Businessmirror march 13, 2016

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n Sunday, March 13, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 157

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Globe: No Internet access in 80% of public schools China PBOC chief cites credit risk while T reassuring on growth

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

Philcoman HE Philippines will likely mourns loss of miss its goal of providing its Management digital literacy this year, Man of the Year due to the absence of a government awardee 2014-15 policy to equip public elementary and secondary schools with Internet access by 2016.

Globe Telecom Inc. Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications Yolanda C. Crisanto said there is a “significant” portion of public schools that still do not have a decent Internet connection.

A broadband-policy brief released by Arangkada Philippines, a major advocacy of the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, showed that close to 80 percent of public schools in the Philippines are still without Internet access.

Continued on A2

People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan speaks at a news conference ahead of a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers in Shanghai, China, on February 26. Chinatopix via AP

Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua

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HE board of trustees and members of the Philippine Council of Management (Philcoman) Research Institute Inc. (PCMRII) on Saturday expressed their deepest condolences for the loss of their Management Man of the Year awardee, Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua.

“We join his family, friends and relatives in praying for his eternal peace,” PCMRII President Cecilio T. Arillo said.

Ambassador Cabangon Chua was chosen the “Management Man of the Year” for 2014-2015, based on the PCMRII’s award criteria:

n Recognized or established achievement in the field of economics, environment, business and industry;

n Success as an entrepreneur;

n Emerging leadership in ecommerce and information technology;

n Outstanding skill in strategic planning and management;

n Track record in leadership and governance; and

n Social relevance of activities and achievements.

It is PCMRII’s goal to express its highest appreciation for excellence in management and herald outstanding service to the nation and society.

Ambassador Cabangon Chua’s performance in the entrepreneurial and managerial management “will not only be worthy of See “Ambassador,” A2

P

A CITY RISING A view of the Bonifacio Global City landscape shows its building boom, with newly built skyscrapers beginning to dominate its skyline. NONIE REYES

Solar-power plant starts operating at Clark

By Lenie Lectura

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22-MEGAWATT solarpower facility at Clark Field in Pampanga was switched on last week.

The Clark Solar Power Project, located inside the Clark Freeport Zone, was completed on March 7, and full operations started on March 10.

The project is a joint venture of Mabalacat Solar Philippines Inc. and two Singapore-based renewable-energy developers—Sindicatum Renewable Energy Co. and Armstrong Asset Management.

Built on 25 hectares of land leased from the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), Clark

PESO exchange rates n US 46.7440

Solar is the first renewable-energy project within the confines of the free-port zone.

CDC has welcomed the establishment of the solar project, citing the adequate and low-cost power supply to current and future locators within the free port.

In addition, the project will reduce the carbon footprint of the free-port zone; meet the environmental objectives of CDC—and the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA); and help existing and new locators meet their own environmental objectives.

The solar project also supports the development of the Clark Green City, which will be a major new integrated city involving commercial, industrial and residential development.

It is estimated that the output from the Clark solar project will generate 25,000 jobs in terms of power capacity.

The project has been interconnected through Clark Electric Development Corp. (CEDC), and as such will supply most of its power to the local area served by CEDC, including the locators in the free port.

Mabalacat Solar is a 100-percent Filipino-owned company that invests in solar projects in the Philippines.

It is chaired by Jose P. Leviste Jr., who has a long record of involvement in the energy industry in the country. He is currently chairman of Constellation Energy Co. and the former chairman and CEO of Mirant Philippines.

EOPLE’S Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Zhou Xiaochuan warned banks about increased credit risk amid rising real-estate prices in the biggest cities, while adding the country can achieve its economic-growth targets without too much monetary stimulus.

Property prices have begun to diverge severely from values in less-populated areas, Zhou said at a briefing in Beijing. He said the country faces “relatively big” downward pressure from efforts to eliminate excess housing inventory, which may suppress prices nationwide.

With the briefing, his fourth-public appearance in less than a month, Zhou again sought to project an aura of calm and tamp down concern over volatility in the stock and currency markets while underscoring the risks posed by rising debt. Warning signs, including low inflation and flagging industrial output, have led to speculation that the government will need to rely on looser monetary policy to achieve its minimum-growth target of 6.5 percent over the next five years.

“Excessive monetary-pol-

icy stimulus isn’t necessary to achieve the target,” Zhou said, reiterating past comments that monetary policy is prudent with a slight easing bias.

“If there isn’t any big economic or financial turmoil, we’ll keep prudent monetary policy.”

Addressing the property risks requires better guidance from officials in individual cities, and banks should closely monitor customer creditworthiness in mortgage lending, Zhou told the briefing, which took place on the sidelines of the national legislature’s annual session. He added that unauthorized lending by realestate agents and property developers increases chances of bad debt.

Rebounding property prices in some of China’s biggest cities have spurred increased demand for mortgages, while surging bond issuance is also boosting financing. At the start of the National People’s Congress session on March 5, the government announced an increased 2016 M2 moneysupply target. That signaled that supporting economic growth has taken over as the top priority over reducing financial risks.

Continued on A2

n japan 0.4130 n UK 66.7738 n HK 6.0222 n CHINA 7.1831 n singapore 33.8798 n australia 34.8290 n EU 52.2504 n SAUDI arabia 12.4670

Source: BSP (11 March 2016 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, March 13, 2016

Ambassador…

Continued from a1

emulation, but will forever serve as manifestation of his genuine concern for others.”

The head of the multibillionpeso ALC Group of Companies, the ambassador was a self-made businessman, publisher and philanthropist. He had a military background, too, having been a colonel in the reserve force of the Armed Forces-Philippine Constabulary.

He served in the government service when he was appointed the Philippine ambassador to Laos from January 2003 to September 2004.

He used to tell his friends that the central force of his life was his mother, Dominga Lim Cabangon of Catanauan, Tayabas (now Quezon), who became his only family from his growing-up years, as his father died during the war when he was a small boy.

Ambassador Chua left behind flourishing businesses that include life and nonlife insurance, health care, banking, newspapers and magazines, radio stations, a hotel chain, property management, car dealership, preneed plans, memorial park and services, and other business ventures.

His passion for organizing new ventures, now going beyond the profit motive, was a way of doing good, of creating more job opportunities for Filipinos.

“Our awardee’s life was a modern success story, a testament to a man’s will and determination to overcome obstacles in life. ‘Whether you’re rich or poor, everyone has 24 hours in a day. It’s what you do with your 24 hours that counts,’” Arillo recalled Mr. Chua telling him during the interview for the Management Man of the Year selection.

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China PBOC chief cites credit risk while reassuring on growth

Officials, led by Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei (seated, eighth from left) and People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan (seated, ninth from left), pose for a family photo of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting at the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel in Shanghai on February 27. Rolex Dela PeÑa/AP Continued from a1

The central bank cut the main interest rate to a record low in six successive reductions through October, and recently made another cut to the require-reserve ratio for major banks.

Before the reserve-ratio cut, Zhou said on February 26 that China still has monetary-policy room to aid growth. Premier Li Keqiang’s annual work report, also released to the National People’s Congress on on March 5, said China “will

pursue prudent monetary policy that is flexible when appropriate.”

Zhou, 68, is the longest-serving central bank chief among G-20 economies. His public reemergence has eased confusion over a shock yuan devaluation last August that triggered global market turmoil.

He spoke on Saturday alongside PBOC Deputy Governors Yi Gang, Fan Yifei and Pan Gongsheng, who also leads the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

China set a range for its economic-growth target for the first

time in more than two decades, as it grapples with rising debt and capital outflows that have spurred unease about the nation’s economic prospects. The 6.5 percent-to-7 percent range for 2016 allows for a slower expansion than last year’s target of about 7 percent.

Yi said on Saturday that capital outflows, which soared to $1 trillion last year, are poised to be in a normal range, and most are related to foreign exchange purchase by companies, banks and residents.

Bloomberg News

SUBIC REMEMBERS SALONGA Employees of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and residents of Olongapo City offer flowers and light candles at the Inang Laya monument in the Subic Bay Freeport as their personal tribute to democracy icon Sen. Jovito R. Salonga, who died on Thursday. Salonga was one of the 12 Philippine senators who rejected the extension of the RP-US Military Bases Agreement in 1991, thus paving the way for the establishment of the Subic Bay Freeport the following year. HENRY EMPEÑO

Globe: No Internet access in 80% of public schools Continued from a1

Out of 38,683 public primary schools in the country, only 14 percent, or 5,503, have Internet access, while 33,180, or 86 percent, have no data connectivity.

Also, only 55 percent, or 4,360 of public secondary schools out of a total number of 7,915, have Internet access, while the remaining 3,555 schools, or 45 percent, are yet to gain Internet access. In total, 79 percent of the country’s total number of public primary and secondary schools are yet to have data connectivity.

“Today, far too many young Filipinos are unable to take full advantage of advancement in digital technology, when compared with other countries, because a significant portion of the public-school system does not have Internet access,” Crisanto said.

The Philippine Digital Strategy, formulated in 2011, sets the national vision and road map to achieve information and communications techonology (ICT) development in the country. The strategy set targets for the provision of basic broadband access and Internet opportunities for all by 2016.

Among such targets is that 100 percent of secondary schools in the country and 80 percent of elementary schools should have Internet access by 2016.

“Access to basic education is a fundamental human right and by integrating ICT into our public-education system, we are giving our youth the capability to compete globally in today’s digital environment,” Crisanto said.

To do this, telecommunications companies should have more leeway in building up capacity through the aggressive construction of digital infrastructure in various areas around the Philippines.

“We want to build more cell sites and fill the infrastructure gap so we can continue to support the country’s growth. To do this, we need government support to

BM Graphics: Ed Davad

prioritize Internet infrastructure build,” she said.

Globe has been implementing the Global Filipino School (GFS) Program for more than three years now. The program is a long-term educational initiative that seeks to transform select public schools into centers of ICT excellence, and provide innovative teaching methods on ICT.

Specifically, the program aims to advance 21st-century learning in the Philippine public-school system through an ICT-integrated education and also create teacher training hubs to increase understanding and effective usage of ICT in the classroom.

In February two public elementary schools in Cagayan de Oro City—Indahag Elementary School and Father William F. Masterson, SJ, Elementary School—became the first two schools to benefit under the ex-

panded GFS Program of Globe.

Crisanto said mobile-data explosion amid growing access to Internet connectivity requires more bandwidth than traditional voice and text-messaging services.

Thus, it demands the establishment of more cell sites for telecommunication operators to deliver mobile-data services, especially indoors.

Also, smartphones continue to evolve into all-encompassing wireless personal computers, requiring telecommunication operators to construct additional cell sites to enable their respective networks to transmit enormous amount of data.

Based on the study made by TowerXchange in February, the number of unique physical cell sites in the Philippines is one of the lowest in Asia, with a combined 15,000 cell sites from the two leading providers.

NewsSunday

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

Group blames Comelec, Smartmatic for possible election delay, glitches

By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent

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ARTY-LIST Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna said on Saturday that only the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and its computer service supplier, Smartmatic, are to blame for any glitch or delay that may happen in the May 9 elections.

Zarate made the statement following the Comelec’s threat that the elections may be postponed because of the Supreme Court decision requiring the poll body to issue vote receipts.

“Both the Comelec and Smartmatic are to blame for any glitch, delay or even an election failure. Since 2010 the Comelec and Smartmatic have deliberately violated the election laws that expressly require Voter Verification Paper Audit Trail, or the issuance of voter receipts as minimum system capability,” Zarate said.

“The Court’s decision is a slap on the Comelec’s face that has been defiant stand since 2010. This voter receipt is not a new issue. Thus, the Comelec and Smartmatic should have been prepared for it. They could not just pull the ‘no elections’ bogey to scare the electorate and get away with not fulfilling the duty to provide a glitch-free and credible elections,” he added.

“The postponement of the May 9 elections will only fuel the growing distrust of our people on the now clouded automated electoral process. And who will benefit from this? Only this exiting lame duck Aquino administration that has P7billion deal with Smartmatic. Any glitch, postponement, or noncompliance with election requirements is simply unacceptable,” Zarate added.

“In fact, the Comelec’s continuing deal with Smartmatic is highly suspicious,” the party-list lawmaker noted. “The automated elections in 2010 and 2013 were marred by transmission glitches, program errors and other system failures. It caused the disfranchisement of a large number of voters,” Zarate recalled.

“This new billion-peso deal should have ironed out these glitches and lapses. Yet, here we are, two months from election day, and this wicked tandem is dangling the possibility of a no-election scenario,” he stressed.

“Credible elections in the Philippines are far from happening when the Comelec itself is sabotaging the elections. As in the past, the coming elections will be replete with cheating and fraud. The Comelec allowed our election process to be at the mercy of a foreign-controlled and private corporation, and, now we are once again being held hostage by this flawed process,” he also said.

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Sunday, March 13, 2016 A3

Asean plots moves to enhance sustainable port development

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

OUTHEAST Asian countries are pushing for the institutionalization and strengthening of their collaboration in advancing sustainable port development in the region.

To do this, the Philippines will host the first-ever meeting of the Training Network for Sustainable Port Development (SPD) in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Tuesday.

The meeting, which will be held in Manila, will be attended by the different decision-makers from the member-economies of Asean.

The Training Network is an offshoot of the partnership forged by the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) with Asean and the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (Pemsea) in 2009 to implement the SPD. “The one-day meeting shall serve as the official start of the Regional Training Network, handing over to it the sustainability of the GIZ SPD project, thus, a presentation of the memorandum of understanding duly signed by member-economies will highlight the event,” Philippine Ports

Authority (PPA) Officer in Charge Raul T. Santos said on Saturday.

Aside from GIZ, the PPA and the Pemsea, other participating institutions include Northport (Malaysia) Bhd., Sabah Ports Sdn Bhd., Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, Myanmar Port Authority, Port Authority of Thailand and Vietnam Maritime College One. The SPD project, on the other hand, started in 2009 and ran for six years, engaged 12 ports among seven Asean countries, with the primary objective of improving the quality and efficiency of safety, health and environment (SHE) management of these selected ports.

The conclusion of the project last year paved the way for the creation of the Regional Training Network through the commitment of seven Asean membereconomies to continue its implementation in the region.

The Training Network for SPD in the

Asean region is comprised of two Regional Training Centers and initial five National Training Centers. The PPA, through its PPA Training Institute, is one of the Regional Training Centers and also serves as the secretariat to the network.

In 2013 the PPA has separately partnered with the GIZ for the conduct of a training scheme aimed for the same purpose.

The scheme is a trainers’ training program that will strengthen the trainers’ teaching skills and their ability to effectively transmit knowledge.

The course focused on three major aspects of port development, such as the handling of dangerous goods (DGs) in port areas; integration of SHE in ports; as well as safety-management systems in ports.

The program also offered advanced course in the handling of DGs in ports; SHE issues for port workers; and occupational safety and health in ports.

The PPA, for the past couple of years, has been involving itself in several partnerships with local and international training firms to build the capacity of its employees to deal with the evolving port environment.

Aside from GIZ, the state-owned agency recently concluded its agreement with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on another set to capacitybuilding program.

A4 Sunday, March 13, 2016

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

Political detainees rap Makati jail ‘scam,’ violent suppression

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By Marvyn N. Benaning | Correspondent

ETAINEES at the Special Intensive Care Area 1 (Sica 1) Jail in Taguig City have slammed the violent suppression of the Makati City Jail inmates, who staged a noise barrage against bad food rations and the proliferation of illegal drugs in the facility.

In a statement, the detainees said they have watched television reports of the suppression in horror and expressed support for the continuing demand of detainees for better treatment from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

“The noise barrage was held in protest over the role of their jailers in the entry and proliferation of illegal drugs at the facility. They, likewise, assailed the poor quality of the food rationed to them by the BJMP,” the statement added.

“The anomalies being protested by the Makati City Jail inmates are not at all new to us. We have long

been raising the issue of proliferation of illegal drugs in jails and also the continuing transactions between big-time drug suppliers even in jails and their pushers outside unfettered by the iron bars of prison. We have also long been raising the issue of low budget allocation for food and very poor food rations in jails. The issue is practically a universal issue in all jails in the country,” the detainees added.

The signatories to the statement are National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) peace consultants Adelberto Silva, Alan Jazmines, Ernesto Lorenzo, Ruben Saluta and Tirso Alcantara, and oth-

er detainees at the Sica1 Jail in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig City.

“The food rations of Makati City Jail inmates are supposed to be a lot better than what we are given as national jail inmates, and also what other inmates are being given in most other jails in the country,” they noted. “This is because Metro Manila city governments and other local governments in the country allocate a minimum of P20 up to P50 per inmate per day—in addition to the nationally allocated P50 per inmate per day—for the food budget in the jails within their jurisdiction.”

“The Makati City Jail, thus, has a food budget double the P50 worth of food rations per inmate per day, that we are theoretically supposed to receive here at the Sica1 Jail. Yet, the Makati City Jail inmates are complaining about the poor food rations being given to them,” Silva, Jazmines and the other political prisoners said in the statement.

They noted that a similar protest at the Bataan Provincial Jail succeeded after the warden, Jail Insp.

Angelina Bautista, “took the side of the inmates, and raised the issue of the BJMP national leadership’s anomalies as regards the BJMP's food budget for the inmates.”

“This happened as the BJMP

was no longer allocating funds for food rations and wanted the Bataan Provincial Jail to use the funds of the local government. Funds from cities and towns are supposed to be used to supplement the BJMP’s food budget for the inmates,” the political prisoners added.

Bautista filed before the Ombudsman an administrative case over the issue against the BJMP national office officials, led by Director Diony Mamaril.

“We, political detainees at the Sica1 Jail, suffered much in sympathy as we saw on TV how the jail authorities continued to beat up the protesting inmates there, who then were already under control and were only squatting on the floor and entirely defenseless. Some were maimed and one of them even died because of the beatings,” they added.

“The Makati City Jail inmates have raised valid issues in their protest. But, instead of intently listening to and resolving those issues, the jail authorities there resorted to brutal fascist suppression of the noise barrage. They also resorted to the immediate transfer here, the Sica 1 Jail, of the suspected leaders of the protest by the Makati City Jail inmates,” the statement said.

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Delegation presents PHL success story in attracting foreign investments

By Recto L. Mercene

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DELEGATION from Team Invest Philippines participated in a roundtable discussion at the International Finance Corporation in Washington, D.C., week and presented the Philippine success story of attracting and retaining investments.

During the discussion, the of f ic i a ls br iefed invest ment specialistsand experts on the various programs and policies of investment promotion agencies in attracting and retaining investments, including targeted investment promotion strategies; coordinated approaches to investment promotion and policy; fiscal and nonfiscal incentives; investor aftercare prog rams; business one-stop shop action centers; and investor linkages initiatives.

Christine Qiang, investment climate manager at the World Bank Group Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice, led the event.

Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan Chairman Deogracias G.P. Custodio, descr ibed the establishment of Team Invest Philippines.

He related how the various Philippine investment promotion agencies (IPAs) have come together as a single force to convince the global business community that “business is more fun” in the Philippines.

He also gave an overview of the

Philippine Investment Priorities Plan, and how Team Invest is an “integrated, harmonized and collaborative effort to promote the Philippines.”

The chairman of Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone and Freeport, Christopher Lawrence S. Arnuco, enumerated some of the legislative and administrative measures put in place during the Aquino administration. He assured the institutionalization of good governance and good economics.

Arnuco specifically referred to the amendment of the cabotage law in domestic shipping, which has implications on business costs and efficiency; and to the Go Negosyo Act, which encourages entrepreneurship among the younger generation of Filipinos. He also made the case for more investments in Mindanao.

Erlinda B. Pamintuan Executive Director of Subic-Clark Alliance for Development; and Evangeline G. Tejada, vice president for Business Development of Clark Development Corp., outlined the best practices in Subic and Clark Freeport Zones.

This includes initiatives, such as the womb to tomb program, that ensures assistance for locators in Clark from establishment until its day-to-day operations. They also underscored the shift from competition among the various IPAs, to a regime of “coopetition,” or a hea lt hy combination of cooperation and competition.

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Task force hopes ROW problems seen to be solved by election time

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By Lenie Lectura

HE interagency task force that was recently formed to address mainly the problems on rightof-way (ROW) involving power assets is in full force to ensure stable and adequate power supply ahead of the May elections.

“The government, through the IATFSEF [Inter-Agency Task Force for the Security of Energy Facilities], is in full force to implement all necessary measures to ensure sufficient supply of electric power ahead of the critical election period,” Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada said.

The IATFSEF, headed by the Department of Energy (DOE), enforces security measures to ensure power

supply-adequacy reliability during the May elections.

Following the issuance of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Resolution 10067, members of the IATFSEF are deputized to provide sufficient personnel to secure power assets nationwide, implement clearing of trees, infrastructures and any obstructions beneath the transmission facilities, safeguard the area of

the transmission Tower 25 along the Agus 2-Kibawe 138-kV line, enabling rehabilitation to proceed and provide pertinent information to cause prosecution of violators of the election code.

The IATFSEF, in close coordination with the Comelec, notes that these measures are in response to the earlier bombing incidents and ROW problems compromising the power supply security in Mindanao grid that caused the isolation of Agus 1 and Agus 2 hydropower plants, depriving Mindanao customers with 82 megawatts of generation capacity, resulting in power trippings and rotating outages in some provinces.

Transmission Tower 25 in Lanao del Norte, which was bombed on Christmas Eve, remains unrepaired because of a still unresolved ROW issue between the landowner and the National Transmission Corp.

(Transco), the government entity which owns the transmission assets.

The National Grid Corporation

of the Philippines (NGCP), a private entity in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s power grid, was denied access to Tower 25 because the landowner demanded payment from Transco.

The DOE said the immediate repair and restoration of Tower 25 will help stabilize the power supply in Mindanao in time for the elections.

The IATFSEF, meanwhile, assures the public that it is exhausting all legal means for the speedy resolution of the nationwide transmission concerns beyond the election period to ensure sustained economic growth for the entire country.

In addition, Monsada also calls on the public and local government units, as well as the private sector, for their continued cooperation and vigilance in ensuring security and integrity of all energy facilities.

Likewise, all electricity consumers are encouraged to observe energy efficiency and conservation in their day-to-day activities.

Future of energy

A student of the University of the Philippines Diliman sets his gaze on an especially designed racetrack at Rizal Park, as he prepares to drive the school’s battery electric urban-concept vehicle during the recently held 2016 Shell Eco-Marathon Asia. The event is part of a global program that challenges students to design, build and drive their very own fuel-efficient vehicles.

The event was the third and final time for the prestigious regional competition to be hosted in Manila.

Investment in RE needed to meet carbon-reduction target–Repower

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

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HE Philippines need to invest in renewable energy (RE) to achieve its target to reduce its carbon footprint by 75 percent between 2020 and 2030.

This was stressed by Repower Energy Development Corp. (REDC) CEO Dexter Y. Tiu as the company joins the celebration the World Sustainable Energy Day. REDC is an RE company utilizing breakthrough technologies for energy production, through hydropower that promote environmental sustainability.

The Philippines, under its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution submission to the secretariat of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change prior to the 21st session of the Conference of Parties (COP) held in Paris, France,

last December promised to reduce carbon emission by 75 percent.

Under COP21, 196 countries, including the Philippines, agreed on the goal to cut carbon emission, which will reduce global warming under 2° Celsius and build a carbonfree world economy in the second half of the century.

Developed countries with existing RE plants have also committed to further investments in renewable technologies. The carbon-emission reduction target promised by the Philippines would come from the sectors of energy, transport, waste, forestry and industry.

Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje earlier said that the government is looking at the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as a vital source of support for the country to achieve its commitment.

On the other hand, Environment

Undersecretary Jonas R. Leones said massive reforestation and waste-toenergy projects are potential projects in which the government can apply for GCF funding.

Expanding the forests and investing in waste-to-energy projects will enhance the country’s carbonemission capacity, while capturing methane to be converted into energy will reduce carbon emission, Leones said.

To achieve its ambitious carbon emission-reduction target, Tiu said that the Philippines need more investments in RE projects.

With the country’s buoyant urban and economic growth, energy requirements grow at a rate that is difficult to fulfill, he said. REDC believes this can be addressed by increasing investments in RE to fill the gap and at the same time cut the country’s carbon emissions.

Lawyers face disbarment over Boracay land dispute

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WO lawyers are facing disbarment charges before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) for their alleged involvement in what the complainant described as last year’s unauthorized, forcible and violent takeover of a beachfront portion of a premier resort in Boracay.

Chief Security Officer Carlos Bautista of Underwatch Providers Inc. (UPI) formally asked the IBP’s

Commission on Bar Discipline last week to disbar lawyers Don Carlo Ybañez and Carl Jon Mucho for allegedly directing a Municipal Circuit Trial Court sheriff, local policemen and civilians armed with bolt cutters and maul hammers to unlawfully “break open the premises” in the 1,477-square meter portion of Friday’s Boracay Island Resort that is being claimed

by its original owner Mila YapSumndad.

“For wantonly violating the Code of Professional Responsibility, Ybañez and Mucho of Chavez Mirana Aseoche Law Offices should be removed from the practice of law,” Bautista said in his March 4 complaint to the IBP against these lawyers of resort operator Friday’s Holdings Inc.

Sunday, March 13, 2016 A5

Treason complaint against govt peace panel members endorsed to Ombudsman

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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HE Manila City Prosecutor’s Office has endorsed to the Ombudsman the treason case filed against the government peace panel for the proposed Bangsamoro basic law (BBL), a lawmaker said.

Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza of Buhay, one of the complainants, said the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office found the complaint to be sufficient in form and substance, and opted to endorse the same to the Office of the Ombudsman for further proceedings.

The Ombudsman also ordered the respondents, government peace panel Chairman Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, Senen C. Bacani, Yasmin Busran-Lao, Teresita Quintos-Deles and 19 others, to file their comments, for treason and inciting to sedition, he said.

“We welcome this development and thank the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office for finding our case meritorious enough to be endorsed to the Office of the Ombudsman for corresponding action,” Atienza said.

On May 28, 2015, Atienza and Party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz of Abakada together with Former Ambassador Jose Romero Jr. and lawyer Jeremy Gatdula filed a treason case with the Manila Prosecutor’s Office against the government peace panel for crafting and pushing for the enactment of the BBL. According to Atienza, from the time BBL was framed, even its congressional sponsors reformed the original BBL into what is now the basic law for the Bangsamoro Au-

tonomous Region (BLBar), virtually conceding that the BBL and some of its unconstitutional provisions were unacceptable.

“This strengthens our stand that the original framework, which the government peace panel agreed on, was detrimental to our peace and national security. But the BLBar still failed to be passed before Congress adjourned for the campaign season because even this new version was still not acceptable to a great number of congressmen,” Atienza added.

In their 34-page complaint, the complainants said that the “acts of the respondents, in executing the Framework Agreement [on the Bangsamoro] and in proposing the BBL, also effectively aided the MILF armed forces to successfully assert their existence as a separate and independent state. Therefore, the respondents must be held liable for the crime of treason…”

They added that what the government should be doing “is strengthening the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao [ARMM], as provided for in the Constitution, instead of approving the BBL which is fraught with unconstitutional provisions.

“The Framework Agreement [on the Bangsamoro] they signed is one-sided. That is tantamount to treason. How about the indigenous peoples’ and other sectors opposing the BBL? This is inciting to sedition.

The administration should not have committed the government, Senate, Congress and the Filipino people on the questionable provisions,” Atienza said.

A6 Sunday, March 13, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Grace Poe and the Supreme Court

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O, the mountain has given birth—to a mouse. That is exactly what the Supreme Court (SC) has done. After overturning the carefully reasoned factually based decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the SC ruled that Sen. Grace Poe-Llamanzares can run for president of the Philippines on the basis of a presumption and an arbitrarily selected date of return to the Philippines.

The presumption is that Poe’s parents were nationals of the Philippines and that, therefore, Poe is a natural-born citizen. On the date of her return to the country, the SC ruled that she returned in May 2005 and not later, early enough for her to have resided in the country for at least 10 years prior to the May 9 elections.

After waiting with bated breath for this decision, this is what we get—a mish-mash of musings, imaginings and hallucinations that many media outlets did not even bother to quote.

Naturally, we had expected the SC’s decision to be meticulously reasoned, objective, framed by logic, based on facts, convincing in its cogency and forthrightness, that can teach us how to think straight. After all, we had been exposed to the debates on the issues in the last three months by eminent lawyers, political scientists and other authorities, and decisions made by the Senate Electoral Tribunal and the Comelec, not to mention the pleadings filed by the opposing lawyers themselves, all of them erudite and extremely enlightening.

Surely, a court of the caliber of our SC can only produce decisions consistent with high-level legal scholarship.

But now this decision, it is everything we had not expected. Speak of subjective heart-rending images: “In sum, all of the international law conventions and instruments on the matter of nationality of foundlings were designed to address the plight of a defenseless class which suffers from a misfortune not of their [sic] own making.”

The SC could not resist mounting the pulpit: “We cannot be restrictive as to their application if we are a country which calls itself civilized and a member of the community of nations.” We do not know if this decision is responsive to President Aquino’s wish. Earlier, he had expressed a strong wish that the SC resolved the issues clearly and once and for all.

Already, the people questioning Poe’s qualifications have made it known that they will file motions for reconsideration. Though we suspect that those motions may well turn out to be quixotic, we hope, nonetheless, that their resolution contributes to a final settlement of the issues.

If the past is prologue, those motions will take time to resolve, leaving room for uncertainty in the minds of the electorate, giving rise to wrong choices of leaders for our country. That will not be good for our democracy. Election day is less than two months away. Let’s hope the legal processes are completed before too much time is lost.

Untold stories of Aquino human-rights violation Part Three

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Mendiola Massacre: A message written in blood

T was only 1987, or a few months after the Edsa revolution, that members of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) started a vigil at the then-Ministry of Agrarian Reform (MAR) to press demands for agrarian reform. They set up crude tents, clearly intending to stay until their demands were heard.

Soon, they were preventing MAR employees from getting in and out of the compound.

Database

By Cecilio T. Arillo

Gospel

Sunday, March 13, 2016

On January 19, 1987, KMP leader Jaime Tadeo, a member of the Constitutional Commission who had refused to sign the new Constitution that would be submitted to the people for ratification that February, arrived to seek an audience with then-Agrarian Reform Minister Heherson T. Alvarez. Tadeo was, however, told that Alvarez would be available the next day, yet. When the dialog pushed through the next day, all Alvarez could promise was that the KMP’s demands would be brought to President Cory Aquino’s attention. The following evening, Alvarez advised Tadeo to just wait for the ratification of the 1987 Constitution and for the government to implement the charter’s provisions on agrarian reform.

But Tadeo had already rejected the Constitution, believing that Congress would be dominated once more by landlords and oligarchs who were certain to oppose any radical agrarian-reform changes.

On January 22, 1987, the KMPled protesting farmers left the MAR compound to march to Malacañang Palace. Along the way, they were joined by other leftist organizations: the proletarian Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and the urban-poor organization Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod (KPML). By the time they got near

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the Mendiola Bridge late in the afternoon, they were 15,000 strong.

Waiting for them were units of the Philippine Constabulary, the police and the Philippine Marines, under the overall command of Major General Ramon E. Montaño, chief of the Constabulary-Integrated National Police’s Capital Command, and task force commander Col. Cesar Nazareno (whom President Aquino would later name director general of the National Police).

According to the Citizen’s Mendiola Commission (as cited by the Supreme Court on March 19, 1993), the body created to determine the facts of that day’s bloody events, violence just broke out spontaneously as the protestors and law enforcers face off even before a dialog could be arranged. There was an explosion and then came empty bottles and rocks hurtling through the air.

As the marchers breached the police lines, gunshots rang out, prompting the activists to disperse and run toward Claro M. Recto Avenue. But the gunshots continued, as the government forces pursued protesters, all the way to Liwasang Bonifacio on the other side of the Pasig River.

After the smoke had cleared, 12 marchers lay dead. Sixty-two others were wounded, 12 of whom fortunately sustained only minor injuries.

Several of the wounded subsequently succumbed to their wounds (thus, accounts vary as to the number of fatalities, from 12 to 17 to 19).

The protesters sued the Aquino administration and the military officers involved in the dispersal operation before Branch 9 of the Regional Trial Court in Manila. On May 31, 1988, Judge Edilberto G. Sandoval held that inasmuch as the impleaded military officers had been charged in their “personal and official capacity,” the government could not be held financially liable by the complainants. The lawsuit against the government failed to prosper because the state invoked its immunity, thus: “they may not be sued without its consent” clause of the Constitution

UT Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning, He again went to the temple. All the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them.

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now, in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?”

This they said to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground.

(Article XVI, Section 3).

The Mendiola Massacre also led to the dissolution of the Presidential Commission on Human Rights (PCHR) following the resignation of most of its members, led by former Sen. Jose W. Diokno (one of Ninoy’s most-admired political leaders).

The PCHR commissioners resigned in protest over the referral of the investigation of the Mendiola Massacre to a new body, the Citizens’ Mendiola Commission.

They felt that the PCHR was not only stripped of its jurisdiction; the seeming loss of confidence in the PCHR had also irreparably damaged its credibility.

The 1988 decision was again upheld by the Supreme Court in 1993, affirming that the government has immunity from suit. Now, with the installation of another Aquino as president, the victims’ families, as well as the survivors, live to continuously seek the elusive justice.

In 2011 several farmer groups and families sought to revive the decades-old case before Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. The second Aquino president, however, seems content with the case resting in the dust. His then-Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Head Ramon Carandang, sharing his boss’s disinterest to resurrect the case, said: “[We] cannot keep revisiting issues over and over again.”

The Mendiola Massacre was a message written in blood that the peasants cannot intimidate the Aquino administration. President Cory Aquino faced a credibility crisis: To many, the sincerity of her agrarianreform program, in the wake of the Mendiola Massacre, depended on the fate of Hacienda Luisita.

The nationalist Renato Constantino wrote of Aquino in June 1987: “She dangled the probability of a sweeping land reform, but has not taken concrete steps to show how this would apply to her family’s Hacienda Luisita.”

To be continued

And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more, He bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they?

Has no one condemned you?”

She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”—John 8:1-11

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Amazing Grace

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NLY a drug addict would call the Supreme Court’s 9-6 decision a close one, easily overturned. The same justices in the Senate Electoral Tribunal voted twice on the same issues and just two more justices joined them the second time around.

Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

Nine saw the forest, instead of the trees that were blocking the view of the obvious: That a foundling who looks like this girl, cannot by definition, prove the nationality of her unknown parents. Yet, she cannot be anything else than what she looks like, a Filipino found in the Philippines—and naturally born— and thrown away there. This way of looking at things does not invite the peril of, say, a Chinese general invoking the precedent of Lunatics vs Grace to qualify as a candidate in an election for the President of the Philippines after the Chinese occupation of the same.

Given the facts on the ground, any other opinion than the one that prevailed in the Court would have had the Judicial branch doing what neither of the political branches have yet attempted: To decide by itself the outcome of a political process in

which the judicial power should have no say. That decision lies entirely with the electorate. The indeterminacy of nationality should just be an issue in the campaign.

But now that Grace’s candidacy is a go, the shackles having been struck off her legs, the gloves are off for her.

Anything goes. What she has won in Court comes at the price of the sympathy she gained with the electorate. No more cause for sympathy and every reason to demand clarity from the candidates.

She and they must explain exactly what to expect when any of them gets elected.

Who will help her run the government? Cory set the standard. Her men and women in the campaign were the same who ran her government. But what kind of people are helping the candidates today? And who will know the combination to

Sunday, March 13, 2016 A7

Nine justices saw the forest, instead of the trees that were blocking the view of the obvious: That a foundling who looks like this girl, cannot by definition, prove the nationality of her unknown parents. Yet, she cannot be anything else than what she looks like, a Filipino found in the Philippines—and naturally born—and thrown away there. the national safe?

These are the vital questions— and not silly ones like how will you conquer poverty? Poverty is not a war to be fought, but a problem to be solved. What will you do with China at the gates? What will we do if the Americans will not stand with us on our walls to defend the freedom of Filipinos, instead of the freedom of navigation. Sino ba si navigation?

Here’s why budget airlines aren’t less safe

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By Ashley Nunes | The Baltimore Sun/TNS Forum

ne hundred and fifty—that’s how many lives were lost when Germanwings 9525 crashed into the French Alps a year ago this month. In the immediate aftermath, concerns were raised about safety in the budget-travel industry, concerns that some analysts were quick to dismiss.

“When you pay less at a budget airline, you do get what you pay for; it’s just less in terms of frills and customer service, not less in terms of safety,” opined one expert. Statistics seemingly agree, showing no difference in accident rates between budget and mainline carriers. But is this

really the case? Is there any truth to the claim that low cost means less safe? Cheap fares offered by budget carriers are made possible through a relentless focus on cost control. This involves maximizing work force and fleet productivity.

Budget pilots fly more than mainline pilots, and the planes they fly run on tighter schedules. Balance sheets bear out the benefits of these efforts. According to one report, the cost per available seat mile (an accepted industry-wide measure of productivity) of some American budget carriers is nearly 40 percent lower than their mainline rivals. This disparity increases to as much as 65 percent in Asia.

While lower operating costs are good for both airlines and passengers, achieving these savings by engaging assets more also entails risks. For example, because budget carriers largely service short-haul

markets, maximizing workforce productivity means pilots must complete more daily trips, and this means performing more takeoffs and landings.

Considered to be among the most challenging of maneuvers, takeoffs and landings are also the riskiest; 61 percent of accidents involving fatalities have occurred during these phases of flight, a figure that reflects the small error margin tolerated from crew given the aircraft’s close proximity to the ground. Requiring pilots to perform more of these maneuvers daily increases their exposure to this risk. Tight scheduling poses its own challenges, the most notable being a cascading series of delays through an airline’s network should a single flight run late.

The result is time-pressured staff rushing to meet preplanned flight times— the type of pressure that scientific

studies have shown to impact safety.

Why these risks aren’t reflected in accident statistics boils down to technology. The air-transport industry has been revolutionized by technology, nowhere more profoundly than in the area of safety. Improvements in propulsion mechanics have helped reduce the rate of in-flight engine failures, and engineering advances have ensured that airframe corrosion does not necessarily render an aircraft inoperable like it did in years prior. Technology has also made human error more tolerable.

For example, the “ground proximity warning system” generates an auditory alert if the aircraft is in danger of colliding with the ground. That’s good news for weary budget pilots who, by virtue of flying more every day, face these risks more regularly. Similarly, the “engine

Our children deserve to learn from play

By Cynthia M. Allen | Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS Forum

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HAT’S the best way to help your child gain the skills she needs to reason through and overcome the various challenges she will face growing up? How can you best prepare her for adolescence? For college? For adulthood?

Conventional wisdom might lead you to conclude that sending her to full-day pre-kindergarten beginning at age 3, filling her days with worksheets, flashcards, reading and tests would be the most effective preparation. Perhaps not.

Instead, you might try less school, less structure. And more time to play. It may sound counterintuitive. How could more time running around outside, making believe, swinging from the jungle gym, far

away from the classroom and textbooks, lead to smart, capable and well-adjusted kids? The answer is quite simple. A growing body of research strongly suggests that children absolutely need play for learning, growth and development.

Children learn how to interact with their environment through play. It’s essential to developing social and emotional ties, first with family, then with peers.

Playing enhances language skills, risk management and problem-solving, significantly affecting emotional and mental well-being in ways traditional learning simply cannot address.

Unstructured playtime also provides opportunities for children to develop complex cognitive skills; they learn how to negotiate with other children; they learn how to self-regulate and manage their emotions. And our cultural shift away from play is probably causing our children significant harm.

A new book from researcher Erika

Christakis encourages teachers and parents to rethink what young children require for learning and development.

The problem, Christakis says, is that “the distinction between early education and official school seems to be disappearing.” It may not sound like it, but that is a potenti ally dangerous thing. Our current emphasis on early childhood learning in structured, school-like environments is “adultifying childhood” and leaving kids without uninterrupted stretches of time to engage in fantasy play that is crucial to their growth and development. You might even say that some kids are moving right from infancy to forced adulthood, skipping a stage of life they need to experience for future success.

During a recent interview with NPR (National Public Radio), Christakis explained how building a fort “activate(s) more cognitive learning domains” than a typical classroom assignment, like a

worksheet or a quiz.

“If you’re building a fort with your peers, you’re talking, using higher-level language structures in play than you would be if you’re sitting at a table,” she said. “You’re doing math skills, you’re doing physics measurement, engineering—but also doing the give-and-take of ‘How do I get along? How do I have a conversation? What am I learning from this other person?’ And that’s very powerful.”

And Christakis isn’t alone in her thinking. Debbie Rhea, a professor at TCU, is a longtime advocate of unstructured outdoor play. She is the founder and director of the LiiNK Project (Let’s inspire innovation ’N kids), a researchbased initiative whose goals include increasing the time public schools allot for physical activity and creative play.

Several years ago, Rhea’s team conducted a study in two Texas private schools, weaving several unstructured

And, by the way, the decision was not a victory for women, a silly issue to raise at this time and in this place. It was a victory for democracy, period. And what of FOI (Freedom of Information)? Or taxation? Will we wage earners keep what we earn, or share it still with those who steal and waste it? These are the issues to be tackled by them.

The politicians say the common people are too stupid to care. Then who of the candidates thinks of the people that way? If no one else, media can make the candidates pay if they do not face up to these issues.

This decision, by the way, is the best thing to happen to at least one other candidate than Grace, for he would surely have lost if she had been taken out of the race. Now, he can say what he should have long ago, “Grace is qualified to run and be beaten by me in May.”

indicating and crew alerting system” provides a visual message to pilots if ground staff, rushed to get a flight out on time, improperly shut a cargo door.

From electronic checklists to autopilots to runway awareness tools, the list of technological safeguards that lessen the impact of human error goes on and on. The result challenges the old adage that what can go wrong invariably will.

Rather, as technology gets better, what can go wrong will almost always go right. This explains why, by one estimate, a passenger would have to fly every day for the next 123,000 years before being involved in a fatal airplane crash. Budget carriers should be commended for making air travel affordable and accessible to the masses. But if safe passage is what passengers desire above all else, the technologists deserve our thanks.

outdoor play breaks and character development lessons throughout into the daily schedule, without extending the school day. In only two years, the results were clear. Children who participated were more disciplined, exhibited more focus and performed better academically.

Rhea is trialing her program in several public schools in North Texas this year, and early feedback suggests similar outcomes. With studies consistently showing that American students are falling behind their global peers in basic skills, knowledge and job readiness, state and local governments are grappling with ways to improve academic outcomes, including universal pre-kindergarten and, in some cases, even extending the school day. But policy-makers should not ignore the research that confirms the obvious: There’s as much to be learned on the monkey bars as there is in the classroom. Our kids need more time to play.

Boy-abusing women no different from girl-abusing men

By Christine M. Flowers | Philadelphia Daily News/TNS Forum

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IFE is unpredictable. Just ask Hillary Clinton. I mean, you wake up Tuesday morning planning to give a big electoral hug to Michigan, and you go to bed not caring if arsenic starts flowing through the tap water in Flint. You just never know how the day is going to pan out, so to speak.

This week, I thought I was going to

write about politics yet again. I figured there would be some new exposé about Donald Trump’s trumpet or Clinton’s hard drive (which sounds, uncomfortably, like the same thing). But except for a few more (yawn) primaries, nothing new came over the wire. In the end, though,

I found my topic: A human specimen that surpassed even the candidates in mediocrity. On Monday a former swim coach and counselor named Emily Feeney admitted to having stalked a 16-year-old student at Malvern Prep, a private Catholic school in suburban Philadelphia. Feeney didn’t actually plead to “stalking,” and the sanitized term used by the news reports was “tried to seduce,” but the evidence presented to the court makes it pretty darn clear that this was no wink-wink, ha-ha, Mrs. Robinson scenario.

Feeney sent thousands of texts over a period of months, threatening the student, cajoling him, transmitting suggestive photos and even cornering him in her classroom. At one point, she held the promise of a Harvard scholarship over his head. At another point, she kissed him. There is no word on whether he kissed back, but there are

strong indications that her attentions were unwelcome. One of the texts made public was from the victim, who tried to get his stalker to leave him alone by writing: “I’m not interested in you, end of story. I’m 16. I’m not into you.”

You would think this would shame a pre-menopausal woman with young children to get a grip on something other than her students. But the harassment continued until someone reported her to the police. And after getting the best lawyer money could buy and a sympathetic hearing from the prosecutor, Feeney pled guilty and got...five years’ probation.

Not jail time. Not house arrest. Probation, and registration as a sex offender.

Her attorney was quoted as saying that “This case involved a single kiss.” I would respectfully suggest (and it’s really hard being respectful in this type of a situation) that the case was about a lot more than

a single kiss. It was about thousands of harassing messages and photos and attempts by a horny middle-aged woman to steal a teenager’s adolescence from him.

When I put that on Facebook, I wasn’t surprised to find that some people had a hard time seeing what all the fuss was about. There is a strange blind spot that we have in this society about boys who are sexually harassed by older women.

One of my Facebook friends implied that he doubted the boy was “traumatized.” But we have no problem reacting when the roles are reversed and a male coach sends suggestive texts to a female student. It’s a not-so-subtle way of saying that our girls are more fragile, and precious, than our boys. That should have changed in the decades since the priest-abuse scandal was exposed, but it hasn’t. Speaking of which, imagine if Emily Feeney were actually the Rev.

Emlen Feeney, and he’d done what she admits having done. There would be a move to burn him out of the rectory. But a blonde, affluent and educated female of a certain age gets off with a literal slap on the texting hand, primarily because we still haven’t acknowledged that boys, and men, can be victims of the same type of horrific abuse as women.

My friend Glenn works in the field, and he made this wise and perceptive comment: “From reporting possible abuse to prosecution, women absolutely get breaks. Imagine the outcry if a male coach did the exact same thing to a female on his team.” Yes, imagine. Except we don’t have to imagine. We’ve seen those men get jail time. Sexually predatory women are not Mary Kay Letourneau one-offs. They are real, and they should be treated the same way any other rapist, abuser or predatory is treated.

Sports BusinessMirror

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unday, March 13, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

WARRIORS STRETCH RECORD O AKLAND, California— Golden State extended its record regular-season home-winning streak to 47 games and avenged its worst loss of the season by defeating Portland, 128-112, on Friday, led by 34 points from Stephen Curry.

The Trail Blazers produced a shock one-sided win against the Warriors last month, but were off the pace in a shootout that produced 37 three-pointers; the most treys in National Basketball Association (NBA) history.

The Warriors eked out their lead over nearest Western Conference rival San Antonio to three-and-a-half games.

Portland is sixth in the West standings, but now only half a game ahead of Houston and Dallas. Houston made up ground with a victory at Boston that snapped the Celtics’ run of 14 successive home wins.

Miami put in a strong fourth quarter to win at a below-strength Chicago, keeping the Heat one-and-a-half games

clear atop the Southeast Division ahead of Charlotte, which kept up the pressure by beating Detroit.

Golden State’s Curry and Klay Thompson (37 points) went a combined 15-of25 on three-point attempts. Thompson joined Curry as the only players with 200 treys in four straight seasons. They scored 30 or more points in the same game for the sixth time in their careers.

The Warriors are 29-0 at Oracle Arena this season. They are 58-6 overall.

C.J. McCollum scored 18 points for the Trail Blazers.

Houston’s James Harden scored 32 points, including Houston’s final eight that secured a 102-98 win at Boston.

Michael Beasley added 18 points and eight rebounds for the Rockets, who have won three straight, all on the road.

Isaiah Thomas led the Celtics with 30 points.

Miami’s Goran Dragic scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Heat to a 118-96 win against Chicago.

Josh Richardson added a career-high

22 for the Heat, who outscored the Bulls, 34-15, in the final period on the way to their sixth win in seven games.

Pau Gasol led Chicago with 17 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulls were without injured guards Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler.

Charlotte extended its winning streak to six games by downing Detroit, 118-103.

Marvin Williams tied a career high with five three-pointers and scored 22 points, while Nicolas Batum added 17 points and 11 assists for the Hornets.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 24 points for Detroit.

Los Angeles’s Chris Paul had 24 points and 15 assists, as the Clippers beat New York, 101-94.

J.J. Redick added 20 points for the Clippers, who have clearly the best record of any nondivision leader in the West.

Kristaps Porzingis led the Knicks with 23 points in 31 minutes after getting into early foul trouble.

Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio made a

three-pointer with 0.2 seconds left to lift the Timberwolves past Oklahoma City, 99-96, ending a run of 10 successive losses to the Thunder.

Memphis’s Lance Stephenson scored a career-high 33 points, and Matt Barnes had a triple-double with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Grizzlies past New Orleans, 121-114, in overtime.

Utah’s Shelvin Mack scored a career-high 27 points in the Jazz’s 114-93 victory over Washington.

Orlando won, 107-100, at Sacrmento, led by Aaron Gordon’s 20 points and 11 rebounds. Philadelphia recorded only its ninth win of the season, ending a run of 13 consecutive losses, by beating Brooklyn, 95-89. AP

TRI-ACTIV SPIKERS SWEEP 2ND ROUND P

ETRON completed the second-round sweep after routing New San Jose Builders in straight sets, 25-20, 2516, 25-8, in the 2016 PLDT Home Ultera Philippine Superliga (PSL) Invitational Conference women’s volleyball tournament on Saturday at Batangas City Sports Coliseum in Batangas City.

The Tri-Activ Spikers continued to flaunt their firepower as they remained unbeaten after the second round of the interclub tourney bankrolled by Asics, Mikasa, Senoh, Mueller and Grand Sports, with TV5 as official broadcast partner.

“Although we like where we are right now, we can’t still afford to relax,” Petron Head Coach George Pascua said. “We still have yet to reach our peak. Ces [Molina] is not

Barredo chosen as scholar of Olympic project

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ILIPINO rising badminton young star Sarah Joy Barredo has been chosen for the Asia Olympic Project (AOP) Scholarship for 2016 because Barredo of her sterling performance in recent local and international tournaments.

The Philippine Badminton Association (PBA), under the leadership of President Jejomar Binay, the country’s vice president, and Secretary-General Negros Occidental Rep. Albee Benitez, thanked the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for the scholarship granted to Barredo.

“We are thankful to BWF for giving Sarah the scholarship. I am confident that she will become a stronger player after this,” Benitez said.

Twenty junior players from the Asian region were selected by the BWF for the scholarship.

The Asia Development Team (ADT) of Badminton Asia under the BWF will provide these players proper training opportunities and competitions.

“I’m happy that I was chosen by the BWF,” the 16-year-old Barredo said.

“I will not waste this opportunity to become a better player. I will give my 100-percent effort in both training and during competitions.”

The players selected for the scholarship underwent a series of technical assessments and were chosen on the basis of their current rankings in BAC/BWF-sanctioned tournaments.

The AOP is one of the development programs of the BAC under the BWF.

yet 100-percent ready as some of us are still adjusting. We’re still a work in progress.”

“I told them that San Jose Builders is young and aggressive,” Pascua added. “We can’t afford to relax, so we exploded in the second and third sets.” Skipper Aiza Maizo-Pontillas led the charge for Petron with 12 points, highlighted by 11 attacks, including five digs.

Petron punished the rookie team, composed mostly of Perpetual Help players, with another full-tank offense, nailing 39 attacks that destroyed the floor defense of the Victorias.

The two-time PSL champions joined RC Cola Army, which swept the first round, in the next phase with identical perfect 3-0 win-loss records after the first two rounds.

“RC Cola-Army is an intact team, so we can’t afford to be complacent in facing them,” he

said. “So we have to beat the level of their intensity. We can’t relax against them.”

New San Jose, on the other hand, bowed out of contention after remaining winless in the six-game preliminary round.

“It’s okay; our battle is not the PSL, but the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association],” Victorias Coach Ken Molleno said. “We may have failed to win a single game, but we learned so many lessons that we can apply when we play in the NCAA next year. This is a great exposure for us.”

Petron’s Aiza MaizoPontillas (left) tries to evade the defense of Cindy Imbo of New San Jose Builders.

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Lance Agcaoili

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four to tie the count at 19-all. UP seized the momentum to sweep Adamson in the game.

“We started out slow but we wanted on how they fought back from that set-up, and this time they showed more maturity credits to them,” Yee said.

Carlos topped all scorers with 13 hits from 12 kills, including eight digs, while skipper Kathy Bersola chipped in 11 markers on eight spikes, two service aces and a block.

Adamson, on the other hand, failed to win in its first match under interim coach Domingo Custodio, who replaced Sherwin Meneses.

The Lady Falcons fell, 3-6. May Roque’s 11 points and the pair of 10 hits from skipper Mylene Paat and Jema Galanza for Adamson.

In men’s action, De La Salle and University of Santo Tomas (UST) scored upset wins to improve their standings.

The Tigers shocked Adamson University in straight sets, 26-24, 25-23, 25-23, while the Green Spikers stunned Far Eastern University (FEU) in tight four sets, 26-24, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21, behind the 22-point explosion of Reymark Woo. UST moved to the fifth spot tied with UP holding identical 4-5 records, while La Salle, which forced FEU to commit 42 errors, improved to 3-6 slate.

Despite the losses, Adamson stayed in second, 6-3, tied with National University, while FEU slid to 4-4 card. Lance Agcaoili

WINNERS Flo Lamigo and Steffi Aquino (center) receive their prizes and trophy after

winning the women’s doubles Level B title of the ninth Prima Pasta Badminton Championship at the Powersmash Badminton Center in Makati City. The tournament was organized by Prima Pasta Chairman Alexander Lim (extreme right).

Hotshots turn back Fuel Masters, nail second straight win HE Star nailed its first back-to-back wins under rookie Coach Jason Webb, as it drubbed Phoenix, 91-75, to boost its quarterfinals hopes in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup on Saturday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The Hotshots leaned on Peter June Simon and Rafi Reavis in the second half to pull away after trailing 37-44 at halftime, and improved their win-loss mark to 3-4.

Ricardo Ratliffe finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds for the Star, while Simon added 17 markers. Two-time Most Valuable Player had 13 for the team of Webb. “We actually talked about that, the only way to win a game is through our defensive effort. And credit these guys for their God-given talent and sacrifice,” Webb said.

“Defensively, we’re solid in this game. We gonna recover and continue to improve to erase the four losses we had,” he added.

Kevin Pinkney led the Fuel Masters with 21 points and 15 boards, while Chico Lanete and JC Intal chipped in 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for Phoenix, which dropped to 2-4.

The Fuel Masters actually had a solid first half, leading by seven going to the break, but they allowed the Star to explode for 28 points, while they were held down to just 10 to trail 54-65 entering the final canto.

Simon and Reavis joined hands in a telling run to erect a 77-63 spread with 5:15 remaining. Phoenix never had an answer to absorb its fourth loss in six games. Fuel Masters top guard RR Garcia was limited to just six markers on two-of-11 shooting from the field. Joel Orellana

LADY MAROONS DRUB FALCONS NIVERSITY of the Philippines (UP) stretched its winning streak to four games with a 25-23, 25-22, 25-22 win over Adamson University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 78 women’s volleyball tournament on Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

The victory put the Lady Maroons to solo third spot with 6-3 win-loss mark and boost their chances in the Final Foul.

But UP Head Coach Jerry Yee was not impressed with their performance against the Lady Falcons despite the straight sets win.

“I did not like it but we’ll take the win,” Yee said. “It’s hard to be in the cloud nine.”

“We were warning them the whole week about satisfaction and complacency that are the things that we should avoid, because it’s hard to get to that stage,” he added.

The Lady Maroons fought their way back from a lethargic first set when Adamson was pulling away with 23-18 lead, but they blanked the Lady Falcons scoring seven straight points to steal the opening set.

Adamson tried to give UP a dose of its own medicine in the second set after cutting the Lady Maroon’s 22-15 lead to 22-23 but UP rookies Marian Buitre and Diana Carlos saved their team to take the commanding 2-0 match advantage.

In the third set, the Lady Falcons took a 1915 lead but the Lady Maroons scored the next

Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) looks to shoot ahead of Portland Trail Blazers’ Maurice Harkless. AP

ORANZA MARKED MAN IN STAGE TWO A

LL eyes are on Ronald Oranza of Navy-Standard Insurance when the Visayas leg of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2016 resumes on Sunday, with the Stage Two criterium starting and ending at the Iloilo Business Park in Iloilo City.

Oranza made his presence felt early by topping Stage One—another criterium—on Friday, and securing him the red jersey, which is symbolic of the leader, entering Stage Two of this cycling race, considered the biggest in the country.

“I expect a tougher Stage Two,” said the 23-year-old Oranza, who won his third stage this year after topping the first two stages of the Mindanao leg in Butuan City last month.

The Villasis, Pangasinan, native timed in one hour, nine minutes and 23 seconds to claim the Stage One win and the 15 general individual classification points that go with it.

Fellow Navyman Rudy Roque is cuirrently at second with 13 points, while LBC-MVP Sports

Foundation’s Rustom Lim at third with 11, after the two checked in times of 1:09:24.082 and 1:09:24.401, respectively.

LBC-MVPSF’s Ronald Lomotos finished fourth in 1:09:26.012, while Daniel Ven Cariño and grizzled veteran Joel Calderon both of Navy ended up fifth and sixth, with clockings of 1:09:29.012 and 1:09:29.314, respectively.

Lomotos gained nine points, while Cariño and Calderon had seven and six points, respectively.

Mindanao leg winner Jan Paul Morales of Navy headed the peloton and contented himself with a seventh-place finish with five points, with a clocking of 1:10:07.660, after he was heavily guarded the whole stage.

Rounding up the top 10 were LBC-MVPSF’s Mark Julius Bonzo (4), Navy skipper Lloyd Lucien Reynante (3) and LBC-MVPSF’s George Oconer (2).

Reynante said he wasn’t surprised Oranza won the stage.

“I’ve been openly saying we

have two riders who can win this race,” said Reynante, referring to Oranza and Morales.

Expected to draw some of the attention is rookie Richard Nebres of Team ASG, who crashed in the final 500 meters, but made a good account of himself after he put up a valiant challenge against the big guns.

Nebres still managed to finish the race, but suffered a minor bruise and ended up with a permanently damaged bike.

“It was a learning experience for me,” said the 21-year-old Nebres, who hails from Mati, Davao Oriental.

Stage Three, a road race through the major arteries of Iloilo City, is set on Tuesday with the last two stages—the Individual Time Trial and criterium—to be held on Thursday.

The event, organized by LBC Express, is sanctioned by PhilCycling, and sponsored by Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, Petron and Versa Radio-Tech 1 Corp., with Maynilad and Nlex as minor sponsors.