, acting director of the Bureau of Plant Industry, said that while this interagency body may help bring into one body the diverse issues raised against biotechnology crops, “their diverse concerns, too, could be confusing and disconnected ”.

He suggested that in the case of the Philippines, “government agencies, including Congress, should establish regulations now to avoid getting preempted by the entry of GM crops, especially during the Christmas season”.

“Government should be prepared this early to handle issues like entry of GM crops,” he said.

Game changer

While the current production of GM crops is described as stymied due to regulatory barriers and ineffective responses to environment and health issues, the Isaaa said biotechnology adaption in

the food production has already contributed a lot to biodiversity, better environment and livelihood to rural families.

It said the increase in crop yield per specific area compared to hybrid and traditional crop varieties earned for small farmers $167.8 billion between 1996 and 2015.

Teng said biotechnology has been contributing to the search by governments to find much higher yields per hectare and, by consequence, avoid the opening up of forest lands for farm cultivation.

In the period 2006 to 2016, the world saved 174 million hectares of forest lands from ploughing and cultivation because of the increased yield per acre or hectare of existing farm lands.

Teng added the GM crops were being developed to address specific diseases of commonly used crops, vegetables and fruits that have reduced the yields of these food items. These include the resistance of eggplants to stem borers, potatoes and apples to browning and papaya to ringspot virus.

In turn, he said, farmers have discarded expensive pesticides and saved a lot of farm income.

But the bigger beneficiary here is the environment, Teng said. The Isaaa report reveals a decline by 19 percent in the use of insecticides and herbicides, equivalent to 620 million kilograms of active ingredients of these chemicals.

And much more, he added, as fewer incidents of felled forest trees and applications of fossil fuels in chemical inputs helped the world prevent destructive carbon dioxide emissions estimated at 26.7 billion kilograms.

“It is equivalent to taking 11.9 million cars of the road for one year,” the Isaa added.

T he more i mpor t a nt a l so, Teng said, citing the Isaaa report, the better production yield and less use of chemical inputs have helped 18 million small farmers and their families.

“Its impact would cover an estimated 65 million people living in the poorest regions,” he said.

The Isaaa added that innovations still coming in would “revolutionize the development of new biotech crops and traits” and described this trend the “game changer” in the third decade of planting and commercialization of the GM crops.

Setting competency standards for Asean agri workers proposed

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he Philippine governmenthosted Southeast Asian Re gional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca) proposed a project to set competency standards for agricultural workers in the Asean region at a high-level meeting hosted by the Malaysian government in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Searca Director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr. presented the concept at the third High Officials Meeting on Southeast Asia-Technical and Vocational Education and Training (SEA-TVET) convened by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (Seameo) and the Brunei Darussalambased Seameo Regional Center for Vocational and Technical Education.

The meeting was a gathering of secretary generals on TVET of ministries of education, labor and training, science and technology and higher education, as well as policy-makers and directors of TVET institutions from Southeast Asian countries, and officials of international development agencies.

They set out to chart regional policy directions and strategies to

advance and harmonize TVET education to meet the labor demands of the Asean region.

Saguiguit reiterated that agriculture remains the backbone of most Southeast Asian economies, with about 450 million people depending on it for livelihood, food and trade. This, he said, brings into sharp focus the need to develop competencies of agricultural workers in light of their important role in raising farm productivity and contribution to food and nutrition security, as well as poverty alleviation in the region.

Searca’s proposed project aims to assess the development of competency standards for agricultural workers in Asean, taking into account the Regional Model for Competency Standards in Agriculture and Aquaculture developed by the International Labor Organization.

The Searca project will assess the current situation of Asean Member States (AMS) in developing competency standards to identify gaps, challenges and recommendations for action of the Asean Secretariat, Seameo and the concerned AMS.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Sunday, June 4, 2017 A7

The trip to Busan T

By Carla Mortel-Baricaua

in Spa Land. Located in Shinsegae Centumcity, you can open yourself to a liberating experience and let your body melt in comfort and relaxation by bathing in Spa Land. Their “ beauty bathtubs” are filled with water pumped from two types of hot springs that are buried 100 meters underground. It is said the water from the sodium bicarbonate hot springs can help maintain a healthy skin, improve blood circulation and relieve body pains.

If you’re not ready to expose yourself, there is the dry sauna, outdoor foot bath, massage shop and oxygen capsule, as options.

Guests can stay up to four hours on regular rates.

he zombie-action flick Train to Busan made the second-largest city after Seoul familiar to local movie fans. Now, it is about time that Filipino tourists get to know more of Busan as a “City of Action”, destination.

Selfies galore in the village

The Gamcheon Culture Village is called the “Machu Pichu of Busan”, because its rows of colorful houses resemble the exotic village in Peru. The neighborhood spans from Oknyeobong to the foot of Mount Cheonmasan Stand. For visitors, it’s a place to visit the remnants of the past, like the Cheondeoksu Well and Kim Jongsu Wells. With its great view, artwork installations and complicated and maze-like alleys, you can go crazy taking photos, self ies and g rouf ies.

The Neighborhood Art Project has installed many artworks in the area, and one of the most sea rc hed pieces is t he Little Prince and the Fox sculpture.

Lastly, when in Busan, take photos and immediately share them online, since popular public spots throughout the city provide free public Wi-fi access.

The colorful neighborhood called “Machu Picchu of Busan”.

Selfies, snacks and scenery—the allure of Gamcheon Culture Village.

Scenic view from Dongbaekseom Island captures the Apec Nurimaru House and the Gwangandaegyo bridge.

Yacht tours are available on day, sunset and night schedules.

Day and night fun spots

races, attracting thousands of enthusiasts and spectators.

Busan is the largest coastal city of South Korea, and if there’s one beach you have to visit, it is Haeundae beach in Haeundae-gu, known to be as the “Boracay” of South Korea, in terms of popularity. In the summer, Haeundae Beach is packed with holiday vacationers, especially during the Sand Festival that happens every June. In the fall, the beach is teeming with famous actors and filmmakers attending the annual Busan International Film Festival. There’s also the Polar Bear Swimming Festival, where swimmers brave its icy cold waters in January.

During the day, you can simply relax at Haeundae Beach and enjoy the magnificent view of the Gwangandaegyo Bridge, also known as the Diamond Bridge. This suspension bridge was opened in 2002 and links Namcheon-dong of the Suyeong-gu district, and Woodong in Haeundae-gue district.

Over 7.4 kilometers long, it is the longest bilevel bridge over sea water in South Korea with a dizzying roller coaster-like junction.

At night, you may watch the Gwangandaegyo Bridge’s light show, produced by its modern lighting system and sound equipment, or catch the Busan Fireworks Festival that happens every October.

For night viewing of the city lights lined up in Haeundae beach and for another scenic angle of Gwangandaegyo bridge, go to Dongbaekseom Island. Located at the southern end of Haeundae Beach, Dongbaekseom Island is known for its beautiful camellia flowers and pine trees. It was also the site of the 2005 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit, where the Nurimaru Apec House was built to accommodate the meeting of foreign leaders.

Today it stands as a showcase of the modern interpretation of the traditional South Korean architectural patterns and important memorabilia of the Apec Summit.

Now, if you want to enjoy the view off shore, head over to the Suyeong Bay Yachting Center, and book an hourlong tour aboard a lu xur y yacht. The yachting tours are available by day, sunset and night schedules, and the trip will take you near Gwangalli beach, Gwangandaegyo bridge and Haeundae beach.

T he Suyeong Bay Yachting Center is capable of moor ing 1,400 yachts or 350 ships. In the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Seou l Oly mpics, competitions were hosted by the center utilizing the waters of Busan. A n icon of the cit y, the center is the venue of the yearly yacht

Happy tummy in Jagalchi

As the biggest fish market in South Korea, it is on Jagalchi International Market where you can feast on the freshest and most unusual seafood delicacies. Located in central Busan, the market has indoor and outdoor selling sections where there is a wide variety of seafood available and sold at affordable prices. Every October the market comes alive with a seafood festival that features a street parade, fireworks show and raw fish contest. If you haven’t seen live spoon worms, this is the place to go and dare yourself to eat one.

T

tackle sustainable tourism, defined by the UNW TO as: “ Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industr y, environment and host communities”. “ The big challenge that we tourism ministers must confront is to ensure that future genera-

World M a n i l a i n Pa s ay C it y.

T he o p e n i n g c e re mo ny w i l l be presided by t he U N W TO Sec ret a r y- G enera l D r. Ta leb R a fa i; Teo; Secret a r y for So c ioeconom ic Pl a nning of t he Philippines Er nesto M. Per nia.

In addition to the government representatives from 156 member-countries, expected in attendance will be more than

1,500 affiliate members representing the pr ivate sector, educat iona l inst it ut ions a nd tourism associations.

“This will be a very important milestone for Philippine tourism as one of the country’s major driver for economic growth. In 2015 it contributed 8.2 percent to GDP with the value of P1.43 trillion,” Teo added.

The Gwangandaegyo suspension bridge sits between Gwangalli and Haeundae Beach.

temple site, you may touch the belly of the Buddha deity if you want to bear a child. If you are aiming for academic excellence or a good life, there are stations along the stairway where you can take a moment to pray, donate and make a wish.

Taking a bath in ‘jjimjilbang’

Wishing trip to a temple

The 108 steps leading to the Haedong Yong g ungsa Temple are quite a challenge, but the rewards can be heaven’s blessings. Unlike other temples that were built on or near mountains, Haedong Yonggungsa is situated on top of a cliff near a coastline.

It was built in 1376 by the Buddhist teacher Naong during the Goryeo Dynasty.

Buddhists and non-Buddhists visit the temple all year-round by the thousands to pray in the hopes of making their wishes come true. Upon entering the

The Suyeong Bay Yachting Center moors yachts and ships.

PHL to host 6th UNWTO confab he Philippines is all set to host top tourism officials from 156 countries for the sixth United Nations World Tourism Organization International (UNWTO) Conference on Tourism Statistics next month.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo said the gathering of tourism ministers, along with their respective entourage, will

Tired of touring the city? Indulge in some retail therapy at the Shinsegae Centumcity, registered as the largest department store by the Guinness World Records in 2009, or soak naked in a modern jjimjilbang, the Korean-style sauna/spa

T he Busan Cit y tour was sponsored by the Korea Tour ism Organization, Busan Tourism Organization and Philippine Airlines (PA L). T he Gimhae International air port is in Busan. Effective on July 20, PA L upg rades its aircraf t to Airbus A332 en route to Manila-Busan, with f lights on Wednesday and Sunday. Effective on June 22, PA L will start to operate the Tagbilaran-Incheon route with f lights on Wedne sda y, T hursda y, Saturday and Sunday.

tions enjoy what we are fortunate to enjoy today, particularly our depleting natural resources,” Teo explained.

T he De pa r t ment of Tou r i sm head h a i led a l l t he tou r i sm m i n i sters a nd he ad s of de legat ion s to M a n i l a when she at tended t he 10 5t h Ses s ion of t he U N W T O E xe c u t ive Cou nc i l he ld i n M ad r id ,

Spa in, ea rl ier t h is mont h. T he UNW TO conference, bearing the theme “Measur ing Su st a i n able Tou r i sm” w i l l be h ig h l ig hted b y a m i n i ster i a l rou ndt able of tou r i sm m i n i s ters, env i ron ment m i n i sters a nd c h ief st at i st ic i a n s.

It w i l l be held f rom June 21 to 24 at the Mar r iot Hotel Grand Ba l lroom of the Resor ts

Faith A8 Sunday, June 4, 2017

Sunday

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

Abducted priest appeals to Duterte

A

week after his abduction by Islamic militants in Marawi City, a video of Fr. Teresito Suganob surfaced on Facebook early this week appealing for President Duterte’s help.

Fr. Teresito Suganob, who was abducted by the Maute group in Marawi City a week ago, is seen in a screen grab from a Facebook video. CBCPNews

The priest said the militants are demanding a stop to the military offensive against them and for the sake of the “prisoners of war”.

“Mr. President, please consider us,” Suganob said in a cracking voice. “They don’t ask for anything… they just ask that you leave this place peacefully.”

“We are in the midst of this war, we are asking your help to please give what they are asking for,” he added.

Duterte declared martial law in the south through mid-July.

Duterte’s declaration unnerved Filipinos who lived through the rule of late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, who imposed martial law in 1972 and used it to hold power for more than a decade.

The vicar general of the Marawi prelature said that along with Suganob are about 240 more hostages, including several women and children. It’s uncertain when the video was taken, but it shows Suganob standing in the midst of destroyed houses and vehicles. The video, showing Suganob in a black polo shirt and maong pants, first surfaced on the Facebook account of a certain “Datumasa Khalid”.

“Mr. President, if you want me to kneel before you just to knock your heart in favor of our families who are crying out there in differ-

ent places, for our relatives…. we will do that,” he said.

He also warned that the relentless military offensive would just put the lives of the hostages at risk because the militants are “ready to die for their religion”.

“Mr. President, you can’t use force and violence, because they have the commitment they will die for this,” he added, as the military’s fight against members of the Maute group entered the seventh day.

Marawi Bishop Edwin de la Peña earlier said the militants who are allegedly linked to the Islamic State (IS) have threatened to kill their hostages if the military offensive against them continues.

The prelate said he received a call last Tuesday from a supposed Maute militant and demanded for a “unilateral ceasefire”.

“They want a ceasefire and for the military to give them access out of Marawi. Otherwise, they will kill the hostages,” de la Peña said.

A colleague of Suganob confirmed to The Associated Press that the man in the video is the priest. It was not clear whether Suganob believed what he was saying or was forced to say it.

“We want to live another day, we want to live another month,” Suganob added.

D i re c t i n g h i s re m a rk s to Duterte, he said, “We want to live few years and in your generosity, Mr. President, in your heart, we know you can make something [happen].” Marawi Bishop de la Peña confirmed that it was Suganob in the video.

“I was glad to see that he is alive, but we were also saddened because the fact that the terrorists are ready to negotiate means they are pressed against the wall, and they are also desirous to get away from the situation, and their bargaining chip are the hostages,” he said in a telephone interview.

“It [video] was taken in Marawi, and it was him [Suganob], and the emotions that came out, I think, were really authentic,” he added, noting that Suganob looked truly afraid when an explosion was heard in the background.

He said Suganob’s mention of people with him made it appear that they are also alive.

“It gives us a lot of hope that these people are worth saving, because they are still alive,” he added.

“If the air strikes continue, they will really be in danger.”

Suganob said in the video that he was taken prisoner along with a professor from Mindanao State University, two female church workers and seven teachers.

“A long with us are about 200 car penters, household helpers, children and youth and ordinary C h r i st i a n set t lers,” he sa id .

The presence of that number of hostages could not be independently confirmed.

The siege in Marawi followed an unsuccessful army raid last Tuesday that attempted to capture militant commander Isnilon Hapilon, who has been designated by the IS group as its leader in the Philippines.

Marawi, a mosque-studded city about 800 kilometers southeast of Manila, is regarded as the heartland of the Islamic faith on southern Mindanao island.

Hapilon escaped, and gunmen loyal to him swept through the city of 200,000 people, torching buildings and taking hostages.

S o l d i e r s h a v e no w t a k e n control of about 90 percent of Marawi, said military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla. He added Hapilon is believed to be

It is God

still in Marawi. As of June 1, a total of 120 militants have been killed in the fighting since May 23.

At least 25 soldiers, five policemen and more than 24 civilians have been killed in the clashes.

‘Solidarity appeal’ for Marawi

The Catholic Church’s socialaction arm last week launched a “solidarity appeal” to dioceses to extend help to people displaced by the ongoing clash between go ve r n me nt t ro o ps a nd t he Maute terrorist group. “ The national Caritas is now appealing to your generosity for any assistance to augment the needs of the internally displaced persons affected by the Marawi siege,” said Caritas Philippines head Cáceres A rchbishop Rolando Tria Tirona in a letter to 85 dioceses and social-action directors nationwide.

Caritas Manila has sent an initial P500,000 and 100 cavans of rice to augment the Iligan diocese’s relief operations.

Marawi Bishop de la Peña said much more needs to be done, as he emphasizes the need to aid the evacuees.

“Food, clean water, blankets, sleeping mats and other essentials remain the top priorities,” he added. Private individuals and groups who wish to donate may do so through the following bank account: Bank of the Philippine Islands, Intramuros, Manila, branch; account name: CBCP Caritas Filipinas Foundation Inc. Nassa; account number: 4951-0071-08.

Other dioceses in Mindanao have also started helping the Prelature of Marawi to assist the displaced families.

Thousands of families have been displaced from Marawi City and are now staying at different evacuation centers in Iligan City and in nearby towns.

The archbishop said a Caritas Philippines assessment team has been deployed to Mindanao this week to further check on the needs of those affected.

Data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development showed that more than 55,000 families have fled their homes following the crisis in Marawi.

Roy Lagarde and Niceforo Vince Balbedina/CBCPNews and AP

A Western depiction of the Pentecost painted by Jean II Restout, 1732. Wikimedia Commons

By Corazon Damo-Santiago

T

he all-knowing God decreed that some living things would have features to avoid detection from hungr y predators. He endowed them with colorations to blend with their habitat, subtle features to avoid detection of enemies, characteristics so they would look like something else and with body contours to merge with their surroundings.

But to the Indonesian octopus—capable of impersonating other species—it was much more.

The master of disguise, it “can copy or be everything”. Such is God’s power and generosity—make His creation conjoin with their surroundings, fade, hide or elude creatively enemies.

Man made in His image, He lavished them to the hilt. With intelligence, there seems to be no limit to how man can alter his looks through science and technology. And in his mind conceive the goodness or evil he wills.

Masters of disguise

The Church history is replete with people who disguised themselves as righteous, but were not. Too, there were personalities who claimed affinity with Christ and called themselves teachers or prophets, but were liars.

As the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, Saint Paul, wary of people who masqueraded as ministers of righteousness but were with Satan’s cunning to corrupt minds, counseled the faithful: “Even Satan masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

Saint Matthew, the evangelist, likewise warned his church members of false prophets in sheep’s clothing but are ravenous wolves, and are not morally upright. He emphasized the quality of deeds and remarked: “So by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:15).

God in the guise of...

The law in life of seculars Fr. Aloysius Deeney, OCD, the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS) General Delegate for East Asia, discusses before around 250 members of the OCDS in Luzon the topic, “The Role and Purpose of Law in the Life of the OCDS”. It was held recently at the Father Mark Horan Hall of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Quezon City. Deeney said the call to man’s holiness is prescribed through baptism, while the call of the OCDS is to serve God, the Order and the world, or the community and family. The law of the religious order makes one become a better disciple, he added. Lyn Resurreccion

Fifty days after Easter, the apostles were in the Upper Room. With them were about 300 new Christians. The noise of a strong wind filled the room, and tongues of fire came to rest on everyone. Each one was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2-4).

It was Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Church. “Christ now lives, acts and is with the church” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1076). God’s presence through the sacraments is what common tradition of east and west calls Sacramental Economy.

God manifested Himself as a cloud on Mount Sinai to Moses and while the Israelites were wandering in the desert. He did the same during the dedication of the temple for the Ark of the Covenant

by King Solomon.

Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter and John were likewise overshadowed by a cloud on the Mountain of

Transfiguration. From the cloud a voice said: “This is my chosen Son, listen to him” (Luke 9:34-35).

To some saints, God came to make Himself known. To Saint John of God, he was a child on the roadside in tattered clothes and barefooted. He requested that he be carried by John. He placed him on his shoulder but he was so heavy that John requested that they stop and rest for a glass of water.

Coming down from his shoulder, the child was transformed into a bright light and said, “John of God, Granada shall be your cross,” and disappeared.

Approaching the city gate, a shivering beggar, almost naked, caught Saint Martin de Tours’s attention. The beggar’s blue skin beneath tattered clothes eloquently testified how miserably he endured the bitter cold of a winter morning.

With his sword, the military officer divided his cloak and gave half to the beggar. That night, Jesus appeared to Martin in a dream.

Jesus told the angels, “Look, this is the mantle that Martin, still a catechumen, gave me.”

Not as a king or a leader did God come at the opportune time to convert, bring joy or comfort people.

He walked with two disciples in the village of Emmaus, and was even considered as the “only resident of Jerusalem who did not know what happened in the past few days”.

Mary returned early morning of the first day of the week after Jesus death to prepare his body for a decent burial according to Jewish custom. She mistook Jesus as a gardener and said: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you laid him and I will take him” (John 20:15).

In the city of Naim, Jesus saw a burial entourage for the only son of a widow. Moved by pity for the mother’s sorrow, Jesus touched the coffin and said: “Young man, I tell you arise.”

The dead man sat up and began to speak. In fear, the people praised God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has risen in our midst!”

(Luke 7:1-16).

God in your guise

If you have a date with God, how would you prepare for it? But, God appears unexpectedly and when least expected. He catches His friends off guard. The reason for His presence? Always, He is pleased for love and concern shared.

And surely, He wants to appear in your guise to brighten others’ lives. For didn’t He say, love others as you love yourself? n Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater RedemptorisCollegium in Calauan, Laguna and Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

RegionsSunday BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Sunday, June 4, 2017 A9

AN aerial shot of Santiago City shows its transformation from slow- phased developed town into an independent-component city.

The long and winding road to Santiago City

By Suzanne June G. Perante | Photos by Leonardo Perante II

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STUDENT like me who goes to school at the University of the Philippines in Baguio always looks forward to the school break when I go home to Santiago City (Isabela).

THE famous Ambuklao Hydro-electric Dam in Bokod, Benguet is the major source of power in the Northern Luzon grid.

NORTHERN Luzon Transport Operators and Drivers Multipurpose Cooperative (Noltransco) Sec. Gen. Mila Ancheta and Gen. Manager Daniel Gaffud show a customized van (inset) designed to service travelers and tourists. It is the first Land Transport Service Operator accredited by the Department of Tourism, Land Transportation Office, and Land Transportation Franchise Board.

On the contrary, people from the lowlands would rather spend their vacation up in the City of Pines to beat the summer heat.

On my trip back home from Baguio City during this summer break, I took an air-conditioned passenger van of Northern Luzon Transport Operators and Drivers Multipurpose Cooperative (Noltransco) at Governor Pack Road opposite Baguio City High School. Noltranco provides transport services to travelers and tourists from Northern Luzon with practically brandnew vehicles. It is the first land transport service operator accredited by the Department of Tourism, the Land Transportation Office, the Land Transportation Franchise Board, PTC and The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System.

The customized van interior was impressive: It had a waste

box, extra umbrellas, a first-aid kit and a Coleman icebox. The trip was literally a joy ride. It gave me a chance to view the mountain scape, laden with full-grown pine trees and productive view of hillside farms along the way down.

As the vehicle reached the boundaries of Benguet and Nueva Vizcaya, we experienced a bit of rough pavements and roadsides being repaired from last year’s landslides. After an hour on the upland terrain, the majestic view of the famous Ambuklao Hydroelectric Dam in Bokod, Benguet, came into the picture.

It is the major source of power in the Northern Luzon grid. The dam spill gate releases rampaging cascades and the water goes down to Agno River downstream in Pangasinan. This upland town also serves as a gateway to Mount Pulag, the highest peak in Luzon.

After two hours on the upland

ON top of a hill in Cordon, Isabela stands the towering image of the rising Jesus Christ.

ON a farm tour, Marifren enjoys the Pick-and-Pay promo of a cut-flower farm in Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya (top photo) while Dustinne Joy looks amazed picking strawberries in the upland town.

highway, we crossed the borders of Kayapa, the Summer Capital and Salad Bowl of Nueva Vizvaya.

With a semi-temperate climate covering large portions of its rolling terrain, salad-type vegetables, like cabbage, carrots, cauliflowers, broccoli and lettuce, are grown organically year-round.

This upland municipality is also home to strawberries and cut-flowers in enormous volumes.

Incidentally, two of my schoolmates in high school Dustine Joy and Marifren love trekking the hilly town to pick-and-pay strawberries and cut-flowers for fun.

We then reached Bambang town, the gateway to the Cagayan Valley Region, known for

its natural attractions, like the Salinas Salt Springs that straddles a mountain side. Local and foreign tourists used to troop to the mountain of salt, white as snow, but the devastating quake in 1990 that hit this part of the country has stopped the salty fountain from flowing again.

The town, likewise, hosts the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal (NVAT) that serves as a trade center for the province. From Bambang proper, we turned left northward the Maharlika Highway to the direction of Bayombong, the capital town of Nueva Vizcaya.

A few kilometers before reaching the heart of town in Barangay

Busilac is the citrus alley, home of the Perante Oranges, bred and propagated by my late grandfather Leonardo Perante. Indeed, Nueva Vizcaya has earned the title Citrus Capital of the Philippines.

A newly renovated four-lane highway welcomed us to Barangay Magsaysay, also in Bayombong, where our ancestral home is located. A newly established provincial “Pasalubong Center” in our village now caters to motorists. As we entered the capital town, a number of college campuses were on queue, making the municipality the educational center of the province.

After Bayombong, the firstclass and highly urbanized town of Solano loomed. The commercial center of the province houses a number of commercial banks and malls that attract investors, as well. The next picture on the road showcased the popular buko pie trade center of Bagabag town.

It is, likewise, home to Bagabag Domestic Airport, which serves as a gateway to the eighth Wonder of the World—the Banaue Rice Terraces. Bagabag town is also known for sweet, large pineapples.

Afterwards we traversed the mighty Magat River in Baretbet, Bagabag, said to be the longest river in the country. The province also serves as a watershed that supplies water to the Magat Hydroelectric Dam that energizes thousands of homes with 540 megawatts of electrical power and irrigates 85,000 hectares of farmlands in Isabela and Quirino provinces, formerly the biggest multipurpose in Southeast Asia.

Gifted with rich soil and a favorable climate, the province is now home to superior-quality Vizcaya rice produced three cropping seasons a year.

When we encountered ambulant vendors offering steamed sweet glutinous corn and finger-food products, like banana chips, nuts and quail eggs, to passengers, I knew we were already in Diadi town, host to the Magat Ecotourism Park.

As the van crossed the highway boundaries of Isabela, we entered a virtual holy land called Punta Amelita, a mountain resort with a towering image of the rising Jesus on top of a hill at the background. The religious landmark signaled we were in Cordon, the first town of Isabela from the south. After a six-hour ride, we arrived safe and sound in my hometown Santiago City, the first independent component city in the Cagayan Valley region.

I was home.

A10 Sunday, June 4, 2017

RegionsSunday BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Sampaloc Cove: sampaloc beach

reclaiming paradise S

Story and photos by Henry Empeño Correspondent

UBIC, Zambales—Sampaloc Cove is a lush, but forbidding, land. Located at the southernmost tip of Subic’s Redondo Peninsula where the tranquility of Subic Bay meets the turmoil of the open sea, Sampaloc Cove is at once a hidden paradise of sprawling white-gray beaches stroked by the foaming turquoise sea and a remote habitat that tests the very survival of the indigenous Ayta people.

“It’s a hard life that we live here,” said Tom Romamban, half-Ayta from San Marcelino, Zambales, who serves as the de-facto leader of the Sampaloc community.

There is no road here, only a trail leading to the centro of Barangay Cawag, of which Sampaloc Cove is a part.

Thus, the 84 families of mostly Ayta tribesmen and the few lowlanders, with whom they have intermarried over the years, lacked easy access to education, health services and even the bigger sari-sari stores at the barangay proper.

The people here subsist on kaingin farming and charcoal-making,

and sell their products at the Subic town market about two hours away by motorized banca.

“Some families fish nearby, but we don’t have boats that are big enough for commercial fishing.

So the local catch is mostly for dinner,” the lanky tribal chieftain Romamban said. “If we catch more than enough, we give our neighbors some.”

Lately, five teachers had come to Sampaloc Cove to teach elementary grades, but that was only after Romamban converted his own concrete house into a school building and built a hut at the beach for his own family.

He also built a smaller hut

nearby, where the teachers could stay for the five days each week they conduct classes.

Difficult lives

LIFE has always been difficult for the people of Sampaloc Cove.

Marlyn Clemente, a diminutive Ayta woman from the Pastolan Ayta tribe in Hermosa, Bataan, who had married Romamban, said the first settlers here were Ayta scavengers from Olongapo City who made a living off the scraps left by the US Navy, which occupied then what is now the Subic Bay Freeport.

“Panahon pa ng mga Kano ay nandito na ang mga Ayta [The Ayta have been here even during the time of the Americans],” Marlyn said.

At that time, the Redondo Peninsula was a military reservation and the US Navy used it for target practice for fighter planes, bombers and ship-borne artillery. It was generally off-limits to Filipinos, but the Americans hired some Ayta natives to gather spent brass shells and other waste materials for proper disposal inside the base.

Marlyn’s father was one of them. “Pagkatapos pumutok ang Pinatubo, nagpirmi na ang pamilya namin dito [After Mount Pinatubo erupted (in 1991, and the subsequent closure of the naval base in 1992), our family settled here for good],” she said.

Helping hands

THE isolation of Sampaloc Cove spelled difficulty and want, even as the Aytas tried to make

a living from the bounties of the jungle that soon overtook the military preserve.

Over the years, some people arrived to help the Aytas overcome their fate. One of them is Pastor David Ebbay, a native of Candelaria, Zambales, who was among a boatload of tourists from Manila who arrived in Sampaloc sometime in 2015. Ebbay said meeting Romamban that time gave him a new mission to which he would since commit himself.

“Tom told me they didn’t have any church in the village, and could I help them build one?” the preacher recalled. He said yes, came back after a few months with some donations from Manila to start the church building project, and never left since then.

Aside from tending to the spiritual needs of residents, the preacher also taught them hygiene and horticulture.

“We built a common toilet and showed them how to plant vegetables,” Ebbay said.

But he soon found out it was hard raising vegetables and crops, like rice or corn, in the area because of its rocky soil.

“So they reverted to trading in uling as their main source of livelihood because while they live near the sea, only a few own boats and what they have are small,” Ebbay explained.

The church has a bigger boat the pastor had allowed the Aytas to use in selling their produce at the market in Subic town, but that also conked out soon.

“If only they have a bigger boat so that they can catch more fish,

food queue

then food won’t be scarce in this place,” Ebbay said.

Hope in tourism

WITH the charcoal pits and slashand-burn farms providing only hardscrabble living, Romamban and his tribe have lately turned to the beach and the sea to realize their dreams of a better life.

While hardly accessible due to its distance—about two hours by motorized banca from Subic, Zambales, and at least 45 minutes by speedboat from the Subic Bay Freeport—Sampaloc Cove is the perfect playground for tourists who dare explore its remote shore.

Continued on A11

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Sunday, June 4, 2017 A11

Sampaloc Cove: Reclaiming paradise Continued from A10

As some foreign visitors discovered during the time of the US Navy, Sampaloc Cove is perfect for swimming, diving, snorkeling, sports fishing, picnic and camping. Farther inland, past a forest of bamboo and tall grasses and after just a 15-minute hike, there is the Sampaloc Falls whose mountain spring water cascades 12 feet down a sheer rock face into a swimming hole below.

This is a virtual paradise for tourists, and one foreigner cashed in on this attraction by building a resort in the area. When the place was abandoned a few years ago, the local Aytas took over the trade, building a few beach huts they rented out to visitors.

Romamban said their backyard-tourism project had provided the Aytas an income of as much as P4,000 each week during peak-tourist season, during summer months and year-end holidays only. This is from entrance fees they collected from visitors, as well as from the rental of huts along the beach. However, there are times when they cannot force visitors to pay.

“Nahihiya kami, lalo na’t mga Pilipino ang bisita. Kapag hindi sila nagkusang magbigay, hindi na kami humihingi [We become shy to ask for paying, especially when the visitors are fellow Filipinos. If they don’t volunteer paying, we don’t ask for it anymore]” Romamban confided.

The seasonal income mostly go to medicines for the community, supplies for a grade school that the locals have put up recently, and some allowance for the tribe members who keep the beach area clean.

In other words, it is not enough to sustain them through the year, Romamban added.

Keeping it green

FACED with this problem, the Sampaloc Cove community is now learning from new friends on how to make the area more attractive

sampaloc kids reading.

agoho trees

to tourists, to develop a more sustainable system and establish its place as a tourist paradise.

This help is coming from groups of business-locators and sports enthusiasts in the Subic Bay Freeport, who have come to love the beauty and serenity of Sampaloc Cove.

“We’re teaching them responsible tourism—how caring for the environment would actually protect their place and make it a better source of income,” said Zed Avecilla, director of the Subic Sailing Club (SSC) and also an officer of the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce (SBFCC).

The two groups had initiated a cleanup program in the area, conducted feeding projects for residents, and constantly promoted the place as an ideal tourist getaway. Last month members of the two organizations launched the “Ocean of Love” campaign to promote environmental awareness and responsible tourism by sponsoring an open-water swim from the Grande Island in Subic Bay to Sampaloc Cove.

The SSC and the SBFCC have also pledged to build five community toilets in Sampaloc to help maintain sanitation and keep the area visitor-friendly.

“Our responsible tourism campaign is designed to impress upon Sampaloc residents that tourism is an integral tool for development, and that it provides opportunity for growth and livelihood,” Avecilla said. “At the same time, we urge the visitors to be travelers who give as much as they take from the places they visit, to form ties that bind, and to leave love the residents will remember,” he added.

Romamban said the villagers are keeping their environmental lessons close to their heart.

“We’d like to keep this place as unspoiled as it can be,” Romamban said, adding his tribe is averse to the idea of building permanent structures that will cater to the hoped-for surge in visitor volume.

“This paradise is our home, and we have to take care of it.”

swim hole

an Ayta woman resting on a hammock.

zed avecilla preaching green tourism.

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Culture, the arts are serious business

in Calbayog City Story and photos by Elmer V. Recuerdo

C

Correspondent

ALBAYOG CITY, Samar— Matters of the arts and culture are serious business in this city—so serious that the city government is spending good money for its preservation, popularization and sustainability. No other local government in the country can match.

hadang inodoro

While other cities and towns in the country would only take time to notice culture and the arts during fiestas to attract and entertain visitors, cultural and artistic activities here go year-round albeit in less scale on ordinary days.

The city government has created a separate department for culture and the arts—the Calbayog City Arts and Culture Office (Caco)—perhaps, the only local government unit in the country to have such a department.

Artists, writers, musicians and other groups have also emerged outside of the government and are active on many activities in their respective art form. There are the Calbayog Arts Association; Calbayog City Visual Arts Association; Lamiraw Writers Organization; Calbayog Literary Arts Organization; choirs, like the Cecilian Cultural Group Kita Choir and Calbayog Concert Chorus; and theater group Samareno Teatro Makabugwas.

The younger generations can easily relate to young musicians of the school-based Christ the King College Youth Symphony Orchestra, the aspiring rappers group Calba Rhyme Music and Samarak, formed by different local bands and musicians to promote the rock-music scene of Samar.

“Strong culture and the arts make the city more vibrant,” said Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino, a big supporter of cultural preservation like his predecessors, former mayors Reynaldo Uy and Mel Senen Sarmiento. “This also helps in promoting tourism not only for the city, but also for the whole region.”

Aquino said the money the city government spends on culture and the arts is a “worthy investment”, especially when the city is making a serious bid to become an important tourist destination.

The city has also earmarked a budget to improve facilities and access to its 11 natural waterfalls, pristine rivers and tourist comeons, like the zipline that starts from a hill and crosses a sea down to an island.

Like in big cosmopolitan cities, there are nooks where artists converge to share their work and chat among themselves about their plans on ongoing projects.

Artist groups are as diverse as the

art forms there are. But this is Samar—not some highly urbanized cities in the country—where “normal” news stories that land on the national newspapers are on insurgency, killings and poverty.

As the center of the culture and the arts in Eastern Visayas, a lot of artists known in the country came from this city. Among the more popular include film director Chito Roño, who continues to support the local arts scene with money and in sharing his talent; actress Tessie Tomas; singer Nonoy Zuniga; visual artists Raul Isidro and Edwin Tuazon; sculptor Florence Cinco; poet Harold Mercurio; and many others.

Calbayog artists reckon over six decades have transpired when the first breakthrough of arts performances and creations was started by Jose Gomez, the famous “music man of Samar”, in 1948. Jonas Lim, department head of City Arts and Culture Office, credits Gomez for infusing many compositions that inspired other artistic creations after World War II. His musical output included church hymns, guerrilla marches, graduation marches and more than 5,000 songs.

Gomez’s composition “Calbayog Ko” remains well known even to the millennials and serves as the city’s “anthem”. It is sung before duties start at city hall.

Gomez organized the Cecilian Cultural Group, which, together with Rayhak Dance Group of former Bayanihan dancer Teresita Silayan, formed the pioneering cultural groups in the whole Samar island. The successful public appearances of the two groups gave birth to the so-called Waray Soul.

These two cultural groups were distinguished for concentrating solely on rich Waray musical and dances they created. Cecilian Choral Group’s rendition of Ahay, for example, captured the real anguish of a love forsaken.

And when Rayhak Dance Troupe does the difficult steps of La Jota Ceciliana, each sway of the body, hands and feet, and the expression on the dancer’s faces are executed in a regale and noble movement that made this “Jota” the dance of the aristocracy in Calbayog for centuries.

The years that followed saw an enormous harvest of artistic cre-

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ations in all genre—music, painting, dance, theater, mixed media and multimedia productions— making Calbayog the “talent bank capital” in Eastern Visayas.

The declaration of martial law in 1972 saw a number of local artists going underground that somehow widened more the artistic space as it also saw the rise of revolutionary poetry, songs and dances in Waray revolving around the theme of militarization, human-rights violations, peasant landlessness and the call for uprising. Above ground, cultural groups, like the Samareno Teatro Makabugwas, were touring communities and campuses in various parts of the country to educate people on social realities through songs and dances.

The Caco was formed in 1994 as a division under the office of then-City Mayor Mel Sarmiento, who later became the secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government during the administration of former President Benigno S. Aquino III. In 1996 the culture and the arts division was made into a separate division of

the city government.

Lim, who heads the Caco, said the government is mandated by the Constitution to help cultural artists and workers. “What happens is artists create artworks during their prime, but are left to fend on their own when they become old and sickly,” he said.

“Our advocacy is from volunteerism, pwede naman pala maprofessionalize ang culture and the art para ang dating ng trabaho ng culture and the arts ay hindi raket-raket,” he said. “Kasi ang nangyayari raket-raket lang kaya nasa-sacrifice ang integrity ng artistic work.”

Lim said his office is doing “artreach programs”, like training teachers for free. They also provide technical assistance to barangays planning to mount cultural activities for different community celebrations.

To keep the sustainability of the culture and the arts for generations to come, Caco is giving scholarships to poor, but deserving college students.

“This is the only way to sustain all the gains that we reaped in cul-

costumed actor

ture and the arts all these years,” he said.

The scholars are left to decide on the course they want to pursue. Each scholar is entitled to free tuition, book allowance, a monthly stipend and P3,000 cash grant per semester courtesy of Rep. Edgar S. Sarmiento of Samar.

As part of the deal, a scholar has to report every day, including Saturday and Sunday, after their

classes to train on arts or any art form—painting, poetry, music, theater, production, stage management and dance.

Since it started in 2001, the program has already sent 136 youth to finish a degree; all of them passed their respective professional board examinations.

With young blood ready to take the helm, culture and the arts in Calbayog is in very capable hands.