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May inflation at 3.2%; high prices to persist H T

Re-strategizing the program of manufacturing for exports

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

IGH commodity prices may continue for the rest of the year given the expected increase in consumption demand and other factors that will make various food and nonfood items more expensive, according to local economists.

The impact of higher consumption has already affected inflation in May, which averaged 3.2 percent from 3 percent in April, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This is the first time

inflation increased since the August-to-September period last year.

De La Salle University School of Economics Prof. Ma. Ella CalaorOplas said the higher spending of households, including the Chinese

workers in the country, will continue to stoke the increase in prices in the coming months.

“There is no need to be surprised about the jump in the inflation. It is something expected because of the

“Faster price adjustments in food and nonalcoholic beverages drove the uptick in headline inflation as weak El Niño conditions persisted, and brought significant damage to the agriculture sector in the midst of the election period’s strong consumption demand.”—Pernia

economic activity brought by the school opening,” Oplas said. “But we don’t only account inflation to the school opening. Remember that the inflow of ‘Chinese citizens’—although, I don’t have strong statistics on this right now—have driven not only the prices of real estate higher—sharp increase—but consumption as well.”

HE US-China trade war continues to sow chaos in the world market. In particular, the global value chain (GVC) system, which some economists claim account for 80 percent of world trade, is being disrupted sector by sector. This explains why American companies, such as Apple, that have set up their own global production and marketing system based on a complicated program of subcontracting involving so many producers in different countries are wary, if not outrightly critical, of Donald J. Trump’s tariff offensive against China, the EU, Canada and other countries.

Continued on A7

PHL prodded to dangle perks to e-vehicle firms

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

T

T

See “BSP,” A2

LABOREM EXERCENS

See “Inflation,” A2

BSP’s not worried by inflation uptick

HE Bangko Sentra l ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed no worry on Wednesday, after the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported an uptick in inflation for the first time in six months.

Inflation took a 3.2-percent print in May—an uptick from the 3 percent in the previous month but lower than the 4.6 percent in the previous year. The data showed that inflation snapped its six-month declining trend in May. The country’s inflation started to decline in November 2018 after hitting its peak of 6.7 percent in September and October last year.

The decline was a result of concerted efforts from economic managers to put in place monetary and nonmonetary policy levers to bring down the growth of prices.

The BSP, for its part, made rate hikes to the tune of 175 basis points in 2018—one of its most aggressive cycles to date—to curb inflationary pressures.

Now that inflation has risen for the first time in half a year, the BSP remained confident that a month’s inflation rise is not a cause for alarm for the country’s inflation targeters.

Rene E. Ofreneo

FESTIVE MOOD Thousands of Filipino Muslims gather at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, Manila, on Wednesday (June 5, 2019) for the salat al-fajr or morning prayer during Eid’l Fitr, the joyous celebration observed by Muslims worldwide at the end of the Ramadan fasting month. Eid’l Fitr was declared a holiday. ROY DOMINGO

Next on DOF’s list: Excise tax hike on liquor

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

& VG Cabuag @villygc

A

FTER the approval of the measure further increasing excise tax rates on cigarette products, the other aspect of the government’s “sin” tax reform measure—the excise tax hike on alcoholic beverages, will

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.0160

be tackled during the 18th Congress, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

And one of those most affected by such a prospective hike, conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), has served notice it will cooperate with the government’s move to slap excise taxes on liquor products, even if it meant a fall in consumption, but warned the increase should be reasonable.

Ramon S. Ang, San Miguel’s presi-

dent and COO, said beer giant SMC is amenable to any type of increase as long as the consumer can absorb it.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said increasing taxes on tobacco products is only one aspect of sin tax reform, as higher taxes on alcohol products still have to be tackled and approved by the incoming 18th Congress.

See “Liquor,” A2

@alyasjah

HE government must provide tax holidays and monetary support to carmakers if it intends to make the Philippines a manufacturing hub for electric vehicles, according to industry players from South Korea.

In a high-level meeting in Seoul on Tuesday, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez made a pitch to South Korean businessmen to explore locating operations in the Philippines. He specified investing in the e-vehicle industry, which the government is eyeing to develop.

Opportunities in the industry, Lopez added, will arise from the tariff modification of e-vehicle products under the Asean Free Trade Agreement (Afta) and consideration of a target date for full e-vehicle utilization and registration in the country.

However, these efforts are not enough. The International Electric Vehicle Association and South Korean e-vehicle players, such as Hyundai Motor Co., POSCO E&C and Phillips Group, are asking the government to go beyond granting tax incentives in attracting investors.

Apparently, incentives are not enough to develop industries that manufacture products of the future.

The e-vehicle powerhouses

₧27B

The fiscal support provided to participants in the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) program. DTI Chief Lopez has floated the idea of coming up with a similar initiative recommended providing tax holidays and monetary support per unit made.

It added the government should share the cost of putting up charging outlets and battery-replacement stations, the same package offered by the South Korean and some Southeast Asian governments to investors in the e-vehicle industry.

“Accordingly, these countries have local programs to strengthen the industry to encourage the shift to e-vehicle, such as free registration and free parking,” the Department of Trade and Industry said in a statement.

CARS program

LOPEZ floated the idea of coming up with another initiative similar to the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy program. The CARS program made available P27 billion in fiscal support to participants, with each enrolled model receiving no more than P9 billion.

See “E-vehicle,” A8

n JAPAN 0.4814 n UK 65.8835 n HK 6.6378 n CHINA 7.5353 n SINGAPORE 38.0679 n AUSTRALIA 36.2864 n EU 58.4764 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.8710

Source: BSP (4 June 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Thursday, June 6, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Fewer Pinoys looking for jobs in April–PSA

T

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

HERE was a decline in the number of Filipinos looking for jobs and better employment opportunities, according to the preliminary data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday.

In a briefing, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said there was a 74,000 decrease in the number of unemployed Filipinos and 1.226 million in the number of the underemployed.

Inflation. . .

Continued from A1

Oplas said she recently chanced upon a research on “the scary realestate bubble” in the Philippines, which found that the “Chinese were really driving the sharp increases in real-estate prices.”

She explained that the presence of foreign workers from mainland China is already being felt in malls, as well as in the opening of various restaurants and other services that just cater to their needs.

Oplas also said the multiplier effect of government consumption this year due to various infrastructure projects, as well as the usual increase in commodity prices as the “ber” months approach may also prevent the government from meeting its inflation targets for the year.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) aims to keep inflation at an average of 2 to 4 percent this year. Inflation in the January-to May-period which averaged 3.6 percent was still within government targets.

“Their [Chinese] presence and expenditures add to inflation. It’s not solely Pinoys spending,” Oplas said.

“But I believe in our BSP to save the day and manage the inflation through monetary policy.”

African swine fever IN a statement on Wednesday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said the threat of African swine fever (ASF) entering the country is also an upside risk for inflation in the coming months.

The ASF is fatal to swine, which can die in about two days, but is not harmful to human beings. There is no known vaccine against the disease.

On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol confirmed to the BusinessMirror that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has approved the Bureau of Animal Industry’s (BAI) proposal to allocate P85.14 million to strengthen quarantine mea-

Liquor. . .

Continued from A1

The DOF has proposed a tax of at least P40 per liter on alcoholic drinks, under Package 2 plus under the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP).

“It’s a work in progress,” Dominguez said of the tax reforms.

Last month, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said that apart from raising revenues to fund the Universal Health Care (UHC) program of the government, further increasing excise tax rates on both tobacco and alcohol products is first a health measure meant to keep Filipinos, especially the youth, from smoking and drinking alcohol.

In March this year, the DOF supported Sen. Emmanuel D. Pacquiao’s proposal raising excise tax on alcoholic beverages, which is seen to provide additional revenues of around P237 billion over a five-year period and minimize binge drinking.

According to the DOF, Senate Bill (SB) 2197 will raise around P32.3 billion in the first year of its implementation in 2019, P40 billion in 2020, P47.4 billion in 2021, P54.6 billion in

However, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said despite the good numbers from the April Labor Force Survey (LFS), the Philippines cannot rest on its laurels. Efforts to improve sures against ASF. Piñol said the DBM has given its nod to the fund, which will be included in the 2020 budget for the government’s ASF-prevention plan dubbed BABES —which stands for ban pork imports, avoid swill feeding, block entry at international ports, educate our people and submit samples.

“With the possible global pork shortage and the ban on importation of pork products from ASF-affected areas, domestic production of livestock should be beefed up to meet household and commercial demand,” Pernia said.

He added that the increase of rice prices in the international market, and the volatility in global oil prices are also upside risks to inflation in the coming months.

However, Pernia said that with the influx of imported rice, the DA must increase its assistance to the less competitive rice farmers in their shift to planting other high-value crops.

“The Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund must be properly utilized in a timely manner to support the affected farmers as mandated by the rice tariffication law,” Pernia said.

the labor market must continue in order to meet the government’s targets.

“Both quality and quantity of work need to be addressed. At the same time that employment opportunities are being increased, workers and jobseekers must be enabled to improve their knowledge and skills through training and education,” Pernia said.

The government programs such as the Government Internship Program, JobStart Philippines Program and apprenticeships, need to be enhanced to strengthen the labor market while also making it more flexible, he added.

Pernia also highlighted the need for a more comprehensive income protection program through a more vigilant enforcement of work safety regulations, aggressive employment facilitation and unemployment in-

posted a growth of 1.5 percent and 7 percent in May, respectively.

“El Niño is a recurring problem that requires an immediate and long-term response. The country needs to have a more robust solution to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather conditions and climate change considering that the Philippines is prone to natural disasters,” Pernia said.

“Faster price adjustments in food and nonalcoholic beverages drove the uptick in headline inflation as weak El Niño conditions persisted, and brought significant damage to the agriculture sector in the midst of the election period’s strong consumption demand,” he added.

Base effects

IN a briefing, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said the main factors for the increase in inflation in May were higher food and nonalcoholic beverages, which increased to 3.4 percent, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels which increased to 3.3 percent.

Mapa said specific items under the food and nonalcoholic beverages index that fueled inflation were other cereals, flour, cereal preparation, bread, pastry and other bakery products, which increased to 3.7 percent; fish, 4.2 percent; fruits, 4.6 percent; vegetables, 12.5 percent; and food products not elsewhere classified, 6.8 percent.

In terms of the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index, Mapa said electricity and firewood contributed the most to the increase as these

OTHER economists such as Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (Acerd) Director Alvin P. Ang and private-sector economist Calixto V. Chikiamco traced the increase in inflation mainly due to base effects.

Ang said inflation is expected to slow down in the coming months since inflation in the third and fourth quarters are very high.

In 2018, inflation averaged 5.1 percent but peaked at 6.7 percent in September and October. September marked the end of the third quarter while October was the beginning of the last quarter of the year.

“Look at the month to month figures. I think it still shows a deceleration. May [inflation data could] just be a base effect from last year’s figures,” Chikiamco added.

Mirroring inflation at the national level, consumer prices in Metro Manila registered an uptick to 3.4 percent.

This was slightly higher compared to the 3.1 percent in the previous month but lower than the 4.9-percent posted in the same month last year.

In areas outside of Metro Manila, inflation was at 3.1 percent in May, higher than the 3 percent in April but slower than the 4.6 percent posted in May 2018. The average inflation in these areas reached 3.5 percent.

2022 and P62.4 billion in 2023, for a total of P236.6 billion.

Under SB 2197, an ad valorem tax equivalent to 25 percent of the net retail price per proof liter and a specific tax of P40 per proof liter will be imposed on distilled spirits starting this year.

The specific tax will increase by P5 per proof liter every year thereafter until 2022. Starting 2023, the specific tax will be increased by 10 percent every year.

Meanwhile, the finance chief thanked both the House of Representatives and the Senate for passing this week a new sin tax reform bill that provides substantially higher excise tax rates on tobacco products. The proceeds of this will be earmarked primarily to fill the huge funding gap in the UHC program.

“I think we made history. I think it is only in this administration that tobacco taxes were raised twice. We’re quite thankful to the Senate and also to the House [of Representatives] for putting this bill over the line,” Dominguez added.

SB 2233, approved unanimously by senators on third and final reading on Tuesday, provides for a unitary P45 excise tax increase per pack on tobacco products in 2020, followed by a series of P5 hikes until the rate reaches P60 in 2023,

and a 5-percent annual increase thereafter.

The House concurred in the Senate version after senators reconsidered their earlier finalreading approval of the bill on Monday night, in order to address the concerns raised by representatives from the tobacco-producing provinces of Northern Luzon.

Dominguez also recognized the Senate’s progressive proposal during the period of amendments on the bill to introduce taxes on electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), such as vapor and heated tobacco products, which are now becoming increasingly popular among the youth.

The approved measure also placed a P10 tax for every 10 milliliters of vaping liquids.

The unitary excise tax rate on tobacco products was earlier increased under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law from P30 per pack of cigarettes to P32.50 beginning January 1, 2018, and to P35.00 beginning July 1, 2018.

Earlier, the finance chief said that from 2020 to 2024, all current sources of government funding can cover UHC at around P200 billion annually, while the cost of the program will start at P257 billion in 2020 and grow at an average of around P11 billion to P12 billion per

May 2019 inflation

surance to protect workers from unsafe working conditions and economic disruptions.

This was the same sentiment of IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa. He told the BusinessMirror that while the PSA data must be welcomed, there were “alarming trends” hiding behind the figures.

“The reversal of four consecutive rounds of declining and then even negative job creation has to be welcomed. The reported 1.3 million increase in employment and 74,000 decrease in unemployment is no reason to be complacent, though, because there are some alarming trends beneath this,” Africa said.

He said for one, agriculture employment dropped further with a reduction of 376,000 which, Africa said, is the lowest in decades.

He added that manufacturing employment declined by 101,000, the largest since the 189,000 decline recorded in 2008.

PSA data showed employment in the agriculture sector slowed to 86.9 percent in April 2019, from 88.7 percent in April 2018.

In the manufacturing sector, PSA data showed employment slowed to 43.7 percent in April 2019, from 45.3 percent in April 2018.

IBON Foundation also pointed out that while there was a 602,000 increase in employment in trade; 446,000 additional jobs in transportation and storage; and 207,000 more work opportunities in construction, these would not pass off as quality employment providing decent wages.

“Employment increased most in wholesale and retail trade, which

Pork import. . .

Watchdog to Comelec: Reprimand Cardema, disqualify Duterte Youth

Continued from A8

41% of pork source

SOURCES said the import suspension would effectively shut down the country’s top import sources, particularly Germany—the No. 1 supplier of pork to the Philippines.

The BusinessMirror’s analysis of data indicated that Germany, the Netherlands and France, which may be covered by the proposed ban, accounted for 41.4 percent of the country’s total pork imports last year.

Pork imported from the three Eu ropea n cou nt r ies reac hed 126,463.341 metric tons last year, with Germany accounting for 77,452.402 MT of the total volume.

Piñol said the three-month ban gives the DA enough time to establish more stringent quarantine measures against the fatal hog disease.

The DA has ordered the deployment of 15 meat-sniffing dogs in major airports and is planning to procure x-ray machines to complement efforts by the Bureau of Customs to avert the entry of meat products carried by passengers.

“I would ask for an exemption from the Government Procurement Act from the President to fast-track these efforts. We need to make emergency purchases,” Piñol said.

The agriculture chief said he would take full responsibility if the Commission on Audit (COA) flags the DA for its emergency procurement related to its ASF-prevention efforts.

“I am even willing to sign a document that would absolve all my employees from any responsibility on emergency purchases in preparation for ASF,” he said. “The moment ASF hits the country, we cannot argue to the stakeholders that COA hindered us from doing our jobs.”

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—An electoral watch group has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reprimand a party-list officer and to disqualify his group for mocking the party-list system with what is believed to be the use of dummies to allow political wannabes to sit in Congress.

“If only Comelec could see through the travesty, they would immediately dismiss Ronald Cardema’s last-minute petition for the outright mockery,” the watch group, Kontra Daya, wrote on its public posting to protest the application of Cardema for substitution.

“To assuage any suspicion of betrayal of public trust, Comelec should not just strongly reprimand Cardema for his insulting audacity but also disqualify Duterte Youth for the resulting mockery,” it said.

Kontra Daya said that as Cardema “tries to engage in legal acrobatics, he treats the Comelec as an institutional marionette whose strings are pulled from his political patrons.”

“Resolution No. 10529 yesterday [June 4] ‘giving due course’ to the application for substitution of Ronald Cardema to be the first nominee of Duterte Youth begs a fundamental question: Why should the poll body spend even just one second entertaining a petition that makes a mockery of the party-list

BSP. . .

Continued from A1

year, amounting to a five-year total of around P1.44 trillion by 2024.

Without substantially adjusting the current sin tax rates, Dominguez said the cumulative funding gap by 2024 will reach P426 billion.

San Miguel OK with liquor tax hike

“OUR beer taxes are almost on a par with the region,” Ang told reporters after the annual stockholders’ meeting of San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc. He said per-capita consumption of beer by the Filipinos is only at 20 liters, or just half compared with the Vietnamese consumption of 40 liter.

“When I went to Vietnam in 1998, their beer consumption was only 1 liter per capita.

20 years later it is now 40 liters per capita,” he said.

He said the volume may go down as a result of the additional excise taxes, but the public will eventually adjust with the increase.

Ang, however, warned that if the taxes are too much, the public may drink other type of liquor products. He said liquor consumption in the country is too low and it is very hard to increase due to the affordability of the products.

“The inflation outturn for May 2019 continues to be in line with the BSP’s current assessment that inflation will settle within the target range of 2 to 4 percentage points for 2019 and 2020,” BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said in a statement.

“Looking ahead, the BSP will continue to monitor evolving price trends to ensure that the monetarypolicy stance remains consistent with its price stability objective,” he added.

Economists and analysts are also not worried with the uptick.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

(RCBC) economist Michael Ricafort said inflation is expected to continue declining on average for the rest of the year.

“Inflation rate in the coming months of 2019 may likely resume its easing/declining trend largely due to the bigger inflation denominator/base effects,” Ricafort said. “Thus, year-on-year

is the second lowest-paying service subsector next to household domestic work,” Africa said.

“It is much more urgent for the government to correct these instead of over-relying on the short-term stimulus of infrastructure spending,” he added.

However, Pernia said the services sector, which comprised of 58.5 percent of the country’s total employment, was the biggest contributor in terms of additional employment amid a more bullish business outlook in the second quarter of 2019.

“The expansion may be attributed to increased business activities in line with the campaign period for the Philippine midterm elections. Adding to this is the increase in consumer demand during summer and harvest seasons,” said Pernia.

system?” the group said.

To give the “benefit of hindsight,” Kontra Daya said Cardema’s “salivation for a seat in the House of Representatives against all legal odds now makes it clear that the Duterte Youth fielded dummy nominees in October 2018 who were all conveniently replaced by a new set of nominees at the 11th hour.”

“Cardema’s overeagerness to be a youth-sector party-list representative does not erase his being overaged to do so,” the group said.

It insisted that it was “ bad enough” for Comelec to accord due course to the application for substitution of Cardema.

“What makes matters worse is Comelec spokesperson, James Jimenez’s initial announcement that Cardema’s petition for substitution has already been approved,” it said, pointing out that this prompted “some news media organizations to initially disseminate misleading information.”

It lauded the position of Commissioner Rowena Guanzon “not just to clarify the facts but also to dissent to Comelec Resolution No. 10529.” Also worth commending, it added, was Commissioner Luie Tito Guia who it said abstained “due to his past opposition to the accreditation of Duterte Youth as a party-list group.”

“As regard the five commissioners who signed [the resolution] they have further besmirched whatever is left of the reputation of the poll body,” it added. inflation is expected to decelerat e/slow down at a much faster rate to below 3 percent starting June 2019, deeper into 2 percent levels in most of third quarter 2019 and fourth quarter 2019.”

“There is even a chance for inflation to go down further to 1 percent levels in late third quarter 2019 to early fourth quarter 2019 due to the very high inflation denominator/base a year ago (when inflation reached a near decade-high of 6.7 percent in September 2018 and October 2019),” he added.

Meanwhile, ING Bank Manila economist Nicholas Mapa said that while the uptick in inflation was a surprise, it still does not derail the within-target inflation path for the year.

“The May reading caught the market offguard but falls within the BSP’s inflation forecast band.

Year-to-date inf lation remains within target and BSP’s forecasts still point to inflation settling well within target. The BSP remains committed to monitoring data and the inflation path and will act accordingly,” he said. Bianca Cuaresma

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

briefs D.O.J. READIES FILING OF P.H.D.O VS. 2 CHINESE DRUG LORDS, 16 OTHERS IN P1.8-B SHABU HEIST IN MARCH THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has vowed to push through with the filing of a motion for the issuance of a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) against the respondents in the drug smuggling complaint filed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in connection with the seizure of P1.8 billion shabu concealed in a tapioca shipment last March.

DOJ Acting Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said he would be meeting with the panel of prosecutors assigned to the case for the purpose of filing the PHDO. “We will confer with the panel created and give instructions to file for PHDO,” Fadullon said.

The PDEA filed at the DOJ criminal charges against suspected Chinese drug lord Xu Zhi Jian, alias Jacky Co, and 16 others for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, as amended.

Co’s co-accused are Dong-An Dong, Julie Hao Gamboa, Fe Tamayosa, Alvin Bautista, Jane Abello Castillo, Carlo Dale Zueta, Abraham Torecampo, Arwin Caparros, Leonardo Sucaldito, Mark Leo Magpayo, Brian Pabilona, Meldy Sayson, Rhea Tolosa, Edgardo Dominado, Jerry Siguenza and Debbie Joy Aceron. Joel R. San Juan

68,893 OVERSEAS, FOREIGN JOBS UP FOR GRABS IN JUNE 12 FAIR MORE than 68,000 local and overseas employment opportunities are available at 22 job fair sites nationwide on Independence Day, June 12.

The Department of Labor and Employment said in a news statement issued on Wednesday that a total of 560 participating employers will be bringing with them at least 68,893 job openings during the Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan (TNK) job and business fairs.

The nationwide event was organized by the department in time for the commemoration of the 121st anniversary of the Proclamation of Philippine Independence observed with the theme, “Kalayaan 2019 Tapang ng Bayan, Malasakit sa Mamamayan.”

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III advised jobseekers to visit any of the fairs slated in their areas to facilitate their search for employment as numerous employers are gathered in just one venue. Bernadette D. Nicolas

H.U.D.C.C. TO C.O.A.: DON‘T ‘DISALLOW’ P5M FUND RELEASE TO MARAWI I.D.Ps THE Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) is appealing to the Commission on Audit (COA) not to disallow its P5-million fund transfer to the National Commission on

Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) it had spent to send Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Marawi City to Mecca for the annual Islamic pilgrimage or Hajj.

This, despite the 2018 COA annual audit report stating that fund transfer was not among the authorized expenses enumerated in the original Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Office of the President (OP) and HUDCC, and that it has already issued a notice of disallowance dated February 18, 2019.

The COA said the fund transfer to NCMF for the purpose of sending IDPs to Mecca to attend the Hajj was contrary to the provisions of Presidential Decree 1445 and Section 6 of the General Provision of 2018 General Appropriations Act, considering that the said activity was not in accordance with the purpose for which the TFBM fund was intended for.

TFBM Head and HUDCC Chairman Eduardo del Rosario argued on Wednesday that the P5 million released by TFBM to NCMF was part of the social healing process in the overall rehabilitation of Marawi.

“We sponsored IDPs who were then living in the evacuation centers and transitional shelter. We had a raffle conducted in front of the IDPs themselves and immediately announced in the names of those who were luckily picked,” del Rosario said in a text message shared to reporters. “We are writing an appeal to COA not to disallow this vital transaction, and besides, the P5 million was properly dispensed [with] by NCMF.” Bernadette D. Nicolas

T’BOLI DATU IS NEW TRIBAL REP. IN SARANGANI’S PROVINCIAL BOARD

DAVAO CITY—A leader from the T’boli tribe has been installed on Tuesday as the second Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) in the provincial board of Sarangani province, the provincial information office said.

T’boli Datu Benjamin Donato succeeded Fredo Pandian Basino, the first IPMR, who sat on the board since 2015.

Donato’s installation was described as “another milestone of triumphs in the political struggle on Indigenous Peoples” in the province.

Donato said he suffered from the same ethnic discrimination in his childhood as experienced to this day by many other members of various tribes in the country.

“While far-fetched, the journey is consistent until balance of power in governance will be achieved,” he said in his speech on Tuesday.

Manuel T. Cayon

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, June 6, 2019 A3

PHL to acquire eight more ScanEagle drones from US

T

By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

HE Philippines, sustaining its bid to beef up its surveillance capabilities, is acquiring eight ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) worth $9,633,665 from a subsidiary of aircraft maker Boeing under the United States Foreign Military Sales program.

The contract was announced by Insitu Inc., maker of the drones, which said that the procurement will join its deliveries for Southeast Asia until 2022. Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam has also ordered the same type of UAV. “In addition, this order provides for spare payloads, spare and repair parts, support equipment, tools, training, technical services and field service representatives,” the company said through the US Department of Defense.

The ScanEagle is a well-known tactical UAV and used principally for maritime surveillance, with most of the procuring states intending to use it to patrol their vast maritime waters.

The delivery of the eight UAV’s will add the Philippine Air Force’s inventory of such aircraft following the turnover in March last year by the US of six ScanEagle 2 drones to the Philippine Department of National Defense.

The six drones were acquired through a grant

in the amount $13.2 million that was part of the financial assistance provided by the US to its allies in Southeast Asia.

In procuring the UAVs, the military is looking forward to further boosting its maritime domain awareness, especially in the West Philippine Sea, its humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief operations and counterterrorism capabilities.

The previously acquired drones are currently being operated by the Air Force’s 300th Air Intelligence and Security Wing at Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, the province closest to the disputed portion of the South China Sea. The ScanEagle 2 is capable of performing a variety of missions, including internal security operations, counterterrorism, reconnaissance and patrol.

The ScanEagle is launched through a catapult and recovered using a skyhook. It has more than 24 hours of flight endurance and a maximum speed of 148 kilometers per hour.

A4

TheBroa

Business

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Only 42% of common legislative age

By Butch Fernandez, Jovee Marie dela Cruz & Bernadette Nicolas

A

S the curtains for the 17th Congress finally close after three years, marking the first half of the Duterte administration, the country has seen the enactment of only a dozen out of 28 key measures listed under the Common Legislative Agenda (CLA).

The CLA came from the legislative queue of the 39 measures identified as priority by both chambers of Congress and the 55 bills that fall under President Duterte’s legislative agenda.

Of the 12, two were signed into law by Duterte in 2017, seven in 2018 and three in just one month or February 2019. (See sidebar) The first two laws signed by the President were the Free Higher Education Act and the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN).

And despite being part of the CLA, the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act was vetoed by the President on Valentine’s Day. Malacañang said the measure was vetoed as it lacked vital safeguards and contains provisions that may violate the 1987 Constitution.

In comparison, the Senate has left behind an achievement of passing 464 bills that were enacted into law, some of which are landmark pieces of legislation that aim to uplift the lives of Filipinos.

The House of Representatives, on the other hand, has processed a total of 11,888 bills and resolutions measures.

Of these processed measures, a total of 383 were enacted into law, 120 of which were of national significance, 259 were local and 4 were joint resolutions.

Bills passed

THE 17th Senate’s scorecard of accomplishments and unfinished business is probably one of the best validations of Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s claim that, in the main, it is an independent body that nonetheless ensured passage of some of the most far-reaching reforms of the Duterte administration.

In the last 48 hours before adjourning, the Senate unanimously passed the measure further increasing the tobacco excise tax over and above what was provided in the TRAIN law, the first package of Duterte’s comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP). The measure was then transmitted to the House of Representatives, which adopted the Senate version as agreed on earlier in order to skirt calling a bicameral conference committee and thus ensuring timely passage of the bill.

The new tax hike, which adds P10 to the TRAIN-granted excise rates in the first year of implementation in 2020—then gradually rising with P5 additional till it reaches P60 in 2023—ensures the government can fill the funding gap for its ambitious Universal Health Care Act, also passed by the 17th Congress several months ago.

Unfinished business

TO be sure, it’s not just the tobacco excise hike that the 17th Senate exited with.

Earlier, key legislations, especially in the economic realm, were enacted into law. Notable among these feathers in the legislators’ cap, all measures of transcendental impact, are: the Revised Corporation Code, the Rice Tariffication Law, the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Act, the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act

(Free College Act), Mental Health Act, Magna Carta of the Poor and the institutionalization of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) or conditional cash transfer scheme.

And of course, who can forget the TRAIN law, which the Department of Finance had worked hard to get the 17th Congress to pass, but which many blamed for the record surge in inflation for most of 2018.

Also among the 17th Congress’s accomplishments with far-reaching impact is the measure, passed by the Senate on third and final reading, seeking to establish the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA).

Senate Bill (SB) 1983, otherwise known as an Act Establishing the Philippine Space Development and Utilization Policy and Creating the Philippine Space Agency, was introduced by Sotto along with Senators Benigno Aquino IV, Lorna Regina B. Legarda and Juan Edgardo M. Angara. It was Aquino, however, who shepherded the bill as Science Committee chairman, amid skepticism that it was not worth spending money on a space program since the Philippines is such a “puny” player in this field.

At press time, meanwhile, among the key legislations still hanging is the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill, or popularly known as the “End of Endo” measure, which bans all forms of illegal contractualization.

Time lack

FOR all the “done” items, though, certain critical measures were inevitably left behind for lack of material time in the 17th Senate.

Just before Congress reconvened last May 20 after a long break during the 2019 election period, the Senate leadership had listed the key reform measures it would give priority to in the final session days of the 17th Senate.

Topping this list, as pitched

by Sotto, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto and Economic Affairs committee chief Sherwin T. Gatchalian, were the amendments to the Public Services Act and the Foreign Investments Act (FIA), which Gatchalian emphasized was urgently needed to make the Philippines a competitive investment site.

The amended Public Services Act, which Speaker Gloria M. Arroyo had championed in the House, was deemed necessary to spur investments in key industries once the new law provides a final definition of what “utilities” are. Such delineation would allow certain industries, like telecommunications, to be taken out of the restrictive list of sectors where the Constitution limits foreign equity to 40 percent.

Sotto also frontloaded in the final session days the SOT bill by Senator Joel Villanueva and the revisions to the Human Security Act, which would strengthen the hand of the State against terrorism. The latter, championed by Senator Panfilo Lacson, did not hurdle the legislative mill, however.

The SOT Bill is still pending enrollment as of May 31 after the House of Representatives adopted SB 1826 as an amendment to

House Bill (HB) 6908. The President has since vowed to end the illegal employment scheme since assuming the presidency.

Continuing agenda

ALSO sidelined in the final days of the 17th Senate was the second tranche of the tax reform, or the Trabaho bill, revising the corporate income tax. The House had passed this on final reading late last year.

But serious reservations by many sectors about the second part of the bill—the rationalization of fiscal incentives—caused it to languish at the committee level in the Senate.

Meanwhile, a pet legislation of the President—the restoration of mandatory ROTC training—did not make the deadline, as Malacañang Palace only certified it as urgent late Monday (June 3).

According to Sotto, these pieces of legislation—the Public Services Act, the FIA and the ROTC bill—will certainly be on the list of priority measures once the 18th Congress opens in late July.

Asked if they see easier sailing for these bills when refiled in the next Congress, Recto shared with the BusinessMirror what he deems is the logical sequence in tackling these key measures.

“Those bills will be discussed and debated in the next Congress.

I prefer to discuss the Foreign Investments Act first, then retail trade liberalization second, and Public Service Act third,” Recto told the BusinessMirror. “There must be order in discussing these bills.”

Sotto agreed, saying: “Yes, the unpassed economic reform bills will be given priority in the next Congress,” and then added, “plus ROTC bill and anti-terrorism.”

Criticisms, attacks

FOR his part, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon touted the key roles played by members of his bloc in the 17th Senate, despite the tribulations that began with the detention of Sen. Leila de Lima.

Drilon, who had also worked hard to ensure that the Bangsa­ moro Basic law (BBL) would be constitutionally compliant and who helped propose the solution to the 2019 budget deadlock, listed the key legislations of minority senators.

He cited Aquino’s Free Tuition Act, Sen. Risa Hontiveros’s Mental Health Act, Sen. Francis Pangi­ linan’s Sagip Saka Act, Sen. Sonny Trillanes’s Magna Carta of the Poor, and Sen. De Lima’s 4Ps institutionalization.

“The 17th Congress has not been easy for the opposition. It is hard to be in the opposing side these days,” Drilon conceded in a statement a day after the adjournment.

“We saw our colleague [De Lima] detained. All of us in the minority were subjected to criticisms and attacks,” he added.

“Despite all these, we soldiered on and remained focused on one goal: to get things done for the people,” says Drilon, who authored three major laws: Amendments to the Revised Penal Code, the Philippine Identification System Act, and the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines.

Human rights

THE 17th Senate, to be sure, was memorable not just for the many game-changing measures it passed, but also the headline-grabbing inquiries in aid of legislation.

Early on in its term, the 17th Senate was rocked by the allegations against de Lima, who was stripped of her chairmanship of the Justice and Human Rights committee as she started trotting out people who claimed to have knowledge of alleged human-rights violations by then-mayor Duterte in Davao.

De Lima was subsequently detained on the basis of several

PRESIDENT Duterte (center), Senate President Vicente Sotto III (left) and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez stand in front of a giant Philippine flag as they say a prayer during the start of the third State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives in Quezon City, on July 23, 2018. AP/AARON FAVILA

aderLook

sMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace | Thursday, June 6, 2019

A5

enda done 3 years into Duterte term REPUBLIC ACTS SIGNED BY PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE 2017

• RA 10931 (Free Higher Education Act)

• RA 10963 (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) 2018

• RA 10968 (Philippine Qualifications Framework)

• RA 10969 (Free Irrigation Services Act)

• RA11032 (Ease of Doing Business Act)

• RA 11035 (Strengthening the Balik-Scientist Program)

• RA 11036 (National Mental Health Care Delivery System)

• RA 11055 (Unified National Identification System Act)

• RA 11058 (Strengthening Compliance with Occupational Safety

and Health Standards)

• RA 11165 (Institutionalizing Telecommuting as an Alternative

Work Arrangement for Employees in the Private Sector Act) 2019

• RA 11199 (Social Security Act Amendments)

• RA 11203 (Rice Trade Liberalization Act)

• RA 11223 (Universal Healthcare Act)

• RA 11201 (Department of Human Settlements and Urban

Development Act)

• RA 11215 (Integrated Cancer Control Program Act)

• RA 11166 (Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act)

• RA 11188 (Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed

Conflict Act)

• RA 11211 (The New Central Bank Act)

• RA 11285 (Institutionalizing Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act)

cases filed against her by her successor at the Department of Justice, Vitaliano Aguirre, for alleged involvement in the drug trade at the national penitentiary when she was DOJ secretary. The inquiries on illegal drugs took up a lot of the time and effort of Senate probers, with de Lima’s successor at the Justice and Human Rights panel, Sen. Richard Gordon, calling for dozens of hearings on corruption at the Bureau of Customs as highlighted by the agency’s failure to stop several cases of shabu smuggling from China.

House of Representatives

THE 17th Congress under the leadership of former speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez and current Speaker Arroyo has accomplished a lot with the passage of all legislative agenda of the administration.

On July 23, 2018, in what was supposed to be a usual State of the Nation Address of President Duterte, an unexpected turn of events changed the dynamics of the lower house—the sudden ouster of Alvarez and the election of Arroyo as his replacement Arroyo was the first woman speaker of the lower chamber and for her short term as leader of the House, all the priority measures of the Duterte administration were rapidly approved.

Last Tuesday night, the House of Representatives adjourned sine die its regular session in the 17th Congress, with Arroyo highlighting the chamber’s “genuine milestones.”

Arroyo said many other priority bills of the President, including those not mentioned in his 2018 State of the Nation Address, were also passed.

Forcing professionalism

ANOTHER accomplishment of the House is that it re-energized the Oversight Committees to untangle the procedural knots and ensure smooth implementation.

The Speaker said they held 31 oversight meetings on 24 matters.

“Among the accomplishments of these oversight meetings was the implementation of the titling of housing lots for a hundred thousand households. I thank the various committees which responded ably to my call for exercising our oversight mandate,” Arroyo said.

Majority Leader Fredenil H. Castro said Arroyo has assumed the leadership of the House to support the programs of the administration.

“Arroyo is unrelenting in her

work and because of this exemplary working attitude the House has accomplished so much in terms of legislation; also in terms of improving the overall program and achievement of the government,” Castro said.

Deputy Speaker Sharon S. Garin of party-list AAMBIS-OWA said Arroyo always arrived on time and is very knowledgeable when attending committee hearings, forcing other lawmakers to do the same. “[As a lawmaker] it makes you study more, you always prepare when you have a committee hearing, you have to be very professional [when you have discussions],” Garin said. “The way she works herself is a very good effect on the performance of each and every congressman and as a whole of the Congress; that’s why we are very successful [in the 17th Congress].”

Just satisfied

FOR her part, Arroyo expressed confidence that the veterans and young blood in the lower chamber will make the future legislative process “very well.”

“One of the advantages of my being speaker of the House of Representatives now is that I have been able to expose to and been able to work with a lot of very young congressmen and see how they work and how they think,” she said.

“I am confident that when the time comes to take over the leadership of the country they will do very, very well. I think they’re good, competent and dedicated,” Arroyo added. “Being with them and working with them gives me great confidence in the future of our country.”

Minority Leader Danilo Suarez of Quezon has lauded both Alvarez’s and Arroyo’s leadership.

“I think [Arroyo] as well as Alvarez have both done very good because all the pet bills of the Palace were approved,” he said.

The only advantage of the Arroyo leadership, Suarez said, is that Arroyo can say no to the President.

“Also, in terms of output, we passed many bills under the leadership of Arroyo,” Suarez said.

Deputy Minority Leader Lito Atienza described the 17th Congress as a productive Congress.

“It was a productive Congress especially…when GMA took over.

We became very, very productive and [were good] also in following the rules of the House. Under Arroyo, all House rules were followed—that satisfies my criteria of an effective leadership. Even the

quorum question was entertained by her: ‘no quorum, no meeting’.

It’s that simple,” Atienza said.

Over-slowing

HOWEVER, the speedy approval of the measures under the Arroyo leadership shifted to slow gear during the approval and transmittal period of the 2019 national budget to Duterte.

The passage and transmittal of the 2019 budget was delayed due to a number of issues, including the alleged changes by the House leadership even after both chambers had ratified the bicameral conference committee report as well as the lump-sum funds of the senators.

With these insertions, Duterte decided to veto some of the items in the 2019 General Appropriations Act.

The President signed the 2019 budget only on April 15, vetoing P95.3 billion for “not being part of the President’s priority projects.”

However, Atienza appealed to the public not to blame the House leadership for the delayed passage of the national budget.

“Don’t blame [the lawmakers] for the delayed passage of the national budget. Arroyo discovered a lot of discrepancies and illegal fund allocations,” he added.

“When she tried correcting it, the response was overwhelming. She discovered all irregularities and tried to stop it.”

Viewing far

DESPITE great difficulties, Arroyo said Congress came up with an enacted budget, avoiding the large problems that a re-enactment for the entire 2019 of the last budget would have created.

To avoid a reenacted budget, reelected Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. said members of the next House of Representatives must prepare now their lists of priority bills for the 18th Congress.

He said the passage of the 2020 national budget should be No. 1 on their list, as he warned against a repeat of the “costly” 2019 budget crisis.

According to Campos, the incoming Congress must pass without delay the national budget for next year.

Campos said the first-quarter GDP expanded by 5.6 percent yearon-year, below the widely expected 6.0 percent, largely owing to the slower increase in public-sector spending.

He said the budget crisis also delayed the payout of the last installment of the salary increase for 1.3 million government employees, which “to some degree dampened consumer spending.”

Entering the race

WHILE the success of the passage of the Duterte administration’s priority bills lies on who will be the next Speaker of the House, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman urged political parties to let the supermajority coalition and the real minority or opposition join the speakership race in the House of Representatives.

Lagman said the parties belonging to the administration must ultimately field a common candidate for Speaker since all of the administration aspirants have vowed to pursue the legislative agenda of President Duterte.

“The example of the ruling PDP-Laban of choosing a single candidate for Speaker among its aspiring members should be followed by the other parties in the supermajority coalition,” he said.

According to Lagman, the unified choice for Speaker of the administration should face the candidate coming from the minority or opposition.

“This square-off will assure the emergence of a legitimate and authentic opposition leader unlike the charade in the 17th Congress where the Minority Leader was handpicked by the supermajority,” he added.

Eyeing posts

TO ensure checks and balances, Lagman said the 18th Congress must have a genuine minority leader.

He said a genuine minority leader can only be assured if he or she is neither a member nor a partisan of the administration nor handpicked by the ruling majority.

Party-list coalition President Mikee Romero of 1-Pacman said the party-list coalition—composed of at least 54 members—will vote as a bloc for the speakership race.

Romero decried the alleged bribe offer in the speakership race, which reportedly ballooned to P7 million for each congressman.

“We feel very, very insulted; our votes are not worth anything at this time. It is not worth any peso because our conscience will never bear such insult,” he said.

A candidate must secure a minimum 153 votes for him to win the speakership race. The lower chamber will be composed of 243 district and 59 party-list representatives in the 18th Congress.

Eyeing the lower chamber’s top post in the 18th Congress are Marinduque Rep. Lord Alan Velasco, Leyte Rep.-elect Martin Romualdez, Taguig Rep.-elect Alan Peter Cayetano, former Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales.

More than satisfied

THERE are still 16 bills still pending in the CLA. However, the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office is more than satisfied with was achieved by the past Congress.

“With record-breaking Republic Acts that are ‘landmark legislations’ signed by the President in his first three years, we are satisfied by the rate things are going and are very positive that the 18th Congress will realize most, if not all, of the remaining legislative priorities of the Duterte administration,” PLLO Undersecretary for the House of Representatives Ryan Estevez told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail.

However, Estevez also attributed the delay in the passage of the measures to the “important and crucial effort of the senators in studying the bills further” and also the “lack of material time” in passing the bills.

“Most of the bills identified have already been passed at the House of Representatives and even certified as urgent by the President (like the last four certified bills including ROTC bill). The hurdle now is at the Senate,” Estevez said.

Moving forward to the 18th Congress, the PLLO vowed to push for more periodic and frequent Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) meetings to bridge the gap between the Congress and the Executive Department on issues addressed by pending bills.

Allies in both chambers

CHAIRED by the President, Ledac is the highest consultative and advisory body the President talks to on economic and development matters to integrate the legislative agenda with the national development plan.

“PLLO will also embark on more meetings with the legislators, their chiefs of staff and legislative staff to address issues and questions even before the filing of the bills so we can inform the legislators of the stand of the executive department on crucial and important issues,” he added.

Now that the administration has more allies in both Senate and House of Representatives, PLLO also expressed confidence that more measures will be passed in the coming Congress.

“We are very positive that the remaining legislative agenda of the Duterte administration will be tackled, discussed, and eventually passed by the 18th Congress, especially that we have more allies in both chambers,” Estevez said.#

A6 Thursday, June 6, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Will trade war lead to Armageddon?

A

LL signs point to an escalation of the trade war between the United States and China, the world’s two-largest economies. Observers, however, are hoping that the scheduled meeting between US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Central Bank Governor Yi Gang in Japan this weekend will pave the way for the two sides to break an impasse. After trade talks broke off in May, the two countries have escalated their trade war and exchanged increasingly hostile accusations about who is to blame for the stalemate.

Bloomberg said if the officials from the two countries decide they want to jump-start talks at an international summit in Japan, they could lay important groundwork for a meeting between Presidents Donald J. Trump and Xi Jinping, who will be in Japan at the end of the month for the G-20 leaders’ summit.

Certain quarters, however, remain cautious. “Any evidence of Mnuchin talking trade or any evidence of a constructive dialog taking place is going to be encouraging, but at this point it is difficult to see how the two sides will de-escalate” unless planned tariffs are scrapped or at least delayed, said James Lucier, managing director of Washington-based Capital Alpha Partners, a policy research firm for investors.

After ramping up tariffs on Chinese exports, the Trump administration is now seeking to choke off Beijing’s access to key technologies by limiting the sale of vital American components to China’s Huawei Technologies Co., citing national security concerns, and weighing putting at least five Chinese surveillance companies on the same blacklist.

Bloomberg said: “With the spat over trade and technology escalating, more companies risk being caught up in the fray. China drawing up a list of what it called “unreliable entities” opens the door to targeting a broad swath of the global tech industry, from US giants like Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Qualcomm Inc. and Intel Corp. to non-American suppliers that have cut off Huawei, such as Toshiba Corp. and SoftBank Group’s ARM Holdings.”

On Tuesday, China fined Ford Motor Co.’s main joint venture in the country for antitrust violations, marking the latest action toward a US company as tensions between the two nations escalate. Last week, China said it is investigating FedEx Corp. for “wrongful” deliveries, a move framed by the state news agency as a warning by Beijing after the Trump administration declared a ban on business with telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. China has also threatened to blacklist foreign firms that damage domestic companies’ interests.

Experts said a full-blown US-China trade war could spill over to other parts of the world. Bloomberg said it’s a trade version of the Cold War, and the economic consequences would likely be severe. “A trade war, with across-the-board tariffs on US-China trade, would push the global economy toward recession,” wrote Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists in a note to clients on Friday.

Morgan Stanley also warned that an escalation of the conflict between Beijing and Washington could tip the world into recession within nine months.

In light of the foregoing, 105 million Filipinos want to know how the Duterte administration, particularly its economic managers, plans to protect us from an impending global economic collapse?

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

Trade the tide John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

F

ROM the time that the first rules were established in 1863, the sport was called “Association Football” to distinguish it from other “football,” most specifically Rugby. By 1895 players and fans alike were calling it “soccer,” a sort of abbreviation of the abbreviation “Assoc.”

“Asser” was already taken as it is the name of a Welsh monk who chronicled the life of King Alfred the Great.

Soccer is a great sport and a horribly dismal game. Aficionados can talk for hours about the incredible ballhandling skills of the great players and how precise team play is a thing of beauty. Of course, exactly the same thing can be said about basketball.

What makes every game—from the children’s “Trip to Jerusalem” to international tournament video gaming—is the suspense of not knowing the outcome until the end.

For soccer, though, if one team has scored two or three goals in the first 30 minutes, the losing fans can pretty much get on the bus, get drunk and go home.

How many basketball games are won with a basket at the buzzer?

Many. How many basketball games are won because of a free throw at the end? Few. In the 2018 World Cup, three Second Round and a Quarter Final match was decided by penalty kicks.

In 2006 Italy won the World Cup against France on penalty kicks.

So much for all that impressive ball

Important reminder: Congress cannot investigate a crime

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handling skill.

The point is that during the course of a good game, there is an ebb and flow that is constantly changing which keeps the excitement of which team—or person as in boxing—will be the victor.

One of the most interesting natural phenomena is the tidal movement caused by the interaction of the moon, earth and sun on the oceans.

Analysis of tides has been going on for about 2,500 years and the Chinese—of course—were the first to publish a table of tides in 1056 to predict the rise and fall of the water level in the Qiantang River.

The fact that the ebb and flow of the tides is predictable has made this a favorite example of the cycles and rhythm of the world. Attributed to 15th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer is the phrase “Time and tide wait for no man.” William Shakespeare wrote, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” This meant that ships had to sail when the tide was at its highest and then flowing out to sea. If you try to sail against the tide, you lose.

By ignoring the fact of the

A

S sessions are about to open soon, here’s a good reminder that Congress—the Senate and the House—cannot investigate a crime. It can only investigate in aid of legislation.

But because of dirty politics in this country, some misguided lawmakers from both chambers acted in the past as investigators, prosecutors and judges rolled into one.

The worse part of this was that they arrogantly put premium on publicity, rather than correct social, economic and political injustices, which at best appears to create a perception of guilt on people with higher ambitions to serve the public.

It cannot be denied that both houses of Congress have often violated their own rules, with some lawmakers displaying arrogance and using gutter and other unsavory vocabulary in their line of questioning, which a court of law would never have allowed.

Worse, witnesses called to testify often contradict one another while volumes of documents submitted for investigation often do not establish

the existence of facts and circumstances in a coherent manner on how, why, when, where and who actually committed crimes involving billions of pesos in public funds.

A specific issue in point were the volumes of documents submitted by Janet Napoles, Benhur Luy, the NBI, the Department of Justice, as well as other agencies, which overflow with lies and innuendoes, selectively targeting the innocent and freeing the guilty.

The government itself played the role of a predator and it had created its own pattern by systematically targeting the opposition while, at the same time, protecting its own allies.

A good example of this, without touching on the merit of their pending cases, are high-profile opposition personalities.

Strangely, the initiators and implementers on the disposal of

multibillion-peso public funds are out free, strutting in self-importance and flaunting their wealth in the corridors of power, simply because they were then with the ruling administration.

Worse, they had control of the best PR agencies to prop up their image and hit their political enemies by subjecting them to trial by publicity.

Why not? Publicity works faster that way, just like what happened to former Vice President Jojo Binay, without due process and fairness.

In trial by publicity, one may not even be jailed for contempt or irresponsible writing; upholding impropriety, the biased press, for one, offers several choices to those who may question their invincibility or crucifixion, or both.

Usually, an irresponsible member of the press would routinely invoke press freedom without the well-established explanation that it is not absolute for it carries a responsibility to balance the news.

Normally, to charge respondents with a crime, the Ombudsman or the Department of Justice (DOJ) must find probable cause based on evidence or the body of crime (corpus delicti) on how the plunder was committed. If the information is filed in court, the prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, in accordance with time-honored procedures and rules of evidence.

rhythms, you miss opportunities. A child seeing the tidal flow moving inland might assume this is a neverending trend. But it is only one side of the cycle. Stock market investors and economic “experts” do the same thing by assuming a trend will go on indefinitely. That is one reason why central bank and government policies in the late 20th century have often been disastrous because they refused to admit that there is a cycle of boom and bust that cannot be successfully changed anymore that the tides can be changed.

The most successful stock market traders are those who can identify and then trade with the rhythm of an individual stock. All issues follow a rhythm that is sometimes short and sometimes long. In this case you buy when the tide—price—is rising and sell when it starts going down.

Trends are only part of the cycle and you need to know the cycle to be on the right side.

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

Since the Priority Development Assistance Fund and Disbursement Acceleration Program scams came to light, what many citizens saw was nothing but virtual reality, based on conflicting testimonies of witnesses or whistle-blowers, erroneous assumptions, opinionated conclusions and malignant motives that served as the yarn of daily propaganda mills, painstakingly woven into the so-called hate campaign syndrome.

The people behind this prosecution by perception or speculation must have forgotten that history is not static. Indeed, many of the heroes of yesteryears, like Mao Tse-Tung, Che Guevara, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Saddam Hussein have been stripped of their perfection.

In my previous articles on this subject (trial by publicity), I pointed out that unflattering but vital facts about men of great political and financial influence, previously suppressed in the name of national security, ideological infallibility and presidential policies, have been declassified and incorporated in official historical records while their updated biographies revealed their cruelty, errors and foibles.

As I said in my book, A Country Imperiled, even Popes have not always been held sacred; Pope John who reigned in 1415 was convicted for various scandalous acts, including See “Arillo,” A7

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Thursday, June 6, 2019 A7

Apple and Facebook have New creation in the Holy Spirit lost the monopoly fight Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

ALÁLAONG BAGÁ

Lionel Laurent

BLOOMBERG

T

HE future of the tech industry was once decided by messianic entrepreneurs (assisted by venture capitalists and assorted Silicon Valley boosters) pumping out their sermons to rapt crowds in cavernous arenas. Today it’s the fustier crew of competition regulators and policy wonks—more commonly spotted in carpeted conference rooms—who appear to have seized the pulpit.

Investors in Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc. will no doubt testify to this shift in power after the threat of US antitrust action caused their shares to fall at the start of this week (Apple’s have rallied slightly).

There was certainly a great show of purpose from the attendees at an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) trustbuster gathering that I attended in Paris on Monday, helped no doubt by the Americans finally starting to follow Europe’s lead in tackling the tech giants’ monopolistic tendencies. Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s top competition official, lined up with officials from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as well as top regulators from Britain, France and Germany, to offer pointers about what lies in store for the industry.

While there’s still plenty of tension between officials on both sides of the Atlantic, the overall picture was of a regulatory class that’s determined to make up for lost time. Even in Europe, there’s a sense of having left too much in the hands of the market for too long. Vestager, looking back over her five-year tenure that resulted in three fines against Google, admitted: “We could have been faster.”

Regret is a powerful thing, especially when the political pressure to act is rising. The example of Instagram was frequently referred to as something that flew under everyone’s radar: Its sale to Facebook for $1 billion was waved through in 2012, largely because it had a handful of staff, earned no revenue and was to be kept at arm’s length. The fact that Instagram is now a behemoth in its own right has woken up regulators to the need to take a tougher line on big tech gobbling up promising start-ups.

Instagram had 30 million users at the time Facebook acquired it. Today, it has more than 1 billion. Crucially, Instagram shares vast amounts of user data with its parent network, a practice that drew objections from German regulators earlier this year.

Back in 2012, though, there were few concerns: UK competition watchdogs wrote at the time that most third parties “did not believe that photo apps are attractive to advertisers,” citing the fact that “limited” user data was captured.

In fairness to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, it’s not his fault that he had a more acute grasp of Instagram’s potential, but this shouldn’t stop the market cops from trying to up their game to avoid even more social-media power ending up in one man’s hands.

Arillo . . .

continued from A6

adultery, incest and sodomy.

Besides, every person has some measure of bigotry, a refusal to consider stories that do not conform to one’s values and beliefs. In fact, the myths about those who benefitted at

While there’s still plenty of tension between officials on both sides of the Atlantic, the overall picture was of a regulatory class that’s determined to make up for lost time. Even in Europe, there’s a sense of having left too much in the hands of the market for too long.

How many other Instagrams have flown under the radar? It’s hard to say. Andrea Coscelli, head of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, estimates that Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have together bought close to 250 companies in the past five years.

For every big-budget acquisition like Facebook’s WhatsApp deal, there are several like “tbh,” a teen social network bought by Zuckerberg in 2017 and quietly shut down afterwards.

There’s a feeling among regulators that start-ups aren’t really being given the chance to grow and compete—they get bought as soon as they enter Big Tech’s “kill zone” (where promising potential rivals are simply taken out). Expect more of a push to tackle this practice, such as by lowering the burden of evidence required to identify potential anticompetitive harm from a takeover.

Ariel Ezrachi, professor of competition law at Oxford University, says officials are becoming alert to “the cost of doing nothing.”

So should Google, Facebook and the rest expect a concerted antitrust crackdown from the US to match the EU’s? Maybe, though at the OECD meeting there wasn’t much appetite for aggressive action like breakups. Both the DOJ official Andrew Finch and the FTC’s Noah Phillips were at pains to stress that size wasn’t bad in itself; but “big, behaving badly,” is a problem, Finch said. As such, hefty fines are a more likely outcome.

While there are plenty of other American voices calling for a revival of the kind of monopoly dismantling seen during the days of John D. Rockefeller, Finch said the current era felt less like the Gilded Age and more like the 1990s and 2000s, when companies used patents to stunt the growth of their rivals. “These moments tend to work themselves out,” he told me. Not exactly the kind of tub-thumping in which Elizabeth Warren might engage.

So the smart money’s still on Europe taking the more adventurous and aggressive antitrust measures. But there’s no ignoring the shift on both sides of the Atlantic.

People want tougher rules, and they will come.

the expense of truth as role models may not escape the vetting eye of the present rationalizing generation.

The purpose of any investigation, including those in the Senate and the House, is not only to prove the guilt of the respondents but also to protect them against hasty, malicious and oppressive prosecution. Trial by publicity has no room for this.

W

E round off the Easter Season with the solemnity of Pentecost. The coming down of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples is an essential component of Jesus’ victory.

The gospel narration (John 20:19-23) underlines what the giving of the Spirit by the risen Lord means.

Christ’s total victory JOHN’S presentation of Easter is distinctly inclusive. Unlike Luke’s schema where Ascension was 40 days and Pentecost 50 days after the resurrection (which serialization the Church has followed for liturgical and pedagogical purposes), the Johannine version understands the resurrection as inclusive in one event of Jesus’ ascension and exaltation, as well as His giving of the Holy Spirit.

On the same day of the resurrection His “hour” of glory and victory was complete.

And a dimension of this victory is the continuity between the days of His passion and death and the hour of His glory. His appearance to the disciples on the evening of that first day of the week was in the perspective of His passion. Jesus matter-of-factly

showed them His pierced hands and His opened side stamped by His suffering. The evangelist would like to dispel the lurking Gnostic idea that regarded the earthly Jesus and His passion as irrelevant, and that all that mattered was His assumption of heavenly power. On the contrary, it must never be forgotten that the cross had been the road to victory.

The disciples rejoiced seeing thus the Lord. The joy He brought them was not one out of the blue sky, but a fulfillment that came out of fidelity to God amidst the turmoil and resistance of darkness.

In a world of peace

THE risen Jesus entered the assembly of His followers literally exuding peace—“Peace be with you!” Not merely a wish, it is the actuality

of the gift of peace by the prince of peace. It is the peace founded on the explicit signs of his passion and death, the peace rooted in his act of self-sacrifice, his total abandonment to the will of the Father, the peace that is based on the Father’s compassionate and merciful love for humankind. It is the peace that reflects and echoes on Earth the peace and communion in the bosom of the Triune God in heaven.

The victorious savior is inaugurating the reign of peace. And He is entrusting it as a mission to His followers—“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The master is relying on His followers to continue the campaign. God’s plan that there should be peace and reconciliation on Earth must be realized. The Son has already laid its foundation. It is namely a peace the world cannot give but can only receive from above. As the angels at the birth of the Son announced, it is the peace that begins with His coming, the peace He would plant in the world and wish it would bear much fruit. It is the peace that can only survive and prosper in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The breath of new life

SO Jesus breathed on His friends, saying “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retained are retained.” The other Paraclete

as follow-up to Him is coming, Jesus earlier promised (John 14:16-17.

26), to carry on and lead them to the completion of what He has begun (John 14:27; 26:20. 22). He is the Spirit of peace and of forgiveness. In His power what is humanly impossible shall be reality, the reality of a new humanity in peace and in reconciliation as in a new creation.

God in the beginning breathed over “chaos,” and out of the waste life and light emanated in an ordered world. God breathed into the dust of the Earth, and His own likeness in life and love was imbued into it, and there was man and woman. John’s picture of the risen Jesus breathing over the humanity of His faithful ones is intended to remind us of the creative act of the Almighty as in Genesis (1:1-2. 26-27; 2:7), to inspire us in faith and hope of the new beginning, the new creation as the fruit of Jesus’ Paschal Mystery in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Alálaong bagá, the risen Jesus gifted His disciples with peace because He breathed upon them the Spirit of peace and of mercy. In the mission of peace and in the Spirit we are bonded to Him in the newness of life until He comes again.

Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

Re-strategizing the program of manufacturing for exports

In this undisguised job and industry protectionism, Trump has an ally: the technology revolution.

Automation, robotization, Internet of things, etc., are making it possible for the United States and other developed countries of the West such as Germany to produce economically within their borders labor-intensive goods such as shoes, plastic bags and so on. In Denmark light factories, Danish workers are now accustomed working at the shop floor together with their “coworker robots.”

The reality is that worldwide, there has been a tapering off of international subcontracting under the GVC system because of these twin phenomena—rising protectionism among countries (largely through the nontariff barriers) and widening use of labor-saving technology in production. Trump is simply amplifying these realities with his tariff wars.

It is against this background that Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (Amro), a Singapore-based think tank providing policy advice and technical assistance to members of the Asean on macroeconomic and financial stability, is advising the

Southeast Asian countries to develop and pursue “multiple engines of growth,” for it will be foolhardy to be just following the old development route followed by Japan, the four Asian tigers and China—the “manufacturing for growth strategy” via increased participation in the GVCs. In its Regional Economic Outlook 2018, Amro pointed out that GVC participation of developing countries has been “plateauing” since the late 2000s, reinforced by a “lackluster global trade environment.” In this regard, one is reminded of the 20072010 global financial crisis, which saw developed countries focusing on stimulus spending to save their respective industry champions and home markets.

To counter rising protectionism, Amro proposed greater intra-regional trade within the Asean bloc and the development by each country of new engines of growth such as tourism. On new engines of growth, Amro cited the Philippines’s success in developing the services sector as a growth driver. But at the same time, it warned countries on the importance of skills and productivity upgrading

in the services sector.

In a side forum at the 2019 meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Fiji, Amro reiterated the adverse impact of the US-China trade war on Southeast Asia. In particular, countries with strong GVC linkages with China such as Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand have been affected because China’s economy has been slowing down and its exports to the United States had been sharply reduced. Amro warned on the vulnerability of the region and the world to escalating trade and geopolitical risks. In addition, Amro cited what it calls as the “perennial risks”: cyber attacks and climate change.

In the light of the foregoing, what should the Philippine economic policy-makers do?

Indeed, the advice of Amro is sound and sensible—pursue multiple engines of growth. But one may qualify this advice further—pursue different drivers of growth that promote inclusion, equity and social and economic sustainability. In this regard, it will do well for members of the economic cluster of the Duterte administration to undertake a rigorous review and adjustment of the government development blueprint.

Some of the so-called “economic reforms” being proposed for consideration by the 18th Congress are standard neoliberal proposals that do not respond to the changing global and regional economic environment.

For example, the proposal for more trade and investment liberalization measures are aimed at increasing GVC participation and obviously ignore the reality of declining role of GVC production system in the world.

The revival of domestic industry and agriculture is clearly a promising policy challenge. A domestic market of 105 million plus is a huge market, as Meneleo Carlos, one of the country’s industrial pioneers, used to say.

And this, incidentally, is what China has been doing, rebalancing the Chinese economy by strengthening the domestic market and promoting new sources of growth through the “silk road” being paved by its Belt and Road Initiative.

Curiously, what were not mentioned in the NBI, DOJ and Ombudsman preliminary investigation was that the Department of Budget and Management, COA and other implementing agencies (IAs) in 2012 deliberately deviated from their conscientious and prudent role in handling the discretionary spending program authorized by Congress involving

the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

The Executive Branch that year spent a whopping P21.3 billion in equity, unbelievably way above the P2.1 billion authorized by Congress, or an increase of P19.3 billion.

In addition, the Executive Branch also spent a total of P24.1 billion, P6 billion more than the P18.2 billion

authorized by Congress for subsidy.

Public funds are strictly covered

by COA rules on budget releases and project implementation.

Under COA rules, public funds are never released directly to NGOs or any other people’s organizations, whether they came from the unconstitutionally declared PDAF or other sources of appropriations like DAP.

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS Continued from A1

O

N the other hand, it is abundantly clear that Trump, motivated by his desire to please his electoral base in the old industrial heartland of America, has been aggressive in the promotion of his America First policy and has been subverting the global “free-trade” rules under the World Trade Organization, rules which his predecessors helped established. Trump’s imposition of punitive tariffs against Mexico for the latter’s failure to stem the tide of Latino migrants flowing into US borders further illustrates the economic logic that Trump has been pursuing. He openly declared that he wants American industry sourcing goods and materials from Mexico, mostly from the factories set up by American investors in the maquiladora area (near the US-Mexico borders), to bring back jobs to America.

Tapping the savings of the overseas Filipino workers, who remit over $30 billion a year, is another potential engine of growth. How can this be done? The Duterte administration can review the 2002-2003 policy study done by former Senator and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona on how OFWs can become the country’s leading investors, especially in the country’s “Build, Build, Build” program.

During the presidential campaign in 2016, President Duterte was reported to be interested in reviving the National Steel Corp., a profitable corporation that went under, ironically, when it was privatized in the late 1990s. There are no reports that it is being rebuilt, to serve in particular the massive steel requirements of the massive infrastructure program being implemented by the government.

Obviously, the attitude of some government technocrats is to simply wait for investors, foreign investors in particular, to take the initiative of reviving National Steel and building other critical industries needed by the country. This seems to be the attitude too in relation to the bankrupt Hanjin shipyard facility.

And yet, the government, under its hybrid infrastructure development program, is earmarking money for various infrastructures before they are turned over to the private sector for operation and maintenance.

Why not apply the hybrid infra program in rebuilding these strategic industries?

Overall, there is so much that can be done and debated on the economic policy options for the country. It will do well for the Duterte administration and the members of the 18th Congress to enlist all stakeholders, including the organized sectors of the masses such as the farmer organizations, trade unions and CSO-supported social enterprises to be involved in the discussion and deliberations on what are the best engines of growth for this country.

Dapat involved ang lahat, di lamang iilan, di ba? Let economic democracy flourish.

Funds are only released to implementing agencies, which could be a department, an agency or a local government unit under the Executive Branch.

Funds are never released to members of the Senate and the House.

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

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Thursday, June 6, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Piñol to seek Duterte’s nod for 3-month pork import ban

A

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

GRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol will propose to President Duterte on Monday a three-month import moratorium on pork and pork products from countries that are at high risk for African swine fever. This means that they have not reported any ASF outbreak, but are at risk because they are contiguous with infected territories.

Piñol said the proposal of the Department of Agriculture (DA) is a preventive measure aimed at ensuring stable food prices, as a decimated domestic hog population could accelerate inflation.

The proposed import ban has the backing of economic managers led by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, he added.

“[The economic managers] saw my point that the moment ASF enters the country, can you imagine the economic problems that we will have?” he told reporters in a recent interview.

“We will run out of pork and we will import pork from other countries at a very high price. Hence, inflation will go up. These things

126,463.341 metric tons

The total volume of pork imported by the Philippines from three European nations last year could happen,” he added.

Piñol said economic managers vowed to yield to the DA on issues involving quarantine measures against animal diseases, such as ASF, that could cripple industries.

The DA chief said he would make the formal proposal to the President during the Cabinet meeting on Monday. Piñol said he expects the economic managers to support him.

The DA defines high-risk countries as states that are “contiguous”

to areas that experienced outbreaks of ASF, Piñol explained.

Some of the countries that could be affected by the import suspension include Thailand, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Germany, Netherlands and France, he added.

“Our problem is that if the ASF virus enters the country, its impact is irreversible. And that is something that I cannot take for granted,” Piñol said.

If the three-month import suspension pushes through, then the Philippines would have to buy pork from other sources like the United States and Brazil, industry sources told the BusinessMirror.

However, importers and processors may face challenges in sourcing from alternative countries, as the US and Brazil offer different pork cuts.

See “Pork import,” A2

VICE Adm. Narciso A. Vingson Jr., officer in charge of the Maritime Industry Authority, hands over a framed Philippine Nautical Highway System master plan to Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade after he delivers his message at the 45th Founding Anniversary of Marina on Wednesday.

Tugade said the government aims to maintain the Philippines’s enviable standing in maritime work force production. NONOY LACZA

More meat-sniffing dogs to roam PHL airports PHL keeping top-supplier role

By Butch Fernandez

A

@butchfBM

GRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol promised to provide the country’s major airports with about 45 meat-sniffing K9s to prevent the entry of African swine fever (ASF) now devastating a large part of China, Southeast Asia and parts of Europe.

The figure is higher than the 15 meat-sniffing dogs earlier ordered by the Department of Agriculture for deployment in the country’s major airports. The dogs were trained to smell fresh, frozen, cooked or uncooked animal meat and processed

meat from affected countries, Piñol said.

The DA chief made the promise during a surprise visit to quarantine personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 2 on Tuesday afternoon, tagging along some meat-sniffing dogs.

Piñol personally observed how personnel from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and quarantine officers handled the monitoring of luggage from incoming passengers.

ASF has been detected in China, Tibet (Xizang) Autonomous Region and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Democratic

INTERTROPICAL CONVERGENCE ZONE AFFECTING SOUTHERN LUZON, VISAYAS AND MINDANAO as of 4:00 pm - June 5, 2019

People’s Republic of Korea.

Piñol said the entry of different plants and soil from these countries without phytosanitary permits is not acceptable. He alerted fisheries personnel to keep an eye on the smuggling of endangered species.

He urged quarantine officials and personnel to be more vigilant and closely coordinate with the Bureau of Customs “to determine which luggage contain meat and meat products through x-ray machines.”

“The ASF threat is real. We have to protect our farmers from virus like this,” Piñol said.

The government has imposed an import ban on pork and porkbased products from countries with

confirmed ASF outbreaks. These include Belgium, China, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Cambodia.

Confiscated pork and pork products from these countries will be destroyed within 24 hours after interception.

The ASF virus is not harmful to humans but it can cause deadly hemorrhagic fever in domesticated pigs and wild boar. The disease can also be transmitted through non-living objects, such as shoes and knives. The DA chief was welcomed at the airport by BAI-Naia Head Reynaldo Quilang and other quarantine officials.

Visayan bloc to vote for common bet for Speaker

A

NOTHER powerful group in the 18th Congress, the Visayan bloc, has agreed to vote for a common candidate for speaker of the incoming Congress.

Following a meeting on Tuesday night, Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, head of the Visayan bloc, said it will vote a candidate who can pursue the legislative agenda for the Visayas region and can work harmoniously with Duterte administration.

However, he said members of the bloc have agreed to meet again in July to choose whom to support in the speakership race based on their set criteria.

“The Visayan bloc recently met and our consensus is that we will vote as one. Although the Palace has stated that it will not endorse anyone in particular, we are waiting for any indication or direction as to the President’s preference,” he said.

“We need someone who can work harmoniously with the President and one who will enjoy the overwhelming support of the House members.

We intend to reconvene by July so as to further firm up our plans,” Benitez added.

According to Benitez, the Visayan Bloc membership in the next Congress is expected to reach 47 from the current 41 lawmakers.

“The Visayan Bloc has demonstrated how unity works in the pursuit of common legislative agenda for the Visayas region. Unanimity in purpose will be our way of choosing the next speaker,” said the lawmaker.

in maritime manpower–Tugade

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

T

HE Philippines is determined to remain the top supplier of maritime manpower in the world in the coming years, a Cabinet official said, as the country strives to maintain its standing in the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) white list.

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said on Wednesday that he is confident the Philippines will “remain to be the No. 1 producer of mariners and seamen in the world,” as the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) beefs up its initiatives for seafaring training and education in the country.

“We need to not be in the blacklist. We need to continue on the IMO white list. We need to strengthen the merger cooperation of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Marina, and ensure that it will continue.

We need to comply to international requirements,”Tugade said on the sidelines of the 45th anniversary celebration of Marina.

Being included on the white list means the Philippines is compliant with the International Convention on the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW). This gives Filipino seafarers a big advantage in the global market, as this reflects that they underwent strict training and education.

The government has been intensifying its efforts to remain on the white

E-vehicle. . .

Continued from A1

“This would have to be a special program similar to our CARS program, so it can quickly attract investors in the industry,” Lopez said.

The trade chief said South Korean manufacturers, including evehicle makers, should consider locating and expanding operations in the Philippines. He said the country has wider market access compared to Southeast Asian competitors, as it has trade privileges with the United States and the European Union, as well as a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the European Free Trade Association.

“The Philippines is an ideal geographic base for South Korean manufacturing companies, specifically those focusing on automotive and auto parts, electronics and semiconductors, food processing, agricultural business and other labor intensive industries,” Lopez said.

list, as removal of the Philippines from the list could have serious implications on Filipino seafarers abroad.

Earlier in April, there were reports that the Philippines may potentially be removed from the said list, citing a document from the IMO. However, the said document was said to be a partial list of countries that have successfully hurdled the review process.

The actual, official list will be issued in October.

Marina Officer in Charge Narciso Vingson Jr. said his group is confident that the Philippines will remain on the white list, noting that it will protect the livelihood of Filipino seafarers.

“We have been systematically employing a whole of government approach, which serves as the foundation for our harmonized legislation and effective implementation of the STCW Convention,” he said.

Vingson added: “These developments have empowered Marina in further strengthening our pool of globally competitive maritime professionals through continuously enhancing the knowledge, skills and attitude of more than 500,000 Filipino seafarers in accordance with international standards.”

Filipino seafarers comprise 30 percent of the global seafaring work force at 400,000 maritime professionals, remitting roughly $6 billion to the country. The remaining 100,000 seafarers work in the Philippines.

“Our vision is to produce world-class and competent seafarers,”Vingson said.

He said Seoul is a manufacturing powerhouse, and setting up new shops here will benefit both economies. While South Korean firms take advantage of the country’s preferential access to key markets, they will also generate jobs in the Philippines, Lopez argued.

Over 30 South Korean business executives from the infrastructure, tool and die, and energy industries participated in the high-level meeting with Lopez and the Philippine camp, including Ambassador to South Korea Noe Albano Wong and Board of Investments Director Angelica M. Cayas.

The Philippines and South Korea are negotiating a bilateral FTA with the aim of improving trade and investment activities between the two parties. They started official talks on Monday.

Last year approved investments from South Korea declined 44.21 percent to P1.88 billion, from P3.37 billion in 2017, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority reported.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, June 6, 2019

B1

SMC wants to turn Pandacan oil depot into bus, food terminal

S

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

AN Miguel Corp. (SMC) submitted on Monday to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) an unsolicited proposal to transform the closed Pandacan oil depot into a P10billion bus and food terminal.

UV Express vans can also use the terminal to transport passengers of the provincial buses to their final destination.

The Nlex-Slex Connector Road, which currently connects C-3 road in Caloocan City to Santa Mesa, Manila, will soon be linked to the elevated Skyway Stage 3 road being constructed by SMC’s unit, Citra Central Expressway Corp.

The Skyway stage 3 is envisioned to connect the Slex via Makati to the Nlex entrance in Balintawak, Quezon City.

Ang said this route is seamless, convenient, fast, safe and efficient.

“Ngayon kasi pag sumakay ka ng provincial bus, bababa ka ng Bulacan tapos sasakay ka ng city bus papasok ng Edsa. From Bicol, sasakay ka ng bus then bababa ka ng Laguna tapos sasakay ka rin city bus,” he said.

“Kami, maganda ang solution. Sabi namin kapag galing ka sa Ilocos, ang bus aakyat sa Skyway Balintawak tapos bababa sa Pandacan. Tapos pwede mag turnaround yung bus; aakyat ulit pabalik ng Ilocos,” he said.

“Kapag sinundo mo ang pasa-

hero galing Ilocos or Bicol at diyan bababa, madali ma-monitor.

Karamihan ng students ay galing probinsya sa weekend at kung diyan sila bababa, ang dali sa kanila kase itong plano naming location ay sentro,” he said.

A portion of the terminal could also be transformed into a market, Ang said. “Right now, ang bagsakan ay nasa Balintawak or Divisioria at kung saan-saan. Lalagyan din natin ng cold storage and wet market and restaurant ang terminal. Magiging dampa din at bagsakan ng mga fish, gulay at goods,” Ang said.

He said Transportation Chief Arthur Tugade has warmly received SMC’s proposal.

“We have submitted this proposal to the DOTR secretary. We are in discussions with him and we have both come up with good ideas on how to help the public transport to be better.”

Construction could be finished in a year once government approves the proposal. Ang said the project cost is minimal since construction will consist mainly of access road, on-ramp and off-ramp, and stalls.

The 33-hectare compound in Pandacan, Manila, used to house the storage facilities and distribution terminals of Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Caltex Philippines —the so-called “Big Three”—before the Supreme Court ordered the relocation of the terminals in 2014.

Petron’s refinery is now located in Bataan, while that of Shell is in Batangas.

SMC President Ramon Ang said Shell and Caltex have agreed to convert the depot into a food and bus terminal, which can house as many as 5,000 buses at a given time. The proposed terminal can also accom-

modate UV Express vans.

Petron, which used to occupy 25 hectares of the entire Pandacan terminal, is owned by SMC. “Maraming pwede ka-joint venture like Shell and Caltex. We are in talks with Shell and Caltex, at payag sila sa plan,” Ang said.

The proposed bus and food terminal sits well with the government’s plan to ban provincial buses along Edsa because the terminal’s location is strategic.

Ang explained that buses coming from Iloilo or Bicol could take the Skyway Road and traverse all the way down to Pandacan, Manila, where the terminal will be located.

SMC Global Power asks Meralco to start selection process for 2 new power plants

House: PPA should stop charging weighing fee on rolling cargoes

S

MC Global Power Holdings Corp. has advised the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to start the competitive selection process (CSP) that involves two new power plants with a combined capacity of over 1,000 megawatts (MW).

“We submit ourselves to CSP. We have already advised Meralco na umpisahan na ang CSP. I think everybody will abide. For me, whatever they do, we will join the bidding. At the end of the day, the lowest price wins. We wait for Meralco to call for a CSP. Meralco has changed leadership, so we will wait,” SMC President Ramon Ang said.

The CSP is a mechanism to ensure transparency and fair competition in the procurement of power supply between a distribution utility (DU) and a power-generation firm.

The power arm of the conglomerate and Meralco earlier signed two power-supply agreements (PSAs) via bilateral negotiations. However, these two are among the 90 PSAs covered by the Supreme Court ruling last month.

The SC has ordered all PSAs submitted by DUs to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on or after June 30, 2015, to undergo CSP in accordance with a 2018 Department of Energy circular.

The two PSAs are the Central Luzon Premiere Power Corp. (528 MW) and the Mariveles Power Gen. Corp. (528 MW). These two power plants are supposed to partly supply Meralco’s requirements for 20 years.

Ang said each power plant would have four units of 150 MW each. These are still up for development As a rule of thumb, one MW costs P2 million. “These are Circulating Fluidized Bed plants in Bataan and Quezon. We will arrange for new funding for the plants,” he said.

As indicated in the 2018 DOE CSP circular, the DOE will closely oversee the competitive bidding process to guarantee that the exercise is conducted in an open, transparent, effective, efficient and equitable manner. For its part, the ERC will work alongside the DOE by enforcing and implementing the relevant policies formulated, as well as all pertinent rules and regulations issued by the DOE. However, should the process grossly fail, the DOE will not hesitate to enact all necessary measures to uphold the integrity and completion of the CSP. “In adherence to the SC’s judgment, we call for the exigent conduct of CSP for the PSAs of DUs, which include electric cooperatives and private corporations like Meralco. Power development in our country, particularly in Luzon, has been at a standstill for three years. We can no longer afford any further delay. We need to act now with extreme urgency to make up for the lost time,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

T

HE House of Representatives has adopted a resolution urging the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to discontinue imposing weighing fee on big rolling cargoes using ports catering to roll-on, roll-off (Roro) vessels.

Voting unanimously, the lower chamber adopted House Resolution 2532, authored by House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

HR 2523 seeks to help address the concerns of the maritime industry, especially in the operation of the Nautical Highway System or Roro system.

The filing of the resolution stemmed from findings of the oversight committee that the land travel portion of moving products has had the most significant impact on the cost of goods.

“When they compare the price of conventional and Roro, it’s okay for a 10-wheeler. It’s cheaper. But when you come to 20 and 40, Roro becomes more expensive because of the land portion of the travel. So the truckers have to unbundle the cost in the

land,” Arroyo said.

During an oversight meeting held in Hilongos, Leyte, on March 5, 2019, Arroyo said the affected sectors said that in addition to freight and other port charges, big rolling cargoes such as container trucks and trucks sixwheeler and above are being assessed for the use of weighbridge in several port catering Roro vessels.

The PPA said the fee is for handling services. But the shipping sector said the assessment is unreasonable, considering the nature of rolling cargoes does not require any handling services.

However, the House Committee on Transportation said the assessment in question adds up to the shipping cost of goods and ultimately ends up as a burden to the end-users since weighing is a component of handling of cargoes already covered by arrastre fee currently being charged by the handling operators.

In the resolution, Arroyo cited Presidential Decree 857—the Revised Charter of the PPA, as amended—which mandates the PPA to provide port-related services (whether on its own, by contract or otherwise) within the Port Districts, including

but not limited to berthing, towing, mooring, moving, slipping or docking any vessel; loading or discharging any vessel; and sorting, weighing, measuring, storing, warehousing, or otherwise handling goods.

The same law provides that among the corporate powers of the PPA is to levy dues, rates or charges for the use of the premises, works, appliances, facilities or for services provided by or belonging to the PPA, or any other organization concerned with port operations. Arroyo said weighbridge fees should be done away with to ease the costs faced by truckers and farmers, particularly those transporting agricultural goods through the Roro system from Mindanao to Luzon. As a result, the agricultural goods have become almost prohibitively expensive by the time they enter the Luzon market.

“It’s an additional cost to the industry. So we have a resolution here that since it’s a PPA function, they should not charge that function. Because there are five charges that they can make, and weighing charges are not part of it,” she said. “They will continue to weigh, but they cannot charge.”

Holcim PHL closes deals supporting construction growth in Davao

I

N line with its commitment to back up the construction boom across all parts of the country, especially in provincial areas, Holcim Philippines Inc. recently sealed the deals for the supply of cement to a construction organization in Davao and support the local government’s program for skills training of qualified constituents.

The building solutions provider renewed its supply engagement with the Davao Constructors Association Center Inc. (DCACI) by providing up to 400,000 metric tons of cement to this building group of 179 construction member-firms. They first tied up in 2018, with the provision of 320,000 tons of cement.

DCACI President Antonio Y. Uy expressed his gratitude for the partnership and lauded Holcim Philippines for introducing its new highperformance blended cement Solido as a better alternative to ordinary Portland cement used in infrastructure projects.

“The continued partnership of Holcim and

DCACI is like Solido, which gets stronger over time. It is a great innovation because of its environmental and cost advantage over Portland cement, which helps us take care of nature while having savings,” he said.

Another development that took place was the cement maker’s signing of a partnership with the Region 11 offices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Technical Education and Skill Development Authority (Tesda) for training on forklift operations, masonry, carpentry, welding and plumbing for the residents of the communities near its Davao plant.

Holcim Davao will extend an undisclosed amount of funding assistance and host the training to be conducted by Tesda for 25 beneficiaries, who will be certified as skilled workers.

The social welfare arm of the government will select the trainees from barangays near the cement manufacturing facility and provide assistance in mentoring and processing support

for the employment of beneficiaries.

This collaborative effort forms part of Holcim Davao’s Stakeholder Engagement Program aimed at supporting community development through various industrial and construction-related skills training, livelihood and employment.

Holcim Davao Plant Manager Xavier Kennedy said the new partnerships are timely and relevant as the city’s construction industry is seen to sustain its growth over the medium term.

“These partnerships are a reflection of our commitment to support the development of our communities and the rest of Davao,” he said.

“These programs provide our partners with a steady supply of cement and equip members of the community with needed skills to participate in the city’s healthy growth,” he added.

For Ernesto S. Nadera, the acting chief of the Korea-Philippines Vocational Training Center of Tesda, such initiative is very helpful to the people as it improves and upgrades the skills and living standards of beneficiaries. Roderick L. Abad

Party-list asks Meralco to abandon coal plants, shift to RE

M

URANG Kuryente Partylist (MKP) wants the M a n i l a E lec t r ic Co. (Meralco) to abandon its coalpower plant projects and instead shift to developing renewableenergy (RE) sources.

“Renewable energy is safer, more affordable and more sustainable than coal, and it is welcome to hear Meralco say they are committing to it. But we don’t want RE to be a token PR project of the company. Meralco should abandon all its coal-fired power plant projects and completely embrace RE,” Murang Kuryente Spokeman Gerry Arances saide in a statement.

Meralco said the other day that it plans to develop 1,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable-energy projects in the next seven years.

“As the biggest distribution utility in the country, on top of its own power-generation projects, Meralco is in a position to change the energy mix of the Philippines on its own. We hope this change can be manifested in concrete solutions such as shutting down its Atimonan coal project instead of using RE just for PR purposes,” Arances said.

M e r a l c o Po w e r g e n C o r p .

(MGen), the power-generation subsidiary of Meralco, is building a 1,200-MW coal-fired power plant in Atimonan, Quezon. The power project has yet to take off pending the conduct of a competitive selection process (CSP).

“In fact, their Atimonan project alone already exceeds their planned investment in RE for the next seven years. Why does RE have to wait for so long to get the same generating capacity as Meralco’s coal projects?”

Arances asked.

Coal is currently the biggest provider of fuel for power plants in the Philippines, accounting for more than a third of the installed capacity in the country, with more coal-fired power plants planned for construction.

When sought for comment, Mera lco said baseload power sources complement RE. “Obvi-

ously, some people can’t distinguish between baseload for 24x7 supply and intermittent power supply availability of renewables.

Our argument is we need baseload plant from cheapest source, which is coal, but using ‘high efficiency, low emission’ [Hele] to be able to decommission the old and inefficient coal plants, which are on extended life,” MGen President Rogelio Singson said in a text message.

“Ray Espinosa, Meralco president, and I are advocates of renewable power, but RE cannot provide the required 24x7 reliability and competitively priced, which Meralco is committed to provide its 6.7 million customer accounts.

This is the mandate of our Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan to both Espinosa and myself for MGen to be a major player in RE power supply,” Singson said.

The utility firm is also committed to developing large-scale RE projects that can deliver competitive electricity for its customers, without any requirement for subsidy or support, while keeping environmental stewardship and sustainability as top priorities in its business.

These new RE projects will be housed under a new firm called MGen Renewable Energ y Inc. (MGreen). Officials said MGreen aims to bring in additional supply to support the Philippines’s g row t h moment um and help ensure availability of green and cost-competitive power supply in the coming years.

“We are working on several renewable-energy prospects and we recognize the significant reduction in the development cost, particularly for large-scale solar and wind, over the past years.

Notwithstanding the ongoing requirement for new reliable baseload generation to support the fast-growing Philippine economy, we believe the time is right to focus on building our green-energy capacity, and we intend to be a key player in this expanding sector,” Singson added. Lenie Lectura

PAL in talks with Boeing for new wide-body planes

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

F

LAG carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is in talks with Boeing for the possible acquisition of new-generation widebody planes to replace its aging long-range fleet.

Jaime J. Bautista, the company’s president, said Boeing presented to the airline its new Boeing 777x, touted to be the “most efficient twin-engine jet in the world.”

“We are in discussion with Boeing. They informed us of the features of the Boeing 777x to replace our old Boeing 777s,” he said.

The Filipino full-service airline has 10 Boeing 777s that will have an average age of about 12 years by next year.

“Boeing would like to replace these airplanes with the new Boeing 777X,” Bautista said.

The Boeing 777x has two classes: the B777-8 and the B777-9.

The first of the two, which has a list price of $410.2 million, has a range of 8,690 miles and has a capacity of at most 375 seats.

The B777-9 can accommodate

up to 425 seats under a monoclass configuration and can fly for a range of 7,525 miles. Based on Boeing’s web site, a single plane has a list price of $442.2 million.

The Lucio C. Tan-led airline has a fleet of PAL has a fleet of 98 planes as of end-March, consisting of five Airbus A350-900 XWB, 10 Boeing 777-300ER, two Airbus A340-313, 15 Airbus A330-343, 24 Airbus A321-231, six Airbus A321-271neo, seven Airbus A320214, 12 Airbus A320-214, three Bombardier Q400, 10 Bombardier Q400 NG and four Bombardier Q300.

It has an outstanding order from Airbus amounting to roughly 13 more Airbus A321 neos, which will be delivered through 2022, based on tentative timelines.

Bautista noted that PAL may push back the delivery of the new planes due to slot constraints in Manila. “ We look for dest inat ions where we will fly these airplanes, considering there’s slot constraint in Manila—that’s why we are reviewing our orders when we will decide on the delivery of the next orders,” he said.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, June 6, 2019

DENR, Aboitiz Group renew partnership for environment

T

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recently renewed its partnership with the Aboitiz Group to promote ecological balance, including the planting of 9 million trees by 2020.

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) was recently signed by the DENR and Aboitiz Group in time for the celebration of World Environment Day on June 5.

The signing of the MOA was undertaken and witnessed by Carlos Aboitiz, Hedcor president, and chief operating officer; David Jude Sta. Ana, Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. chief corporate external affairs officer; Sabin M. Aboitiz, AEV COO; Jonas R. Leones, DENR undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs; Ricardo Calderon, DENR assistant secretary; and Nonito Tamayo, DENR director, Forest Management Bureau.

The Aboitiz Group said they are on track in reaching its 9 million trees target by 2020, after planting a total of 6.6 million trees or 73 percent of the target as of 2018 through its simultaneous tree planting (STP) initiative.

STP is under A-Park—the group’s largest environmental program that supports the Expanded National Greening Program (ENGP).

The planting of 9 million trees by the end of 2020 would mean the conversion of an estimated 189,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen or the equivalent of about 9,000 hectares of lush reforested areas, or more than 37 times the size

Century Pacific Group signs agreement to be ‘plastic-neutral’

T

WO companies under the Century Pacific Group (CPG) recently signed an agreement in push to be “plastic-neutral” by 2020.

The companies, Century Pacific Food (CNPF) and Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. (Spavi), alongside Republic Cement, have agreed to co-process post-consumer plastic waste, converting these to energy as an alternative fuel in producing cement.

CNPF, one of the Philippines’s leading food companies, is the company behind household names Century Tuna, Argentina, 555 and Birch Tree. Spavi is the owner of the iconic Shakey’s brand, a leader in both the pizza and full-service restaurant categories.

Both are among the Philippines’s top consumer companies and are working to minimize their environmental footprint. CNPF in particular has been in the forefront of marine sustainability, being the first among Philippine tuna companies

to join a global coalition to ensure the conservation of seafood resources.

“Consumer companies face significant cost and performance challenges in finding more sustainable alternatives to plastic. While co-processing is not the perfect solution, it can mitigate the environmental impact of plastic usage. This new partnership paves the way for us to conduct our businesses in a more sustainable way,” CPG President Christopher Po said.

“Over the years, our companies have implemented various programs to help promote a greener Philippines. These include various recycling initiatives and attempts to reduce packaging waste. As we grow in number of products sold and restaurant outlets opened, we’ve also sought partners to help balance out our environmental effects. This now includes Republic Cement, and we look forward to working with them in this worthwhile endeavor,” he added.

France backs Renault merger with Fiat as board deliberates

F

RANCE will back the proposed merger between Renault SA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, as long as it offers the state a range of guarantees on jobs, a board seat and local headquarters, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.

“There are tens of thousands of jobs on the line,” he said on RMC radio as the French carmaker’s board prepares for a second day of deliberations on the deal. “We want this merger, but not under any conditions.”

Renault’s directors are examining in detail a preliminary merger agreement hammered out over the past days, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Obtaining a seat on the new entity’s board for the state, the carmaker’s most powerful shareholder, is a “tough point” in the talks, Le Maire said.

Also being considered is a possible payout to Renault investors, potentially by reducing a planned €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion) special dividend slated for Fiat owners, people familiar with the matter said.

It’s possible that a decision to move forward will be reached on Wednesday, according to the people. The deal would create the world’s third-largest car maker.

Renault rose as much as 1 percent in early Paris trading on Wednesday, while Fiat slipped 0.4 percent in Milan. The two firms have a combined market value of about €35 billion ($39.4 billion).

Fiat Chrysler’s proposal last week for a 50-50 combination under a Dutch holding company is designed to help the carmakers add scale, share costs and boost resources for tackling an expensive shift to electrification and autonomous driving.

of Bonifacio Global City.

In a statement, Sabin reiterated the group’s commitment to the DENR’s programs.

“We strongly believe and adhere to the DENR’s mandate to protect the environment and we anchor our initiatives to the ENGP to sustain ecological balance. Our enduring partnership with the DENR for community-based forest management is a testament to our shared responsibility and highlights our contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal on Climate Action,” Sabin said.

Since 2010 Aboitiz team-member volunteers gather in chosen planting sites in various parts of the country to plant indigenous trees, a manifestation of their commitment to environmental stewardship. Aboitiz is currently one of DENR’s active ENGP partners.

“This MOA signing is a crucial step toward ensuring continuity in making a positive impact on our national development. It represents the essence of the Aboitiz Group purpose and brand promise: to drive change for a better world by advanc-

MUTUAL FUNDS

ing business and communities,” Aboitiz added.

This July, the Aboitiz Group will further contribute to A-Park at its annual STP activity, where an estimated 95,000 seedlings will be planted by Aboitiz team members and stakeholders nationwide.

Under the MOA, the DENR will offer additional support by mobilizing all its bureaus, attached agencies, and DENR regional offices to provide support for the implementation of the A-Park project; providing technical assistance in identifying a possible site, for planting and species-site matching; and assisting in the documentation of planted trees, which includes geotagging, plantation registry, and mapping, among others.

The Aboitiz Group is investing P500 million as part of its carbon management program. Other environmental programs include waste reduction through the group’s “Race to Reduce” program and the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park, home to the critically endangered hawksbill turtle or pawikan. All these programs are strategically implemented among all Aboitiz business units.

June 4, 2019

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

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 268.25 2.57% 0.91% 1.12% 6.35% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 1.6431 7.32% 9.47% 3.54% 14.04% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 4.1937 0.73% 1.25% 0.47% 7.45% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP. -A 0.957 5.14% N.A. N.A. 7.47% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. -A 0.8984 6.33% N.A. N.A. 9.47% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC. -A 5.588 3.87% 1.4% 1.27% 6.01% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. -A 122.43 9.35% N.A. N.A. 5.13% ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC. -A 0.8965 2.59% -3.39% N.A. 7.7% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC. -A 53.3344 5.59% 2.01% N.A. 8.39% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 554.1 4.51% 0.97% 1.13% 7.65% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC. -A 1.3525 6.73% 2.85% 3.77% 7.85% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC. -A 39.6824 6.68% 3.6% 3.29% 8.33% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,3 1.072 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC. -A 5.4082 6.56% 3.03% 3.51% 9.06% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP. -A 903.14 6.65% 2.74% 3.47% 9.01% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 0.9474 7.92% 1.88% N.A. 10.01% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC. -A 4.4189 6.85% 2.88% 2.62% 8.87% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC. -A 1.038 6.12% 2.68% N.A. 8.77% UNITED FUND, INC. -A 3.8249 6.87% 4.64% 3.45% 9.25% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC. -A,C,2 120.909 7.05% 3.74% 4.55% 9.17% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC. -B $0.9516 -12.34% 4.88% -0.54% 2.42% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC. -A $1.2361 -3.92% 6.8% N.A. 11.85% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC. -A 1.7547 2.81% -0.42% -1.1% 6.27% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 2.3428 1.46% 0.99% 0.85% 6.05% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC. -A 2.6806 3.11% 0.07% -1.11% 5.38% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION -A 1.3677 1.53% N.A. N.A. 4.86% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC. -A 1.9476 4.64% 1.26% 1.46% 5.67% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC. -A 3.7482 3.03% 0.15% 0.59% 6.2% PHILAM FUND, INC. -A 16.9038 4.12% 0.27% 0.66% 6.26% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC. -A 2.1683 3.77% 1.44% 2% 4.63% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 3.9151 5.77% 1.56% 1.63% 7.22% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2028, INC. -A,D,4 1.023 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2038, INC. -A,D,4 1.0236 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2048, INC. -A,D,4 1.0217 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A 1.0027 6.38% 1.74% N.A. 8.79% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC. -A $0.03668 4.86% 0.96% 1.54% 4.06% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC. -A $0.9496 -9.12% 2.84% -1.34% 1.43% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC. -A $3.6172 -1.09% 5.11% 2.12% 9.33% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC. -A $1.081 0.77% 3.27% N.A. 7.03% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 349.23 3.18% 2.05% 2.13% 1.7% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC. -A,1 1.8881 1.49% -0.21% -0.3% 1.55% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 3.0399 5.52% 5.28% 5.27% 2.33% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC. -A 2.1704 2.83% 1.28% 1.66% 1.87% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC. -A 2.2849 3.07% 0.71% 1.15% 3.42% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP. -A P 1.6054 1.73% -0.46% -0.04% 2.62% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC. -A 4.1021 3.24% -0.13% 0.71% 4.65% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.6385 4.41% 1.58% 1.08% 3.45% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. -A 0.93 2.33% -0.44% N.A. 4.19% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC. -A 2.9224 6.48% 1.98% 1.78% 5.66% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC. -A

1.6226 6.26% 1.47% 1.34% 5.37% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $456.37 3.23% 1.85% 2.68% 1.8% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. -A Є216.18 1.73% 1.44% 1.43% 1.66% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -B $1.1731 5.49% 1.73% 2.09% 4.2% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $0.0254 2.83% 0.94% N.A. 2.42% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP. -A $1.7141 1.03% -1.28% 0.58% 1.41% PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC -A $1.078 3.96% -0.09% -2.03% 3.89% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $2.2963 6.68% 0.95% 2.68% 5.76% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC. -A $0.0587218 3.54% 1.42% 1.71% 3.06% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC. -A $3.0312 4.99% 0.46% 2.17% 5.54% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 123.07 3.55% 2.31% 1.86% 1.85% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A,5 1.0128 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 1.2062 3.35% 1.48% 0.93% 2.06% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 1.2404 3.56% 2.58% 1.96% 1.76% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC. -A $1.0264 2.11% N.A. N.A. 1.03%

A - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY. B - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO. C - LISTED IN THE PSE. D - IN NET ASSET VALUE PER UNIT (NAVPU).

1 - ADJUSTED DUE TO CASH DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JANUARY 29, 2018. 2 - ADJUSTED DUE TO STOCK DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JUNE 5, 2018.

3 - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 3, 2019. 4 - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 28, 2019. 5 - LAUNCH DATE IS FEBRUARY 1, 2019.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

June 4, 2019

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BDO LEASING COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

58 137.5 80 26.75 11.62 70.6 13.2 57.7 57.15 26.75 170 59.9 2.24 18.74 4.45 0.47 765.5 0.99 183.2 1755 1.13

59.6 138 80.3 26.8 11.66 70.95 13.74 57.9 57.5 26.8 170.1 60 2.25 18.76 4.49 0.48 780 1 184.9 1820 1.22

59.7 138 82 26.75 11.7 72.7 13.2 58.25 57.1 26.7 175 59.9 2.24 18.78 4.42 0.49 779 0.99 184.9 1755 1.13

59.7 139.8 83.3 26.8 11.78 72.95 13.74 58.55 57.5 26.75 175 60.7 2.24 18.78 4.45 0.495 779 1 184.9 1755 1.13

58 135.5 80 26.7 11.62 70.6 13.2 57.3 57.1 26.6 170 59.9 2.24 18.74 4.42 0.47 765 0.99 184.9 1755 1.13

58 137.5 80 26.8 11.62 70.6 13.74 57.9 57.5 26.75 170.1 60 2.24 18.76 4.45 0.495 765 1 184.9 1755 1.13

34110 1422550 2366410 117600 206100 2394850 34300 115150 3290 22500 441980 14320 15000 1600 42000 410000 120 12000 100 30 3000

1983457.5 196252124 192123111 3148520 2413560 170716234.5 457110 6671728.5 188543 601790 75941185 860003 33600 30018 186790 200600 92330 11890 18490 52650 3390

INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS ABOITIZ POWER BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG MERALCO MANILA WATER PETRON PETROENERGY PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL SPC POWER AGRINURTURE CNTRL AZUCARERA CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV ALLIANCE SELECT GINEBRA JOLLIBEE MACAY HLDG MAXS GROUP PEPSI COLA SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP SWIFT FOODS UNIV ROBINA VITARICH CEMEX HLDG DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP HOLCIM MEGAWIDE PHINMA TKC METALS VULCAN INDL CHEMPHIL CROWN ASIA LMG CHEMICALS PRYCE CORP CONCEPCION GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR IONICS PANASONIC SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG

1.38 35.8 0.29 23.5 77 390 23.5 6.08 4.64 2.46 12 41.95 6.5 14.42 16.4 14.5 5.65 10.1 7.63 108 0.73 42.55 277 9.6 12.54 1.23 14.14 1.54 4.58 0.127 167.9 1.28 2.47 5.31 15.94 10.3 13.64 20.15 9.11 1.44 1.28 110.1 2.03 4.2 4.82 43.9 2.55 10.44 1.67 5.43 1.2 25.2

ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG MJC INVESTMENTS METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.57 13.86 919 54.5 15.8 3.62 6.7 0.79 1.28 1.28 6.83 10.24 13.84 858 6.21 62.5 0.475 4.64 15.08 0.52 2.76 4.48 0.039 1.08 1.36 948 185 0.94 268 0.233 0.29

1.4 36 0.295 23.55 77.2 390.8 23.55 6.1 4.65 2.47 12.2 42.05 6.52 14.46 16.94 14.8 5.7 10.12 7.64 108.9 0.75 42.8 277.4 9.7 12.56 1.24 14.18 1.55 5 0.132 168 1.29 2.48 5.8 16 10.36 13.66 20.4 9.39 1.45 1.29 117.9 2.04 4.25 4.97 44.75 2.56 10.56 1.69 5.7 1.21 25.5

1.4 36.3 0.3 23 77.55 389.2 23.3 6.12 4.84 2.38 12.3 42.55 6.63 14.5 16.2 14.84 5.7 10.3 7.69 108.8 0.71 42.5 287 9.78 12.62 1.23 13.98 1.54 5.01 0.127 171 1.3 2.54 5.35 16 10.32 13.74 20.55 9.11 1.42 1.32 110.1 2.03 4.2 4.9 44.8 2.43 10.58 1.7 5.4 1.19 25.5

1.4 37.25 0.305 23.8 78.1 390.8 24.25 6.16 4.84 2.5 12.3 42.65 6.63 14.5 16.92 14.84 5.78 10.3 7.69 108.9 0.76 43 287 9.92 12.62 1.25 14.2 1.55 5.1 0.127 171.3 1.3 2.55 5.45 16.12 10.52 13.74 20.6 9.39 1.45 1.35 117.9 2.04 4.2 4.9 44.8 2.55 10.62 1.7 5.4 1.21 25.6

1.38 35.8 0.285 22.95 77 387 23 6.07 4.65 2.35 12.06 41.8 6.5 14.4 16.2 14.5 5.7 10.12 7.54 107 0.71 42.5 277 9.6 12.54 1.23 13.74 1.54 5 0.127 168 1.27 2.46 5.35 15.94 10.3 13.6 20.1 9.11 1.39 1.27 110.1 2.03 4.2 4.9 43.9 2.42 10.5 1.66 5.4 1.16 25.1

1.38 35.8 0.295 23.5 77 390.8 23.5 6.08 4.65 2.47 12.28 41.95 6.52 14.46 16.4 14.5 5.7 10.12 7.64 108.9 0.75 42.55 277 9.6 12.56 1.24 14.18 1.54 5 0.127 168 1.29 2.47 5.45 15.94 10.3 13.64 20.15 9.39 1.44 1.29 117.9 2.03 4.2 4.9 44.75 2.55 10.56 1.7 5.4 1.21 25.5

51000 597400 8180000 3404300 37980 268030 8888500 945200 623000 43366000 18800 183900 158400 713700 6000 556200 26700 1144600 245900 64200 3462000 148200 685690 10500 529400 2989000 1379300 302000 262100 100000 909920 2773000 7687000 40000 150700 1091300 204000 903200 308600 4142000 9312000 9890 341000 1000 2000 500 14022000 281200 116000 4300 205000 158300

71120 21637780 2402450 80040220 2936455 104495184 205791140 5766355 2944670 106635510 227580 7759805 1033441 10319918 98242 8114594 153298 11675026 1873065 6934838 2559180 6309990 191130568 101930 6659070 3706180 19482098 465580 1311495 12700 153477783 3563770 19141260 216000 2410412 11342154 2782458 18234475 2897054 5890750 12248400 1099809 692420 4200 9800 22215 34934040 2963984 195150 23220 243070 4027100

206981 21440985 -8224057 886385 -725654 -105276335 1497269.5 -95410.5 -2640 -30323642 381562 1861805 177000 43575685 -990957.5 54220576 15892650 1801360 -668750 -2024930 -484582 -427344 -2017652 56470 -1804475 -27080 548275 -76663304 -1373644 -2234480 3984854 -1215000 -39079646 56060 1101830 -571548 -431046 1313196 -12509230 -284040 -6450 8780 -2770560 1737794.0003 -

HOLDING & FRIMS 0.58 13.9 921 54.8 15.9 3.65 6.85 0.8 1.29 1.29 6.88 10.4 14 869.5 6.31 62.55 0.5 4.65 15.1 0.56 2.98 4.49 0.04 1.1 1.37 957 186 0.95 269 0.237 0.295

0.6 14.22 931 56.7 15.98 3.73 6.57 0.78 1.26 1.27 7.03 10.62 13.8 870 6.21 63.65 0.48 4.65 15.2 0.53 2.76 4.6 0.04 1.08 1.39 965 186.5 0.92 268 0.238 0.3

0.6 14.56 931 56.7 15.98 3.74 6.85 0.82 1.3 1.29 7.03 10.62 14 873.5 6.21 63.9 0.51 4.65 15.2 0.53 2.76 4.6 0.04 1.08 1.39 970 186.8 1.02 269 0.238 0.3

0.58 13.8 916 54.1 15.5 3.59 6.57 0.77 1.26 1.26 6.82 10.2 13.8 855 6.2 62 0.48 4.62 15.08 0.52 2.76 4.47 0.039 1.08 1.37 947 183 0.91 267 0.234 0.29

0.58 13.86 919 54.5 15.9 3.65 6.7 0.79 1.28 1.28 6.83 10.24 14 858 6.2 62.5 0.5 4.65 15.08 0.52 2.76 4.48 0.039 1.08 1.37 957 185 0.94 269 0.234 0.3

15340000 309300 288530 1025230 3761400 7916000 11600 1761000 4379000 531000 922400 2961300 223900 73870 45200 1189410 49000 5351000 1060800 4000 1000 25267000 1200000 19000 69000 176810 383140 7261000 690 280000 2650000

8939060 284650 4341194 265408665 -21615710 56065254 -8693352 59257116 11696190 29039090 272160 77753 70903 1399410 -79120 5608460 681570 141750 6375122 -15359 30624566 -6802618 3130084 63422240 -21011410 280690 74299029 -29616949.5 24430 24756820 -3540070 16015976 -6777632 2090 2760 113922100 28061990.0001 47200 20520 94850 169405145 59640000 70863891 -15115867 7101960 -61200 185090 -32088 65560 787100 -125900

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP 0.78 0.79 0.78 0.79 0.77 0.79 195000 152290 AYALA LAND 50.45 50.5 51.7 51.95 50.2 50.5 13833060 701347888.5 -54701346.5 ARANETA PROP 2.04 2.09 2.05 2.11 2 2.1 729000 1514820 BELLE CORP 2.33 2.34 2.34 2.35 2.32 2.34 404000 945820 -39650 A BROWN 0.79 0.8 0.79 0.8 0.79 0.79 863000 682050 CITYLAND DEVT 0.95 0.97 0.95 0.97 0.94 0.95 166000 158860 CROWN EQUITIES 0.226 0.228 0.227 0.227 0.226 0.226 430000 97240 CEBU HLDG 6.14 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.14 6.14 59500 365576 -358756 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.82 4.84 4.77 4.85 4.69 4.82 1411000 6712460 607360 CENTURY PROP 0.61 0.62 0.6 0.64 0.6 0.61 66422000 41059510 392810 DOUBLEDRAGON 25.8 25.9 26 26 25.4 25.9 465000 11954860 5115745 DM WENCESLAO 9.94 9.96 10.06 10.06 9.86 9.94 218400 2164916 -19114 EMPIRE EAST 0.47 0.475 0.475 0.475 0.475 0.475 2530000 1201750 -1159000 FILINVEST LAND 1.74 1.75 1.76 1.77 1.71 1.75 35210000 61457040 5518660 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.42 1.43 1.46 1.46 1.43 1.43 1020000 1469590 8990 HLDG 16.2 16.28 16 16.4 16 16.28 1197100 19273280 155427.9999 PHIL INFRADEV 1.89 1.9 1.83 1.92 1.83 1.89 7120000 13428590 -891140 CITY AND LAND 0.81 0.84 0.82 0.82 0.82 0.82 131000 107420 12300 MEGAWORLD 6.09 6.11 6.06 6.17 5.98 6.11 28659800 174134868 96669203 MRC ALLIED 0.31 0.315 0.315 0.315 0.31 0.31 6520000 2036050 157500 PHIL ESTATES 0.465 0.48 0.465 0.465 0.465 0.465 120000 55800 ROBINSONS LAND 26.55 26.75 27.05 27.1 26.3 26.55 3304500 88414690 8688155 PHIL REALTY 0.41 0.42 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.41 80000 32800 ROCKWELL 2.06 2.07 2.05 2.13 2.05 2.07 298000 624490 -25440 SHANG PROP 2.95 3 2.99 3 2.95 3 321000 954000 48000 STA LUCIA LAND 1.9 1.94 1.91 1.95 1.9 1.9 289000 551120 -9550 SM PRIME HLDG 39 39.4 40.2 40.2 39 39 5390000 211865945 -78206520 STARMALLS 6.35 6.37 6.41 6.41 6.32 6.37 35300 224145 SUNTRUST HOME 0.74 0.78 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.74 8000 5920 VISTA LAND 7.09 7.15 7.17 7.17 7.09 7.15 3003500 21434782 -2010995

SERVICES ABS CBN 18.34 18.36 18.38 18.4 18.34 18.36 201300 3699562 GMA NETWORK 5.39 5.4 5.39 5.4 5.39 5.39 112200 605225 MANILA BULLETIN 0.56 0.57 0.58 0.58 0.56 0.57 377000 213190 GLOBE TELECOM 2274 2294 2268 2298 2202 2294 98100 224141600 159828330 PLDT 1243 1244 1263 1278 1240 1244 840035 1053204110 -437809760 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.044 0.045 0.045 0.045 0.044 0.044 1700000 76300 DFNN INC 5.87 5.88 5.88 6 5.88 5.88 99200 583947 -431643 IMPERIAL 1.76 1.9 1.75 1.76 1.75 1.76 3000 5260 ISLAND INFO 0.121 0.125 0.126 0.126 0.121 0.121 720000 87920 ISM COMM 6.06 6.07 6.17 6.2 6.06 6.07 2837300 17345174 1230320 NOW CORP 2.74 2.75 2.7 2.83 2.68 2.74 14751000 40664070 116980 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.36 0.365 0.365 0.365 0.355 0.36 6160000 2215000 PHILWEB 3.3 3.31 3.46 3.46 3.28 3.31 3486000 11631140 -1903050 2GO GROUP 11.46 11.5 11.42 11.6 11.2 11.56 53700 612206 3392 ASIAN TERMINALS 21.1 21.4 21.45 21.45 20.6 21 5300 111600 48300 CHELSEA 6.59 6.6 6.65 6.65 6.6 6.6 401300 2652956 -66345 CEBU AIR 91.3 91.5 92.1 92.1 91.25 91.3 166130 15233434 -2364930.5 INTL CONTAINER 134.7 134.9 134.9 135.8 134 134.9 2597920 350432312 5522707 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.85 0.86 0.82 0.88 0.8 0.86 856000 720000 -18480 MACROASIA 21 21.2 21.2 21.35 20.6 21.2 291200 6111730 1556860 METROALLIANCE A 1.54 1.71 1.6 1.6 1.54 1.58 11000 17210 PAL HLDG 9.4 9.55 9.83 9.83 9.4 9.4 70100 667639 9500 HARBOR STAR 2.23 2.24 2.3 2.3 2.23 2.24 1300000 2933250 24859.9999 ACESITE HOTEL 1.31 1.33 1.31 1.38 1.31 1.33 38000 50270 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.058 0.06 0.059 0.06 0.058 0.06 14300000 840880 DISCOVERY WORLD 2.04 2.15 2.2 2.2 2.18 2.18 6000 13100 WATERFRONT 0.69 0.7 0.7 0.71 0.68 0.69 2563000 1773910 CENTRO ESCOLAR 7.05 7.28 7.01 7.39 7 7 13300 93369 27330 IPEOPLE 10.2 10.5 10.16 10.5 10.16 10.5 1400 14360 STI HLDG 0.71 0.72 0.67 0.74 0.67 0.71 18040000 12794030 1266030 BERJAYA 2.78 2.81 2.9 2.94 2.71 2.78 2045000 5682520 BLOOMBERRY 11.9 11.92 11.96 12 11.74 11.92 2846800 33940398 12679028 PACIFIC ONLINE 3.14 3.2 3.24 3.24 3.11 3.14 55000 173170 LEISURE AND RES 4.24 4.28 4.26 4.37 4.24 4.28 1154000 4947540 -712340 MANILA JOCKEY 3.68 3.8 3.69 3.69 3.68 3.68 22000 81160 PH RESORTS GRP 4.8 4.85 4.8 4.99 4.71 4.85 97000 473170 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.77 0.78 0.8 0.81 0.77 0.77 6745000 5302500 384400 PHIL RACING 8.12 9.49 8.11 8.11 8.11 8.11 1000 8110 TRAVELLERS 5.24 5.25 5.3 5.3 5.2 5.25 1123000 5873386 -3157076 METRO RETAIL 2.68 2.69 2.75 2.75 2.69 2.69 3145000 8486530 10760 PUREGOLD 44.9 45.5 45 46 44.6 44.9 837500 37675255 369145 ROBINSONS RTL 72 73.2 73.4 73.5 72 72 200450 14,530,444.5( 2,739,438.5003) PHIL SEVEN CORP 120 123.9 124 124 123 124 264910 32846610 271830 SSI GROUP 3.19 3.2 3.3 3.33 3.2 3.2 8205000 26677570 -4669050 WILCON DEPOT 17 17.06 16.96 17.14 16.9 17 2874500 49026880 7976168 APC GROUP 0.435 0.44 0.435 0.435 0.425 0.435 1460000 634450 EASYCALL 10.32 10.5 10.5 10.66 10.3 10.5 63900 669966 GOLDEN BRIA 405.2 415 414 415 405 415 1780 737890 IPM HLDG 5.5 6 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 20000 114000 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.82 0.84 0.81 0.85 0.8 0.82 24911000 20571690 -1158650 SBS PHIL CORP 9.42 9.5 9.38 9.42 9.32 9.42 44100 412384

MINING & OIL ATOK 10.72 12.3 12.38 12.38 12.38 12.38 500 6190 APEX MINING 1.16 1.17 1.22 1.25 1.1 1.16 3063000 3634990 -527430 ABRA MINING 0.0018 0.002 0.0019 0.0019 0.0018 0.0019 13000000 23900 BENGUET A 1.12 1.18 1.18 1.18 1.18 1.18 5000 5900 BENGUET B 1.12 1.19 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.12 10000 11200 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.285 0.29 0.285 0.285 0.285 0.285 300000 85500 CENTURY PEAK 2.8 2.86 2.86 2.91 2.8 2.8 640000 1802410 -531899.9998 DIZON MINES 7.71 7.79 7.82 7.82 7.71 7.71 20400 157760 FERRONICKEL 1.47 1.48 1.54 1.54 1.45 1.48 13056000 19513460 -1460900 GEOGRACE 0.228 0.242 0.243 0.247 0.227 0.243 330000 76520 LEPANTO A 0.108 0.109 0.111 0.111 0.109 0.109 1730000 189430 LEPANTO B 0.109 0.115 0.11 0.115 0.11 0.115 690000 77710 -49120 MANILA MINING A 0.0075 0.0079 0.0075 0.0075 0.0075 0.0075 1000000 7500 MARCVENTURES 1.03 1.06 1.02 1.06 1.02 1.06 159000 168480 NIHAO 0.96 1 0.97 1 0.97 1 24000 23310 NICKEL ASIA 2.27 2.29 2.29 2.29 2.23 2.27 932000 2106860 -381940 OMICO CORP 0.55 0.56 0.56 0.56 0.55 0.55 16000 8900 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.88 0.89 0.88 0.89 0.88 0.88 35000 30890 PX MINING 3.22 3.24 3.3 3.31 3.22 3.22 1069000 3481660 -164970 SEMIRARA MINING 21.5 21.95 22.25 22.25 21.5 21.5 870700 19034710 -9667860 ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 1500000 18000 PHILODRILL 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.01 3800000 39800 PHINMA PETRO 3.64 3.71 3.6 3.71 3.53 3.71 300000 1086850 PXP ENERGY 8.28 8.29 9.02 9.02 8.18 8.29 4589800 38705457 554608

PREFFERED

AC PREF B1 476 480 484.8 484.8 484.8 484.8 20 9696 AC PREF B2 487 499 499 499 499 499 10 4990 -4990 ALCO PREF B 94.15 99.9 98 98 98 98 5000 490000 DD PREF 97.5 98.4 98 98.4 97.5 98 5480 537019 SMC FB PREF 2 962.5 970 970 970 963 963 1650 1592915 28890 FGEN PREF G 104.3 104.8 104.3 104.8 104.3 104.8 450 47085 -15645 FPH PREF C 456 460 456 456 456 456 260 118560 GTCAP PREF A 889 917 914 917 914 917 60 54880 GTCAP PREF B 921 950 959 959 959 959 10 9590 LR PREF 0.99 1 1 1 1 1 20000 20000 MWIDE PREF 100.1 102.5 102.5 102.5 102.5 102.5 300 30750 -30750 PNX PREF 3B 105.5 107 106.9 106.9 106.9 106.9 100 10690 PCOR PREF 2A 985 995 995 995 995 995 20 19900 PCOR PREF 2B 990 1025 1025 1025 1025 1025 175 179375 SMC PREF 2B 75.05 75.4 75.45 75.45 75.45 75.45 1330 100348.5 SMC PREF 2C 77.5 77.95 78 78 77.5 77.5 900 70071 15500 SMC PREF 2D 72.1 73 72.1 73 72.1 73 40100 2915233 SMC PREF 2E 72.5 72.7 72.7 72.7 72 72.5 6040 435408 SMC PREF 2F 74 74.75 74.7 74.75 74.7 74.75 17260 1290085 SMC PREF 2H 73 73.85 73.3 73.3 73 73 20100 1470300 SMC PREF 2I 73 73.7 73 73 73 73 24380 1779740 -

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

17.96 5.2

18 5.25

17.94 5.3

18 5.35

17.94 5.25

17.96 5.25

13400 13800

241108 72610

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

2.03

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 4.7 XURPAS 1.01

2.05

2.04

2.08

2.03

2.03

168000

343370

-

4.75 1.03

4.79 1.01

4.81 1.03

4.7 1.01

4.7 1.01

289000 3044000

1368880 3085170

-265010

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

117

-219576 -46360

119.4

121

121

117

117

12300

1465503

63222

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Central banks poised to act as world economic warnings start flashing red

C

ENTR AL banks are resuming their first-responder role as the world economy runs into trouble even if they lack the firepower they once had at their disposal.

With Australia cutting interest rates on Tuesday for the first time in three years and India likely to follow on Thursday, monetar y policy-makers are again seeking to shore up weak growth and inf lation.

Federal Reser ve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled openness to loosening if necessar y.

For mer Tre a su r y S ec ret a r y Lawrence Summers wrote on Twitter that the Fed should cut by 50 basis points over coming months, if not more, to ward off recession risks.

And European Central Bank (ECB) officials are poised on Thursday to, at the very least, agree on generous terms for new long-term loans for banks.

Stocks in A sia rose after Powell’s signal while Treasuries steadied. Japan led the charge, with the Topix index up more than 1.5 percent.

The upshot in global monetar y policy is turning looser ju s t mont h s a f te r t he Fe d and many of its counter parts seemed intent on spend ing 2019 shifting away from the e me r ge nc y s e t t i n g s of t he past decade. An index by the Council on Foreign Relations shows monetar y policy now at its easiest since 2014, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. reckons the average benchmark rate of developed nations will end this year looser than now, led by two Fed cuts.

That’s the outlook finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 industrial and emerging economies face when they gather this week in the Japanese city of Fukuoka.

“The mood regarding global growth is likely to be distinctly gloomier than at the last G-20 gathering,” said Matthew Goodman, a former White House official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “ This could put pressure on finance ministries and central banks in major economies to inject new stimulus.”

The World Bank lowered its 2019 growth forecast citing a slowdown in trade growth to the weakest since the financial crisis.

Wor r y ingly, of f icia ls w i l l convene in the knowledge that they have less ammunition and monetar y policy is not as potent as it once was. Since the 2008 financial crisis, analysts at Bank of America calculate central banks cut rates more than 700 times and bought $12 trillion of financial assets.

The Fed has a current rate target range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent, which doesn’t leave much room above zero given it cut by 500 basis points to fight the last downturn.

And it, at least, has hiked— the ECB and Bank of Japan never got to reverse their crisis-era reductions and rates are stuck below zero.

But w it h below-t a rget inf l at ion a nd slow ing g row t h, investors a re bet t ing on act ion, a nd see t wo qu a r ter point c uts in t he US by t he end of 2019. JPMorga n t h is week pushed bac k its pred ict ion for when cent ra l ba n k s across Europe w ill start tightening, and A BN A mro sees QE being rest a r ted in t he eu ro reg ion ne x t yea r.

O n M o n d a y, St . L o u i s Fe d President James Bu l lard said a “ dow nward policy rate adjust ment ” cou ld be n e e d e d s o o n . Po w e l l s a i d a d ay l ater t hat pol ic y-ma kers “w i l l act as appropr iate t o s u s t a i n t h e e x p a n s i o n .”

In Sout h A f r ica, t he pol ic y bi as is sh if t ing , w it h t wo of five panel members voting for a c ut l ast mont h. St i l l, even after the economy shrank the most in a decade in t he f irst qu a r ter, Gov. L eset ja K ga nyago is ad a ma nt it ’s not h is job to boost g row t h, but cont rol inf l at ion.

“Price stability is a necessary condition for balanced and sustainable growth, but it is by no means a sufficient condition,” Kganyago said in an interview on Tuesday.

Behind the globa l concer ns a nd ma rket jit ters a re President Dona ld J. Tr ump’s trade wa r w it h C h ina a nd t hreats to e x pa nd it to inc lude a l l ies suc h as Me x ico a nd t he Eu ro pea n Union. Morga n St a n ley is war ning t hat an esca l at ion of t he conf l ict bet ween Beiji ng a nd Wa sh i ng ton a lone cou ld t ip t he world into re cession w it h in nine mont hs.

The trade war is not the only drag on demand. Cooling demand in China, tighter financial conditions and a dimming technology boom are also hurting. Manufacturing is now the weakest it’s been since 2012, according to a monthly report from IHS Markit.

T he s l o w d o w n m ay l e a d some to argue central banks should have been quicker to normalize policy so they were better positioned to deal with a downturn. But policy-makers reject such a strateg y, arguing too-fast tightening would risk generating the ver y economic slump they want to avoid.

Policy review

HOW E V ER , a not he r rou nd of loosening will fan the debate over whether they have the right strateg y. Fed officials are meeting in Chicago this week to discuss potential changes to how they manage monetar y policy, with at least one delegate advocating a more f lexible approach to targeting inf lation. Adam Posen, a former Bank of England policy, last month advocated all major central banks unite to boost their targets.

That’s all for the long term rather than the short term.

T he c u r re nt sit u at ion m ay mea n gover nments have to step up, though they are also constrained. Global debt is at $184 trillion, the equivalent of 225 percent of GDP, according to the IMF. The dilemma is perhaps greatest in G-20 host Japan. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is again under pressure to act after exports fell for a fifth straight month and a planned sales-tax hike has drawn warnings it could cause a recession.

“A s cyclical indicators have st a r ted to f l ash red, g reater p ol i c y - c o ord i n at io n a c ro s s t he G -20 is urgent ly requ ired t o s u p p o r t d e m a n d ,” s a i d Freder ic Neumann, cohead of A si a n econom ics resea rc h at HSBC Hold ings Plc. in Hong Kong. “A nd yet, of f ic ia ls a lso conf ront t he g row ing rea l it y t h at b u f f e r s i n i nd i v i du a l econom ies have wor n t h in.”

Bloomberg News

Thursday, June 6, 2019

B3

World Bank downgrades its forecast for global economy

W

ASHINGTON—The World Bank on Tuesday downgraded its forecast for the global economy in light of trade conflicts, financial strains and unexpectedly sharp slowdowns in wealthier countries.

The bank, an anti-poverty agency, expects the world economy to grow 2.6 percent this year. That would be the slowest calendar-year growth since 2016, and it is down from the 2.9-percent expansion the agency forecast in January.

The World Bank downgraded every major region of the world, though it kept its 2019 forecast for US growth at 2.5 percent. In the 19 countries that use the euro currency, growth is forecast to slow to 1.2 percent, down from 1.8 percent last year and the 1.6 percent the World Bank expected in January.

S lowed by t he Tr u mp administration’s trade war with China, global trade is expected to expand just 2.6 percent this year, the weakest pace since the 2008 financial crisis.

The Trump administration and Beijing have imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other’s imports in a clash over China’s aggressive drive to overtake American technological dominance.

Their showdown has generated uncertainty for businesses that must decide whether and where to make investments, buy supplies and establish factories.

IN this October 27, 2017, file photo, workers assemble Ford trucks at the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Kentucky. US manufacturers grew at a slower pace in May, as production levels fell slightly. The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, says that its manufacturing index slipped to 52.1 last month, down from 52.8 in April. AP/TIMOTHY D. EASLEY

“We are not pushing the panic button yet,” said Ayhan Kose, a World Bank economist. “But we are sending a message” of a possibly deeper slowdown if trade hostilities persist.

“This is high time for policymakers to find ways to resolve their differences,” Kose said.

China, the world ’s secondlargest economy after the United States, is forecast to grow 6.2 percent, which would be its weakest

POWELL HINTS FED WILL CUT RATES IF NEEDED OVER TRADE CONFLICTS

W

ASHINGTON— Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that the Federal Reserve is prepared to respond if it decides the Trump administration’s trade conflicts are threatening the US economy.

Investors read his remarks as a signal that the Fed will likely cut interest rates later this year.

Powell’s remarks helped drive up stock prices, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending the day up more than 500 points, or 2 percent.

Speaking at a Fed conference in Chicago, Powell said, “We are closely monitoring the implications of these developments for the US economic outlook and, as always, we will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion.”

Powell didn’t explicitly say what the Fed would do. But expectations are rising that the Fed will cut rates at least once and possibly two or more times before year’s end, in part because of the consequences of the trade war. There is concern that the US expansion, which next month will become the longest on record, could face growing risks of a recession as retaliator y tariffs weaken US expor ts.

Investors in the futures market are pricing in a 59 percent chance of a Fed rate cut by July.

Also on Tuesday, Vice Chairman Richard Clarida declined to speculate on the possibility of a Fed rate cut that soon but said in an interview with CNBC, “We will put in policies that need to be in place” to sustain the economic expansion.

James Bullard, head of the Fed’s St. Louis bank, had said on Monday that a Fed rate cut

“may be warranted soon,” in part because potential risks from trade uncertainties.

Trump has imposed far-reaching tariffs on imports on China, which has retaliated with tariffs of its own on US exports. He has also threatened to impose an escalating series of tariffs against Mexico unless it stops a flow of migrants from Central America into the US. At a news conference in London, Trump reiterated that his import taxes on Mexican goods will take effect next week at a level of 5 percent, rising to a peak of 25 percent until Mexico complies with his demand to cut off Central America migration.

The Fed conference in Chicago is focused on how the central bank can make its rate policy more effective at a time when inflation has remained chronically below the Fed’s target level. In his remarks, Powell called persistently low inflation the “preeminent monetar y-polic y challenge of our time,” because it limits the Fed’s ability to support the economy by cutting rates.

Powell said that in its first-ever public review of its operations, the Fed will aim to improve its rate strategies, the tools it uses to achieve its objectives and the way it communicates its actions to the public.

Next month, the economic expansion will become the longest period of uninterrupted growth on record, surpassing the 10-year expansion of the 1990s.

The Fed manages interest rates to achieve two goals: maximum employment and stable prices. Even though unemployment has reached a 50-year low of 3.6 percent, inflation

has failed to rise to the Fed’s target of 2 percent. The Fed regards that target as the optimal level for annual price increases and becomes concerned if inflation strays too far above 2 percent or too far below it.

But the Fed’s efforts to achieve the 2 percent target have so far failed even though it kept its key policy rate at a record low near zero for seven years. It began gradually increasing its policy rate in 2015.

After raising rates nine times, it declared in January that it would be “patient” in raising rates further. The policy rate at the moment is in a range of just 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent, meaning that the Fed has less room than usual to cut rates to stimulate growth.

What the central bank can do to manage the economy when inflation is so low and rates have little maneuvering room will be a key topic at the two-day conference.

“Our obligation to the public we serve is to take those measures now that will put us in the best position to deal with our next encounter with the ELB,” Powell said, referring to the “effective lower bound” for interest rates—essentially, zero.

“With the economy growing, unemployment low and inflation low and stable, this is the right time to engage the public broadly on these topics,” Powell said.

In addition to the Chicago conference, the Fed is holding listening sessions around the country to gather public comments. Powell said that after this outreach, Fed officials will begin using their regular meetings to discuss possible changes. AP

RARE EARTHS BATTLE LOOMS AS U.S. AIMS TO COUNTER CHINA THREAT

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HE US and China are heading for a standoff over critical minerals used in everything from washing machines to military hardware.

The US Commerce Department on Tuesday promised “unprecedented action” to ensure that the US won’t be cut off from supplies of rare earths, a group of 17 obscure but vital elements whose production is dominated by China. The Department’s release of a report outlining steps to ensure supply came hours after the Asian nation’s top state economic planning body said it’s studying proposals to establish export controls on the materials.

China’s state media has highlighted the value of rare earths as a potential trade weapon, given that the country controls more than 70 percent of global supply and an even higher proportion of processed product. Any attempt to curb

exports would add to a rift between the world’s biggest economies that already encompasses sweeping tariffs, the blacklisting of China’s top telecommunications group and warnings from China to its citizens traveling to the US. “These critical minerals are often overlooked but modern life without them would be impossible,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement alongside the release of the report that was requested by President Donald J. Trump in December 2017.

The assured supply of critical minerals and the resiliency of their supply chains are essential to the economic prosperity and national defense of the US, according to the report. “If China or Russia were to stop exports to the United States and its allies for a prolonged period—similar to China’s rare earths embargo in 2010—an extended supply disruption could cause

significant shocks throughout US and foreign critical mineral supply chains,” it said.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission is closely studying proposals from industry experts to establish rare earth export controls, it said in a statement on Tuesday. The state planner will implement the measures promptly, it said. Authorities were also asked to crack down on illegal mining, production and smuggling of rare earths. Bloomberg reported last week that Beijing had readied a plan to restrict exports to the US if needed.

Shares in China Rare Earth Holdings Ltd. gained 6.8 percent, while China Northern Rare Earth Group High-Tech Co. rose 1.5 percent and JL Mag Rare-Earth Co. retreated 1.5 percent. In Australia, Lynas Corp., the biggest producer of rare earth products outside China, advanced as much as 7.6 percent. Bloomberg News

performance since 1990, when it w a s e ndu r i n g t he a f t e r m at h of a v iolent c rac kdow n on pro - d e mo c r a c y prot e s t e r s at T i a n a n me n S q u a re.

The Japanese economy is predicted to eke out 0.8-percent growth, same as last year.

Some developing world countries are contending with financial stress. Turkey’s economy is expected to contract 1 percent and Argentina’s 1.2 percent. AP

CHINA WARNS U.S. CITIZENS OF TRAVEL DANGER AS TARIFF BATTLE ESCALATES

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HINA issued a travel advisory on the US through the end of the year, the latest salvo in an escalating trade battle.

The country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism cited recent “frequent” shootings, robbery and theft as the reason for its alert, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Tuesday. It didn’t provide any statistics or further details.

“Recently, US law enforcement agencies have repeatedly harassed Chinese citizens visiting the United States through exit and entry inspections, door-to-door interviews and other means,” state-run China Central Television reported on Tuesday, citing the foreign ministry.

Asked if the move was part of the protracted trade dispute, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing it was a response to “current circumstances.”

Tensions bet ween the US and China have deepened in recent weeks, after trade negotiations between them fell apart in early May. The Trump administration has since blacklisted China’s crown jewel, Huawei Technologies Co., and is considering similar restrictions on more of the country’s tech firms. In response, China has threatened its own blacklist of “unreliable entities.”

“It’s hard to gauge the potential impact on the US as Chinese tourists have become a big source of tourism revenue globally in recent years. The US economy, though, is huge. The effect may not really move the needle,” said Bloomberg economist Chang Shu in Hong Kong.

China hasn’t issued a similar warning about travel to the US in at least the past decade, according to a search of state run media. The foreign ministr y advised travelers last O c tober that US customs enforcement officers had the right to check their belongings, such as bags, electronic devices and autos without a search warrant.

It also issued safety tips to Chinese tourists traveling to the remote US territory of Saipan after a typhoon in November.

Chinese tourism to the US had been falling even before the advisor y. Three million Chinese tourists traveled to the US in 2018, down from 3.2 million the previous year, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, which collec ts data from US customs forms. But Chinese citizens still spent more while stateside: $ 3 6 . 4 b i l l i o n i n 2 0 1 8 — u p f ro m $ 3 5 . 3 b i l l i o n t h e ye a r b e fo re — m a ki n g t h e m the biggest spenders of all international tourists. Bloomberg News

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CONDURA UNVEILS COOL NEW‘FILIPINNOVATIONS’

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T the Condura COOLturang Tahanan held at the Manila House Bonifacio Global City on May 29, Condura expands further into the “No Frost” refrigerator category unveiling five models: Ultima (multidoor and side-by-side models), Maxima, Optima and Prima.

Concepcion Durables Inc. vice chairman Renna Hechanova Angeles welcomed guests and explained that the theme of Condura COOLturang Tahanan means that “Condura aspires to provide solutions that would help keep Filipino hospitality alive in every home. That for Condura, the Filipino always comes first.”

Host Suzi Abrera interviewed Chef Rob Pengson, who discussed his roots and influences, the Filipino practices and stories he draws inspiration from when coming up with new food offerings and concepts, challenges encountered as a chef and entrepreneur, as well as his considerations when it comes to refrigeration and food storage.

In a showcase of real Condura “Filipinnovation” from real Filipino inspirations, CDI executives, namely, chairman Ton Concepcion and CLS President Harold Pernikar Jr. further discussed the Condura mission and explained what real Condura Filipinnovation is—innovative solutions stemming from real Filipino inspirations. That, in every Condura product created, the needs of the Filipinos come to mind first and foremost.

CDI Chairman Ton Concepcion capped the session with a promise that their resolve as a company would remain strong as ever as they move into a new era, staying true to the Condura principles of creating life—enhancing, quality products with

the Filipino family in mind.

Geared toward offering solutions to the growing sophistication and complexity of the Filipino way of life, and staying true to the importance of family and getting together, the No Frost refrigerator line serves to be a sleek and functional showpiece in any Filipino home. Chic and elegant in design, it harmonizes with its surroundings and elevates the atmosphere of both classic and modern kitchens.

Equipped with state-of-the-art No Frost, inverter technology and smart features, they ensure that food is kept fresh and odor-free, and both the interior and exterior of the units are well-maintained for worry-free living.

As Condura opens a door to tomorrow, it does so with the intention of keeping on with the principles and values set by founder Jose N. Concepcion Sr., and carry out his vision for the Filipino people, innovating in the hopes that every Filipino may look ahead to a brighter, cooler future, especially made for them.

Each of the five No Frost refrigerators caters to the specific needs each household may have while providing best value, top-grade efficiency and performance. All models are equipped with an inverter compressor, providing low noise, fast cooling energy-efficiency, as well as an R600a refrigerant that provides nontoxic, environment-friendly cooling performance, with faster heat absorption compared to other refrigerants.

Following the panel discussion and raffle draw, guests were invited to the COOLturang Tahanan kitchen where they experienced the products and modern Filipino kitchen atmosphere at their leisure while enjoying their halo-halo.

SM SUPERMALLS BAGS GRAND STEVIE AWARDS

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M SUPERMALLS has won the Most Honored Organization Grand Stevie Award, the most coveted award given by the prestigious Stevie Awards, which recognizes outstanding businesses for creating innovations in the workplace.

The leading developer and operator of malls in the Philippines and one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, SM Supermalls garnered a total of 67 award points, which enabled it to clinch the illustrious award. SM Supermalls won 45 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, out of the 104 wins bagged by Philippine companies and out of more than 900 nominations for innovative achievements in the entire Asia Pacific this year.

“In order to remain true to our vision of offering

family fun experiences at SM, we continuously strive to innovate and deliver exciting events for our valued customers while offer accessibility with more than 70 malls nationwide. We are grateful for this renowned recognition as a result of our team’s hard work and commitment to excellence, which is inspired by the continued patronage of our loyal customers,” said Steven Tan, SM Supermalls chief operating officer.

The esteemed award is just the latest achievement in a roster of SM Supermalls’ milestones this year, including a recent win at the 2019 Asia Pacific Stevie Awards (Stevies) with a total of 45 awards, more than any other Philippine company this year. SM’s 45 Asia Pacific Stevies included two Golds, 24 Silvers, and 19 Bronzes. SM bested its own record and won more than twice of its Asia Pacific Stevie Awards last year.

In 2018 SM won 21 Stevies.

The Stevie Award has been conferred for achievement in business to organizations and individuals in more than 60 nations since 2002, with panel of judges that is comprised of more than a thousand of the most reputable professionals, entrepreneurs and business educators worldwide.

The 2019 Asia Pacific Stevie Awards Gala was on May 31 at the InterContinental Hotel in Singapore.

REX HOSTS SCHOOLOGY CONNECT PHL 2019

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N an age fueled by the constant and instant consumption of media over social networks, it’s easy to think that education would take the backseat when it comes to innovation. With the advent of mobile computing and our increasingly connected lives as digital citizens, how can technology help transform how we learn and teach, as a community?

These ideas and other pressing questions were just some of what participants to Schoology Connect PH 2019 tackled. Held at Novotel Manila Araneta Center, the twoday conference hosted thought leaders and holistic learning practitioners from around the country.

The first day saw four parallel breakout sessions with four speakers for each session.

The sessions included presentation on such topics as innovative instructional practices, digital migration, new transitions and integrations with emerging educational technologies (EduTech), digital citizenship and empowerment, user-engagement strategies, blended learning, new insights on student assessment, as well as collective reflections on educators’ perspective about EduTech and how it shapes their practices.

The second day of the conference showcased a round-table discussion about

best practices in classroom teaching with a learning-management system called Schoology, one of the learning solutions provided by REX to local schools.

At the conference two keynote speeches were given to help put the event in perspective, with Tim Trinidad presenting his paper titled “Personalized Learning: A Game Changer for 21st Century Education” for the first day, and Global EduTech Leadership Awardee Emie Baylon presenting “Teaching the Holistic Child Through Technology” for the second day.

Schoology began life in the classroom, a project started in 2009 by its founders, when they saw how education technology at the time was falling short of its goal to improve learning experiences.

“We don’t just want to digitize existing pedagogies. We are creating solutions that allow teachers to use technology to easily move to more advanced strategies—such as personalized learning,” shared Schoology cofounder and engineering lead Tim Trinidad.

As a platform, Schoology helps young learners and education professionals connect and collaborate, helping each other by forming a digital learning community that aims to personalize the learning process through a holistic approach.

SUN LIFE GREPA LAUNCHES ONLINE PORTAL, MOBILE APP FOR CLIENTS

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LIENTS of Sun Life Grepa Financial Inc. (Sun Life Grepa), a major player in the life-insurance industry, can now manage their lifeprotection policies on the go, wherever they may be.

Sun Life Grepa recently launched its MySunLifeGrepa client portal and its Sun Life Grepa PH mobile app for current Sun Life Grepa policyholders.

Clients can now access their policy information and use various features of the two platforms. By registering through the portal, clients can view

their policies, update their contact information and file a claim.

Su n L i fe Gre pa c l ie nt s w ho download the Sun Life Grepa PH mobile app will be able to enjoy the same features on their mobile device, as well as additional functionalities of locating the nearest Sun Life Grepa office, viewing their VUL fund values and contacting a financial advisor.

“With greater digital access, our clients now have the opportunity to keep themselves updated on their life insurance policies through this handy

online tool at their convenience,” says Richard S. Lim, president of Sun Life Grepa. “This way they can make informed decisions about building their financial future with the guidance provided by Sun Life Grepa as their partner beyond a lifetime.”

Sun Life Grepa clients can register through the MySunLifeGrepa client portal, the homepage of sunlifegrepa. com or sunlifegrepa.com/portal/login. The Sun Life Grepa PH mobile app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

‘THE MEROVINGIAN’ EXCLUSIVE BOOK LAUNCH AT WINFORD MANILA

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ILIPINO-AUSTR ALIAN writer RenatoClareteTranquilino,together with his co-author and publicrelation practitioner Zahara Depaling, launched this week their debut novel The Merovingian at Winford Manila Hotel and Casino (WMRC).

Present at the book launch, along w it h Tra nqu i l ino a nd Depa l ing , were digital artists Niel Santiago and Neil Cutter, and WMRC director for corporate communications Jose Maria Ledesma.

“The Merovingian takes nuggets of world atrocities, portions of various religious faiths, then weaves them into a different, yet familiar, tale of magic and fantasy,” said Tranquilino. “What ensues is our take on the never-ending battle between good and evil in a fictitious yarn made out of nonfiction elements, such as Nazi Germany, Filipino historical sites, and Philippine politics; and hypothetical elements such as Christ’s bloodline, the mythical Biringan City, and aswang creatures, among others.”

“Based on the initial blurb, I expected it to be Indiana Jones-styled artifact-hunting adventure in a Pinoy setting, with some Dan Brown-esque religious conspiracy layered on top of it,” wrote freelance feature writer and reviewer Paolo Jose Cruz on his Facebook page. “Nope. This is a full-on paranormal adventure with Tim Powers-style world-building and Assassin’s Creed magi-tech [including an Animus-like exposition device from Biringan]. The elaborate plot somehow mixes pan-Filipino mythology, WW2era history [particularly the Jewish refugees welcomed by Manuel L. Quezon’s government], and [the] Holy Grail lore [the title is a dead giveaway for those who are familiar].”

“It has a lot of plot elements t h at were fa m i l i a r to me, e ven f rom Ph i l ip pi ne f ic t ion . It h a s supernatural inter vention in the Battle of Manila [like Comic Book L a b ’s Wa r of W hi s p e r s]. It h a s hu m a n i z e d cos molo g ic a l force s [shades of Michael AR Co’s fiction, particularly the short story “The God Equation”]. And, in general, it brings to mind Joseph Nacino’s forays into historical spec-fic mashups.”

“But I don’t necessarily consider derivative story beats a negative thing.

At the end of the day, the storytelling was enough to hold my attention in a

compelling ‘just one more chapter!’ kind of way. I cared enough about the plot [if not the characters] to keep reading.

I have more technical/scholarly nits to pick about the book’s many flaws.

But from a consumer standpoint: Yes, I would eventually buy this. If this piques your interest, then consider pre-ordering,” Cruz concluded.

Tranquilino said that the book was supposed to be a script until budget got in the way. Before that, he presented The Merovingian to actress Garie Concepcion, who fell in love with the story and wholeheartedly supports the novel. Tranquilino then reached out to his co-author Depaling, who was also an actress in his 2016 short film An Unstable Reality and brought to the table her equally vivid imagination.

“There is a thin line between the real and the unreal,” Depaling said. “We’ve created The Merovingian knowing that there will be mind doors to tap. It is a book that puts Filipinos back in touch with their roots and will remind them of childhood treasures; your tikbalangbinisayaun-slang kind of story that you will thoroughly enjoy.”

Inspired by the positive feedback, the authors then transformed the script into a book, offering fiction enthusiasts a peak into their creative minds, culminating with a book launch held at a luxury casino hotel that brought together culture, arts and literature over one evening.

“Winford Manila Resort and Casino is fully committed to support Filipino

artists and literature,” Ledesma said.

“In fact this is the second arts-related event that we are proud to host this month; the first being the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards [on] May 15.

Witnessing both the caliber of work on display by these budding poets and novelists goes to show that the Filipino truly is world-class.”

B a sed i n M a n i l a a nd a n I T professional by day, Tranquilino was born to Filipino parents and spent much of his life in Australia. He has always shown an interest in sci-fi fantasy films, short stories and online games, like League of Legends. The Merovingian is their first offering as a novelist, a project over two and a half years in the making, and one that he largely credits JRR Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Lino Broca and Budjette Tan as his sources of inspiration.

Depa ling , who was bor n and raised in Cebu, Philippines, and is of mi xed A rab ancestr y, infused her expertise on theater direction, character buildup and linguistics on the book. Apart from her love of arts, she works as a public relations officer. Her inspiration comes from the roots of her native land and theatrical perspectives.

People were able to engage with the authors, get their book signed, receive their limited-edition bookmarks, join raffles and more. Copies of the book are available for sale at WMRC. If you would like a copy, e-mail them at themerovingian.book@gmail.com.

CMP BALAI BONDS Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Chairman Eduardo D. del Rosario (center) witnessed the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) President Arnolfo Ricardo B. Cabling (second from left) and National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC) President Felixberto U. Bustos Jr. (fourth from left), for the issuance of community mortgage program Balai bonds.

Under the MOA, NHMFC shall undertake the project as program management adviser/ advisory team. Also in photo as witnesses are SHFC Executive Vice President Junefe G. Payot (left) and NHMFC Executive Vice President Livia Alicia R. Ramos (right).

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AKLAND, California—The Golden State Warriors will take the floor once more without two-time reigning National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant, counting on their depth and home court to carry them as they try to inch closer to a three-peat.

Durant is out for Game Three of the finals on Wednesday night, still not ready to return for the two-time defending champions as he works back from a strained right calf suffered during the Western Conference semifinals.

Durant didn’t practice with the Warriors on Tuesday, and he has yet to get on the court for a structured session since getting injured May 8 in Game Five against the Houston Rockets. Durant was set to some work on the court later Tuesday at the practice facility.

Guard Klay Thompson practiced two days after sustaining a mild strain to his left hamstring that forced him out of Game Two. He is listed as questionable for Game Three.

The best-of-seven series with the Toronto Raptors is tied at 1-all.

Thompson said his discomfort Tuesday was bearable—”the pain level wasn’t too crazy at all.”

“It will be a game-time decision. But for me personally, it would be hard to see me not playing. Hopefully, I’ll feel much better tomorrow and be a go for tipoff,” Thompson said.

Along with Durant, Golden State is also down backup big man Kevon Looney. He suffered a non-displaced cartilage fracture on the right side of his collarbone area and will miss the remainder of the finals.

“He’s had such a great season, such a great postseason run,” Coach Steve Kerr said. “Fortunately it won’t affect his future, but it’s a big loss for us.”

Thompson has a mild strain in his left hamstring that forced him out of Game Two in the NBA Finals, and he is listed as questionable for Game Three against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.

In addition, Looney suffered a non-displaced cartilage fracture on the right side of his ribcage and will be out indefinitely. That’s a hit to the two-time defending champions’ depth at center, making the March signing of Andrew Bogut all the more important—along with the return of DeMarcus Cousins from a torn left-quadriceps muscle.

The team said both Thompson and Looney underwent MRI exams on

Durant out for Game 3, Thompson questionable

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Thursday, June 6, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

LEONARD UNFAZED

By Tim Reynolds

The Associated Press

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AKLAND, California— Toronto star Kawhi Leonard has more than a few things on his mind these days.

He’ll be a free agent in a few weeks and will decide where he wants to play next season. He’s apparently headed to federal court to solve a disagreement with Nike. He’s clearly dealing with something that isn’t right in his lower body, though he and the team continue to insist that he’s fine.

And, oh, there’s the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals.

Game Three of a tied series, Leonard and the Toronto Raptors taking on the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors, the biggest game yet this season, is happening on Wednesday night.

All that would overload some people.

Leonard, however, isn’t like most people. He’s unfazed.

“I think it just comes naturally,” Leonard said. “All NBA players, there’s so much distractions from you playing in high school to college to now becoming a pro, it’s probably just pretty much second-nature at this point.”

Leonard is famously, almost mythically, quiet. He tends to give short answers during news conferences. He’s not a social-media guy. So it was an odd look on Monday when he—his attorneys, anyway—filed a federal lawsuit in Southern California against Nike over the rights to his distinctive “klaw” logo, one Leonard says he drew himself in either 2011 or 2012.

He rarely makes news. To make news like that, during an off day for the NBA Finals, with the series shifting to California, was eye-raising.

“It happened a long time ago,” Leonard said of the disagreement between he and Nike—and the lawsuit shows that the battle over the logo has indeed gone on for some time, then ramped up to get to this point. “You guys are just finding out. It’s not a big worry of mine....

I’ve known about it.”

In other words, he’s played through that particular portion of off-court drama throughout these playoffs.

Obviously, he’s handled it just fine.

The Raptors are here largely because of Leonard.

Even though six bad minutes that became an 18-0 Golden State run to start the second half of Game Two—”the quarter from hell,” Raptors Coach Nick Nurse called it—ultimately cost Toronto its chance at a 2-0 series lead and retaining home-court advantage, there’s still no obvious sense of uneasiness from the Eastern Conference champions.

Monday once back in the Bay Area.

“Klay said he’ll be fine, but Klay could be half dead and he would say he would be fine. We’ll see,” Kerr said after the game. “He pulled his hamstring. He thinks it is minor, so I don’t know what that means going forward.”

Thompson, averaging 19.5 points this postseason and 23 in the two finals games, left at the 7:59 mark of the fourth quarter in Sunday night’s 109-104 victory that evened the best-of-seven finals at one game apiece. He hobbled around afterward with an ice bag on the leg.

Looney didn’t play at all in the second half. He was averaging 7.2 points and 4.6 rebounds during the playoffs.

Kevin Durant has missed the last seven games and was yet to take part in a formal practice, something he needs to do before returning from a strained right calf. The Warriors are scheduled to practice on Tuesday at Oracle Arena, so that could be Durant’s opportunity to test the leg.

The two-time reigning NBA Finals MVP was averaging 34.2 points this postseason before the injury on May 8 in Game Five of the Western Conference semifinals against Houston. He traveled to Toronto for the first two games of the series but didn’t play. Full-court scrimmaging is a step the Warriors medical staff and Kerr want to see before he is cleared for game action.

Cousins, injured in Game Two of the first round against the Clippers in just his second career playoff game, started Game Two of the finals after coming off the bench in the series opener. He was a key to the Warriors’ victory on Sunday, finishing with 11 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots in 28 minutes while playing in foul trouble.

Guard Quinn Cook provided key minutes down the stretch and scored nine points all on threes—two in the fourth quarter—in 21 minutes.

“Next-man-up mentality. Guys rest, guys get hurt, but everybody has confidence in each other,” Cook said. “It’s good to see the ball go in. Obviously at this stage, every possession means so much.” AP KEVIN DURANT is still not ready to return as he works back from a strained right calf while Klay Thompson (above) nurses a mild strain to his left hamstring. AP

It was an odd look on Monday when Kawhi Leonard—his attorneys, anyway—filed a federal lawsuit in Southern California against Nike over the rights to his distinctive “klaw” logo, one Leonard says he drew himself in either 2011 or 2012.

KAWHI LEONARD is famously, almost mythically, quiet. AP

“It’s going to be even harder on the road,” Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said. “But we’re capable and we know what we bring to the table.”

The Raptors have already rallied from 2-1 series deficits twice in these playoffs—against Philadelphia in the second round and against Milwaukee in the East finals. No team in the current 16-team postseason format, which the NBA went to in 1984, has overcome three of those in the same season.

“We want to be the first to four,” Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said. “Every game is an urgent game.”

Learning to deal with noise from the outside world is a skill that the Raptors have proudly gotten fairly adept at this season—amid the constant din surrounding the trade that brought Leonard to Toronto and whether the team could possibly find a way to entice him to sign and stick around past this season.

The last thing the Raptors are worried about is a court case.

“A lot of times I don’t know about much of the noise until somebody asks me a question about it, a lot of times,” Nurse said on Tuesday before his team practiced at Oracle Arena. “To me, it’s like part of the job. Like most people, I love listening to all the shows and the podcasts and whatever. And I haven’t listened to a one since the playoffs started. I miss it.”

The free agency stuff with Leonard, that’ll all get worked out one way or another starting June 30.

The noise of concern for Toronto is what’s going to be coming from the fans at Oracle on Wednesday night.

Much in the same way that the Toronto crowd fueled the Raptors in Game One, the same can be expected in the Bay Area for Game Three—particularly since it’ll be either the second-to-last, or next-to-last, time the Warriors call this building home.

As with off-court noise, Leonard won’t be bothered.

Or listening.

“It’s nothing new to me,” Leonard said.

FINALS SUFFER IN RATINGS N EW YORK—The National Basketball Association’s (NBA) first international Finals may be a coup for Canada, but decidedly not for ABC. Viewership for the first two games of the series between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors was down sharply from last year’s finals—28 percent for the first game and 29 percent for the second, the Nielsen company said.

While LeBron James fans may point to the star’s absence, geography likely accounts for most of the drop. Toronto’s television

audience is not included in the Nielsen ratings, since it’s out of the US. Missing one team’s fan base is a huge hurdle for ABC. It’s Golden State’s fifth straight appearance in the finals, while Toronto is there for the first time.

The most hopeful sign for ABC is that the teams split the first two games, raising the possibility of a long series. Viewership traditionally increases with competitive series.

The surest sign that summer is near is the return of NBC’s America’s Got Talent, which was the top nonsports program of the week. AP

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FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT D

UBLIN, Ohio— To the victor go the social-media requests.

This proved far more difficult for

PATRICK CANTLAY’S past shows why his future looks promising. AP

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UBLIN, Ohio—Nick Price was in his final week at No. 1 in the world. Tiger Woods was making his US Open debut as a 19-year-old amateur. It was 1995 at Shinnecock Hills, and it was the last time Jim Furyk was at home for the US Open.

Furyk will be making his 24th consecutive appearance in the US Open, a meaningful streak for the 49-year-old former champion.

“It’s our national championship,” Furyk said after he finished at the Memorial. “It’s the major I’ve played the best in, the major where I gave myself a number of chances to win.”

And it’s a major he had every reason to believe he would miss this year.

Coming off his two years as Ryder Cup captain, Furyk had fallen to No. 223 in the world after last year. It turned quickly—a tie for ninth in the Honda Classic that got him into

Patrick Cantlay than his 64 at Muirfield Village, the lowest final round by a winner in 44 years of the Memorial and a performance that suggested his move to No. 8 in the world was about more than any mathematical formula.

Cantlay looked at the phone as the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour socialmedia team tried to explain what it wanted—a short video saying what this victory meant to him. He

stretched his arm and struggled to get the right angle while still being able to start the video. Finally, a tour employee held it for him.

Cantlay smiled and said all the right things.

“First selfie?” someone cracked as he walked off the stage.

Cantlay rolled his eyes.

He doesn’t do social media.

Cantlay appears to be anti-social on the golf course, which is misleading.

In the absence of cameras and microphones, the 27-year-old from California is smart, honest and insightful with an occasional needle. On the golf course, he has a cold focus with no apologies. He knows how he comes across because when he arrived at Muirfield Village on Sunday, someone jokingly said, “It can’t be that bad, can it?”

Cantlay could easily fit the

description of an old soul on young shoulders—except for his back.

It was a stress fracture in his back that kept him out of golf for the better part of three years—two straight years without playing one tournament—and kept him from the pace set by others from his own age group.

Jordan Spieth saw it coming.

Neither of them had PGA Tour status when Spieth and Cantlay were paired together in the opening two rounds of the 2013 Puerto Rico Open. Spieth got him by one shot each round and went on to tie for second, the important step that led to a PGA Tour card— and victory—later that year.

Cantlay, who had won the week before in Colombia on the Web. com Tour, was two months away from one swing that nearly ended his career, a pain he described as a knife in his back. That was the start of back trouble so severe there was no guarantee he

would ever return.

He was 20 when he turned pro.

He was 25 for his official rookie season in 2017 on the PGA Tour.

Trying to manage his schedule after not having competed for two straight years, Cantlay played 11 times and still made it to the Tour Championship.

“If he had the full year this year, I would imagine he’d have been on the Presidents Cup team, no question,” Spieth said at the TPC Boston that year. “He’s extremely talented, and he’s going to work his way up into the top 10 in the world, in my opinion.”

And here he is.

Predictions are never easy in golf—Cantlay knows that better than anyone—and so where he goes remains a work in progress. It’s where he has been that explains why his victory, on Sunday got so much attention, even

24TH STRAIGHT U.S. OPEN FOR FURYK The Players Championship, a runner-up finish at the TPC Sawgrass that got him into Match Play, victories over Jason Day and Phil Mickelson that allowed him to stay in the top 60 and earn a trip to Pebble Beach.

Furyk won at Olympia Fields in 2003 to earn a 10-year exemption. It was his staying power—even with his lack of today’s power off the tee—that has kept him eligible deep into his 40s. His runner-up finish at Oakmont in 2016 got him into the US Open the following year, and the US Golf Association gave him what figures to be a one-time exemption for last year.

Even without being exempt, Furyk isn’t done trying.

“To be honest, it’s nice not to go play 36,” he said of sectional qualifying. “I’m not sure I have the legs under me. I would have had to take something off.”

He doesn’t plan to stop trying even after this year, though at 49 and eligible for the Professional Golfers’ Association Tour Champions next May, Furyk said it might depend on the course. Pebble Beach is one of the shorter US Open courses, though its 7,075 yards plays a little longer along the Pacific coast.

A big course might change his mind because “I don’t really have a chance.”

“I really like Winged Foot,” he said of the 2020 site. “Torrey Pines [2021] might be a tough one.” AP

Tacitus favorite, not War of Will, at Belmont Stakes

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IT will be a meaningful streak for the 49-year-old former champion Jim Furyk. AP

Lawyers say ‘aggression’ initial charge vs Neymar R IO DE JANEIRO—The Brazilian lawyers who first represented an unidentified woman who has accused soccer star Neymar of rape said on Tuesday that her initial complaint charged she was a victim of “aggression,” or “physical violence,” by the player, though they added that doesn’t mean authorities couldn’t pursue a prosecution in the case as she reported it to police.

Neymar, who has said he had two encounters with the accuser in France, denies any wrongdoing. He is also being investigated

by Rio de Janeiro’s cybercrime division for posting on social media images of the woman without her authorization.

Attorneys Jose Edgard da Cunha Bueno Filho, Francis Ted Fernandes and Andre Castello Branco said in a statement that they believe their former client has solid evidence she suffered what they referred to as “physical violence” at a Paris hotel on May 15.

Later, Fernandes added that a private medical report obtained by the woman showed she had bruises, scratches, anxiety and depression. He declined to show the report.

“As to the allegation of rape, that was new to members of our law firm,” the lawyers’ statement said. “Authorities will decide whether it happened or not, they might have a different

if it wasn’t worthy of the front of sports pages.

Anyone who saw Cantlay play in Ohio eight years ago would have expected a performance like this.

His time at Muirfield Village was short. Cantlay received the Jack Nicklaus Award as the best player in college—as a freshman at University of California, Los Angeles—and posed for photos with Nicklaus, then got ready for US Open qualifying at the sectional site filled with PGA Tour players. Cantlay was the only amateur to get one of the 16 spots.

Two weeks later, he was low amateur in the 2011 US Open at Congressional, his first tournament against the best in the world. The following week, he set a PGA Tour record for amateurs with a 60 in the second round of the Travelers Championship. He was low amateur at the Masters in 2012.

He made the cut at the US Open again at Olympic Club (Spieth was low amateur that year).

Much like Spieth, he had a knack for delivering.

It was a tournament Cantlay did not win that might be the most revealing. AP

interpretation from ours.”

Yasmin Abdalla, the attorney now representing the woman, did not respond to a specific question about the allegations made by the woman when she went to police in São Paulo on Friday. She told The Associated Press that the previous lawyers “betrayed my client in every way possible,” but did not elaborate.

Jureuda Guerra, who is a member of Brazil’s Federal Psychology Council, and is not connected to the case, said it is not rare for a woman to first allege violence, or sexual violence, by a man and then later add rape to the accusation.

“In Brazil, you stop being a victim and become coauthor of the crime in seconds,” Guerra said.

Women who report rape to police in Brazil undergo medical examinations with forensics specialists as quickly as possible to detect possible injuries.

Neither São Paulo police nor the accuser’s current lawyer would comment on whether she had a medical examination with a forensics specialist.

In their statement, the woman’s initial legal team said they instructed her to get a private medical report as soon as they took the case.

They also said the woman originally wanted to seek monetary damages in a civil court. AP

NEYMAR is also being investigated by Rio de Janeiro’s cybercrime division for posting on social media images of the woman without her authorization. AP

EW YORK—Winning the Preakness wasn’t enough to make War of Will the Belmont Stakes favorite.

In fact, being the only colt to run in all three Triple Crown races really didn’t earn him the respect one would expect.

Well-rested Tacitus was made the slight favorite over the hard-working War of Will in a Belmont Stakes that wraps up a whacky Triple Crown.

Tacitus and War of Will got the outside No. 10 and 9 post positions, respectively, on Tuesday in the draw at Citi Field, but those should not be a problem in the one-and-one-half-mile race on Saturday at Belmont Park.

Tacitus was made the 9-5 morning-line favorite for trainer Bill Mott and jockey Jose Ortiz. War of Will is the 2-1 second choice for trainer Mark Casse and jockey Tyler Gaffalione.

“I had read in the last couple of days that he wasn’t going to be,” Casse said of not being the favorite. “There’s a few things against him. Tacitus has the home-field advantage. He’s the only guy to play in all three. I’m sure it has to take some toll on him.”

Casse believes War of Will has his best ahead of him, saying he has looked good.

The only thing that threatened him on Tuesday was a couple of loose horses on the track during a morning gallop, but War of Will didn’t seem to notice. AP

Qatar hosts two Club World Cups as preps for 2022

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ARIS—Qatar will host the next two editions of the Club World Cup in a major test of the Gulf nation’s preparedness to stage the World Cup in 2022.

The seven-team club tournament, which will include European champion Liverpool this year, will be played in December and in December 2020, Fifa decided on Monday at a council meeting.

“It is a great test event,” Qatar World Cup Organizing Committee Chairman Hassan Al-Thawadi said. “So we will definitely try to utilize as much as possible, all the different facets of hosting a World Cup.” That includes coping with an influx of potentially thousands of fans who will want to drink alcohol, which is currently only available for foreigners in a limited number of bars in Qatar.

“Alcohol will be available in certain areas,” AlThawadi said after the Fifa Council meeting in Paris.

“The details of it operationally, how it’s going to work out, all that stuff will be put in place and we will be announcing it in due course.

“We will have fan zones available so it will be a great opportunity for us to put in place some of the plans we have for the World Cup already to get lessons learnt from it.”

The second of the World Cup stadiums opened last month with Fifa President Gianni Infantino attending a domestic cup final at the 40,000-seat Al Janoub venue.

The event for clubs will be played at the same time of year as the 2022 World Cup. Fifa moved the World Cup from the usual JuneJuly slot for 2022 because of the Gulf nation’s summer heat. It will instead start on November 21, with the final on December 18, Qatar National Day. Qatar experiences highs of about 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius) in December. AP

orts

sMirror

Thursday, June 6, 2019

DUTCHMAN LEADS BY 1

COA to GAB: Stop illegal incentives, foreign travels

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

HE Commission on Audit (COA) ordered the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) to stop providing illegal benefits to its officials and employees after the agency provided nearly P3 million worth of incentives without legal basis last year.

In its 2018 audit report on GAB, COA noted that the agency under the Office of the President (OP) granted P2.92 million of performance incentives to all of its officials and employees last year without legal authority.

State auditors directed the GAB to return the incentives and the agency agreed.

The COA discovered that GAB granted a P20,000 incentive to all of its employees whether permanent or coterminus last December 20, 2018.

The COA said the incentives were charged against the savings of the GAB from personnel service, which was subject to traditional accounting and auditing requirements.

“It was noted that the above-mentioned allowance granted was not based on laws, rules and regulations granting or authorizing such payment. Hence, the payment was without legal basis and not allowed in audit,” state auditors said.

“We recommended and the management agreed to refund the performance incentives received by the officials and employees amounting to P2,920,000.00 due to lack of legal authority; and stop the practice of granting additional benefits to all GAB Officials and Employees without legal basis,” they added.

In the same audit report, the COA reprimanded the GAB for allowing unnecessary and costly travel expenses for its personnel to witness boxing fights and Dota championships.

The expenses reached P1.853 million.

State auditors noted that some foreign travels by GAB officials and employees did not comply with existing laws and regulations such as incomplete supporting documents and unnecessary number of attendees to witness one event.

For one, the GAB failed to provide state auditors of quotations for plane fare from at least three travel agencies and a certification from its accountant that previous cash advances have been liquidated and accounted for in the books, the COA noted.

The COA also noted that liquidation reports for travel expenses amounting P1.464 million were “inadequately” documented and lacked narrative reports on trips undertaken and certificates of appearance.

These documents, the COA explained, were necessary “to ascertain whether [or not] the official/employee concerned had indeed undertaken the said foreign travels.”

State auditors also said that there were foreign trips wherein two or three GAB officials or employees were allowed to travel to the same destination for the same purpose.

In the breakdown provided by the COA, two boxing events—one involving Manny Pacquiao against Lucas Matthysse—and two eSports-related events, were attended by two to three GAB officials and employees.

The GAB spent P524,878.2 for sending three GAB officials and employees to the International 8 Dota 2 Sports Championship in Vancouver, Canada, last year.

The GAB spent P1,084,560.92 for travels undertaken by two to three GAB officials and employees,” the report read.

“The said practice was very costly and not beneficial on the part of the government especially the purpose of the travel was just to witness the boxing fight and Dota Championship in far distance places.”

The COA noted that there also GAB officials and employees who traveled abroad at an average of three trips last year.

The GAB management agreed to state auditor’s recommendations to abide with documentary requirements and limit the number of officials and employees traveling to foreign destinations.

GUIDO VAN DER VALK (left) rides a fiery windup in the first round as Jhonnel Ababa adds English to his shot. NONIE REYES

KNIGHTS À LA KINGS

By Ramon Rafael Bonilla

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F there’s one team that the San Juan Knights would want to emulate, it’s Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and its “never say die” mantra.

This is how Sen. Jinggoy Estrada wants the San Juan Knights Go-For-Gold team—which won the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League Datu Cup— to become.

In a press conference on Wednesday in a restaurant in San Juan City, Estrada said that the Knights had overcome the massive task of beating the Davao Occidental Tigers in enemy territory during the do-or-die Game Five of the Datu Cup Finals last April.

Such feat makes the players look like the Gin Kings, according to Estrada.

“We are the Ginebra of PBA [Philippine Basketball Association] because of the NSD [never say die]. The boys never gave up,” he said.

San Juan overcame a seven-point deficit in the final two minutes with Jhonard Clarito leading the assault to frustrate their opponents before their fans.

Now that they have achieved their first goal, San Juan is looking to dominate the upcoming Lakandula Cup. And Head Coach Randy Alcantara knows that they are a marked team in the next conference.

To prepare for their next battle, the Knights added former Quezon City Capitals stalwart Andoy Estrella, University of Santo Tomas’s Renzo Subido and Imus Bandera’s Jessie Saitanan.

Still with the team are John Wilson, Larry Rodriguez and Mac Cardona.

“Our team is intact. We acquired new players and I think the team has become stronger,” Alcantara said. “Chemistry is our main weapon. We have built the rhythm among ourselves. We will be ready to any challenge.”

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UIDO VAN DER VALK rode a fiery windup to shoot a five-under 66 and drive past an equally hot-finishing Michael Bibat, Jay Bayron and Australia’s Jack Sullivan for a one-stroke lead at the start of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Club Filipino de Cebu (CFDC) Invitational on Wednesday in Danao City.

Van der Valk took advantage of the three reachable par-5s of the par-71 layout, hitting an eagle on No. 11 to break an even-par game in hot but windy conditions and spark a finish that put the 39-year-old Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) veteran from Lelystad, the Netherlands in front of a stellar 80-player field in the P3-million championship sponsored by ICTSI. “I played pretty good with my long game, irons and putting,” said the longhitting van der Valk, who birdied Nos. 13, 15 and 16 after that eagle feat off a perfect 8-iron second shot to within 10 feet. “The course is tough with narrow fairways and tricky greens with the wind adding up to the challenge.”

veteran Davaoeño ace, coming off a stint in the first PGT Asia event in Taiwan two weeks ago, stayed within a stroke of van der Valk.

But a slew of others stood just another shot or two adrift, ensuring a shootout in the next three days in pursuit of the top P550,000 purse in the third leg of the milestone 10th season of the country’s premier circuit backed by Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, Champion, Summit Mineral Water, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT and MY Shokai Technology Inc. Defending champion Jhonnel Ababa, American Leoninh Keonin and Elmer Salvador all carded 68s, Johvanie Abaño, Japanese Ryo Nishimura and Lloyd Go turned in identical 69s and Albin Engino, Tony Lascuña, Swede Sebastian Hansson, Korean Hwang Myung Chal and Mars Pucay shot similar 70s.

Salvador opened with three birdies at the back and added another feat on No. 3 but missed joining the leaders with a bogey on the seventh of the short but tricky course that quite held its ground in the face of the field’s all-out assault on a hot, windy day.

Though the CFDC layout yielded a number of eagles and birdies, only 15 players from the starting field of 80 managed to break par with seven matching par 71s, making the chase for the top 40 plus ties worth watching in today’s second round.

ABUEVA SUSPENDED INDEFINITELY, FINED

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HOENIX accepted the sanctions imposed on temperamental Calvin Abueva and Head Coach Louie Alas but aired concern over the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) imposition of penalties in situations similar to what its team got involved in.

PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial suspended Abueva indefinitely for engaging a fan in a verbal spat during their game against Blackwater on Sunday which they lost, 88-114.

Abueva was also fined P70,000—P20,000 for confronting Ray Parks Jr.’s girlfriend and P50,000 for a flagrant foul two on TNT import Terrence Jones.

Marcial said the penalties were meant to “instill discipline and maintain professionalism in the league.”

Phoenix officials said in a statement that they will abide by the decision, but suggested that the league should impose the same degree of punishment in similar incidents.

“While we do not agree with the decision, we have no alternative at the moment except to abide by it,” the statement said.

“We no longer wish to comment on the basis of the decision but just expect and hope that incidents like this in the future will be treated similarly and decided in the same manner regardless of the player involved,” it added.

Alas was suspended for two games and fined for P40,000.

TNT’s Anthony and David Semerad were also fined P20,000 for their involvement in the near free-for-all.

Jones was also penalized with P70,000—P50,000 for hitting Abueva in the groin area and P20,000 for making physical contact against a game official.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

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Cignal-Ateneo eyes sweep of Valencia City in semis

IGNAL-ATENEO goes for a sweep of Valencia City Bukidnon-San Sebastian College Recoletos in Game Two of their Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League semifinals on Thursday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

The Blue Eagles were quick to assert themselves with a 105-67 Game One win over the Golden Harvest on Monday.

But the reigning University Athletic Association of the Philippines champions know that it won’t be an easy one, no matter what the 38-point rout suggests.

“We’re not expecting an easy game. The final score doesn’t show the fight our opponents have and the fight they have left. We’ll prepare for them and they deserve the best cause they’re a good team,” said Deputy Coach Sandy Arespacochaga ahead of the 2 p.m. game.

Ivorian slotman Ange Kouame will lead the fight for Cignal-Ateneo, together with seniors

M THE San Juan Knights Go-for-Gold players and coaching staff pose with team owners Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Jeremy Go. NONOY LACZA

But he bucked them all, including Bibat, Bayron and Sullivan, who for a while had held the lead at 67 until van der Valk came in with his 34-32 card that put him on track for a follow-up to his breakthrough win at Eagle Ridge last year.

Bibat broke a two-bogey, two-birdie backside game with a strong finishing kick, going four-under in a three-hole stretch from No. 6 spiked by an eagle on the par-5 sixth as the former Asian Games bronze medalist got into the mix early in a bid to snap a long title spell on the PGT. “I was lucky to have scored this low, given the windy conditions and the unpredictable surface,” said Bibat, who nailed his maiden win at Rancho Palos Verdes way back in 2014.

Winless on the circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. in three years, Sullivan also came out with scorching frontside windup on a course he had never played before, birdying three of the last seven to be in early contention with a 32-35 round.

“It’s quite surprising I made this round since this is the first time that I played this course,” said the 23-year-old shotmaker from Gold Coast.

But looming large is Bayron, who took charge early on with a four-birdie binge at the front then bounced back from a two-bogey mishap on Nos. 12 and 14 with birdies on the next two as the

ULTI-TITLED National University (NU) and La Salle Greenhills (LSGH) arranged a grudge title rematch by mauling their respective 15-under rivals recently in the Sixth Headstart Developmental League presented by AXA Team EDS at the SGS Gym in Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.

The Bullpups used their height and heft advantage to dump Chachago, 138-39, while the La Salle Greenies raced to a 10559 win over Philippine Cultural College.

ONLY the league knows when Calvin Abueva will be allowed to play.

Thirdy Ravena and brothers Matt and Mike Nieto.

Valencia-San Sebastian, meanwhile, needs all the help it could get as Allyn Bulanadi and RK Ilagan were the only ones who heeded the call in the series opener. Centro Escolar University (CEU) also has the same plan as it tries to continue its Cinderella run against Saint Clare College Virtual Reality at 4 p.m.

Scorpions Coach Derrick Pumaren admitted that the grinder of a schedule is already taking a toll on his seven-man crew, making his side all the more motivated to claim Game Two.

“We hope to get this done. It’s been a torture for us,” he said as CEU refuses to quit even after game-fixing allegations resulted to the dumping of seven of its key players.

“We have to maintain the competitiveness in ourselves, the heart and the fight every time when we step there. We just got to come out and play the game,” Pumaren added.

One thing working in the Scorpions’ favor is Maodo Malick Diouf, who is expected to be in full power with Ramadan already over. The Senegalese big man grabbed a league record 33 rebounds on top of his 19 points while fasting in the 76-75 Game One win for CEU last Monday.

NU vs LSGH in Headstart league Daniel Padilla and Mark de Leon led seven NU players in double figures with 27 and 23 points, respectively, in the event also sponsored by Freego Jeans and AXA Philippines.

In the 12-under division, it will be LSGH against Octagon Tires as the Greenies clobbered Manila Braves, 97-58, thanks to solid all-around show of A. Peralta.

With six players producing doubledigit scores Octagon Tires whipped Maestro, 133-43.

Elijah Cabiluna paced Octagon with 27 points, while TJ de los Santos and Daryl Valdeavilla chipped in 23 and 20 points, respectively.

The finals will be played on Thursday also at the SGS Gym.

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TESSA JAZMINES tessa4347@gmail.com

PART OF THE GAME

NBA banner season

WITH the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals standing at a bettors’ dream 1-1 count, the hype is real for Game Three of the ongoing series between first-time finalists Toronto Raptors and the dynastic, five timescrowned Golden State Warriors (GSW).

The Raptors learned a hard lesson from the ultra experienced Warriors who proved they could take the starch out of the crisp and dominant play of the North in their home court—just within a game-changing six minutes. After pushing the defending champs around in Game One, the Raptors found they could no longer go far in Game Two after GSW coach Steve Kerr made crucial defensive adjustments during the halftime break.

The Raptors motor began to sputter from there and the Warriors stole homecourt. Now the battle shifts to sunnier Oakland.

The world watches on tenterhooks as Game Three unfolds on June 6. And Pinoy fans—be they naturalborn Raptors, longime Warriors supporters, or not—are intimately engaged. They’re loving the plotline : finals tyros vs. dynastic rulers of the era. That classic underdogoverlord theme never goes out of style.

No wonder that the NBA is celebrating a banner season in the Philippines in the 2018-2019 season.

Its numbers have grown, notably in broadcast viewership, NBA League Pass subscriptions, social media consumption, and more.

Below are the highlights from the 2018-2019 NBA season in the Philippines:

Regular-Season Viewership: n 5.4—The most-watched regular-season game in the Philippines during the 2018-2019 season reached a peak audience of 5.4 million viewers on ABS-CBN. (This is the game where the Portland Trailblazers outlasted the Denver Nuggets through four overtimes in the Western Conference playoffs. The game lasted till 2 a.m. Eastern time and pushed back the schedule of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines championship game between the UST Golden Tigresses and the Ateneo Lady Eagles for over an hour. This was the NBA’s first four-overtime playoff game since 1953.) n Through April 2019, average audience for live NBA games was up 15 percent and 87 percent year-over-year across ABS-CBN S + A and Basketball TV, respectively, reaching its highest mark since the 2016-2017 season. n 21—Through April 2019, average audience of live, delayed and on-demand broadcasts of NBA games was up 21 percent year-over-year across ABS-CBN S + A, Basketball TV and FOX Sports, reaching the highest average audience since the 2016-2017 season.

NBA League Pass Growth: n 84—Through March 2019, NBA League Pass subscribers in the Philippines increased 84% year-overyear, marking the largest year-over-year growth since 2012-2013 season. To date, the Philippines ranks fourth in NBA League Pass subscribers among markets outside the US and China and second in Asia-Pacific.

Social Media: n 10.6—The NBA’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts have more than 10.6 million combined followers from the Philippines, the most of any country outside of the US. n 5.5—Viewers from the Philippines to the NBA’s global YouTube Channel watched 5.5 million hours of content during the 2018-2019 season, the most of any country outside of the US. n 3.7—Followers of the NBA Philippines Facebook page increased 15 percent year-over-year, making it the largest regional NBA Facebook page at over 3.7 million fans.

Marketing Partnerships and Events: n 14—Following the announcement of Vivo as Official Smartphone of the NBA in the Philippines, this season the league has a record 14 partners in the country. n 2—The Jr. NBA Philippines presented by Alaska achieved its highest participation numbers ever in 2019—more than 59,000 players and coaches—and has reached more than two million players, parents and coaches across more than 190 cities and municipalities since 2007.

Merchandise: n 62—NBA merchandise sales from the Philippines on NBAStore.com increased 62 percent year-over-year.

“As we near the culmination of this incredible NBA season, the NBA’s remarkable growth in the Philippines speaks to the league’s impact and relevance to the country’s millions of passionate NBA fans,” NBA Philippines Managing Director Carlo Singson said. “The NBA’s commitment to innovation has provided Filipinos with a multitude of ways to experience the energy and excitement of the game.

With the continued support of our partners, we look forward to building on this season’s success and taking the league’s popularity in the Philippines to even greater heights in the years to come.”

Keep watchin’, guys.

P

By Howard Fendrich The Associated Press

ARIS—Roger Federer knew when he returned to the French Open that, if things went exceedingly well, he eventually would find himself face-to-face with Rafael Nadal.

Here we go.

Just like old times.

Federer put away Stan Wawrinka after a 75-minute rain delay on Tuesday, converting a break point for just the second time in 18 chances and quickly wrapping up a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over his friend and Swiss countryman to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros.

And what a showdown comes next: Federer vs. Nadal for a spot in the final.

“Always,” Nadal said, “a big match.”

They are two titans of tennis, with Federer holding a men’s-record 20 Grand Slam titles, and Nadal next with 17.

Nadal, who won 11 of his trophies in Paris, has gotten the better of their rivalry over the years, leading 23-15 overall, 9-3 at majors, 13-2 on clay and 5-0 at the French Open, including four finals.

“My next opponent is not too bad. He can play on clay, unfortunately,” Federer joked to the crowd at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

They haven’t met at Roland Garros since 2011.

Federer, who has won their most recent five matches, last entered the field in 2015, when he lost to Wawrinka in the quarterfinals. He pulled out with a bad back in 2016, then skipped the entire clay circuit in 2017-18.

“If you to do or achieve something on the clay, inevitably, at some stage, you will go through Rafa, because he’s that strong and he will be there,” said Federer, at 37 the tournament’s oldest semifinalist since 1968. “If I would have had a different mindset—to avoid him—then I should not have played the clay.”

The only time Federer won the French Open, in 2009, he didn’t need to face Nadal, who was knocked out in the fourth round

by Robin Soderling. That’s one of only two losses for Nadal in 93 career matches at the place.

There was very little drama in Nadal’s quarterfinal victory this time, a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 stroll against No. 7 Kei Nishikori, who went through a pair of five-

setters the past two rounds.

“He didn’t let me play how I wanted to play,” Nishikori said, “and especially if I’m not fresh, it’s not easy to stay with him.”

Federer vs. Wawrinka, meanwhile, lived up to the billing, a 3 1/2-hour tussle between a couple of guys who won a Davis Cup title and Olympic gold medal in doubles together.

Coming in, Federer held a 22-3 edge head-to-head, but Wawrinka knew this: All three of his victories had come on clay, including four years ago in the same round, on the same court.

They were locked in a taut fourth set at 3-all when clouds grew thick and charcoal-colored. Thunder rumbled nearby. It was difficult to see, because there are no artificial lights. Play was suspended as a storm arrived.

But it didn’t last long.

When action resumed, Federer needed only 10 minutes to take control, getting his second break of the match by smacking a big cross-court forehand to a corner that Wawrinka couldn’t handle. It was 5-4, and Federer only needed to hold serve to end it.

That turned out to be a tad complicated.

He double-faulted for the only two times of the entire afternoon, once on his second match point. He was forced to deflect a break point for Wawrinka, doing so with a serve-and-volley winner. And then, finally, on his third match point, Federer closed it out with a volley, then hugged Wawrinka at the net.

“A tough, tough one, for sure,” said Wawrinka, who was coming off the longest singles match of his career, a five-hour and nine-minute victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Wawrinka credited Federer, saying, “It was important to be aggressive, to be inside the court, and he did that better than me.”

Attacking the net at any opportunity, Federer won the point on 41 of his 60 trips forward. It’ll be fascinating to see whether he does that against Nadal, too.

“I’m looking forward to the test,” said Federer, whose last major semifinal was at last year’s Australian Open.

The quarterfinals on the other half of the men’s draw are Wednesday: No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 5 Alexander Zverev, and No. 4 Dominic Thiem vs. No. 10 Karen Khachanov.

FEDERER VS. NADAL FOR SPOT IN FINAL Sports BusinessMirror

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| Thursday, June 6, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

JUST like old times, it’s Federer (right) versus Nadal in France. AP

NO REPLAY REVIEW AT ROLAND GARROS

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JOHANNA KONTA is the first British woman to reach the French Open semifinals since in 1983. AP

Konta sweeps Stephens off court to advance to semis P

ARIS—Sloane Stephens never stood a chance.

Johanna Konta produced a remarkably dominant performance against last year’s runner-up, winning, 6-1, 6-4, on Tuesday to become the first British woman to reach the French Open semifinals since Jo Durie in 1983.

The match was so one-sided that the 26th-seeded Konta won all but one point on her serve in the second set—and the one that she lost was a double fault.

Konta served six aces, stepped into the court to crush winners off second serves and never gave the seventhseeded Stephens time to find her rhythm or groove.

“To play one of the best players in the world and then play at the level I did, I feel really proud of myself,” Konta told the crowd.

Konta’s run comes in stark contrast to her four previous appearances at Roland Garros, when she was eliminated in the first round each time.

The match ended in a brisk 71 minutes with the latearriving Parisian spectators still filing into their wooden

seats inside Court Philippe Chatrier as it was finishing.

“There is not much you can do when someone is playing like that,” Stephens said. “I didn’t get a chance to really get into the match.... She executed a good game plan, and that was that.”

Konta’s semifinal opponent will be 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova, who let a 5-2 lead slip in the second set before finally converting her fourth match point for a 7-6 (1), 7-5 victory over 31st-seeded Petra Martic.

Vondrousova improved to 26-5 since exiting the Australian Open in the second round—a stretch that includes finals in Budapest and Istanbul—and now her first Grand Slam semifinal.

Konta, who beat both Stephens and Vondrousova during her recent run to the Italian Open final, improved to 3-0 in her career against Stephens.

Fans attempted to motivate Stephens with shouts of, “Come on Sloane,” and “Just keep working,” but the 2017 US Open champion struggled to deal with Konta’s pace and

highly aggressive shots.

Konta hit 25 winners—more than twice as many as Stephens—and they were evenly distributed between her forehand (nine) and backhand (eight), with a few volleys mixed in, too.

Early in the second set, Stephens was stretched out wide and replied with a desperation forehand that landed on the line.

Stephens must have thought her shot was going out, because she stood still and didn’t even attempt to run down Konta’s reply.

“I don’t even remember what that point was,” Stephens said.

On Konta’s first match point, Stephens hit a forehand that was called in by the line judge. But the chair umpire came down and overruled the call after inspecting the mark on the clay.

Konta has now reached the semifinals in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments after the Australian Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017.

She has never progressed to a final at a major. But if Konta plays this way again, she’ll be tough to beat. AP

ARIS—There’s a bit of choreography on clay whenever a player disagrees with a line call at the French Open.

The ball lands. The aggrieved player winces and squints at the spot, then scrapes the clay with a racket to underline the mark.

The player stands in place, hands on hips, waiting. The chair umpire clambers down to the court, speed-walks over to locate the mark, thinks about it, then renders judgment—by holding an index finger aloft to indicate “Out” or holding a palm flat to indicate “In.” Sometimes, an argument ensues.

Happens every match, it seems. More than once, usually. The whole dance can take mere seconds. Or last several minutes. Or change the complexion of a match entirely, such Martina Hingis’s infamous meltdown against Steffi Graf in the 1999 French Open final, 20 years ago on Wednesday.

It’s unique in Grand Slam tennis to Roland Garros, because the other three major tournaments use the Hawk-Eye review system during matches, the way most sports have embraced this sort of thing. The thinking goes: Unlike on the hard courts at the US Open and Australian Open, or the grass courts at Wimbledon, balls leave an indelible imprint on the red dirt, so let’s dispense with any technological assistance and instead just check the mark with our own eyes.

Old-fashioned? Yes. Less than perfect? Of course. Which is why some players are calling for clay tournaments—the French Open, which concludes on Sunday, in particular—to make this pas de deux a relic of the past and give chair umpires and line judges some help. After all, television broadcasters often show viewers what Hawk-Eye would have determined.

“They use it for the TV,” 2011 US Open champion Sam Stosur said, “so why can’t you use it for us?”

Still, no one should expect a change anytime soon.

“Of course we’ve thought about it.

Technology is something every sport should use, as much as possible,” tournament director Guy Forget said in an interview.

“If we don’t use it—and I don’t think we ever will—it’s...because, historically, we’ve been judging the course of a ball and where it lands on the court by the mark it leaves on the clay,” Forget said. “Would you like to have a court with no chair umpire, no linesmen, just electronic line-calling? Is that something we really want in the future? I think we’d miss something.”

There’s the human element.

The theater of it all.

A certain je ne sais quoi that makes the French Open stand apart from other majors.

And yet...

“I am 100 percent for having replay.

They should use it,” said Chris Evert, who won seven of her 18 major trophies in Paris.

“Because of the way they sweep the lines on clay courts, sometimes you can’t see for sure if the ball hit the line or not. I also

think that some chair umpires vary. They all view whether it’s in or out differently. I’m not calling them cheaters, of course, but it doesn’t look sometimes like it’s all the way out but they go, ‘Out.’” This is not a new concern. Back in 2013, for example, Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine was fined $2,000 for pulling out his cell phone during a first-round loss at the French Open to snap a photo of a mark he thought was misjudged.

But the chorus seems to be louder now, because of the perception that there have been “so many mistakes from the umpires this year,” said Borna Coric, a Croatian seeded 13th at Roland Garros.

All non-clay ATP tournaments are required to use electronic line-calling; the statistics kept by the men’s tour show that the number of calls reversed on review has been between 28 to 29 percent in each of the past five years, including in 2019. At last year’s US Open, the figure for all events was 29.1 percent.

Could simply be a result of more and more players posting on social media when they believe a ruling was wrong.

“It’s something I’m really trying to push for, because I feel like there’s way too many controversial calls. There’s so many close calls from day-to-day, from every match,” said Denis Shapovalov, a Canadian seeded 20th in Paris. “Sometimes, just, the call is so close, it’s impossible to call it. You need a system to have justice.”

The main objection voiced by Forget and others is whether Hawk-Eye, which has a tiny margin of error, would be accurate enough on clay courts, where the crushed brick gets blown by the air or kicked around by players’ feet and covers lines. And there are, to be sure, players who are just fine with the status quo.

Usually, the discussion wraps up quite quickly, such as on the very last point of three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka’s five-plus-hour victory on Sunday, when his backhand barely landed in, grazing the outside edge of the sideline. He had to wait to celebrate.

“I was just hoping that the umpire would confirm it,” Wawrinka said. “So I was, [for] half a second, not sure.”

That’s nothing compared to the four-anda-half minute delay over a disputed serve during 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro’s third-round win over Jordan Thompson on Saturday.

As spectators whistled derisively or jeered, the scene devolved into a sort of existential debate—best had over an espresso and a cigarette, perhaps—about, essentially, what the definition of “line” is and whether, as chair umpire Manuel Absolu posited, one can “imagine there is a mark.”

“There are so many arguments...just like that one,” Thompson said. “If we had HawkEye, it would have been over in 20 seconds, and we would have been back playing.” AP

Life

Oh God beyond all praising

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H God beyond all praising, we recount Your wonders and pray: Uphold us by Your love, oh God. Help us to model Your patience, compassion and mercy to young people. Sustain those who work tirelessly for peace, justice and diplomacy. Grant safety to travelers, missionaries and pilgrims.

May God bless us with every gift of the spirit, promised by Jesus, the wisdom of God. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY, SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

REELING: THE MANUNURI RELEASES 2019 NOMINATIONS FOR BEST SHORT FILM AND BEST DOCUMENTARY D4

BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

TOURISTS wait in line to visit the Louvre museum as it reopens, in Paris, on May, 29. The world’s most visited museum was closed on Monday after employees complained that they were harassed by tourists waiting to see the Mona Lisa. AP

Thursday, June 6, 2019

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4 ways to be a good traveler in the age of overtourism

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By meLissA rAyWOrTh The Associated Press

N Paris, the Louvre Museum closed for a day this week because workers said the crowds were too big to handle. In the Himalayas, climbers at Mount Everest are concerned that the peak has gotten too crowded, contributing to the highest death toll in years.

In cities and destinations around the world, from Barcelona to Bali, “overtourism” has become a yearround problem.

When fields of wildflowers in Lake Elsinore, California, were overrun this spring by tourists seeking the perfect photo, the city tweeted bluntly about the impact of traffic jams and trampled hillsides: “We know it has been miserable and has caused unnecessary hardships for our entire community.” Last summer, it was a sunflower field outside of Toronto that got trampled after becoming Instagram-famous.

A mash-up of discount airlines, inexpensive Airbnb rooms and social-media shares have brought the blessing of tourist dollars and the growing curse of noisy crowds and even dangerous conditions to places once known for off-the-beaten-path charm or idyllic silence.

“Tourists are trampling the very attraction they’ve come to witness,” says Joel Deichmann, a global studies professor at Bentley University in Massachusetts. Some communities have begun

pushing back with regulations and public service announcements telling tourists to behave.

How do you visit these places without doing harm?

Four tips from experts: 1. REMEMBER, IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU. Venturing far from home and experiencing an unfamiliar culture can be transformative, bringing a sense of freedom and even hedonism. But don’t forget: This is already someone’s culture, someone’s home.

So beyond simply choosing a hotel, really research the place you want to visit. What kind of behavior is appropriate there? What are the environmental policies? If you’re booking through a travel service, ask them for guidance.

“This isn’t Disney,” says Rachel Dodds, founder of the consulting firm Sustaining Tourism.

Pavia Rosati, founder of the travel service Fathom and coauthor of the book Travel Anywhere (Hardie Grant, 2019), reminds travelers going to exotic destinations: “You are not here to just add something foreign to your collection.”

It might seem logical to put on a tank top and shorts in Thailand’s 100-degree heat. But if you’re going to visit Buddhist temples, it’s considered disrespectful. “Err on the side of conservative dressing,” Rosati says.

Deichmann, who frequently travels abroad with his students, advises them to be sensitive and take cues from local residents. For example, he says, on a subway or bus in European cities, locals are usually reading or sitting quietly. Follow their lead: Avoid loud

conversations or getting up to snap photos.

The same goes for late-night partying: If you’re at an all-inclusive resort on a few hundred acres of gated lands, party as you wish.

But if you’re staying in an Airbnb apartment, realize that the person on the other side of the wall might need to put their baby to sleep or get up for work early.

2. PUT PICTURE-TAKING IN PERSPECTIVE. With phone cameras, we’ve become accustomed to taking pictures constantly. But taking photos of people, their children and their homes can be invasive.

Also, respect the physical environment. It may seem obvious, but don’t walk on the wildflowers to get the best photo.

And consider the risks: At Kaaterskill Falls in New York’s Catskill Mountains, four tourist deaths in recent years have been attributed to attempts to take dramatic selfies.

You’ll probably enjoy your experiences more fully if you spend less time snapping photos, says University of Denver assistant professor Gia Nardini, coauthor of a study on the subject.

And showing restraint can help protect the place you’re enjoying from overtourism.

“If you take that picture,” Dodds asks, “will 1,000 people arrive the next day to take that same picture?”

3. GIVE BACK. When Rosati was planning a cruise along the Amazon River, she knew she’d be stopping in villages where children needed basics like pencils, crayons and paper. So “one-third of my suitcase was

How to plan the perfect vacation BEFORE dashing out the door for that highlyanticipated mini-break, be sure to have a solid game plan in place to make it a stressfree getaway for you and your family or friends. One of the leading insurance companies in the Philippines, AXA (www.axa. com.ph) offers these tips: n PACK THE ESSENTIALS. If it’s going to be a trip to the beach, pack the right essentials for your trip, including a sunblock with high SPF plus a cooling gel to treat sunburn. Don’t forget a sand-resistant, waterproof beach bag to protect all your gadgets from getting wet, as well as a towel, mat, umbrella, your medicines, snacks and floaters for your kids. n PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE UNEXPECTED. Nobody wishes for accidents to happen but in case they do, you can be protected with a travel insurance, such as AXA Smart Traveler which comes with a wide

range of benefits, including 24-hour travel assistance, protection of personal belongings, and refunds for travel inconveniences. You can choose an individual plan, or choose a plan for a single trip for up to 10 adults and 10 children traveling together to and from the same destination, within the same travel period. n BE READY IN CASE OF MEDICAL EMERGENCIES. Aside from medicine, bring a first-aid kit on your trip so you are prepared for any medical emergencies. For serious accidents that need comprehensive treatment, consider an insurance that offers medical coverage, personal accident coverage up to P5 million, and liability and personal safety coverage. n STAY HYDRATED. It’s important to stay hydrated when faced with the summer heat and the strain of doing water sports like swimming, surfing, kite-surfing, paddling and

many more. Prevent heat stroke, headache and other sicknesses caused by heat by drinking lots of water and eating fruits and veggies with high water content like watermelon, cucumber, celery, cucumber, strawberry and pineapple. n KNOW THE CONDITION OF THE OCEAN. The ocean can be treacherous. Some beaches have jellyfish and other sea creatures that can be deadly if you get bitten or stung. Beaches can also have periods of big waves and high tide or low tide. Knowing the condition of the ocean before diving in is important so you can avoid any possible dangers. n HAVE FUN. Some people have the tendency to bring work with them on vacations. While it’s okay to allot a few hours to answer emails and other work-related issues, don’t forget that you are still on a rare vacation so enjoy and savor the moment with family or friends and avoid stressing.

school supplies,” she says. Once there, she gave them away and filled the space in her suitcase with local crafts. Consider spending money in the local economy rather than at international hotel chains, and seek out locally owned restaurants and bars.

To help the environment, use public transportation as much as possible. “You’re going to have a better experience” too, says Dodds.

Finally, take your packaging with you when you leave a place. And never buy gifts made from endangered animals or other illegal materials.

4. SAY HELLO. “My dad used to say you need to learn to say, ‘How can I get a cup of coffee’ in the local language,” says Dodds, author of a new book, Overtourism: Issues, Realities and Solutions (De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2019).

Even in places where many locals speak English, learning a few words in their language—please, thank you, yes, no—will earn you good will and a more authentic experience.

Also, be patient and respectful of those trying to manage the crowds.

At the Louvre, union representatives had complained that renovation work around the Mona Lisa led to organizational problems, long lines and harassment of staff by tourists. They said staff numbers have diminished over the past decade even as the number of visitors rose 20 percent.

Amid the excitement of even bucket list-level travel, Deichmann says, keep in mind: “What if this were your village?” n

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Entertaining BusinessMirror

Thursday, June 6, 2019

We made a deeply flavorful chicken tagine-in about an hour CHICKEN Tagine with Olives and Lemon

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By America’s Test Kitchen The Associated Press

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CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, 11; Natalie Morales, 46; Paul Giamatti, 51; Robert Englund, 71.

a

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): One step at a time. You may be tempted to take a leap of faith, but before you make a sudden move, consider the consequence if something goes wrong.

Time is on your side, and hasty decisions will lead to regret. HHHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Understand what you are getting into before you offer help. You’ll end up getting stuck with a job that will conflict with the way your feel or the time you have allotted to taking care of your own responsibilities. HH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Add spice to your life. Think outside the box and offer your point of view. Honor your beliefs and live life your way. Be open and share your ideas and concerns, but allow others the same privilege. HHHHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): If you want something, go after it. Don’t wait for someone else to do the work. Live up to your promises. Recognize what you want, but live within your means. Today is about balance, integrity and making things right. HHH

f teaspoon garlic; mince together until reduced to fine paste and set aside.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken, skin side down and cook until well browned, about five minutes. Using tongs, flip chicken and brown second side, about four minutes longer; transfer to large plate. When cool enough to handle, discard skin. Pour off all but one tablespoon fat from pot.

Add onion and remaining two lemon zest strips to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion slices have browned at edges but still retain their shape, five to seven minutes (add one tablespoon water as needed if pot begins to scorch).

Add remaining garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add reserved spice

mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until darkened and very fragrant, 45 seconds to one minute. Stir in broth and honey, scraping up any browned bits. Add drumsticks and thighs, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for five minutes.

Add carrots to pot, then arrange breast pieces in single layer on top of carrots. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until breast pieces register 160°F and drumsticks/thighs register 175°F, 10 minutes to 15 minutes.

Transfer chicken to plate and tent with aluminum foil. Add olives to pot; increase heat to medium-high and simmer until liquid has thickened slightly and carrots are tender, four to six minutes. Return chicken to pot and stir in cilantro, lemon juice and reserved garlic mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve. n

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Truth will matter. Elaborating is fine, as long as you don’t lose sight of the facts while trying to entice others with your presentation. Live up to your standards, rules and beliefs. Change comes with honesty and faith, not deception. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Learn as you go, and put more energy behind getting things done right the first time. Don’t limit what you can do because someone gives you a hard time. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Make personal changes that will make a statement regarding what you stand for.

Don’t back down; show the world what you have to offer and how you plan to reach your goal. The time for positive change is now. HHHHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Question your motives before putting demands on someone or trying to convince others to do things your way. Be honest about your intentions, and question those who come on too strong.

Communication is mandatory. HH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Consider investments and how best to make your money work for you. A change in the way you invest or handle your cash will encourage a higher standard of living, less stress and a positive change in your personal life. HHHH

Treasured taste of zong zi EXPERIENCES the rich tradition of Dragon Boat Festival through the timeless savory taste of the zong zi, available only at the authentic Cantonese restaurant Lung Hin by Marco Polo Ortigas Manila (www.facebook.com/ MarcoPoloOrtigasManila).

The zong zi is traditionally consumed during the Dragon Boat Festival, the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. This delicacy is believed to commemorate the nationalism of Chinese poet Qu Yuan.

By Eugenia Last

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Communication is your best bet. If you let others make assumptions, you will end up being blamed for something you didn’t do. Use your ability to research and fact-find to help you counter anyone trying to make you look bad. HHH

CHICKEN TAGINE WITH OLIVES AND LEMON Servings: 4 Start to finish: 45 minutes

Combine paprika, cumin, ginger, cayenne, coriander and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside.

Mince one lemon zest strip and combine with one

Today’s Horoscope

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Use your intelligence when faced with confusion or uncertainty. If someone tries to point you in the wrong direction, ask questions, show strength of character and be willing to head in whatever direction suits you best. Emotional mind games should not be allowed to influence your decisions or your plans. Stay on track, no matter what others do. Your lucky numbers are 4, 15, 21, 28, 34, 37, 44.

E love the way the liberal warm spices, sweetness, and tart brininess of a tagine enliven workaday chicken, so we set to develop a chicken tagine with depth of flavor—in about an hour.

We followed our standard for braised chicken recipes: We browned the skin-on chicken pieces to give the braising liquid deep flavor, removed the chicken from the pot and sauteed the aromatics (onion, garlic, and lemon zest strips) along with a blend of spices (paprika, cumin, cayenne, ginger, coriander, and cinnamon), and added chicken broth for braising and honey for sweetness.

With the flavorful base built, we returned the chicken to the pot, starting the longer-cooking thighs and drumsticks before the breasts. Along with green olives, we finished and brightened the dish with a mixture of minced lemon zest strips and garlic, lemon juice and fresh cilantro.

For best results, use four chicken thighs and two chicken breasts, each breast split in half; the dark meat contributes valuable flavor to the broth and should not be omitted. Make sure to trim any white pith from the zest, as it can impart bitter flavor. If the olives are particularly salty, give them a rinse.

1 1/4 teaspoons paprika 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3 (2-inch) strips lemon zest plus 3 tablespoons juice 5 garlic cloves, minced 4 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces, trimmed Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick 1 3/4 cups chicken broth 1 tablespoon honey 2 carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds, very large pieces cut into half-moons 2 cups pitted Greek green olives, halved 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

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This year, the Dragon Boat Festival will be commemorated on June 7. Guests can share the gift of tradition with Lung Hin’s zong zi variants: Marinated Pork with Five Spices, which consists of glutinous rice, pork belly, peanut, red bean, salted egg, and five spices; and the Guangdong Traditional flavor, which features the Marinated Pork ingredients combined with roasted duck meat, dry lotus, dried mushroom, and mung bean. Both variants are wrapped in a lotus leaf.

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t be fooled by what others say or ask for.

Stick close to home, and take care of your personal situation before you offer help to outsiders, or someone will try to take advantage of you. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Emotional manipulation will help you get your way. Your ability to push the envelope and get others to buy into what you say will bring about positive change, but only for so long. Truth must be upheld to ensure long-term success. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are sensitive, insightful and entertaining.

You are expressive and persistent.

‘vertifical drop’ BY PANCHO HARRISON The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 ___ Miz 4 Free TV spot 7 Passionate 13 Throw for a loop 15 Pestle partner 16 Lowest rung on the corporate ladder, stereotypically 18 “Right away, captain!”

19 Worksheet holder 20 Actress Faris or Kendrick 22 “For shame!” syllable 23 Very nerdy sort 24 Kingdom 26 Chili ___ carne 27 Southernmost Great Lake 29 Center 33 On behalf of 34 Mix smoothly 35 Hawaiian word of welcome 36 Speed reader?

38 Otto ___ Bismarck 39 Beachgoer’s need 40 Cheri once on 51-Across

1 Undermine 4 43 Once named 44 Tornado warning 45 Word with “fixed” or “going” 46 Swimmer’s unit 47 One more time 49 Body part that rests on a viola 51 Longtime NBC hit 54 “___ to differ!”

55 “Walk This Way” rap trio 58 It sometimes rhymes 60 Demon, e.g.

62 Houston team 63 Full-length film 64 Pine tree secretions 65 OED entries 66 Journalist Koppel DOWN 1 Symbol of gentleness 2 Morales of NYPD Blue 3 Request for a police operation?

4 Turn into mush 5 Enjoy shallow coral reefs, say 6 Brouhaha

7 Whirlpool subsidiary 8 Prince Harry, to Meghan Markle?

9 Dr. with Grammys 10 Coup d’___ 11 Dissenting votes 12 Difficult journey 14 Bygone 17 Citrus fruit from Sausalito’s county?

21 Is unobliged to 25 This Is Us actor Ventimiglia 26 Raccoon’s South American cousin 28 Dreamlike Debussy piece 30 Destitute, or a hint to what was deleted from each starred answer 31 Bighorn, e.g.

32 Whopper 33 Dos for Jimi and Questlove 34 Pack a mineral supplement?

37 Geometry calculation 42 Publicly condemned 46 Swiss chocolate brand 48 Chasm 50 Some Polynesian perfor-mances 51 Go a few rounds

2 Wine’s aroma 5 53 “Why don’t we!”

56 Nothing more than 57 Street ___ 59 Prefix with “cycle” 61 Org. for former soldiers

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Parentlife BusinessMirror

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Thursday, June 6, 2019

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FATHER’S DAY STAYCATION OFFERING AT F1 HOTEL MANILA

DAD deserves a break too from all the sacrifices he makes for the family. Create more precious moments when you stay at F1 Hotel Manila (www.f1hotelmanila.com) with dad and the whole gang this Father’s Day. Celebrate with the hotel’s special offer of Fantastic Father’s Room Package available until June 30 at P6,800 per night for a Fort Suite Room.

Inclusive of buffet breakfast for two persons, a free single serving of Chairman’s Burger courtesy of F All-Day Dining, served with two bottles of local beer especially for dads valid for dine-in only.

To continue the celebration this Father’s Day, F All-Day Dining welcomes all dads by offering them the “Beers and Burgers for Dad” promotion as they deserve nothing but the best on their special day. Let him celebrate with burgers and beers as he gets 20-percent off on Chairman’s Burger and a free bottle of beer for his every purchase of two local beers.

The promo is valid until June 30. F1 Hotel Manila is at 32nd Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

‘Pre’-school must-do’s MOMMY NO LIMITS

‘DOES MY CHILD HAVE AN EYE PROBLEM?’

DETERMINING whether a child may have an eye problem can be a bit challenging. Unlike adults, children may not necessarily know what the normal visual baseline is and, thus, are less likely to complain. Most teens and some older children may be able to express their specific concerns, but for most children, visual problems are often left untreated or managed too lately.

It is essential then to pay attention to little clues for these potential problems. If perhaps you ever notice your child squinting often, rubbing their eyes, tearing excessively, sitting too close to a TV, complaining of headaches or having difficulty reading, then you might want to take your child to an ophthalmologist, a doctor who provides comprehensive eye-care diagnosis and management. Eduardo V. Sarabia, MD, chairman of Makati Medical Center’s Department of Ophthalmology (www.makatimed.net.ph), answers questions regarding poor eyesight in kids, and what parents can do to address this important health issue. n WHAT ARE COMMON EYESIGHT PROBLEMS AMONG KIDS? Near-sightedness (myopia), far-sightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism (the imperfect curvature of the cornea) are types of refractive errors that cause images to be blurred. This can be managed with simple eyeglasses, which greatly improve the quality of vision.

Strabismus is a condition wherein one or both eyes turn in or out. This misalignment of the eyes manifests as either crossed eyes or walled eyes, often resulting in doubling of vision. If detected early, this can be managed with eyeglasses, sometimes using special prismatic lenses to make the eyes align normally. Surgery can also be offered to mechanically reposition the eyes, but is usually reserved in more advanced cases. Amblyopia refers to the failure of the eye to achieve normal visual acuity even despite the best attempts to correct it. This is commonly known as “Lazy Eye,” because the brain only receives visual input from one good eye and no contribution from the amblyopic eye. This visual development disorder begins during infancy or early childhood, and progresses often due to a failure in correcting another eye problem, such as strabismus, high grade difference between the two eyes, or congenital cataracts. n AT WHAT AGE CAN A CHILD HAVE POOR EYESIGHT? Poor eyesight can start at any age. They can be as young as newborns and babies, especially if they come from a family with a history of eye problems. Routine eye-health screenings are part of an infant’s checkup, as well as checkups among children aged three years old and up. n HOW IS POOR EYESIGHT DIAGNOSED? An ophthalmologist will conduct a variety of examinations to assess eyesight. These include, but are not limited to, visual acuity testing (using age-appropriate eye charts to check if a child can see at various distances), refractive assessment (to see if vision can be corrected with eye glasses), pupillary light reflex testing (to gauge if their pupils are responding properly) and fundus examination (which may include dilation of the eye to examine the retina and optic nerve). n WHAT IS THE TREATMENT FOR POOR EYESIGHT? It is important to note that not all blurring of vision can be managed with just eyeglasses. Specific treatment depends on the specific condition and can include a combination of different corrective techniques. These can include anything from eyeglasses, eye exercises, contact lenses, eye patching, medical therapy, lasers surgery and a host of surgical options.

Your ophthalmologist can recommend the best course of treatment for your child’s eyesight, so it is imperative to regularly checkup with your ophthalmologist to ensure the best for your child’s bright future. n WHAT IF MY CHILD DOES NOT WANT TO WEAR GLASSES? “Make wearing glasses a pleasant and fun experience for your child by letting him or her choose a frame that is cute and comfortable to wear,” advises Sarabia. “More important, assure them that they look wonderful with glasses and this helpful tool can help them in school, during playtime and in sports.”

MAYE YAO CO SAY

mommynolimits@gmail.com

F

OR not a few parents, it’s only mere days before the new school year starts. Are you done purchasing books and school supplies?

Are your kids’ shoes and uniforms all ready? Back-to-school preparations can vary in stress levels for us, depending on how early our schedule permits us to prepare. For my kids, however, I hope for them to look forward to school like it’s entering a new adventure.

In 2017 I shared the fun things I do with my kids before the start of the school year. Below is my enhanced list of “pre”-school must-do’s: n BUILD FUN RITUALS. Our favorite ritual is going to National Book Store to buy our school supplies. Each one has their list. Meagan would push her own cart while I would assist Marcus. I would involve them in choosing the folders, rulers, etc., that they like.

I remember when I was a child, my favorite ritual was picking the brand of pens I would use for that year. Would it be Panda or Kilometrico? Even if takes more time, I like to see the fun in my kids’ eyes when they find their “perfect pen.”

It is also fun to do “pre”-school relaxation rituals as a family. It is good to take walks or bike together as a family a day before school starts. It would be good to even take that one long day trip together. For your kids, it is a time to relax. For us parents, the purpose

is to listen and connect. These quiet moments allow your children to share if they are excited or anxious.

Ask questions like, “How excited are you to go back to school?” This questions leads to multiple other questions. You can also play verbal games in the car.

We always do an Alphabet Game, where we pick a topic, like countries, then run down things that start with each letter in the alphabet. Try to lessen gadget use or, better yet, no gadgets for the trip. I always believe this sets the pace for our parent-child relationship during the school year. n THE ROOM TO CHOOSE. I always believe it is a child’s choice to excel in school. We lead them to it but it is always better if the child wants it. For me, I was rewarded when I did well but I was never punished if I got a failing mark. So, I have a “soft” talk with my kids a few weeks before class starts.

I ask them how they felt about last year. Did they like their grades? Did they like the activities they joined? If they say yes, then I would just ask: Do you think there is room to improve? Do you want mom to suggest ways?

I remember when Marcus was in kindergarten, he would get above-average grades but was not consistently in the honor roll. I didn’t mind because what I really wanted was for him to love going to school. I also believe that every child is different.

As much as Meagan values being in the honor roll, Marcus might enjoy school in another way.

Nevertheless, I wanted to make sure he was “aware” of his options when he entered first grade. So, I sat him down in his study chair and drew out the letters “A,” “B,” “C.” I asked him, “Marcus, when you grow up, what kind of job would you like? An A, B or C job?”

He asked me what the differences were. I explained that an “A” job means most of the time, you are telling people what to do. “B” means sometimes you are telling people what to do, and other times people are telling you what to do. “C” means you are always

being told what to do. He said, “I want an A job.” I said, “OK, then you would need to go to a good university.

In order for you to do that, you need to get very good grades in grade school and high school.” He was silent afterwards and that was that.

I was surprised that he became more serious with his studies on his own. He started getting silver awards in the beginning of the year and ended up getting a gold award by the end of the 4th quarter. n THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF THE JOURNEY. This ritual is for both the parents and the kids. As parents, we need to remind ourselves that our kids’ “learning journey” is their own stamp of effort and motivation.

After we listen to their goals and fears for the year, it would be good to write them down. As we match the activities or enrichment classes we plan to support them with, try your best not to use comparative lenses. Always remember that each child is unique.

Whether he or she needs more or less support, the most critical part is they know our love for them is not based on their output.

I push myself each year to see that the minute they step into the school year, I need to be reminded that it is their year, not mine nor my husband’s. I can guide but the accountability to check their homework, study for a test or finish a project is their own. I always tell them, “When you achieve something in school, it is you who goes up the stage.

We are here to support you on your goals but you need to do the work.”

I am not in my children’s school very often but the first day of school is a must. I like experiencing that first-day excitement with them. I like seeing them pick a seat. I like saying hello to their new teacher.

Moreover, I like hugging and kissing them before they start a school year, telling them, “Enjoy school.” It is my way of making them feel the unconditional love of the journey.

Happy “pre”-schooling, everyone. n

FROM left: Marcus on his first day of school in Grade 1; Meagan and I have a ritual of hanging out in Starbucks; the kids’ “pre”school swimscooter time.

❶ A FUN time to accessorize

❷ DIGITAL

watch with jelly strap.

❸ BRIGHT and

sunny bucket hat goes well with mini backpack

❹ HATS on this summer

❶

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BEFORE THE KIDS GO BACK TO SCHOOL THE heat is still on. And if you’ve still got time for that family vacay, SM Accessories Kids at The SM Store will help make your kids sunshine-ready with its collection of hats, sunglasses, watches and small bags.

Hats will keep the little ones protected in style. SM Accessories Kids has bucket hats that give full shade and come in colorful designs with summer prints and patterns; as well as baseball caps given a reboot with vibrant colors and statement designs.

Classic wayfarers and aviators are given a new look with translucent frames in candy colors and colored lense—now that’s what you can call eye candy.

Jelly strap watches capture summer’s exuberance and energy, while bags keep their getaway-haves in place.

❹

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D4

Show BusinessMirror

Thursday, June 6, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Manunuri releases the nominations for Best Short Film and Best Documentary for 2019 REELING

TITO GENOVA VALIENTE

titovaliente@yahoo.com

O

N June 18 the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino will once more honor two film forms that have undergone creative and radical shifts, and evolutions for the last

few years.

There are documentaries now that blur the line between the real—the realities out there—and the imagination of the filmmaker. This gave rise to the so-called “creative documentary.” Short films, while it’s still the technology where film directors try on their ideas, have become mediums to tell narratives of various themes. Amazing always are the short films and the range of topics that “short” structures can articulate.

For Gawad Urian 2019, the documentaries nominated deal with themes that one can situate in the socioeconomic status of the land—be this in terms of the local arts of particular sites or within the frames of the colonized conditions of this country.

Two documentaries are about the abject poverty prevalent in the country. Four families live in the peripheries of Manila’s busiest international port.

Ships of bounty and wealth dock near their houses.

Violence need not be bloody as in the case of this film, where destructive poverty is at the core of the narrative.

Another film deals with the “dead season,” when nothing happens anymore—there is no planting and no harvesting. The farmers have to find jobs elsewhere. One day they realize that the land they are tilling is to be converted into a memorial park, a real place for the dead.

Violence is at the core of a mockumentary, which

chronicles the antics of an actor known for his outbursts. He displays this sense of mayhem and danger even as the story of this country unfolds in the histories of transgression manufactured by the Duterte administration. A fight that ensues at the end regales the audience, which also leaves them grasping at any line to distinguish fact from fiction.

In another documentary, a filmmaker records the life of her brother as the latter enters a college and attempts to belong in that new setting. As she follows her brother and observes more, she realizes the inability of her sibling to navigate life is also a behavior she sees in her daughter.

Two dancers have lives that do not intertwine but rather are linked by what they do. One comes from a privileged family who sees herself not following the path of her kin; another is so poor that you wonder where the approval of his parents with regards to his being a dancer emanate from. From another poor family, a young boy, for some reason, falls in love with dancing. A teacher who is not exactly well-to-do is in the middle of these dreams amid the most elite of dance traditions—the ballet.

A Filipina transwoman is murdered by a US Marine and her story once more captures the problem of justice in a land that is heavily invested in US imperialism. Three persons pursue the case and brave the wall of injustice put up by a nation still connected to her colonizer. These persons are an activist lawyer, a transgender journalist and the mother of the victim herself.

A documentary on sculpture completes the list of nominees. In this documentary, the transformation of a piece of wood into an icon that is going to be a sacred artefact happens while a town with its troupe of nonactors stage the Passion of the Christ. Rituals, iconographies and the question or admission of faith provide the colorful framework for this film.

The short films nominated for this year’s film concourse of the oldest critics group in the country range from a rhapsody built around a poem to a weaving tradition propelled by a dream; from an animation to a drama about ending, to a meditation on depression; from an animation to an animated tragicomic slice-of-life filmed using a mobile

phone; from a rite of passage to a movement from one place to another just to achieve peace; and from a childhood whose certainty is bracketed by a dangerous livelihood to a life with the most dangerous nocturnal person.

In one short film, a restaurant is doomed from the perspective of a waiter who has to deal with all kinds of people even as he contemplates the loss of his job.

The only animated film nominated this year is about an old man feeling all the guilt and recriminations. His anxieties and insecurities assume material forms even as he attempts to reconcile with his son.

A generic name for all men in the city and in the country brings us the story of a man who employs the services of a teenager to perform the role of his son in front of his macho father. Issues about acceptance and identities abound in this work.

In another short film, a young man grieving the death of his mother breaks the rules sacred to his community: he weaves a T’nalak, doing an act that is limited to women. An abaca spirit visits him in his dreams and guides him in the journey.

A filmmaker in this short film changes the voice of the poem, from female to male. The experience is ordinary—a woman rides a local motorcycle service, called habal-habal, with a driver she likes.

Extraordinarily, in a man’s voice, the poetry conjures a dream world, fragmented, and fluid in an environment and the spaces it provides to poems and persons.

The spaces provided by nature is the topic of another short film. A river is the only thing that separates two brothers for their reunification. Who shall cross the river first so that we would be kin again? The river, which is of the natural, becomes that of the political in this work that serves as a metaphor for Mindanao and the rest of the regions in the country.

Children and their experiences propel the narrative of this short film: they are seen in classrooms and homes, places that should shelter and protect them. But their childhood is also found in a place where mountains have been transformed into dangerous mining areas. It seems the mines are where

they eventually end in.

Shot entirely with a mobile phone, a feat perfected by this generation of young filmmakers, this short film details the conversation between an aging foreigner with his young Filipina friend who, we assume, is if not already a prospective lover. The young woman is beautiful because that is the only scenario presented by the mobile phone.

The dark and menacing creature of our lore—the aswang—bears a term of endearment in this short film. The hacienda, the peasant workers, and the loyal servants of the big house all work together to keep the aswang alive, a dark, dark tribute to the fidelity encouraged out of farm workers to their landlords.

The title in all its elliptical charm says it all: To remain is to have been left is about a woman who looks out from a ledge. She is shown about to jump off that point but a sound comes from somewhere and she looks to where it is coming from. That noise is the distraction that stops her from jumping off the building, till that noise stops and....

The nominees are: BEST DOCUMENTARY n Patrick Alcedo, Dancing Manilenyos n Hiyas Baldemor Bagabaldo, Ang Pag-ukit sa Paniniwala n Daniel Madrid, Pagkatapos ng Tigkiwiri n Jewel Maranan, Sa Dantaong Palad na Kulang n Manuel Mesina III, Beastmode: A Social Experiment n PJ Raval, Call Her Ganda n Wena Sanchez, All Grown Up BEST SHORT FILM n Shaira Advincula, Tembong (Connecting) n Joji Villanueva Alonso, Last Order n Mervine Aquino, Baguio Address No. 10 n Elvert Bañares, Pamati-I bala ang akon ihutik nga binalaybay (Listen to the poems I will whisper) n Lawrence Fajardo, Inday n Bagane Fiola, Pulangui n Joseph Gacutan, ’Wag mo ’kong Kausapin n Andrew Stephen Lee, Manila is Full of Men Named Boy n Pam Miras, To Remain is To Have Been Left n Arjanmar Rebeta, Palabas n Jarell Serencio, Siyudad sa Bulawan (City of Gold)

VINCENZO BELLINI’S twoact opera Norma

BELLINI’S ‘NORMA’ CLOSES ‘CCP MET OPERA IN HD’ SEASON 6

GLORIA ROMERO

DANTE RIVERO

KATHRYN BERNARDO and Daniel Padilla

Movie icons awarded at the 35th PMPC Star Awards for Movies

By LeOny r. GArciA Photos by Erickson dela Cruz HISTORIC, iconic and star-studded—that was the 35th PMPC Star Awards for Movies, held on June 2 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila.

Movie veterans gathered onstage to receive the special accolade, Mga Natatanging Bituin ng Siglo, in line with the centennial celebration of Philippine cinema. On hand to personally receive their citations were Tirso Cruz III, Christopher de Leon, Eddie Garcia, Niño Muhlach, Ramon Revilla Sr., Gloria Romero and Philip Salvador. (The other honorees were Joseph Estrada, Anita Linda, Susan Roces, Vilma Santos and Nora Aunor.) Most of the awardees were teary-eyed as their peers and the audience gave them a standing ovation.

This once-in-a-lifetime honor is given by Philippine Movie Press Club (PMPC) officers and members to deserving artists based on the

following criteria: exceptional body of work, notable achievements in the Philippine movie industry, integrity and longevity.

Meanwhile, the Nora Aunor Ulirang Artista Lifetime Achievement Award was handed to Dante Rivero, while the Ulirang Alagad ng Pelikula sa Likod ng Kamera Lifetime Achievement Award went to award-winning Director Laurice Guillen.

Likewise, four veteran showbiz writers, who all served as PMPC president in the past, were also honored. Cited as “Outstanding Pillars of PMPC” were Ethel Ramos (PMPC president in 1969, 1970 and 1973), Ronald Constantino (1974 and 1975), Letty Celi (1988 and 1989) and Veronica Samio (1992 and 1993).

But the big winners of the 2019 PMPC movie awards were showbiz’s millennial actresses Kathryn Bernardo and Sarah Geronimo who tied for the Best Actress plum for, respectively, The Hows of Us and Miss Granny. Meanwhile, singer-composer Ogie Alcasid clinched the Best Actor category for his turn in the

titular role in Kuya Wes. The Gabi ng Parangal was produced by Airtime Marketing Philippines of Tess Celestino with the direction by Bert de Leon. It will be shown on ABSCBN’s Sunday’s Best on June 16.

Here are the winners in the top categories: n Movie of the Year: Rainbow’s Sunset n Movie Director of the Year: Joel Lamangan (Rainbow’s Sunset) n Indie Movie of the Year: Citizen Jake n Indie Movie Director of the Year: Mike de Leon (Citizen Jake) n Movie Actor of the Year: Ogie Alcasid (Kuya Wes) n Movie Actress of the Year (tie): Sarah Geronimo (Miss Granny) And Kathryn Bernardo (The Hows of Us) n Movie Supporting Actor of the Year: Arjo Atayde (Buy Bust) n Movie Supporting Actress of the Year: Cherie Gil (Citizen Jake) n New Movie Actor of the Year (tie): Danzel Fernandez (Otlum) and Ryle Santiago (Bakwit Boys)

THE sixth season of CCP Met Opera in HD culminates with Norma, Vincenzo Bellini’s two-act opera, to be screened on June 11, 6:30 pm, at Greenbelt 3 Cinema 3.

Known for its bel canto genre, the opera tells the story about Norma, a Druid high priestess who broke her chastity vows and had two children with Pollione, a Roman proconsul.

Set amid the uprising of the Gallic people against the occupier led by the druid Oroveso, Norma discovers that Pollione has fallen in love with young priestess Adalgisa.

When her lover refuses to give up Adalgisa, Norma publicly confesses her fault and is sentenced to death. Convicted for pursuing Adalgisa in the temple, Pollione goes to the stake with Norma.

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky takes on the titular role in an evocative new production by Sir David McVicar. She first played the role in 2013, and returned four years later to reprise her riveting portrayal for the 2017-2018 opera season of the Metropolitan Opera of New York.

As Adalgisa, the young priestess torn between love and duty, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato delivers an interpretation imbued with great emotional nuance. Tenor Joseph Calleja is the aggressive Roman proconsul Pollione, with Matthew Rose as Norma’s father, the warrior Oroveso.

Leading the Met Orchestra and Chorus, Maestro Carlo Rizzi draws out the vibrant color of Bellini’s masterful score.

The CCP Met Opera in HD series features screenings of the latest operatic productions of the Metropolitan Opera in New York through high-definition digital technology and Dolby sound, recreating the experience of watching an opera production at the Met “live.” It is copresented by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Metropolitan Opera of New York, and the Filipinas Opera Society Foundation Inc., in cooperation with the Ayala Malls Cinemas.

Envoys&Expats BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Thursday, June 6, 2019 E1

In a time of sweeping changes, PHL and US march forward as friends, partners, allies

T

By Recto L. Mercene

@rectomercene

HE current Ambassador of the United States to the Philippines has proven to be a foreign diplomat most challenging to be interviewed. Is it because of security concerns? Or, a hectic schedule, perhaps?

Last week was different, however, as Ambassador Sung Y. Kim graced the “Pandesal Forum,” a media event in Quezon City.

In contrast to the tightly secured area courtesy of the Philippine National Police, the US envoy permitted the local press to peer inside his mind in that rare instance.

Kim expressed his surprise at the gaggle of reporters, photographers and bloggers in attendance: “This is the first time I sat down in a forum. When I heard it was in a café, I actually thought it was just a small, casual thing. I didn’t realize that there would be lots of cameras...”

For nearly an hour, the highestranking representative of America addressed members of the media, and came through with much aplomb.

Having punctured the initial awkward silence, he proceeded to enumerate the three pillars of Philippine-US relations: “First and foremost, we are friends. Second, we are also partners. And lastly, we are allies...”

Kim arrived at a time when the country is experiencing the proverbial “winds of change.” Gone are the days when the newly elected Philippine president usually made a call to his or her American counterpart in the White House.

President Duterte, shortly after getting elected, broke the practice as he went eastward instead. The chief executive had a successful tête-à-tête with China’s President Xi Jinping and was rewarded with billions of pesos in loans to help finance multifarious infrastructure programs.

“As allies, our security cooperation dates back to World War II, when our forces fought together to liberate the Philippines and protect a free and open Asia-Pacific,” Kim went on to say, as he pointed out that the American military is helping modernize our armed forces, enhance the countr y’s maritime security and counter terrorist threats.

The envoy’s statements are a fresh reminder that despite the apparent hurdles in our relations with America, Filipinos remain one of the closest allies of the Western superpower in the world.

He ticked off examples of how Manila and Washington are working together to strengthen the links between the two peoples: “Our bonds are enriched by more than 4 million Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in the US, and by some 300,000 Americans in the Philippines.”

(According to the Bangko Sentral, personal remittances from 11 million Filipinos overseas reached $2.5 billion in February 2018, of which 1.2 percent, or about $30 million (P1.560 billion), came from Filipinos in America.)

In a prepared speech, Kim emphasized the strong bonds that served as the hallmark of the century-old relations between the Philippines and the US, which spanned the political, economic, social, academicand military dimensions. (It was printed in toto in the May 30 edition of Envoys&Expats.)

Diplomatic path forward

THE dapper diplomat was once appointed as the US’s special representative for its North Korea policy with the rank of ambassador. He actually played a crucial role in laying the groundwork for the historic meeting between US President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which marked the first time a sitting US leader met with a North Korean counterpart.

Asked to comment on the recent developments in the Korean Peninsula, Kim noted that Washington remains committed to find a diplomatic path forward. “We would like to achieve complete denuclearization of North Korea. My colleagues and bosses in Washington are working very hard to achieve that goal.”

As far as the South China Sea (SCS) is concerned, Kim declared that the strategic waterway “is part of the Pacific.”

He claims the SCS is a very important area for many. “So much global trade goes through it. That is why even though we are not a claimant, we take a very serious interest in what’s happening [there].”

Kim said the American military “works very hard to protect the freedom of navigation, [as well as] freedom of overflights—principles that are important for all of us, and not just for the Indo-Pacific region.” “[Our] position on the SCS issue hasn’t changed,” he said with much conviction. “We urge all claimants to resolve their issues peacefully, and in accordance with international law and principles.”

The ambassador said the US is calling on all claimants to refrain from aggressive unilateral actions in the disputed area “as we monitor what happens there very closely.”

Impressions and developments

QUERIED about his impressions of the Philippine president, the envoy, whose diplomatic postings included tours of duty in Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, said he had the opportunity to meet Duterte scores of times: “He’s a very charismatic person.

I’m not at all surprised by his popularity. [It’s] pretty impressive that already halfway into the presidency, he still maintains a high approval rating.”

A question was posed: “Is it possible that Trump would invite Duterte to make a state visit? Does the invitation still stand?”

Kim replied, “President Trump has extended an invitation for him to visit the US. I believe it’s still under consideration by Malacañang.”

Looking forward, he said our military alliance remains critically important to maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific region, as the US will continue conducting activities with the Armed Forces of the Philippines toward the latter part of Duterte’s term. He said this approach also applies to our economic partnership, since American companies have huge investments in the country.

And so, we hope our trade relations will continue to grow in the second half of President Duterte’s presidency,” he brimmed with optimism.

Continued on E2

Envoys& BusinessMirror

E2 Thursday, June 6, 2019

Your fish is your future

(In observance of the International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing on June 5.)

THE US PERSPECTIVE

L

Amb. Sung Y. Kim

YING within the global center of marine biodiversity, the Philippines is one of the world’s top fishproducing countries. Millions of Filipinos derive their livelihood from fishing.

However, these rich and precious resources are declining rapidly, with research showing that 10 of the country’s 13 major fishing grounds are already under threat due to overfishing, destructive fishing practices, habitat degradation, pollution, improper waste disposal and extreme weather.

It is estimated that the Philippines loses nearly P68.5 billion yearly to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing—a trend that affects the country’s economic development through lost revenue and unrealized opportunities for local fishermen and associated seafood industries.

With fish making up the major protein source in the Filipino diet, this decline in fish stocks also has implications for the country’s food security, particularly for the nearly 52 percent of fisherfolk who already live beneath the poverty line. Illegal fishing practices also place law-abiding fishers and seafood producers at a disadvantage in both the domestic

and global marketplace.

As we observe the International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing on June 5, I’d like to thank our Philippine partners for working with us to address the threats posed by illegal fishing while protecting our marine resources for future generations.

Sustainable, healthy ecosystems

FOR over three decades, the US government has worked closely with the Philippine government and local partners to achieve our shared goal of sustainable fisheries and healthy marine ecosystems. For example, the US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s five-year EcoFish Project has worked with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and local governments to increase the number and weight of fish by 24 percent in focus sites.

USAID’s new P1.3-billion, fiveyear Fish Right project, launched in 2018, works with the BFAR, the Department of Environment and

THE seasonal abundance of tamban is shown in this photo taken in San Enrique, Negros Occidental. NONIE REYES

Natural Resources, and a consortium of local partners to address biodiversity threats and increase fish biomass in select marine biodiversity areas in the Philippines.

Building on the gains of previous USAID-supported coastal, marine, and biodiversity conservation projects that introduced an ecosystem approach to fisheries management, the Fish Right partnership promotes the sustainable use of critical coastal and marine resources, enhances the resilience of these resources, and improves the ability of Philippine authorities to sustainably manage fisheries—for the benefit of all Filipinos.

The DENR has partnered with other US agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop and implement capacity-building programs for managers of Marine Protected Areas. This effort will continue to train new MPA managers to more effectively address threats to Philippine marine resources.

Recognizing the important role law enforcement plays in combatting illegal fishing and protecting marine resources, Philippine law-enforcement officers have collaborated with US experts to better utilize sophisticated satellite data to detect boats fishing

illegally in Philippine waters, as well as to prevent and deter illegal fishing. We have helped to train nearly 100 officers and inspectors from BFAR and the Philippine Coast Guard on practical lawenforcement techniques, such as boarding foreign fishing vessels, conducting comprehensive fisheries inspections, as well as drafting briefings and affidavits for prosecutors.

Enforcement, education, empowerment

THIS year the US Coast Guard led a first-of-its-kind multinational fisheries law-enforcement workshop in Manila that built capacity

for at-sea enforcement operations in Southeast Asia. The workshop, which included participants from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, strengthened domestic fishery enforcement in each country and helped to improve regional cooperation, coordination and interoperability.

American scientists also seek opportunities to collaborate with Philippine counterparts on marine science research projects.

These scientific endeavors do not just increase our joint understanding of oceanographic phenomena or marine species distribution; they help inform global and local evidence-based fisheries management policies and ensure that there will still be fish for Filipino generations to come.

Ensuring the health of Philippine fisheries and the country’s economy will not just require robust law enforcement and improved science; it will also require innovative new ideas championed by young Filipinos. To that end, we have supported marine-focused education and empower ment camps for some of the country’s most inventive and motivated emerging leaders. We are proud to see the dynamic youth pioneer new social entrepreneurship models in their communities, establish green businesses that address marine challenges, and strive to educate those around them about the importance of healthy ocean ecosystems.

The US government is honored to work alongside Philippine government agencies and civil society, while inspiring young Filipinos to address these challenges. And we will continue to work together to advance human and ecological well-being in the Philippines, and to support initiatives that ensure the continued health of Philippine fisheries. We truly believe that your fish is your future.

In a time of sweeping changes, PHL and US march forward as friends, partners, allies Continued from E1

Kim noted the Build, Build, Build program is a very significant initiative, and again hoped that Americans would be able to participate in this massive government undertaking.

“Build, Build, Build will be a critical piece of the future of Philippines goals,” he predicts. “Everyone agrees there are some deficiencies, so the government focus on infrastructure development for the next three years and beyond is turning into something concrete.”

What is his assessment of the Philippine economy?

“I remain optimistic about it. Many economists have been predicting of a very bright future ahead for the Philip-

pines,” then cited the country’s growth rate in the north of 6 percent as nothing short of “impressive.”

He pointed at the nation’s under24-year-old demographic of 15 million who are “smart, talented, hardworking, English-speaking people.”

“That is a tremendous potential.

Human capital will continue to move the Philippines forward economically.”

Asked about his impressions on the recent midterm elections, the diplomat said he was surprised at the dynamics of the Philippine electoral process, as he marveled at the number of those who cast their votes. It was, in terms of percentage, “much higher than in the US.” “It’s an indication of the vibrancy of democracy here,” he advanced.

Tour of duty

TO cap off the special engagement with the US envoy, the members of the local media were curious about his hobbies and ways of relaxation.

Kim admitted: “I work most [of the time;] nothing special.”

“The Philippines is a very busy, social place. There are lots of functions, parties.... But I do exercise regularly.”

How does he find life in Manila? “I love it. It’s hard to believe that I’m well over two-and-a-half years already [in my tenure]. Time has gone very fast [as I was] doing so much.”

He was also asked about the places in the Philippines he had been to since his posting. He admitted all of them left a mark on him, “but Baguio is a special place for me.”

US official: $250M a year invested in PHL

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ATAC CITY—An official of the United States Embassy recently disclosed that about $250 million worth of assistance is regularly given to the Philippines in the areas of security, military equipment and exchange programs.

The embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission John C. Law said that aside from the security and military assistance, which are already in-place, the US government is also providing some $60 million to $70 million a year to the Philippines, mainly for the conduct of exchange programs.

Speaking in a forum attended by the faculty and students of the Mariano Marcos State University in this city, Law said, “Sometimes the figure would increase, depending, on the need of the Philippine government.”

In 2018 the US government provided $110 million to the country for the procurement of US military equipment—the biggest financial assistance that the former has given to an Indo-Pacific-region country.

“For development-type programs, financial assistance was mostly associated with the United States Agency for

US Embassy in the Philippines Deputy Chief of Mission John C. Law PERRY B. DAFUN JR./MMSU STRATCOM

International Development (USAID), such as the aquaticresources research that amounts, to $100 million a year, plus those activities which are in line with disaster-relief and humanitarian assistance,” Law revealed.

The US official said that after the infamous Marawi

City siege, the USAID provided $59 million to help the displaced families with their basic necessities, such as food, water and shelter.

“Another financial assistance… given yearly is intended for law-enforcement activities of the Philippine National Police, which are in-line [with] fighting illegal drugs, smuggling and strengthening the judicial sector,” Law told the attendees.

“For these activities, the US government is giving [about] $250 million a year,” he added.

Law said there are also investments coming from the US private sector that will likely benefit the naturalresources sectors. One of these is the plan to put up a port facility for liquefied-natural gas (LNG) to bring in the said resource into the country.

“American companies are very excited about the possibility of putting up LNG port terminals in the Philippines, because a lot of them have vast experiences building such facilities,” the embassy official confirmed. Reynaldo Andres/PNA

&Expats

envoys.expats.bm@gmail.com | Thursday, June 6, 2019 E3

PHILIPPINE PRESENCE IN THE U.S.

PHL: Next important investment site

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AN FRANCISCO—Consul General to San Francisco Henry S. Bensurto Jr. delivered a presentation that showcased the Philippines as an investment destination at the Annual Meeting of the 20-20 Investment Association late in April 2019 in San Francisco.

Bensurto shared with the investors in attendance that the Philippines presents a unique investment opportunity, not just through its domestic market of 106 million Filipinos. It also serves as a gateway to the Asean region and the expanded free-trade region of the Asean+6, which includes Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

In view of its geographical location in the Western Pacific, the Philippines is only two to four hours away from the major cities of the region.

He also said that with its solid macroeconomic fundamentals, the country remains as a bright spot in Asia. Its economy has registered growth over the past 20 consecutive years, with above-average numbers since 2012: “As an investment destination, the Philippines has a large potential for growth. Net foreign direct investments have been significantly rising over the past decade. In 2018 [it] received $9.8 billion dollars of FDI, which were invested primarily in manufacturing, financial and

CONSUL General to San Francisco Henry S. Bensurto Jr. (left) promotes the Philippines as an investment destination at the Annual Meeting of the 20-20 Investment Association. SAN FRANCISCO PCG

insurance activities, real estate, electricity, gas, steam, [the] arts, entertainment and recreational activities,” the consul general emphasized.

“The world’s global investment

rating agencies Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and Tokyo-based Japan Credit Rating Agency all have classified the Philippines as ‘investmentgrade,’ with a ‘stable’ economic outlook,” Bensurto asserted.

Consulate General inaugurates new Houston office

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OUSTON—Ambassador of the Philippines to the United States Jose Manuel G. Romualdez and Consul General to Houston Jerril G. Santos led the inauguration of the new office of the Philippine Consulate General in Houston at Suite 100N, 9990 Richmond Avenue, in March.

Philippine consuls general to Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco traveled to the Texas city to attend the inaugural ceremony. More than a hundred guests also graced the occasion, which included members of Houston consular corps, representatives of the governments of Houston and the state of Texas, business and civil society, as well as Filipino community leaders.

US Department of State Associate Regional Director Robert Hopkins and Houston Consular Corps Dean Juan Sosa of Panama welcomed the opening of the Philippine consulate general.

The congratulatory message of Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Finance Chairperson Senator Loren Legarda, and the certificates recognizing the inaugural ceremony issued by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, were read during the

Finally, Bensurto shared that the Philippines is positioning itself as an avenue for growth for startups. There is already a nascent yet fast-growing ecosystem, as evidenced by the growing number of

communities emerging from the country: “In the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, for example, Filipinos can be found working in Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Apple and Netflix, among others, in a wide range of fields, including computer programming, engineering, marketing, customer service and human resources.”

A nonprofit association headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, the 20-20 Investment Association is a group of top-level international firms focused on evaluating investment opportunities in emerging markets. Its members represent companies that are worth nearly $10 trillion in assets.

Since 1992 the 20-20 Investment Association has been undertaking annual trips to selected countries that the group has evaluated to be possible investment opportunities. For 2019 it has selected the Philippines and Thailand as destinations for their annual trip, with members tentatively scheduled to undertake their visit to the former in November. DFA

Fil-Am artists stage art exhibit in New York

FEATURED artists pose with Consul Arman R. Talbo (standing, third from left) during the opening reception of their exhibit at the Philippine Center. DOGEATER COLLECTIVE

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AMBASSADOR Jose Manuel G. Romualdez (left) and Consul General to Houston Jerril G. Santos unveil the Coat of Arms of the Philippine Consulate General. HOUSTON PCG

ceremony.

25 years after it closed in September 1993, the Consulate General reopened its doors on September 24, 2018 in a temporary workplace while the new office was being built.

Also exhibited during the occasion are paintings by some FilipinoAmerican artists based in Houston and dresses using Philippine fabrics such as tinalak, as well as Mindanao silk and piña, with two gowns created

by known Filipino designer Mimi Pimentel.

A string ensemble composed of Filipino-American students rendered a mix of Filipino and foreign classics. DFA

EW YORK—Fifteen young Filipino-American artists and writers headlined the opening reception of their art exhibit, “The First Picture of You, 1990” at the lobby gallery of the Philippine Center late in April.

The concept of the exhibit was taken from a chapter of Elaine Castillo’s novel, America Is Not The Heart. The artists featured in the exhibition created work responding to the idea of their "first picture," and used mundane objects as well as the routine of everyday life in creating their art.

Members of the Filipino-American community, members of the media and art enthusiasts

in New York attended the opening reception.

Dogeater Collective, a group of young FilipinoAmerican artists and writers based in New York City, organized the gathering. The group took its name from Jessica Hagedorn’s novel Dogeaters, as their way of reclaiming and redefining their identity.

The artists are Maria Stabio, James Bascara, Mishel An Valenton, Emma Noelle, Kelvin Burzon, Eric Ramos Guerrero, Jeanne Jalandoni, Kristianne Molina, Karl Orozco, Tahnee Pantig, Derrick Quevedo, Camille Hoffman, Roberto Jamora, Paloma Martinez-Miranda, and Julio Jose Austria. DFA

Journalist-author’s book debuts in Washington D.C.

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ASHINGTON, D.C.— Journalist Josie Moralidad Ziman successfully launched her book, The Filipino American Journey: Stories of Survival and Success, at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C.’s Chancery Annex on April 6.

The book is a collection of inspirational stories that highlight the resiliency, determination, hard work, values and faith of the Filipino people.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador of the Philippines to the United States Jose Manuel G. Romualdez said, “What ‘The Filipino American Journey’ ultimately teaches us is that Fil-Ams are not alone in their tribulations. There are now more than 4 million Filipino-Americans in the US who would be able to relate to any of the stories featured in the book.”

Romualdez further stated, “[Ziman’s] skills as a storyteller makes

this possible, as she weaves individual experiences into a narrative that gives hope and acknowledgement to the Filipino immigrant experience.”

“Indeed, the presence of Filipino immigrants is greatly felt in America.

It is always heartwarming for me to hear praises about the FilipinoAmerican community anywhere I go in the US. In a sense, you are doing your part as ambassadors of the Philippines, building bridges of understanding with mainstream Americans and other immigrant communities,” he added.

Manila Mail President and Founder Atty. Januario Azarcon and Editor in Chief Jon Melegrito both delivered heartfelt and personal remarks to introduce Ziman, who is also a staffer and correspondent of Manila Mail.

Ziman carries an inspirational story herself, being a cancer sur-

vivor and eventually becoming an advocate, as well as a willing friend and listener to women battling the disease.

“My motivation is to live my life with courage and faith in God, as well as continue my civic duty in the community or public service as a journalist. That motivation inspires me to do things for others. What is the purpose of life anyway if we cannot give back to our community, or help those who cannot help themselves?” the Filipina author said in her remarks.

The program also featured several Filipino-Americans whose inspirational and success stories were featured in the book.

The Filipino American Journey is available on Amazon. Proceeds will go to Friends of Cancer Kids (Iloilo) Foundation, Inc. and printing of Manila Mail. DFA

ZIMAN signs copies of the book. WASHINGTON PE

ROMUALDEZ and Ziman during the book launch. WASHINGTON PE

Envoys&Expats BusinessMirror

E4 Thursday, June 6, 2019

EMBASSIES, EVENTS, ETC.

‘Japanese MICE market could help hike tourist arrivals’

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Belgium deploys PHL’s 1st volcanic lake-monitoring system

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HE Philippines can now further monitor Taal Volcano, and possibly detect an impending eruption, through a volcanic lake-monitoring system given by the Kingdom of Belgium.

In a recent lunch meeting at the residence of Ambassador Michel Goffin, Prof. Alain Bernard, a volcanologist who had been studying the Taal Volcano since 2014, introduced the instrumentation to monitor Taal’s main crater lake.

“It’s real-time monitoring, so we can detect changes within the volcanic lake,” Bernard told the Philippine News Agency (PNA). He said the system could help see signs of increased volcanic activity by measuring the peaks in carbon dioxide from underground magma released through the body of water.

By analyzing these changes, Bernard explained that early detection of a volcanic eruption may be possible: “The slight increase in the parameter may be the sign of a coming eruption.”

Taal Volcano is one of the most active in the Philippines, which is also home to about 6,000 residents near the main crater.

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Science Research Specialist Raymond Patrick Maximo confirmed that Phivolcs monitors the carbon-dioxide levels, in addition to other parameters that could determine an impending eruption.

“We also need, of course, to look at other parameters; for example, the number of earthquakes, [if it is] increasing. The instrument is very helpful because carbon dioxide is one of those that we closely monitor. Without that system, it would

VOLCANOLOGIST Alain Bernard discusses the Taal Volcano-monitoring project. JOYCE ANN L. ROCAMORA

be difficult to pinpoint whether there is magma coming out, or if there is fresh magma [being released by] the volcano,” Maximo explained.

The Phivolcs scientist said Bernard’s system was put to use in Indonesia, where it had helped predict the eruption of Mount Kelud. The system was deemed as “really important,” as it helped predict the said volcano’s eruption three weeks prior.

The installation of the monitoring system in Taal Lake is part of a Belgian research project funded by the Commission de la Coopération au Développement conducted from 2014 to 2019.

Bernard, who will be staying in the Philippines until August 2019, said the initiative is aimed at increasing the country’s capacity to reduce and mitigate the impact of future volcanic eruptions. Joyce Anne L. Rocamora/PNA

Saudi sends aid in search of missing aircraft

TOURISM Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat (center), with ambassadors and other members of the local diplomatic corps.

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MBASSADOR of Japan Koji Haneda said the Philippines could tap into his country’s MICE market to further increase the arrivals of Japanese nationals in the country.

MICE pertains to meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions— a market in the tourism industry involved in booking and facilitating seminars, or similar events.

“MICE is perhaps one area that you can tap into. In all, I hope you can attract more Japanese tourists [locally],” he told reporters in an interview.

The Philippines used to rank eighth worldwide, and first in Asia, in the annual listing of world convention destinations in 1982.

In 2016 Philippine MICE placed 48th in 116 countries worldwide, and 14th among 35 countries in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions, in terms of staging the most number of meetings.

The envoy said he sees the efforts of the Philippine government in exploring opportunities on this niche area of tourism.

Tokyo remains a top tourist market in the Philippines, ranking third in the latest arrivals statistics of the Department of Tourism (DOT) this year. From January to March 2019, the number of Japanese visitors reached 177,769.

During his recent trip to Boracay, Haneda said he and DOT Chief Bernadette Romulo Puyat also discussed other means to strengthen tourism in both countries.

“I’ve been discussing with Secretary [Romulo Puyat] on how we could attract more Japanese tourists to the Philippines…and also [how to bring] Filipinos to Japan,” Haneda noted.

“You have a lot of beaches. Your

people are kind. You have a lot of tourist spots that are beautiful…I think there are a lot of tourism assets that could further attract the Japanese,” he said.

The Japanese envoy noted that the new face of Boracay alone is appealing enough to attract more foreign tourists.

“I happened to be in Boracay before the closure, so I was able to see the ‘before and after.’ I was impressed that everything was okay… it was really less crowded, and it has a more beautiful beachfront,” he shared, as he recalled his Boracay trip together with some members of the diplomatic corps upon the invitation of Romulo Puyat.

Haneda observed that the people were now more “disciplined” and followed the rules set on the island. Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA

AMBASSADOR Abdullah Al-Bussairy (second from right) meets with Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines Director General Jim Sydiongco (third from right) and other officials at the Caap central office in Pasay City on May 28. CAAP/PNA

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MBASSADOR of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Philippines Abdullah AlBussairy has sent personnel to assist in the search and retrieval operations involving the missing Beechcraft Baron 55 trainer aircraft, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) said.

The plane disappeared after taking off from the San Jose Airport in Occidental Mindoro on May 17. Capt. Jose Nelson Yapparcon and Saudi Arabian student-pilot Abdullah Alsharif are both still missing.

In an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA), Caap Spokesman Eric Apolonio said they wanted the Saudi government to see the developments happening on the ground.

“They [embassy officials of Saudi Arabia] sent personnel to check the ongoing investigation, and to provide support in the search and retrieval,” Apolonio said.

On May 20 Caap reported that the wreckage of the missing aircraft was found some 43.52 kilometers south of the Mindoro Strait. About six pieces of debris were found.

Apolonio however said Caap could not ascertain that the debris found were actually from the trainer aircraft.

“The team found the pilot’s bag [on the said date]. It contained the pilot’s identification card.

However, we have no proof that the debris found were from the missing aircraft,” he remarked. Ma. Cristina Arayata/PNA

Hilarious, heartwarming movies headline French film fest

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S the Philippines commemorates a significant milestone on June 12 with its Independence Day, so does the French Embassy—with its 24 years of presence in the country. What better way is there to celebrate the friendship between the two nations than a film showing featuring some of the recent cinematic gems from France?

Acknowledged as an institution in the worldwide film industry, France shares with the Philippines its unique and admirable way of telling stories through movies.

The French Film Festival, which begins next Wednesday, will offer to Filipino audiences an alternative form of cinema, with a lineup of contemporary and award-winning French films that explore the depths of human relationships and the importance of family.

“For nearly a quarter of a century, the French Film Festival has been attracting audiences to discover and rediscover films that provide a particular French aesthetic: those

which tell stories that make one laugh, cry or reflect on the human condition in our society,” Ambassador of France to the Philippines Nicolas Galey said in an interview.

At the launch, embassy partners and members of the press viewed the French film Sink or Swim, which tells the story of a group of men in their 40s who are all dealing with masculinity issues and midlife crisis.

They decided to band together and compete for the World Championships on synchronized swimming along with troubled coaches. They made each other more irate, yet came out stronger in the end.

It is a comical movie experience, with hints of drama that aims to address unresolved self-esteem issues.

Overall, the audience is sure to come out of the cinema light-hearted.

In his speech, Galey also revealed that, as the embassy approaches its silver anniversary in 2020, the French Film Festival will continue to expand its presence na-

A STILL from the French film Sink or Swim, one of the features in the 24th French Film Festival on June 12. UNIFRANCE

tionwide by organizing screenings in Metro Manila, Cebu City, Davao City and, for the first time ever, in Bacolod City.

This year, French Director Nils Tavernier will grace the red carpet in Manila to formally open the 24th French Film Festival

with the screening of his latest film, L’Incroyable histoire du facteur Cheval (“The Ideal Palace”). Set in southern France in 1879, the film

recounts the true story of an ordinary mailman who devotes 33 years of his life to build a castle for his daughter. This “ideal palace,” in France’s Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, was named a historical monument by the French government in 1969.

Other films in the selection include contemporary French films released between 2014 and 2018, many of which focus on the relationship between parents and their children such as De Toutes nos forces (“The Finishers”), Jusqu’à la garde (“Custody”), Dans la brume (“Just a Breath Away”) and La Villa (“The House by the Sea”).

In line with France’s commitment to the defense of women’s rights all over the world, the French Embassy and SPARK! The Philippines will jointly organize a special screening of Bande de filles (“Girlhood”), followed by a forum on June 14 to explore and encourage dialogue on issues faced by young girls in France and in the Philippines. Christine Cudis/PNA