BusinessMirror March 22, 2019

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

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Thursday, March 21, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 162

Govt set to release 4th tranche of salary hike T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

WO months before elections and amid a budget impasse, President Duterte signed an executive order (EO) authorizing the grant of the fourth tranche of the increase in the salaries of government employees.

EO 76, wh ic h w a s sig ned by the President on March 15, amended EO 201, which provides that the implementation of the

fourth tranche of salary adjustments this year would have its funding sourced from the fullyear appropriation in the 2019

national budget.

“Whereas, due to the reenactment of the FY 2018 GAA, there is a need to identify an appropriate

“We reiterate our vigorous call to the two chambers of Congress to end this impasse on the budget with dispatch that the General Appropriations Bill may finally be transmitted for the President’s review and approval.”—Panelo

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Hanjin: A platform for industrial deepening?

Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS

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funding source to cover the requirements for the implementation of the fourth tranche compensation adjustment for civilian government personnel scheduled in 2019 under EO 201,” read the new EO. “Pending the enactment of the FY [Fiscal Year] 2019 GAA [General See “Salary hike,” A2

Continued on A11

‘Stronger antitrust law needed before opening up PHL economy’

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See “MWSS,” A2

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

HE bankruptcy of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines is the biggest corporate bankruptcy to hit the country since the debt crisis of the 1980s. At the height of its operations, Hanjin employed, through a score of manpower agencies, over 30,000 employees. This number is equaled only by the work force of the country’s leading conglomerates, such as those in the payroll of the SM-BDO group, San Miguel group and Cebu Pacific/URC/JGSummit group.

Not surprisingly, the nation’s labor centers are united on what to do with the idled Hanjin shipyard in Subic: the government should take over the sprawling facility, reported to be one of the biggest in the world. The argument: keep jobs and keep the communities that have sprouted around the Subic shipyard humming.

‘GAA should fund MWSS operations’ OR the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to fully exercise its job, the chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts on Wednesday said the budget of the regulatory body should come from the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, the panel chairman, suggested this after Manila Water Co. Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. admitted during the committee hearing that they are paying a concession fee of P400 million each to MWSS. According to Suarez, the operational expenses of MWSS come from the two water firms.

“We had been suggesting that the MWSS budget should come from the annual budget [and not from] the Maynilad and Manila Water,” he said.

“We are not saying that there is a bias in this arraignment but [we should] remove the [doubt]. Because the MWSS is soft on their stance because they draw their salaries from the firms they regulate,” Suarez added.

Randolph Estrellado, chief operating officer of Maynilad, told the lower chamber that the two water firms are paying P400 million in each concession fees annually.

But due to inflation, Manila Water President Ferdinand de la Cruz said the concession fee of Manila Water and Maynilad has gone up to P522 million.

2017 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

R EMPLOYEES of the Quezon City local government and the Bureau of Internal Revenue assist taxpayers who trooped to the Quezon City Hall in this file photo. NONOY LACZA

House in ‘last-ditch’ bid to end budget impasse

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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@joveemarie

HE leadership of the House of R epresent at ives on Wednesday formed a threeman team that will meet with their Senate counterparts to break the budget impasse in five days.

House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. made the statement after the lower chamber “physically retrieved the

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.7870

budget books” it sent to Senate for signature.

The three-man team will include Andaya, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora. Andaya said the team will address “contentious issues” in the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

“The House leadership has dispatched the Secretary-General [Roberto Maling] to the Senate to physically retrieve the budget

books that we sent to the senators.

This is in line with the Speaker’s instruction to allow a last-ditch effort to break the budget impasse,” he said.

“We are giving ourselves five days to complete this task,” Andaya added.

However, Andaya clarified that the House is not backtracking from its position that the lump funds in the 2019 budget must be itemized.

See “Budget,” A2

“If we open these economic restrictions now and we don’t have a level playing field, it can create a lot of havoc for the country.”—Diokno

@alyasjah

EMOVING the constitutional restriction on foreign ownership sans a strong regulatory framework on competition and law enforcement could be “disastrous” to the economy, senatorial aspirants from the minority bloc have argued.

Human-rights lawyer and law dean Jose Manuel “Chel” I. Diokno said the government has to do two things first before even considering fully liberalizing the economy.

He recommended strengthening the competition law and regulatory agencies before tinkering with the economic provisions of the Constitution. “[Also], we have to have really operational enforcement mechanisms. The justice system, [as well as] the regulatory mechanisms, has to be in place, and they have to be working the way they are supposed to work,” Diokno told reporters in a recent business forum in Makati.

He said removing the foreign ownership cap under the Constitution without a strong legal and regulatory system could “create a lot of havoc for the country.”

“If we open these economic restrictions now and we don’t have a

level playing field, it can create a lot of havoc for the country. Unless we can address that, I would not even be open to considering opening up these economic restrictions,” Diokno explained.

Women’s rights advocate and senatorial candidate Samira Gutoc said she is amenable to revising the economic provisions of the Constitution for as long as national security interests are protected.

“I am open to studying what industries need to be opened up because we might be lacking investments now. However, if we do it as a whole, that is terrifying,” she pointed out.

Gutoc argued foreign ownership restrictions must be maintained on industries sensitive to national security, in particular telecommunications, mass media and defense.

“Not those three that have an impact on national security. We also have to put emphasis on the dataSee “Antitrust law,” A12

n JAPAN 0.4740 n UK 70.0536 n HK 6.7248 n CHINA 7.8654 n SINGAPORE 39.0754 n AUSTRALIA 37.4101 n EU 59.9344 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.0762

Source: BSP (20 March 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Thursday, March 21, 2019

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Labor to fight for maternity-leave benefits

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By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

ABOR groups on Wednesday said employers who will engage in discriminatory practices to avoid compliance with the Expanded Maternity Leave (EML) Law will face lawsuits.

Partido Manggawa (PM) and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) issued the warning in separate statements on Wednesday following the release of the study by the Employer Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) on the

Salary hike. . .

Continued from A1

Appropriations Act], the funding requirements for the compensation adjustment for FY 2019 shall be charged against any available appropriations under the FY 2018 GAA, as reenacted, to be determined by the DBM, subject to existing budgeting, accounting, and auditing rules and regulations.”

Given the developments constraining the passage of the budget, the Department of Budget and Management earlier recommended the amendment of EO 201 to the Office of the President.

The government has been operating under a reenacted budget as the 2019 proposed national budget has not yet been transmitted

Budget. . .

Continued from A1

“We want to make it clear, though. We are not withdrawing or backtracking from our earlier position,” he said.

“We maintain that the House did nothing unconstitutional, illegal or irregular when we approved and ratified the 2019 GAB in plenary session,” Andaya added.

He said the lower chamber expressed hope that the contingents from the Senate and the House can agree to a common venue “for a formal discussion on the issues and not debate on the merits of their position through the media.”

Andaya said the budget itemization implemented by the lower chamber was within the parameters of the bicameral committee report ratified by each chamber.

If post-bicam itemization of lump-sum budget by the lower chamber is unconstitutional, Andaya said the Senate also has a post-bicam realignment worth P75 billion in the national budget.

According to Andaya, staff of the Senate personally delivered the documents containing budget itemization by senators on February 11—also after the ratification of the proposed 2019 GAA on February 8.

Intervention

T H E minority bloc of the House of Representatives also on Wednesday said President Duterte should now intervene to break the budget impasse between the two houses of Congress.

In a news conference, Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin said some senators are “arrogating” themselves the veto power reserved for the President.

“I think the only chance [to break the standoff between lower house and upper

sentiment of its members on the EML law. EML extended the period of the usual 90-day maternity leave to 105 days.

Based on the initial result of its survey, Ecop said 68 percent of the 70 companies, which participated

by Congress to the Palace for the President’s signature. The Senate and the House of Representatives are still arguing over last-minute changes on the budget after it was ratified. Malacañang and the government’s economic team has since urged Congress to resolve the impasse to avert further economic consequences of operating under a reenacted budget.

“We reiterate our vigorous call to the two chambers of Congress to end this impasse on the budget with dispatch that the General Appropriations Bill may finally be transmitted for the President’s review and approval,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said in a statement.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said

GDP would grow at a slower 4.2 to 4.9 percent if the government will operate under a reenacted budget for the rest of the year.

If the budget impasse is resolved

by April, full-year GDP is expected to hit 6.1 percent to 6.3 percent. A reenacted budget until August will cause the economy to expand by 4.9 to 5.1 percent this year, according to Neda.

The budget impasse, along with the ill-effects of El Niño and global headwinds such as global trade tensions, also forced the government to cut its growth targets for this year and the year 2020.

During its 175th meeting last week, the Development Budget Coordination Committee scaled down the GDP growth target for the year to 6 percent to 7 percent, from the previous 7 percent to 8 percent.

house] is when President Duterte [steps in and] tells them to submit to him the budget and he will exercise his veto power if there is unconstitutional [in the proposed GAA],” he said.

Andaya said the senators have the right to suggest to the President to veto the part of the national budget that they think unconstitutional.

committee approves are the respective expenditure ceilings of the departments and agencies, but the Senate and the House are authorized separately to complete the details within the ceilings,” he added.

Lagman said the lower chamber version did not breach the approved ceilings.

‘Silent majority’

MINORITY Leader Danilo Suarez said majority of senators led by Senate Committee on Finance Chairman Loren Legarda are supportive to a new GAA than a reenacted budget.

In a news conference, Suarez said Legarda assured him that the “silent majority” in the Senate disagreed with the position of Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III and Sen. Panfilo Lacson on the budget.

“I talked to [Legarda] two days ago, as a matter of fact I’m going to see her tomorrow [Thursday]. She assured me that she and majority of senators really want to transmit the enrolled bill to the president,” Suarez said.

“Both Houses of Congress have ratified the national budget so it is only ministerial on their [Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Sotto] part to sign the enrolled bill,” he added.

In a statement, Lagman said the opposition bloc Magnificent 7 is supporting the House version of the budget because “I find it completely constitutional and right.”

“I will not support any House action or measure which violates the Constitution and relevant statutes, and the House version is free from any constitutional or legal infirmities,” he said.

According to Lagman, the House version of the budget measure is entirely compliant with the ratified bicameral committee report.

“As a former chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, I know that traditionally and invariably what the bicameral conference

DOLE. . .

for availing of the unemployment insurance. “ W hat we want is for t he benefit to be also given to contractual workers since they are usually the ones who are regularly unemployed. And, yet, the law requires continuous [payment] of contribution to avail it,” Cainglet said.

“How will they able to avail it if they are constantly hired and re-

SSS is set to start the first phase of its long-term premium increase next month to help improve its existing services and jump-start its unemployment insurance.

Once implemented, it will raise SSS premium rates from 11 percent to 12 percent.

Trade Union Congress of the Ph i l ippi nes ( T UC P) g ave it s cond it ion a l s up p or t for t he looming premium hi ke unt i l

Premium hike

“Added maternity benefits will hardly make a dent in employers’ profits as it is the SSS that pays women workers for the bulk of the maternity pay.”—Miranda

‘Criminal act’

TUCP President Rep. Raymond Mendoza slammed the Ecop statement as “anti-women.”

“This is an expression of intent by these employers that they will violate the law. This is tantamount to an admission that employers will now be discriminating against women in their hiring practices,” TUCP President Raymond Mendoza said.

Under EML, employers who will be proven to be engaged in discriminatory acts could be sanctioned with a fine of P20,000 to P 200,000, as well as face imprisonment of six years to 12 years.

For her part, PM Party-list Sec-

trenched through a ‘555’ arrangement?” he added.

Continued from A12

in the study, said the EML will “affect” management decision in hiring women.

Lacson’s crusade

S E N. Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday reaffirmed his crusade against graft-tainted multibillion pork-barrel funds annually allocated to members of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In a statement, Lacson signaled his determination in responding to congressmen’s criticisms he was waging a “vendetta” against political foes when he denounced pork funds in the 2019 national budget.

“My ‘vendetta’ is against the insatiably greedy politicians, especially those who lust after pork-barrel funds,” the senator clarified.

Lacson lamented the repeated counterclaims by pork-loving lawmakers he was driven to wage vengeance against those who wronged him. “To the congressmen who continue to claim vendetta is my motive in attacking the pork in the 2019 budget, you are right,” Lacson said, adding: “But my vendetta is against the insatiably greedy politicians.”

The senator further clarified that his determination to strike out the pork-barrel funds in the 2019 budget was “not about any individual congressman or senator,” but about his crusade against the pork-barrel system and the national budget “which is the lifeblood of the country.”

Lacson served notice he will “criticize those who go against his advocacy of keeping the budget free of pork” pointing out that the congressional pork barrel had been outlawed by the Supreme Court way back in 2013 but was still resurrected in different forms.

With a report by Butch Fernandez

SSS is able to prove it is worth it through “ fast, efficient and quality ser vice.”

TUCP President Raymond Mendoza said his group will specifically monitor SSS’s implementation of the Expanded Maternity Leave Law and the unemployment insurance program.

“If the SSS will not render this improved quality service, SSS actively paying members will be very disappointed and will not cooperate which would result to higher rate of delinquency among members,” Mendoza said.

retary-General Judy Ann Miranda said the Ecop study is a “calculated move to influence the drafting of the implementing rules and regulations of the EML law.”

“Ecop will no doubt lobby for exemptions and deferments similar to that in the wage orders of regional wage boards,” Miranda said.

“Ecop’s statement is not just a grave threat but an expression of criminal intent,” she added.

Minimal impact

MIRANDA pointed out the fears of employers that EML law will entail additional costs is unfounded since only a few women avail themselves of it.

“In truth, added maternity benefits will hardly make a dent in employers’ profits as it is the SSS that pays women workers for the bulk of the maternity pay,” Miranda said.

Citing data from the Social Security System, she noted only 250,000 or less than 1 percent of all women of reproductive age claimed maternity benefits with the SSS in 2016.

Miranda said the number of those who availed themselves of the benefit slightly increased to 290,000 women in 2017.

“The total costs of maternity leave paid by the SSS in 2016 and 2017 [are] less than P6 billion annually.”

Constant monitoring

BOTH PM and TUCP called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to issue a statement, which will discourage employers from engaging in possible discriminatory practices.

“The DOLE must now speak loudly and clearly—this is unlawful discrimination,” Mendoza said.

Miranda said they will join DOLE in “closely monitoring” employers, who will violate EML. “PM party-list and other labor and women groups remain vigilant in ensuring that the victory of EML will not be watered down by greedy employers,” Miranda said.

Govt no longer keen on Laiban Dam

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

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@BNicolasBM

HE Duterte administration will no longer push for the construction of the Laiban Dam in Tanay, Rizal, which is expected to displace thousands of residents in the area.

Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) Administrator Reynaldo Velasco said the construction of Laiban will displace some 4,800 families. In contrast, Velasco said the construction of Kaliwa Dam will displace only 46 families.

“Laiban is out insofar as this administration is concerned because of the social engineering nightmare that we’ll encounter in resettling 4,800 families. Almost impossible. That is why we have removed it from our midterm program,” Velasco said.

In 2010, MWSS terminated its joint venture talks with San Miguel for the proposed development of

Laiban Dam. The long-proposed Laiban Dam was only revived in 2017 through the proposed New Centennial Water Source Project, which also involves the construction of Kaliwa Dam to downstream to maximize water supply and to ensure shortand long-term supply for Metro Manila and its adjoining areas.

Aside from the Kaliwa Dam, which has a capacity of 600 million liters per day (MLD), Velasco said the MWSS is now more keen on putting up Kanan Dam, which has a bigger capacity of 3,000 MLD compared to Laiban’s 1,800 MLD. Velasco reiterated that Manila Water will also sign a joint venture agreement with ports tycoon Enrique K. Razon Jr. for the construction of a new dam, saying this will have a capacity of 500 MLD. Besides Razon, Velasco said the joint venture will include San Lorenzo Ruiz Water Development Corp. of businessman Oscar Violago.

He said MWSS is now looking at

other possible sources of water: the 500-MLD rehabilitation of Wawa Dam; 800-MLD unutilized water project from Angat-Norzagaray; 350-MLD Bayabas Dam; and the 188-MLD Sumag River Diversion Project.

Velasco disclosed plans to build tunnels and aqueducts from Ipo Dam to Bigte Norzagaray and from Bigte to La Mesa Dam. Velasco also belied reports that the Chinese-funded Kaliwa Dam is more expensive than the Kaliwa Intake Weir Project proposed by a Japanese firm.

Osaka-based Global Utility Development Corporation Ltd. (GUDC) President Toshikazu Nomura earlier said their Kaliwa Intake Weir Project will be a “cheaper” and “more environment-friendly” alternative to the $800-million Kaliwa Dam project.

Velasco said the Kaliwa Dam only costs around $240 million as opposed to the Kaliwa Intake Weir Project, which costs $410 million.

BOC inspects 412 overstaying containers at MICP

By Rea Cu

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@ReaCuBM

HE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said around 37 percent of the overstaying containers at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) have been examined in line with government efforts to free up space in the yard and improve the port’s efficiency.

MICP District Collector Erastus Sandino B. Austria said the BOC has already physically examined 412 of the 1,100 overstaying containers at the MICP to determine if these can be auctioned off or disposed.

In January, the MICP started expediting the examination of overstaying containers to determine if its contents may be of any value which can either be auctioned of or disposed of in accordance with law, in line with one of its measures to improve the port’s efficiency.

“MICP is proactive in upholding

MWSS. . .

Continued from A1

Deputy Administrator Moro Lorenzo said parts of the salaries of MWSS workers come from these concession fees.

Threat

PRESIDENT Duterte threatened to fire officials of MWSS and terminate the government’s contracts with private water concessionaires Maynilad and Manila Water.

Malacañang said the 40-minute meeting ended with the President ordering officials to submit a report on the water shortage before April 7, after which the

its mandate of facilitating the flow of trade. Through the expedited inspection of overstaying containers, MICP can dispose and auction off shipments faster,” Austria said in a statement.

The MICP has coordinated with the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) so it could allocate enough slots during regular examination schedules at the designated examination area (DEA), and to allocate all slots during Saturdays.

According to the MICP, it has also augmented the manpower of the Auction and Cargo Disposal Division through tasking examiners from the Port’s Formal Entry Division to inspect overstaying containers.

The MICP’s Overstaying Containers Oversight Committee has been closely monitoring the status of shipments which remain unfilled, unpaid, and unclaimed within the periods specified under President will decide “whether heads will roll” or whether the contracts will be terminated.

“The President told them they could have simply anticipated such shortage and could have done something about it.

They had to wait for him to threaten them with personally rushing to Manila from Davao to grapple with the crisis before they moved to end it,” Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a statement.

The Palace spokesman also said the President expressed his “evident displeasure by saying that he hoped that at the end of the day the water crisis was not just a matter of common sense.”

the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA).

Based on the CMTA, containers are allowed to stay at the container yards for a period of 90 days in line with international standards, after which penalties will be imposed on the overstaying container.

The MICP expects to finish inspecting all the 1,100 containers in less than two months. Austria explained that the average allowed capacity for empty containers at the MICP is at 10,000.

“This is why MICP’s yard utilization has dropped from 97 percent in January to 75 percent today. Import dwell time has been reduced from 12-13 days in January to seven days today. Numbers are continuing to drop,” he added.

The BOC has been implementing measures to ease port congestion which hampers trade and affects the logistics-chain wherein stakeholders of the bureau are greatly affected.

Up and running

MANILA Water said consumers in the east zone of Metro Manila will have more water in the coming days as its Cardona Water Treatment Plant (WTP) has begun distributing up to 24 million liters of water per day (MLD).

The company said in a statement that the water extracted from the Laguna de Bay and treated in the Cardona WTP was initially distributed in barangays in Binangonan, Angono, Baras and Jalajala, Rizal.

The Cardona WTP started its operations on March 14, following the completion of Phase 1 of the project. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz, Bernadette D. Nicolas and Jonathan L. Mayuga

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The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, March 21, 2019 A3

P1.1B worth of meth seized in Muntinlupa buy-bust ops

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HILIPPINE authorities said on Wednesday that they have seized methamphetamine, concealed in tea wrappers and biscuit cans in their second-largest drug haul this year in a sign of how the problem has persisted despite the President’s bloody antidrug crackdown.

Three Chinese nationals and a Filipino-Chinese interpreter were arrested late Tuesday in “buy-bust” raids in an upscale residential enclave and outside a shopping mall in Alabang village in the Manila metropolis, said Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino.

Philippine National Police Spokesman Col. Bernard Banac identified the suspects as Chua Kian Kok, 43; Go Kei Kei, 40; Li Zhao Yang, 19; and Emmanuel Pascual, 79, who yielded a total of 166 kilos of the illegal drug.

Banac said Chua, Go and Pascual were arrested by PDEA agents led by Aquino along with members of the Station Drug Enforcement Unit of the Muntinlupa City Police Station during a buy-bust operation at the parking lot of the Festival Mall along Madrigal Avenue at Ayala-Alabang at

around 5:30 p.m.

Seized from them were 43.5 kilos of shabu worth P295 million.

Banac said that an hour after the buy bust, the operatives raided a house located inside the posh subdivision and seized another 123 kilos of shabu worth P836 million and arrested Li. The drugs, with a street value of P1.1 billion, were concealed similarly to seizures in Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar, indicating an international drug syndicate was behind the trafficking, Aquino said.

Last month, anti-narcotics agents raided a house in Tanza town in Cavite province south of Manila, killing two suspected Chinese drug dealers in a gun battle, and seizing P1.9 billion worth of methamphetamine a powerful stimulant locally

IN this March 19, 2019, photo, provided by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Aaron Aquino (second from left) looks at more than 160 kilograms (353 pounds) of methamphetamine drugs concealed in tea wrappers following buy-bust raids in Alabang, Muntinlupa City. It was PDEA’s second-largest drug haul this year in a sign of how the problem has persisted despite the President’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs. Aquino said on Wednesday, March 20, three Chinese nationals and a Chinese-Filipino man, who works as an interpreter, were arrested, with the drugs concealed in tea wrappers similar to those seized in Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar, and indicated an international drug syndicate was behind the trafficking. PDEA VIA AP

known as shabu, Aquino said.

Aquino has called for the return of the death penalty in the Philippines for drug traffickers, better security along the archipelago’s extensive coastlines and more extensive databases of foreign drug suspects for the immigration bureau to deter drug trafficking. Corruption also fosters

the drug menace, he said.

“There are those who have been detained for drug offenses, for example, in China, but they could still enter our country. We have arrested many of those identified foreign offenders here,” Aquino told The Associated Press by telephone.

“The Chinese will never stop put-

ting up drug laboratories because, firstly, there is no death penalty, and secondly, they can buy anybody,” Aquino said. “They can buy judges, they can buy prosecutors and eventually they can go home safely.”

Aquino has also sought legislation to make it easier to criminally charge owners of plush residences, condominium units and buildings, where he said drug traffickers have shifted their bases from more public areas and rural warehouses that have been raided by law enforcers. Tuesday’s drug raid targeted a house that the Chinese suspects rented in posh part of Alabang village where prominent law ma kers, politicians and business executives live under tighter security.

President Duterte has elevated drugs to a national security concern, and launched a crackdown that has killed more than 5,000 mostly poor drug suspects in reported clashes with the police since he took office in mid-2016.

The killings have alarmed Western governments, UN humanrights experts and rights groups, and sparked two complaints for crimes against humanity which are being examined by the International Criminal Court.

Duterte’s move to withdraw the Philippines from the tribunal sup-

posedly took effect on Sunday, but its prosecutor said she would continue examining the complaints.

Duterte has denied condoning extrajudicial killings but has openly threatened drug traffickers with death. Last week, he drew fresh criticisms when he publicly named 46 government officials, including three congressmen, he alleged were involved in illegal drugs but have not been criminally charged.

Critics have warned him against making such public announcements without solid evidence but Duterte said he trusted the government agencies that provided the information. Several of the politicians he named denied they were involved in the drug trade.

Airport Customs agents, meanwh i le, sei zed a sh ipment of ephedrine meth precursor from Ontario, Canada, at the Central Mail Exchange Center.

Collector Mimel Talusan said some 13 bottles containing 50 tablets each of 8 milligram of ephedrine declared as asthma supplement were turned over to the PDEA. After several testing, the PDEA found out that 650 tablets were seized in violation of Republic Act 9165 or, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act and RA 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act. AP with Rene Acosta and Recto Mercene

‘PHL-US ties remain strong CA junks Trillanes’s plea to halt trial on rebellion raps despite Chinese influence’

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

T

HE defense alliance between the Philippines and United States remains strong despite China’s growing influence over Manila, a think tank said on Wednesday ahead of the scheduled exploratory talks over the PHL-US Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT).

The Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute, through its president Dindo Manhit, explained the position of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., who recently declared that the vagueness of the MDT is a deterrence against Beijing.

Locsin issued his position during a recent meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who reiterated Washington’s defense and security support to the Philippines through the decadesold treaty.

“The remarks of the foreign affairs secretary imply that the longstanding US-Philippines alliance remains strong despite the apparent growing influence of China in the Philippines, Manhit said.

Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana and US Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia Joe Felter are to meet today (Thursday) to initially discuss the MDT, which the former wanted to be revised or, at least, clarified with its ambiguities.

The scheduled meeting, which will only last for hours, was disclosed by Lorenzana on Tuesday during the turnover by Japanese officials of the donated helicopter spare parts and maintenance equipment to the Philippine Air Force for its Huey combat utility choppers.

“It is only exploratory talks, there is still no talking points there. We only wanted to know what they think about our proposal to open up for discussion what is in the Mutual Defense Treaty,” said Lorenzana.

Contrary to the position of Locsin, Lorenzana believes it is high time that the MDT be amended or clarified since he do not see its ambiguities as a defense against China.

Manhit said that Locsin was confident about the assurance of Pompeo on the MDT, which

prompted him to declare that there is no need to review or modify the defense treaty.

Pompeo assured the US is ready to defend the country “in case of armed attack on Philippine forces, aircraft or public vessels in the South China Sea,” noting that Beijing’s island-building and military activities in the South China Sea threatens Philippine sovereignty, security, and its economic livelihood, as well as that of the United States.

A recent survey by the Social Weather Station showed that Filipinos believed that the US would defend the country in case of an invasion.

“As our only treaty ally, the US remains invaluable to us, and we need to recognize the significance and importance of this alliance. That said, we also need to recognize that we are required to strengthen our own defense and security capabilities,” former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

Manhit said that as countries in Southeast Asia works to stop the spread of terrorism and the threat of radicalization, the US has a unique opportunity to enhance its cooperation in the region, even beyond the issue of maritime security.

“Nevertheless, as different countries have different assessments of their internal threats, the US defense approach may need to be more multifaceted if it wants to use defense engagement as a way to get more states to support its continued presence,” he said.

The Stratbase ADR Institute firmly believed that for the country to promote a rule-based order, it must reach out to its allies and Asean partners to create political and economic structures that best secure the region’s future.

“It behooves the Filipinos to finally be provided this specific assurance which we rightly deserve,” del Rosario said.

“The Philippines should attain maritime security by considering the potential benefits of cooperation among the US, Japan, Australia and India. Such cooperation should also extend beyond the four democratic countries and collaborate with like-minded democracies that adhere to the rule-based order,” Manhit said.

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PPOSITION Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV has failed to get an immediate relief from the Court of Appeals (CA) in connection with his plea to stop his trial for rebellion, a case that was recently revived by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City.

In a three-page resolution, the CA’s Ninth Division held that to grant Trillanes’s petition for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO), or a writ of preliminary injunction would be tantamount to deciding on the merit of the petition which sought the reversal of the trial court’s order issued on September 25, 2018, which granted the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) motion to reopen the rebellion case and to order his immediate arrest.

Trillanes filed a motion for reconsideration of the said ruling of the trial court but Makati RTC Branch 150 presiding Judge Elmo Alameda, who is handling the case, denied it.

Judge Alameda also set the resumption of Trillanes’s trial on March 20 with the presentation of prosecution witnesses.

This prompted the senator to elevate the case before the CA, branding the trial court’s decision as “whimsical and arbitrary act of ignoring established jurisprudence.”

However, the CA took note of the Supreme Court’s action on a similar petition filed by Trillanes where it denied the latter’s prayer for ancillary relief to prevent the enforcement of Proclamation 572 on the ground that the issue of whether the senator availed of Amnesty Proclamation 75 was for the

Ironman event to push through as scheduled–Davao City Hall

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By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—The city government here has issued an alert about certain e-mailed messages purporting of a canceled holding of this year’s Alveo Ironman 70.3 here.

“There is no truth to the ‘advisory’ that the Alveo Ironman 70.3 Triathlon scheduled on March 24, 2019, in Davao City has been canceled,” the city government said in a new statement issued on Wednesday.

Some e-mail messages have been circulating recently about the event’s cancellation but the city government said the hoax message was “clearly meant to undermine the staging of the event and sabotage the preparations made by the participants, organizers, partners and the City Government of Davao.”

“All parties involved in the preparations leading to the race day are fully committed to the success of the event, ensuring especially the safety and security of the participants,” the city government said.

It also warned the persons behind the “damaging fake advisory are already identified and legal actions are being strongly considered.”

The organizers said 2,200 participants from 38 countries have registered to join the event, which consists of three categories: IronGirls, to be held on March 22, IronKids, on March 23, and the main event, IronMan on March 24.

Authorities have posted signages and sent Internet and broadcast messages on the time schedule of road closures on the three days.

Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said the events formed part of the city sports development and tourism promotions. “The Ironman 70.3 would not only highlight the world’s athletes but also showcase the scenic sights, hospitable people and abundant culture of Davao region, Mindanao and the country as a whole.”

This is the second time that Davao City is hosting the Alveo Ironman 70.3 after the successful staging last year.

trial courts to determine.

“Given the foregoing facts, the ancillary remedies applied for may not be granted at this time without running afoul with the principle that provisional reliefs may not be granted in advance of the main action where the provisional relief is the very remedy prayed for the complaint or petition,” the CA said in a resolution penned by Associate Justice Apolinario Bruselas Jr. “We may not temporarily restrain or preliminarily enjoin the prosecution of the criminal action for rebellion at this stage because to do so would be to grant the principal prayer for certiorari, prohibition and/or injunction without the benefit of a hearing,” it added.

Instead, the appellate court gave the DOJ 10 days to comment on Trillanes petition.

It can be recalled that the rebellion case has been dismissed by the Makati Court on September 7, 2011, after then-President Benigno Aquino III granted Trillanes amnesty.

However, the amnesty was revoked by virtue of Proclamation 572 issued by President Duterte’s Proclamation 572 on the ground that the senator failed to comply with the requirements to qualify for an amnesty.

Specifically, the justice department claimed that Trillanes failed to file an application form with an admission of his guilt.

Meanwhile, the Makati RTC has rescheduled the resumption of trial to May 27.

The rebellion case stemmed from Trillanes involvement in the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007 that as aimed at toppling the Arroyo administration.

CMMA holds ‘Soup Kitchen for the Poor’

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HE Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) is holding a Soup Kitchen for the Poor on Saturday, March 23, as its participation in the 25th anniversary celebration of the Santisima Trinidad Parish Church in Malate, Manila.

The activity is part of the CMMA’s yearlong celebration of its 40th founding anniversary. The awards-giving body was established by the late Jaime L. Cardinal Sin in 1978 as the means by which the Archdiocese of Manila honors communicators “who serve God through the mass media.”

Located on the corner of Estrada and Dian Streets in the working-class district of Malate, Santisima Trinidad Parish Church is one of a growing number of Philippine parishes devoted to the Holy Trinity. Its main altar image is unique for veering away from the common Trinitarian image of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit by combining a Marian image of the Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity.

The 25th anniversary celebration is led by Fr. Joselito Buenafe, parish priest, and the different lay organizations serving in the church. The CMMA’s participation is spearheaded by D. Edgard A. Cabangon, acting chairman and trustee.

The CMMA Soup Kitchen will be held from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at the parish church compound. Officers and members of the CMMA Secretariat

will distribute lugaw with lechon kawali, a popular snack at the Circuit Mall in Makati featuring rice porridge served with roast pork.

The CMMA and the organizers of the Soup Kitchen, including church workers, expect to serve some 500 parishioners and residents of nearby places.

Aside from feeding the community, the CMMA will also distribute gift packs containing grocery items like rice, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, canned goods, instant noodles and champorado (chocolate rice porridge).

To be included in the gift packs are items donated by friends of the CMMA in the business community, including loaf breads, dairy products, coffee, soft drinks, bottled water and medicines.

Funding for the CMMA Soup Kitchen came from the proceeds of its 40th anniversary benefit event, “Dinner with the Cardinal: Share a Moment of Grace,” on February 4 at Citystate Tower Hotel in Ermita, Manila.

Fr. Rufino C. Sescon Jr., CMMA executive director, expressed happiness that the CMMA received great support for the project from friends of the CMMA who provided resources for it.

“We offer up prayers of thanks to the Almighty that He has blessed with success our efforts to make our 40th anniversary of the CMMA fulfilling and meaningful by sharing with the poor among us,” Sescon said.

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Stakeholders’ teamwork imperative to add value to mining sector–PNIA

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HE Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) said there is a need for collaborative efforts between stakeholders in the government and private sector to be able to explore global trends and opportunities in nickel consuming sectors.

“There is so much potential for nickel, how important it is in the commodities because we use nickel in many commodities applications,” said PNIA President Dante Bravo on Tuesday at the Nickel Initiative 2019 held at Shangri-La at the Fort, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

He said such areas for cooperation and collaboration will serve as a platform for industries with shared interests in nickel include electric vehicles (e-vehicles), transportation and stainless steel.

“Right now, it [e-vehicles] is on its infancy, but consider the impact of electric vehicles in the future,” he said.

Bravo is optimistic that e-vehicles will grow. “It’s just a matter of time as all the manufacturing companies are talking about it. Then there will be a significant

demand for nickel because it is found that nickel is safer and more efficient.”

However, there is a need to ensure that there are sufficient reserves to support the value added in nickel such as the putting up of processing plants, he said.

House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, in her speech at the event, said that the mining sector grew more rapidly under the present administration than it did when she was still the president despite the former’s stand on mining.

“I have said that even under my successor, who was very strict about mining, the sector grew even more than it did in my time,” she said. “That’s what we want to do now. Even in today’s policy and regulatory environment, we want to help the sector grow and contribute to national development.”

But in doing so, the Speaker stressed, there should be a framework that will approximate the thinking of President Duterte.

As what the President stated in his State of the Nation Address last year, Arroyo said, raw materials from mining opera-

tions in the country should be converted to finished products.

“In line with the President’s other statements regarding raw materials...your projects would ideally include processing facilities if not today, at least in the realistic future.”

In doing so, she said mining companies should include in their proposed expansion the setting up of processing facilities.

Bravo said to ensure sustainability of nickel processing plants, explorations should not be limited to just one year.

He said there is a need to ensure sufficient reserves to support the plant and also longer time for explorations in other areas to ensure that there will be reserves for the processing plant.

Another issue that needs to be reviewed is the policy that may seem to restrict those who would be investing in value-added processing plants.

“If we have the right policies that we can guarantee that investments, that we can guarantee supply, that we can provide other benefit advantage, then definitely, as

the second-largest producer of nickel, we can also become the second if not the No. 1 in the value-added processing,” he said.

“Our policies should encourage highquality investment because mining is capital intensive. We have to know how to move forward and convince the government that there is a need to implement new policies if we want to go into that direction,” he added.

At present, PNIA is discussing the creation of a road map that would promote investments and enhance its competitiveness in the world market.

“The road map is just the start. We need to identify what needs to be done.

We hope to do it in a year’s time and come up with something to be able to promote the industry and help the government in shaping the right policies,” Bravo said.

He stressed the crafting of a road map will ensure a fair understanding of what the role of the nickel industry is, which they believe is a significant economic driver considering that the Philippines is the world’s second-largest supplier of nickel-ore. PNA

DOE okays grid impact study for 6 power projects

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

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HE Department of Energy (DOE) has recently cleared six power projects that could generate a total of 1,629 megawatts (MW) for the conduct of a grid impact study (GIS).

A clearance for the conduct of a grid impact study is a requisite for a power firm before it can proceed with the construction of a power project.

Out of the six power projects, two are wind power, one is a solar-power project, a battery-energy storage, a subtransmission line and a bunker-fired power plant.

Rizal I Wind Energy Corp. will put up a 603-MW project in Antipolo and Tanay, Rizal. The other wind project will be built by Alternenergy Abra de Ilog Wind Corp., which will put up 100 MW of capacity also in Antipolo City and Tanay, Rizal.

Pangasinan UPC Asia Corp., meanwhile, is planning a 300-MW solar-power project in Laguna de Bay and Pililia, Rizal.

GT Energy Corp. will develop an 18-MW bunkerfired power project in Calbayog, Samar. Monte Solar Energy Inc. will put up a 5-MW battery energy storage in Negros Oriental.

The sixth power project approved for the conduct of a GIS study is the 69 kilovolt sub-transmission line of Bases Conversion and Development Authority in Concepcion, Tarlac.

Their applications for the conduct of GIS were approved by the DOE in February this year.

DILG’s potable water project benefited 2 million households nationwide

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HE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Wednesday said over 2 million households nationwide have benefitted from some 4,963 completed potable watersupply projects, which were admin-

istered by the agency through the Office of Project Development Services-Water Supply and Sanitation Project Management Office (OPDSWSS PMO) since 2012.

Interior Undersecretary for Local Government Marivel Sacendoncillo

said the DILG is one of the 28 agencies involved in the implementation of national programs such as the Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig Para sa Lahat (Salintubig), Bottom-up Budgeting (BuB)-Water Supply, Assistance to Municipalities (AM)-Water Supply

and Local Government Support Fund (LGSF)-Water.

Of the 4,963 completed projects, 1,468 were done through Salintubig; 2,962 through BuB-Water; and “What we are doing is significant because we are not just DILG…whatever

we do we contribute to the bigger picture on achieving and sustaining good local governance,” she said.

Amid the water shortage in some parts of Metro Manila, the DILG official said the agency will scale up this year its potable water-supply projects

in parts of the country, where there is no sufficient access to clean and safe water supply.

“The current water shortage in some parts of Metro Manila serves as a reminder for us to conserve water,” Sacendoncillo said. PNA with Jonathan L. Mayuga

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PHL seeks China funding for 2 infra projects–DOF

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HE Department of Finance (DOF) announced on Wednesday that funding for two infrastructure projects were raised when Philippine officials met with their Chinese counterpart in Beijing.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III was quoted in a statement as saying that the Philippines is seeking Chinese financing for the Davao-Samal Bridge Project in Mindanao and the Panay-Guimaras-Negros In-

terisland Bridge project in Western Visayas.

Dominguez also issued an assurance that the funds—whether as loan or grant, he didn’t say— “are going to be used to the benefit of the Filipino people.”

The Davao-Samal Bridge project is estimated to span 1.2 kilometers and will link Davao City and the Island Garden City of Sama l. T he Panay- Guimaras-Negros Interisland Bridge project, on the other hand, is a 16-kilometer bridge project stretching from Iloilo to Negros Occidental.

He added that the Philippines and China are “also working towards” beginning the implementation of two rail projects, namely the Subic-Clark Railway Project in Luzon and the Mindanao Railway Project.

The Philippine delegation, led

by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., flew to Beijing on March 19 and paid a courtesy call to People’s Republic of China

Vice President Wang Qishan.

Dominguez also cited the “significant progress” in the implementation of Philippine infrastructure projects funded with official development assistance (ODA) from China during the meeting.

He added that the Philippine officials updated Qishan on the status of the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program, specifically projects under Chinese financing.

T hese projects include the Binondo -Int ra muros a nd Estrella-Pantaleon bridges being implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways and funded with a 397-millionrenminbi ($63.13-million) grant from China.

Top China investor’s favorite bonds are awfully hard to buy Z HANG QINGHUA’S debt-focused fund is trouncing almost every rival in China, benefiting from an early bet on riskier bonds that’s quickly paying off.

Yet, the E Fund Management Co. money manager has a problem: his favorite securities are hard to come by. Despite a flood of issuance in China since January, demand for convertible bonds is outstripping supply thousands of times over as more investors catch on to the new hot trade. Citic Bank Corp.’s deal in March had about 5,500 orders for every bond on offer. Bank of Communications Co. was said to cut its fund-raising target by half this week.

China’s debt investors are pining for a slice of the country’s nascent convertible-bond market, where they can find better returns in 2019 as risk-appetite makes a comeback. A gauge tracking the equity-like securities has surged 18 percent this quarter, on track for its best performance since 2014. That compares to a 3.4 percent gain for a broader fixed-income index, which includes government debt, policy-bank bonds and corporate credit.

“The current problem is not oversupply, but the shortage of investment targets,” said Zhang. “There’s vast demand for convertible bonds.”

1-in-5,500 odds

ZHANG’S $1.4 billion E Fund Stable Value Bond Fund has returned 13 percent this year, better than 98 percent of comparable Chinese funds tracked by Bloomberg. That’s because it’s taking on significant equity risk, though, whereas other fixed-income funds may not be.

More than half of Zhang’s fund is

CHINA’S bond rally has some traders scrambling for more. BLOOMBERG

invested in convertible and exchangeable bonds, according to its latest report, while about 11 percent is allocated to equities. The rest is mainly in other fixed-income products.

E Fund Management raised three new funds focusing on convertible bonds in 2018 alone, Zhang said, without disclosing their size.

Rising demand from investors could help drive growth in China’s convertible and exchangeable bond market, which has only 167 outstanding securities valued at about $62 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with $4 trillion of corporate notes.

Issuers have sold $17 billion of convertible debt in 2019, surpassing the value of stock debuts around six times over.

“The market’s expansion is necessary to attract more money from investors like insurers, as well as those with an

F_ _ k you money

A

S defined by the “Urban Dictionary,” “F_ _k you money” is “the exact amount of money required in order to tell an individual or organization to go f_ _k themselves without facing repercussions.” In more polite company, I would call it walk-away money, which will allow you to walk away from any job, business, investment, transaction, relationship, anyone or anything without any terminal consequences for your actions.

The thing with walk-away money is that there is no fixed amount of how much you need: it depends on the individual on how much he can manage to live on, or perhaps even if the person is willing to live with certain sacrifices to be able to walk away from something. In many cases, particularly for less capable individuals, they are not interested in walk-away money; they just want to keep their jobs and cash flow and are willing to simply swallow

FINEX FREE ENTERPRISE George S. Chua their pride and follow the orders of their boss, not rock the boat and not take risks.

What then are the types of people who are willing to walk away? First are principled people who will walk away from something if it goes against what they believe in, and they will do it regardless if they have money or not. I have seen such people quit their jobs with no backup plan or walk-away money. Certainly strong willed people with character! Perhaps not the most practical way of going through life, but they have my admiration and respect.

Then we have those people

equities focus,” said Zhang.

Just as the $1.9 trillion rally in Chinese stocks since January helped lift appetite for convertible bonds, concern that the equity market may be overheating is also spilling over. Investors typically bet on convertible bonds for potential gains on the equity conversion, meaning the markets tend to rise and fall in tandem. The Shanghai Composite Index is up 24 percent in 2019, beating all other national benchmarks.

Despite the rally, Zhang is still bullish on convertible bonds this year and prefers them over other fixed-income securities. He says the yields on China’s corporate bonds are not attractive enough.

“If stocks continue to rise, convertible bonds will follow suit,” Zhang said.

“The economy is likely to stabilize, so the drag on the stock market will decrease.” Bloomberg News

who slowly accumulate and build up their resources and take all the crap thrown at them until they are able to have enough walk-away money. Are they any less principled than those people who are able to walk away without a parachute? I will certainly not be the judge of that.

Perhaps their obligation to their families who depend on them pre vent s t hem f rom t a k i ng unilateral action.

Being fortunate enough to have earned, inherited or in any way built up walk-away money is equivalent to having freedom.

The big question is if financial independence is equivalent to freedom. Of course money cannot buy everything, but it certainly comes close. The freedom to travel, live any where you want, choose your friends, have a good life and do anything you please as long as it is within the bounds of law is made possible by having money.

The key is to be able to have

T hrough t he st atement, Dominguez thanked China for providing concessional loan fina nc ing for t he C hico R iver Pump Irrigation project and the New Centennial Water SourceKaliwa Dam project. China has extended a $62.09-million loan for the Chico river irrigation project and a $211.21-million loan for the construction of the Kaliwa Dam. Dominguez said DOF officials have been meeting with the Ministry of Commerce of China for the past two years.

“And we have made a lot of progress with our actual [ODA] relations with China,” he added.

In separate meetings, Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Y.C. Joven led the Philippine delega-

tion in discussing with officials of the Export-Import Bank of China (China-Exim Bank ) and the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) the status of additional BBB projects proposed for Chinese financing.

Joven and the Philippine delegation met with China-Exim Bank President Zhang Qingsong and, separately, with CIDCA Chairman Wang Xiaotao.

“Both sides discussed the updates of ongoing projects, as well as those in the pipeline,” Joven said. “The Chinese side also conveyed its continuing commitment to support the infrastructure projects of the Philippines, including its openness to provide available sources of financing for other projects.” Rea Cu

Poll: Pinoy financial consumers trust banks more than other institutions to handle data

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OCAL financial consumers trust the banks more than any other institution in the country in terms of handling the security of their data, a recent survey showed.

New research from international firm Unisys Corp. showed that out of the five countries surveyed, Philippine bank customers have the highest level of trust in banks to protect customer data. The survey revealed that 42 percent of Filipinos said so, citing that banks are the organization they “trust most to share their personal data with.”

This is twice the number of people who trust the government (21 percent) or card networks (15 percent) with the same information.

The survey was made this year and covered the attitudes of banking customers in the Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Taiwan.

“Philippine banks currently enjoy a high level of trust from their customers based on their ability to protect the sensitive personal data in their care,” Unisys Asia Pacific Industry Director for Financial Services Ian Selbie said.

The survey showed that 63 percent of respondents cited security and safety of customer data as the thing that matters to them most when engaging with a bank. In comparison, 54 percent rank efficient service and issue resolution as the priority, and 36 percent cited the reasons: “easy to understand and transparent products and services.”

Overall, Unisys said Filipinos recorded the highest level of comfort using biometrics to verify their identity to authorize financial transactions, compared to the other five countries surveyed.

In particular, eight out of 10 Filipinos are comfortable using voice, face or fingerprint to

walk-away money when it still matters and under your own terms. It does not make sense to put your walk-away money to good use when you are already at your deathbed. The true purpose using walk-away money is to prove a point—yours! If you have a boss that gets on your nerves and acts as if he was the rain maker, you could do something about it by walking away and watching the house of cards collapse.

The risk is when the business you walked away from does not suffer but actually thrives, which shows that perhaps you have been giving yourself too much credit.

At any rate, hav ing walkaway money is always a good thing to have. It allows you to keep your options open, keep your dignity, principles and live with yourself. However, being able to have enough walk-away money is another matter.

Comments ma y be sent to georgechuaph@yahoo.com.

access mobile banking apps, or use facial or fingerprint recognition at an ATM. Meanwhile, six out of 10 are comfortable using voice recognition when calling the bank’s call center.

But only five out of 10 are comfortable with a bank using behavioral biometrics, such as tracking the unique way a person scrolls through web sites, types on a phone or presses buttons, to verify identity.

Filipinos who don’t support biometrics mostly cite data security concerns.

“Filipinos have a strong appetite to use new technologies such as biometrics to help secure who can access their financial information,” Selbie said. “The lower level of support for behavioral biometrics is likely driven by a combination of less familiarity with this type of security measure and an unwillingness to be monitored on an ongoing basis.”

“If banks want their customers to embrace behavioral-based identity authentication, they will need to convince them that the benefit of security is worth forgoing some level of privacy,” he added.

However, Unisys said banks should not rest on their laurels and continue to prove to their clients their ability to secure the data being handled to them by their financial customers.

“As open banking is rolled out across Asia, allowing banks to more easily work with third parties to provide new services to customers, they will need to demonstrate that they are protecting their customer data across all parties involved in the banking service supply chain,” Selbie said. “Our research also reveals that trust in banks is lower for those aged 18 to 34 years, flagging that banks will need to actively work to maintain their customer base’ trust over time.” Bianca Cuaresma

Bank of Thailand holds interest rate as election risks scale up

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HE Bank of Thailand (BoT) left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, providing policy stability to investors days before the nation’s first election since a military coup five years ago.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to hold its policy rate at 1.75 percent, the Bank of Thailand said in a statement on Wednesday, in line with the forecasts from all 21 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

The MPC “viewed that the current accommodation monetary policy stance had contributed to the continuation of economic growth and was appropriate given the inflation target,” it said in a statement.

Thailand’s central bank hiked rates by 25 basis points in December, joining peers in the region in tightening monetary policy as US rates rose. With the Federal Reserve now turning more cautious on rate hikes and inflation risks subsiding across Southeast Asia, central banks are adopting a wait-and-see approach on future moves. While the MPC

flagged the possibility of another interest-rate increase last month, policy-makers are proceeding slowly.

Don Nakornthab, a senior director at the BoT, said last week the shift away from policy tightening globally is making it more difficult for the central bank to hike rates, while an MPC member said in an interview the odds of another rate hike were low.

Inflation remains subdued at under 1 percent, below the central bank’s 1-percent to 4-percent target band.

Uncertainty about the outcome of the March 24 election is rising.

Foreign investors have pulled out about a net $700 million from the nation’s stock and bond markets so far this year, while the benchmark SET index has underperformed peers in the Asia Pacific in that period.

“We continue to expect the BOT will leave interest rates unchanged until there is further clarity on US trade policy, especially its stance on auto tariffs,” Tamara Henderson, a Bloomberg economist covering Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, said. Bloomberg News

A10 Thursday, March 21, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

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editorial

What it takes to bring back Manila Bay’s glory

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O sustain the momentum of cleaning up the Manila Bay, the Department of the Interior and Local Government has ordered local chief executives of 178 cities and municipalities inside the Manila Bay Watershed Area to see to it that all business establishments in their respective areas would comply with the provisions of environmental laws, including the National Building Code, the Fire Code, the Code on Sanitation, and other related laws, regulations, and policies.

Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año issued a memorandum directing all mayors in the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon to revoke the business permits of establishments violating environmental laws.

The DILG chief said that a business or mayor’s permit is not a right but a privilege granted by the state, and LGUs play a big role to ensure the success of the Duterte administration’s ongoing efforts to clean and rehabilitate Manila Bay. “Let us sustain the momentum of cleaning up Manila Bay. The DILG is committed to doing our role in the interagency Manila Bay Task Force, which include supervision of LGUs whether they are judiciously inspecting all establishments in their respective areas,” he said, as he instructed concerned DILG regional directors to report to him those LGUs and local chief executives who fail to abide by this directive.

Año knows the hugeness of the problem, which is why he also wants to involve all leaders of 5,714 barangays inside the Manila Bay Watershed Area to contribute to the rehabilitation of the polluted bay by organizing weekly cleanup drives in their localities.

Presidential Spokesman S. Salvador Panelo earlier said that President Duterte is prepared to show political will to enforce the cleanup of Manila Bay, to the extent of closing down polluting establishments in the cities and provinces around it. What the government did in Boracay, he said, it will also do in Manila Bay. However, Manila Bay is a bigger cesspool than Boracay—a hundred times bigger. And the fecal coliform bacteria level in the bay has now reached 350 MPN (most probable number), compared to the 100 MPN around Boracay when it was closed down for six months.

It will take a tremendous amount of political will to compel the polluting towns and cities with their factories and their millions of homes spewing untreated sewage into the streams and rivers flowing into the bay. Reports said around 1 million informal settlers have been using Manila Bay for their own hygienic purposes. Business establishments have also been dumping raw sewage into the bay, choosing not to build their own sewage-treatment plants to save on costs.

We are confident that President Duterte will carry out this herculean task of rehabilitating Manila Bay with the same steely political will he displayed in Boracay. But the massive cleanup is a daunting task that could take years to complete. For starters the entire catchment of Manila Bay measures 1.7 million hectares, equivalent to 1,700 Boracays. This means that the number of business establishments causing pollution in the bay is a lot more than in Boracay.

To put that in perspective, more than 40 tons of garbage were removed from Manila Bay on January 27, the start of a campaign to clean up one polluted stretch of its coastline. The 11 truckloads of garbage were collected by 5,000 volunteers, including government employees. It will take more volunteers and workers, and more taxpayers’ money to complete the job of cleaning up the bay, which is famous for its sunset views. But with the firm resolve of the Duterte administration to bring Manila Bay back to life, we believe the results will be beneficial to the whole country and to all Filipinos.

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John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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IVING in Singapore in the early 1980s, there were two particular sights that you would always see. In areas most frequently visited by foreign tourists, every few meters was someone sitting on the sidewalk with a “boom box” who would copy almost any cassette to order.

While this “pirated” music was not part of the official gross domestic product numbers, it did provide income and a livelihood to hundreds of families—if not more.

The second common sight was a group of six men with old-fashioned shovels digging on both private- and public-works projects like laying new water pipes not unlike what we often see here in the Philippines. For a “rich” country, it was as if Singapore had never heard of backhoes and other medium-heavy equipment.

Over the next decade or so, both of these phenomena disappeared.

Instead of five guys with shovels, it was two men and a backhoe. The ones with the boom boxes became factory workers cranking out CDs and DVDs. Looking back through thousands of years of economic history,

only two factors determine economic growth for a city, nation or even a continent: population and worker productivity.

In the aftermath of the Black Plague in the mid 1300s when Europe lost about one-third of its population, unemployment went to virtually zero. There was a great labor shortage that forced higher wages. Not only was there a wage competition for workers but also that labor was required to work more and longer hours to provide the goods needed.

However, the lower number of workers could not produce enough to create stronger—pre-Black Plague— economic growth.

While productivity went higher, there were not enough workers to make up the difference.

“Population” is not only the total size but also the demographics of the

The Philippines is pretty much golden when it comes to the population factors of size and age demographics. But it is the productivity factor that needs improving. And this is not just about education and technology, like using a backhoe instead of six shovels. Every hour in traffic reduces productivity. Standing in line for water does the same.

That is why “Build, Build, Build” is so crucial for the future. Anything that makes work productivity easier, faster and more efficient creates greater and stronger economic prosperity.

population, particularly by age. If an economy has an abundance of “too young” or “too old,” economic growth is also inhibited, as these two age groups do not produce much. That is the problem that Japan is facing with its population demographics skewing toward the elderly. It’s also a great concern for China. Further, both nations are actually projecting declines in population in the next two decades.

The Chinese population will peak at 1.442 billion a decade from now in 2029. The Chinese government forecasts that China’s population will decrease to 1.172

billion people by 2065, the same as it was in 1990. That is only one generation from now. Therefore, if China is to maintain its economic growth “miracle,” each worker must be more productive. It is also worth noting that North America’s (Mexico, the US and Canada) median age is currently 37.5 years, 5 percent older than China’s current reading. By 2050 projections have it at 42 years for North America, 7 percent younger than China’s population. That makes it understandable why China is so serious and focused on as much economic growth today as is possible.

The Philippines is pretty much golden when it comes to the population factors of size and age demographics. But it is the productivity factor that needs improving. And this is not just about education and technology, like using a backhoe instead of six shovels.

Every hour in traffic reduces productivity. Standing in line for water does the same. That is why “Build, Build, Build” is so crucial for the future. Anything that makes work productivity easier, faster and more efficient creates greater and stronger economic prosperity.

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.

It’s time to understand inflation as prices increase

Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Efleda P. Campos Dennis D. Estopace

Online Editor Social Media Editor

Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager

Creating more economic growth

Cecilio T. Arillo

DATABASE

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N economics, inflation means that the general level of prices of goods and services is increasing. When inflation is rapid, prices of goods and services can increase faster than consumers’ income, and that means less amount of goods and services that consumers are able to purchase.

With inflation, a peso buys less and less over time. That’s why the Bangko Sentral (Central Bank) tries to keep inflation low and stable in the long run because that helps the economy grow over long periods of time.

Besides, people can make better spending and investment plans if inflation is low and stable because they do not have to worry about high inflation decreasing the purchasing power of their money.

Problems of inflation IF it’s high, there are three main problems it can cause: 1. People on a fixed income (e.g., pensioners, students) will be worse off in real terms due to higher prices as before, and this will lead to a reduction in their purchasing power.

2. Rising inflation can encourage trade unions to demand higher wages, and this can cause a wage spiral. If strikes occur, say in an important industry with a comparative

If inflation is picking up, the Taylor Rule prescribes the amount by which the Bangko Sentral funds rate would need to be raised or, if output and employment are weakening, the amount by which it would need to be lowered.

advantage, the nation may see a serious reduction in productivity and unemployment.

3. If inflation is high, exports will become more expensive for other countries to buy, and this will create a deficit on the current account.

Controlling inflation

THE Bangko Sentral, now under newly appointed Gov. Benjamin Diokno, a noted economist, is not only mandated to determine the nation’s monetary policy but it is also tasked to look at inflation.

The Bangko Sentral holds regular meetings to review the country’s economic and financial conditions

and set monetary policies. The term “monetary policy” refers to the actions taken by the Bangko Sentral to help encourage a healthy economy. The actions taken influence the availability and cost of money and credit, which affect a range of economic variables, including output, employment, and prices of goods and services.

Interest rates have frequently been proposed as a guide to policy, not only because of the role they play in a wide variety of spending decisions but also because information on interest rates is available on a real-time basis.

The appropriate level of interest rates will vary with the stance on fiscal policy, changes in the pattern of household and business spending, productivity growth and economic developments abroad. It’s not easy to gauge the strength of these forces and translate them into a path for interest rates.

The slope of the yield curve (that is, the difference between the See “Arillo,” A11

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Hanjin: A platform for industrial deepening?

If you do not repent…

Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

ALÁLAONG BAGÁ

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS Continued from A1

A

NOTHER group that expressed interest in a possible government takeover of the facility is the Department of National Defense. In fact, the National Defense College and the Philippine Navy have been conducting workshops on what the government can possibly do in relation to the shipyard.

It is difficult to get the results of these workshops. But one can easily guess that the national security issue is at the center of the DND discussions.

In particular, the ship-modernization requirement of the Philippine Navy must have also cropped up. According to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the defense establishment has a military modernization budget for 2019 amounting to P300 billion. The lion’s share of the budget shall go to the Philippine Navy because of the complex defense requirements of an island republic.

The Navy seeks to procure new frigates, corvettes, offshore patrol vessels, strategic sealift vessels, landing platform docks, multipurpose assault crafts, mine countermeasures, vessels, attack crafts, and ASW helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft.

All the foregoing vessels are expensive. For the purchase of two new missile-firing frigates alone, the DND signed with another Korean shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries, a P16-billion contract for the delivery of the said vessels in 2020 and 2021. The Navy has also been spending several hundreds of millions for repairs and dry docking of sea vessels for maintenance.

So why not transform the Hanjin shipyard as a facility to build the sea vessels needed by the Philippine Navy and use the yard’s dry docks for the repair and maintenance of the Navy’s various sea vessels? Is this not part of the national security program of the country, that is, to be able to build at home the bulk of the military’s equipment and vessel requirements?

Of course, some economists have the usual “economistic” attitude: Let new investors, preferably foreign, come in. Who are the knights in shining armor? So we hear reports that the DTI has been talking to some European and American investors. The Japanese ship builders, who have facilities in the Visayas, are also interested.

And so are the Australians.

There are also news on the possible entry of Chinese investors. These have generated worries among those concerned on the growing economic and military influence of China in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia.

A Western reporter wrote: “A move

by China to take over the base is a political and strategic, as well as financial question for the government and one that will be closely followed by neighbors already nervous about the Philippines’s susceptibility to Chinese money lures.”

So far, Malacañang has not issued any formal announcement on what exactly are its plans and intentions in relation to the rehabilitation of the Hanjin facility. The shipyard occupies around 300 hectares of the Subic Freeport. The bankrupt company owes local banks over $400 million.

And most of the displaced workers and the communities around Hanjin are desperate for help.

It is against this backdrop that the UP Center for Integrative Development Studies (CIDS) Freedom from Debt Coalition, Action for Economic Reforms and LEARN held a roundtable on what to do with the shipyard.

The participants, coming from the government, academe, trade unions and civil-society organizations, all agree that the government must come up with pantawid measures for the affected workers and

communities in the short-term and medium- and long-term programs to revive the shipyard, not only to sustain jobs but also to strengthen the image of the Philippines as a global shipbuilder.

Along this line, one popular proposal advanced by an academic, Dr. Ed Tadem of UP CIDS, is for the workers, with the help of the government, to take over the facility and manage it to save jobs and the shipyard. He came up with a list of countries where factories and establishments abandoned by bankrupt investors have been successfully taken over and transformed into viable enterprises by the workers.

Why not? But this deserves a separate discussion.

Another issue tackled in the roundtable is Industrial Policy— with a capital I and capital P. It was pointed out that the government, with a clear vision of industrial upgrading, can use Hanjin as a platform to build a true shipbuilding industry, alongside other basic industries such as the steel industry.

It is truly ironic that the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,100 islands, has a poor and underdeveloped maritime industry. Most of the interisland ships, including the “Roros,” are secondhand imports from Japan and South Korea. The millenniumold bancas have not been modernized. The transport of goods from Mindanao to Luzon and vice versa has always been blamed for the high cost of goods due to the inefficient shipping industry. Certainly, a modern shipbuilding industry that is fully integrated in the economy can serve as a pillar in the all-out industrialization and modernization of the country.

The problem, however, with Hanjin and other similar facilities set up by the Japanese and Singapore (Keppel) investors in the country is that they were established as “enclaves” with limited linkages with the domestic economy. It is similar to the old export-oriented garments industry, which had no linkage with the domestic textile industry. The latter is now dead, while the former is now comatose.

In contrast, in South Korea, the steel and shipbuilding industries were developed in the 1960s-1970s as pillars in the transformation of a backward and semi-agrarian economy. Despite the resistance from the World Bank and lack of basic resources such as iron ores, the regime of Park Chung Hee nurtured these industries by pushing the chaebols to acquire knowledge and technology from overseas, giving these industries credit and other financial assistance, limiting imports and so on. At one time, Park Chung Hee himself sat down with the then emerging Korean industry captains on a monthly basis just to keep track with the progress of industrialization.

The result: South Korea, once the poorest in Asia in the 1960s, became one of the most industrially prosperous by the 1990s. In contrast, the Philippines, rated by the World Bank as second to Japan in the 1960s in industrial development, became a laggard in the 1990s.

More on the South Korean experience in the next column.

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HE season of Lent is a time for repentance. Repentance means taking action here and now to be in conformity with God’s will and making a clear stand against whatever evil one may have fallen for. The gospel reading (Luke 13:1-9) underlines God’s transcendent love for us sinners whose conversion He awaits.

Personal tragedy as warning, not karma THERE is a common belief that tragedy befalls people because of some guilt they have, while good fortune is a proof of integrity; that it is some sort of karma that people have to suffer as punishment for their sinful choices, unavoidably like the payment of debts. Thus, people told Jesus about the Galileans ordered by Pilate to be butchered even as they were sacrificing, and Jesus immediately challenged the people’s presumption: “Do you think...they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?” Jesus even offered another instance of tragedy in the case of the 18 people on whom the tower of Siloam fell: “Do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means!” Jesus twice contradicted the popular but misguided thinking.

Jesus is unequivocally rejecting the thinking that victims of evil or accidents are simply paying for their sins; He is also debunking the unspoken presumption that people who escape suffering must have found divine approval and are morally better than the miserable victims of tragedies. Such karmic interpretation about sin and punishment is pre-Christian, and in its present-day “new age” cause-andeffect simplification would reduce human and salvation history into a mechanistic godlessness. It is incompatible with Jesus Christ’s good news of the merciful God.

The God of mercy and compassion

JESUS is here presenting to the people a glimpse into the mystery of God who does not operate along the line of sin and punishment but on the basis of His love for us, His

Thursday, March 21, 2019 A11

Sin and evil in the world can only be truly remedied according to God’s way. God is merciful and compassionate to us sinners, willing to wait for our transformation and maturation, warning us to act now before it is all too late. Cutting down, or murdering, an unprofitable tree or person, simply illustrates human frustration and inadequacy. sinful people. The God of Jesus Christ does not wish the death of a sinner but that the sinner should repent and live. And God does not bless us human beings only because of some good we may have done but because of His love for us. And that is why the above-mentioned personal tragedies are seen by Jesus, not as proofs of inescapable divine wrathful justice, but as somber warnings, God’s gift of mercy, to those who are still alive and can do something to better their situation. Twice Jesus points out: “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” Not that if they do not repent some punishment preordained would rain down on them, but that the absence of repentance on the part of sinful human beings would mean ultimate unhappiness to them who are destined to enjoy the fullness of eternal life.

In addition, the parable Jesus

also narrated to the people highlights the fact that God has put us in this world to enable us to grow into His life of love, abundant with fruits of goodness and holiness. Life is a gift given to us by the Creator.

Coming from God who is love, we are destined for the fullness of His life of love. We are not shaped or determined by some inexorable law of karma or any system of sin and punishment by which we wistfully hope to govern ourselves without God, or at least “less stupidly” than God. Sin and evil in the world can only be truly remedied according to God’s way. God is merciful and compassionate to us sinners, willing to wait for our transformation and maturation, warning us to act now before it is all too late. Cutting down, or murdering, an unprofitable tree or person, simply illustrates human frustration and inadequacy.

Alálaong bagá, in the face of our human weaknesses and failures, God wishes still that we be given chance to bear fruit. In contrast to the human sense of justice, easily vindictive and focused on what punishment be effective against a perceived evil, divine justice is on the proper and merciful extension of charity for the ultimate good of the sinner. In Christ’s teaching, we conquer evil in us and around us by God’s love and mercy.

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.

China’s Boeing threat has more bite than bark

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By Brooke Sutherland | Bloomberg Opinion

HE trade war may finally start to bite for Boeing Co. The aerospace giant is the only nonconsumer, nontech US company that gets more than $5 billion of revenue from China, and as such, it was initially assumed to be among companies that would be most affected by trade tensions. So far, however, the impact from tariff cross fire has been rather limited.

That may have been a reflection of China’s need for Boeing orders in the short term to support local airlines and an inclination to maintain a balance between the US planemaker and its European counterpart, Airbus SE. An eagerness to ensure Boeing’s ongoing participation at an assembly center outside of Shanghai that’s coowned by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (known as Comac) and an important part of the country’s strategy to build a homegrown aviation industry could have been another factor.

But now, with Boeing on the defensive, China’s calculation of its political interests may be shifting.

China was the first country to ground the company’s 737 Max jet after the plane’s second fatal crash in just five months, and now it’s reportedly considering excluding the aircraft from a proposal to ramp up purchases of American goods.

China may now see an opening to establish itself as more of a leader in the aerospace industry, having already embarrassed the Federal Aviation Administration by leading a global charge to ground the Max that left the US regulator isolated in its defense of the plane’s airworthiness and nearly the last of its brethren to temporarily ban the jet from commercial flight.

China may be wont to relinquish its newfound role as a champion of safety, particularly as Comac

Arillo . . .

continued from A10

interest rate on longer-term and shorter-term instruments) has also been suggested as a guide to monetary policy. Short-term interest rates are strongly influenced by the current setting of the policy instrument, while longer-term interest rates are influenced by expectations of future short-term interest rates, and thus by the longer-term effects of monetary policy on inflation and output.

For example, a yield curve with a steeply positive slope (that is, longerterm interest rates far above shortterm rates) may be a signal that participants in the bond market believe that monetary policy has become

prepares to drive a wedge in the Boeing-Airbus duopoly with the rollout of its C919 in 2021. China says the plane—which can fit up to 168 passengers, similar to the Max 8 plane implicated in the crashes—has more than 800 orders worldwide. But one of the primary lingering concerns about the plane is that China has less of a proven safety track record than its Western counterparts. Anything the country can do to burnish its image on this front is in the interest of not only Comac’s backlog, but also the confidence of the local population.

There’s likely a fair amount of posturing going on here, as is the case with most aspects of the ongoing trade negotiations between the US and China. China’s decision to include aircraft purchases in its efforts to narrow the trade gap with the US may have been more a reflectoo expansive and thus, without a monetary policy correction, more inflationary.

Conversely, a yield curve with a downward slope (short-term rates above longer rates) may be an indication that policy is too restrictive, perhaps risking an unwanted loss of output and employment.

However, the yield curve is also influenced by other factors, including prospective fiscal policy, developments in foreign-exchange markets, and expectations about the future path of monetary policy. Thus, signals from the yield curve must be interpreted carefully.

The Taylor Rule

THE “Taylor Rule,” named after the prominent economist John Brian

The more immediate risk for Boeing is not that some arguably fictitious orders tentatively promised in trade talks won’t materialize, it’s that China walks away from some of its existing orders. Again, this isn’t a huge part of the backlog, but an aggressive move by China may inspire others to follow suit.

tion of the big ticket price for planes than anything else. The Max has a list price of more than $100 million before accounting for customary discounts; China has a $300-billionplus annual goods trade surplus with the US. Economists were already skeptical of the feasibility of China’s reported pledge to reduce that surplus to zero by 2024, given the US’s heavy reliance on imports from the country, but it’s especially impossible if airplanes aren’t part of the equation.

Regardless, this always struck me as more of a short-term fix.

Sure, China could load up on Boeing jet orders now, but ultimately the country will be reducing its dependence on Boeing and Airbus once Comac starts delivering its new C919 jet. Point being, there was always an obvious limit to China’s willingness to prop up Boeing.

Chinese Airlines have a total of 104 unfulfilled orders for the Max—not an insignificant percentage out of a global outstanding order book of Taylor of Stanford University and former US undersecretary of treasury for international affairs, is another guide to assessing the proper stance on monetary policy. It relates the setting of the national funds rate to the primary objectives of monetary policy—that is, the extent to which inflation may be departing from something approximating price stability and the extent to which output and employment may be departing from their maximum sustainable levels.

For example, one version of the Rule calls for the Bangko Sentral’s funds rate to be set equal to the rate thought to be consistent in the long run with the achievement of full employment and price stability plus a component based on

4,636 planes, but also not that big or disastrous of a hit when you stop to think about it. As my colleague David Fickling has pointed out before, the slender order books are at odds with predictions for an explosion in demand as China’s middle class expands and are likely a reflection of Chinese carriers’ desire to back the C919.

The more immediate risk for Boeing is not that some arguably fictitious orders tentatively promised in trade talks won’t materialize, it’s that China walks away from some of its existing orders. Again, this isn’t a huge part of the backlog, but an aggressive move by China may inspire others to follow suit.

The common thinking is that Airbus has its own hefty backlog and can’t easily ramp up production to replace Max orders. But it sure seems like it’s going to try to chip away where it can. French President Emmanuel Macron has reportedly held discussions with Ethiopia’s prime minister about shifting more of the country’s business toward Airbus jets. He will also discuss a major order with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.

Recall that Xiamen Airlines was reportedly mulling a break from a long-standing allegiance to Boeing in favor of Airbus, and that China and Airbus have had on-again/offagain talks about a separate $18billion jet order.

The true financial fallout for Boeing from the Max debacle remains a question mark. But its rivals are wasting no time. the gap between current inflation and the inflation objective, less a component based on the shortfall of actual output from the full-employment level.

If inflation is picking up, the Taylor Rule prescribes the amount by which the Bangko Sentral funds rate would need to be raised or, if output and employment are weakening, the amount by which it would need to be lowered.

The specific parameters of the formula are set to describe actual monetary policy behavior over a period when policy is thought to have been fairly successful in achieving its basic goals.

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

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Thursday, March 21, 2019

PHL bans porcine protein meal from ASF-hit nations

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@joveemarie

HE Philippines has banned processed porcine animal proteins used in manufacturing animal feeds and pet food from countries struck by African swine fever (ASF) to protect the domestic hog population from the dreaded disease.

The Department of Agriculture issued Memorandum Order 6 dated March 8 to authorize the ban. In MO 6, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the DA should institute emergency measures for the importation of processed porcine animal proteins from ASF-infected countries.

The Philippines will no longer issue sanitary/phytosanitary import clearance that is required to import

processed porcine/pork meal for animal feed use.

Piñol also ordered DA Veterinary Quarantine Officers/Inspectors at all major ports to confiscate of all shipments of imported pork meal.

Countries that are no longer allowed to ship pork products into the Philippines include Vietnam, Mongolia, Belgium, China, Germany, Bulgaria, Czech Republic,

“Evidence supports consumption of contaminated feed as one of the possible transmission routes of ASF virus to domestic pigs.”—Piñol

Moldova, South Africa, Zambia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary and Japan.

“Evidence supports consumption of contaminated feed as one of the possible transmission routes of ASF virus to domestic pigs,” Piñol said in MO 6.

“There is a need to prevent the entry of ASF virus through animals feeds of porcine origin to protect the health of the local swine population,” he added.

Member-countries of the World Organization for Animal Health notify ASF outbreaks in their territories as of part of their obligation, according to MO 6.

Earlier, the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said the Philippines

has readied a contingency plan that outlines the measures and protocols that the government will undertake to deal with possible outbreaks of the ASF in the country.

The BAI said it has come up with the third version of its ASF Contingency Plan, which details the government’s action plan in case of a local outbreak.

The attached agency of the DA has flagged pork products, particularly those brought in by returning Filipinos overseas, as possible carriers of the ASF virus. The virus could thrive in processed meat products and could be transferred to live hogs.

The DA also said it is keen on punishing tourists who will bring in pork products from countries affected by ASF with a fine of not less than P200,000.

Piñol told the BusinessMirror that he has instructed his policy team to review if the DA has legal authority to issue an administrative order (AO) mandating the implementation of the stringent measure.

DOLE sets rules for availing jobless insurance

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

Q

UALIFIED displaced workers will be required to first secure certification from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) before they could avail themselves of the new unemployment insurance of the Social Security System (SSS).

Bureau of Local Employment

(BLE) Director Dominique R. Tutay said in an interview on Wednesday that the DOLE is now crafting a new circular for the implementation of the new policy.

“The DOLE Secretary is set to issue a department circular setting the guidelines on the issuance of DOLE certification as a requirement for application for payment of unemployment insurance of involuntary separation benefits,”

LOW PRESSURE AREA 320 KM SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF PUERTO PRINCESA CITY as of 4:00 pm - March 20, 2019

Tutay said.

She said the certification will ensure applicants for the program were involuntarily retrenched.

Last month, President Duterte signed Republic Act (RA) 11199, or the Social Security Act. Among its salient provisions is the granting of unemployment insurance to SSS members, who are not over 60 years old and have paid 36 months of contribution.

To be eligible for the program, SSS members should have been have been displaced due to authorized and just causes, economic downturn, as well as natural or human-induced calamities.

‘Additional layer’

TUTAY said the DOLE welcomes the new program since it will provide “another layer of social safety net” for displaced workers.

“Hopefully, this will hasten their reentry in the labor market,” she said.

Qualified applicants will get monthly cash benefits equivalent to 50 percent of their average monthly salary credit for a maximum of two months.

Tutay noted the duration of the SSS unemployment insurance is shorter compared to that of other countries, which would last from six months and even to year.

Still, she said it would provide temporary income for displaced workers to help them find a new job.

The implementation of the unemployment insurance is still pending since SSS has yet to issue the necessary guidelines for its enforcement.

Program gaps

LABOR groups said they are “hesitant” to throw their support behind the program due to concerns over its implementation.

Federation of Free Workers (FFW) Vice President Julius Cainglet said the unemployment insurance program of SSS is not on a par with that of other countries.

“It does not contain any components like that for the training and placement [of the unemployed workers],” Cainglet said.

Multiples studies previously conducted by the DOLE’s Institute of Labor Studies (ILS) have recommended the inclusion of the said components in an unemployment insurance program to boost the chances of beneficiaries of being rehired.

In fact, the financial assistance program rolled by the government for workers, who were displaced due to the implementation of the K to 12 program and temporary closure of Boracay Island in previous years, followed a similar scheme.

Cainglet also raised concerns over the “restrictive requirements” See “DOLE,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘PHL STILL COMPLIANT WITH INTERNATIONAL MARITIME PRACTICES’

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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@lorenzmarasigan

HE Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) clarified on Wednesday that the Philippines is still on the socalled white list of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a United Nations agency.

Marina also expressed confidence that the Philippines will remain in the registry of countries that are compliant with global maritime standards.

Citing Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) circulars from 2016 and 2017, the regulatory body said the Philippines remains to be on the list of countries that are compliant with global maritime practices. A proposed revised list will be released sometime in late April or early May, according to Marina.

It explained that in the process for crafting the white list the IMO facilitates the preparation of the list of parties, which have submitted a report demonstrating full and complete implementation of relevant provisions of the 1978 standards of training, certification and watch keeping (STCW) convention.

The MSC will then review and confirm these, and will publish the new list in the form of international circulars.

“It is for this reason that the IMO Secretariat prepared a proposed revised list, which would be a living document for the continuing inclusion of parties or countries fulfilling their obligations under the said regulation of the convention,” the

statement read.

“This proposed revised list is included as agenda item 12, for consideration and discussion during the Sixth Session of IMO’s Sub-Committee on Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping from April 29 to May 3,” it added.

Marina officials will attend the said session, and will “assert appropriate position regarding the proposed document.”

“The Philippine government, through the Department of Transportation and the Marina, assures the maritime industry stakeholders of its unwavering commitment in carrying out its obligation under the convention,” the statement read.

“With national legislations coupled by the necessary quality standard and information technology support systems in place, the Marina is confident of the Philippines’s continuing inclusion in the white list,” it added.

The IMO white list was last released in 2011.

Inclusion in the white list implies that the Philippines is compliant with the STCW, which lists the standards for seafaring personnel. Hence, being on the list is a huge advantage for Filipino seafarers, as this reflects that they underwent strict training and education.

A removal of the Philippines from the list could have serious implications on Filipino seafarers abroad. There are as much as 400,000 Filipino seafarers deployed in different parts of the world to date, remitting about $5.8 billion annually.

Banks stick with BSP’s term deposit facility

By Bianca Cuaresma

B

@BcuaresmaBM

ANKS continue to subscribe to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) liquiditysiphoning facility, despite earlier observations of seemingly tighter cash-supply conditions as evidenced by the slower growth in domestic liquidity.

Data from the Central Bank showed that banks continue to bid in more than what the Central Bank is offering in terms of term deposits on Wednesday, as all tenors are oversubscribed for the week.

In particular, bids in the BSP’s seven-day tenor hit P27.254 billion during the week, overshooting the P20-billion offer on Wednesday.

This is also true with the 14-day tenor, with bids hitting P22.198 billion, about P2 billion in excess of the P20-billion auction volume during the week.

For the 28-day tenor, which was not offered last week, the demand also surged to P16.078 billion, oversubscribing from the P10-billion offering for the week.

The term deposit facility is one of the BSP’s liquidity-absorption facilities to manage circulation in the economy. As banks bid to park

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Continued from A1

privacy issue liberalizing these sectors could bring,” she added.

The business sector has long been calling on the government to amend the Constitution and lift

funds in the BSP’s facility, the TDF effectively siphons off a part of this structural liquidity from the financial system to bring market rates closer to the BSP’s main policy rate.

Rates during the week showed mixed movement as those in the short- and long-term tenors fell while the rate in the medium tenors rose during the week.

The seven-day rate hit 4.9803 percent on Wednesday, down from 5.0214 percent in the previous week. The rate in the 28-day facility, meanwhile, hit 5.0987 percent down from the 5.2017 percent last week.

The rate in the 14-day facility, however, hit 5.1079 percent, rising from the 5.0975 percent in the previous week.

Since the start of the year, banks have been showing sustained interest in the BSP’s TDF, with bouts of oversubscription every week. For 2019, the BSP has only increased its volume of offering once—in the first week of January—from P30 billion to the current P50 billion offered.

Earlier this month, BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said that the oversubscription in the weekly TDF is an indicator that there continues to be “ample liquidity” in the local stream. or relax the provision on foreign ownership restriction to allow more offshore investments to enter the Philippines. Under Article 12, Section 11 of the 1987 Constitution, foreign investors are allowed to own up to only 40 percent in operation of a public utility and corporations or associations.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, March 21, 2019

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Foreign lenders keen on rehab of Agus-Polangui complex

A

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

TOP official of the National Power Corp. (NPC) said the multibillion-peso rehabilitation of the Agus-Polangui hydropower complex has drawn interest from multilateral lending agencies.

“A French group, the French government have expressed interest. We also got inquiries from Australia and Japanese companies. It is looking more like a multilateral loan,” said Pio J. Benavidez, NPC president and CEO. The NPC official previously identified China as one of those inter-

ested, but he said the other day that China is no longer in the list of interested firms in the rehabilitation of the hydropower complex, which supplies Mindanao electric power consumers more than 50 percent of their total electricity requirements.

He said the rehab cost could reach anywhere from P37 billion to P50

billion. The Agus complex, which has 728 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, consists of six cascading power plants strategically located along the Agus River.

The Polangui complex is a 255MW hydropower facility with three generating units. Both facilities, however, already have de-rated generation.

The government is keen on commencing the rehabilitation of the Agus-Polangui complex aimed at extending the facilities’ service life by 30 more years and to increase the plants’ reliability and availability.

Benavidez said the World Bank is still interested. “The World Bank would be joining other funding institutions covering multilateral funding. Its role is to do a feasibility study on what option-

scan be done for the Agus plant.”

“We’re looking at three options.

One is to attain the rated capacity, second is increase the capacity by 10 percent, and third is to water efficiency,” the NPC official said.

He said the government will choose the best option. “When the government has chosen what action to take, then we will conduct the feasibility study for 48 weeks.

So, hopefully, by April 2020, we can implement the project because by then, the feasibility study will be finished.”

Earlier, the Department of Finance, which chairs the Power Sectore Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., said it wants to tap funds from China for the rehabilitation of the Agus-Polangui hydropower complex.

ATI profits last year rise 15% to ₧2.9B

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

L

ISTED port operator Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) saw its profits growing by over 15 percent in 2018, thanks to record cargo volumes in its ports in Manila and Batangas.

In absolute terms, the company booked a net income of P2.9 billion in 2018, a 15.8-percent increase from the P2.5 billion it netted a year prior, as its revenues rose at a similar pace to P12.3 billion.

The company’s revenue growth was driven by the robust performance of its international ports, namely the Manila South Harbor

and Batangas Container Terminal.

Combined, the two ports handled a container throughput of over 1.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Manila South Harbor accounted for 1.3 million TEUs of the total volume, representing a 6-percent increase yearon-year. The Batangas Container Terminal grew its volumes by 25 percent to 250,000 TEUs in 2018.

“In synergy, Manila South Harbor and Batangas Container Terminal have effectively supported the government’s drive for inclusive growth within and outside Metro Manila by continuously opening direct market connectivity and delivering competitive port services

to shippers based in the country’s national capital and southern Luzon regions,” a company statement read.

It claimed the port in Batangas had contributed to the decongestion of Metro Manila roads, as the cargo volumes represent roughly 125,000 truck trips in Metro Manila.

For 2019, the company plans to further develop its ports through a P14.7-billion capital expenditure program. Both ports will see their berths and storage spaces upgraded, with additional container yards outside the port zones seen to be developed.

The spending program will also be used to acquire more cargo

handling equipment and invest in innovations.

“By the second quarter, the expansion of Batangas Container Terminal will be fully completed, bringing its capacity from 350,000 TEUs to over 450,000 TEUs, annually.

The terminal is now equipped with four quay cranes, eight rubber-tired gantry cranes and additional mobile container handling equipment,” the statement read.

Likewise, the company’s Santa Mesa container storage facility will be able to accommodate customscleared laden boxes this month. A new 5-hectare container depot outside the port of Manila is expected to be opened next month.

Realme sees rapid ₧530-M Subic Freeport road rehab under way online, offline have deteriorated over the years.

Container Terminal, Rizal Highway She said most of the funds for and Maritan Highway, as well as sevexpansion this year rehabilitation projects come from eral roads in residential areas.

By Henry Empeño Correspondent

S

MARTPHONE maker Realme is now laying down the foundations to support its prospective growth this year, with an executive painting a rosy outlook for the company this 2019.

Eason de Guzman, the company’s marketing lead, said his group will be rapidly expanding both its online and online sales channels to capture a slice of the fast-paced smartphone industry in the Philippines.

“We are expanding a lot of our offline stores and will be increasing our presence online this year. We are getting a lot of feedbacks that people want us to open up stores in the regions, and that’s what we will be doing,” he said.

The smartphone brand is building a total of 100 concept kiosks nationwide as part of its offline sales channels, and has struck a partnership agreement with digital mall Shopee to further expand its reach online.

“Filipinos love value for money, and we are looking at that market segment for our growth,” de Guzman said.

Realme launched on Wednesday what officials called as a game changer in the smartphone arena, the Realme 3, which packs an arsenal of specs for only P6,990.

Packed with a MediaTek Helio P60 processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB expandable storage, and a 13MP front camera and a rear 13MP main camera plus 2MP secondary camera, the Realme 3 is “the strongest segment entrant today.” Lorenz S. Marasigan

S

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—Several road rehabilitation projects are now being implemented by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) under a P530-million infrastructure program to repair US Navy-era roads and related public works structures in this former military facility.

Following the completion early this year of the P9.3-million El Kabayo road rehabilitation project, the Subic agency has now started the P18-million Argonaut HighwayGeorge Dewey Complex road and drainage improvement project and parts of the P369.7-million road rehabilitation package that will cover major thoroughfares in the Central Business District here, SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said.

“More projects will be under way soon, so I ask Subic stakeholders, as well as visitors to the free port, to please bear with us the temporary inconveniences like traffic jams, and a little noise and dust pollution because of the ongoing road projects,” she said.

“We’re doing this to improve the core business infrastructure here and to sustain the attractiveness of the Subic Bay Freeport as a globally competitive trade and tourism center,” she added.

Eisma said this was the first time that a massive road rehabilitation program is undertaken ever since Subic became a free port zone in 1992. She said the repairs are necessary because the US Navy-built roads

the national government’s “Build, Build, Build” program, including a P500-million rehabilitation fund for the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) in 2017 and the P530-million fund for road rehabilitation that was approved last year.

Eisma recalled that upon her appointment as SBMA administrator in 2017, she found out there was no budget for road repairs because the SBMA did not get any assistance from the national government and had to rely on internal funds.

“Thus, I had to seek the assistance of Senator Richard Gordon, the first SBMA chairman, to get some funding for Subic included in the national budget,” she said.

As of now, Eisma said the SBMA Board of Directors has approved and awarded two new major rehabilitation projects: the P76-million road rehabilitation project proposed in 2016, and the P18-million drainage improvement project along the Argonaut Highway-George Dewey Complex.

Three other major projects are now up for bidding, she said: Naval Supply Depot (NSD) Road Rehabilitation Project Phase 2, Road Rehabilitation Project 2018, and Road Rehabilitation Project 2019.

The SBMA Public Works and Technical Services Group said the P299million 2018 road rehabilitation package will cover improvements at the Malawaan Park parking area, road ramp along Dewey Avenue leading to the Kalaklan Gate, and repair of Waterfront Road, road to the New

Meanwhile, the P253-million 2019 road rehabilitation package will consist of repairs along main roads like Argonaut Highway, San Bernardino Road, roads to Leyte Wharf and Sattler Pier duct banks, Rizal Highway, Boton Highway, Binictican Drive, and the approaches to Kalaklan Bridge and 14th Street Bridge.

The P85-million NSD Road Rehabilitation Project Phase 2 will include repairs of roads leading to the NSD Compound, the center of grain and bulk shipments here, which was battered by heavy trucks that carry tons of cargo unloaded from ships.

Megaworld to spend ₧15B for Cavite devt

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

P

ROPERTY developer Megaworld Corp. on Wednesday said it is increasing its capital spending to build the 140-hectare Maple Grove township in General Trias, Cavite, to P15 billion over 10 years, up from the previous P10 billion.

Kevin Andrew L. Tan, the company’s senior vice president for commercial division, said the company expanded the property, the main reason for its scaled-up spending.

“We earlier intended to have more horizontal projects in nature, but we started to see the demand go vertical. That is why we launched the first condominium here. Reception has been very good so we heightened our capital expenditure [capex]. We are now rethinking strategy in some vertical developments,” Tan said.

“We are fast-tracking the developments in Maple Grove as we see a growing demand from both residential and office markets in this area,” he said.

A two-level shopping mall, which will have around 24,000 square meters (sq m) of gross floor area, will

rise in the development. There will also be several retail, and food and beverage outlets, four cinemas, an indoor events area and a supermarket.

“We will complete the construction of the mall within two years alongside the land development, as we expect the Maple Grove community to grow fast in the next five years,” added Tan. In 2017, Megaworld launched the 35-hectare Maple Grove Commercial District that offered 363 prime lots for sale, ranging from 360 sq m to 1,008 sq m, with a total inventory value of around P9 billion. This district within the township has a master plan similar to the Makati Central Business District.

The commercial lots have been sold out in just less than six months.

“We have business owners who plan to build their office buildings, their own hotels. There are a lot of Chinese investors, a group from Binondo as well,” said Rachelle Peñaflorida, Megaworld’s vice president for sales and marketing.

Last year, the company also launched its first residential development, the 10-story The Verdin, and its first office tower with saleable units, the 17-story One Corporate Place, in Maple Grove.

J&T Express to expand further in PHL

F

OLLOWING its official launch in the Philippines, J&T Express bared its plan to open over 1,000 branches nationwide and double the capacity of its delivery service in the domestic market.

The newest foreign player to enter the local e-commerce logistics industry aims to quadruple its physical stores across the country in the next couple of years, J&T Express Brand Director Zoe Chi said. However, she said the company has no definite time frame as to when it will increase the volume of 500,000 packages it can handle daily to more than a million.

“But we will try to achieve it,” she told reporters during their recent kickoff event held at their newest warehouse in Bagumbayan, Taguig City.

The executive is confident they can replicate the firm’s success in other Asean member-states where it is present. J&T Express first penetrated the Indonesian market in 2015. Because of its extensive network that supports delivery services within city, intercity, interprovincial, and e-commerce customers, it widened its regional reach to Vietnam, Malaysia, and soon, in Thailand.

Operating 365 days in the most populous Muslim nation, for instance, it has so far covered large areas for free pickup services, reaching a peak of 1.5 million package deliveries per day.

While it took three years for the company to attain such delivery magnitude, Chi is hopeful to meet their output target here “as soon as possible” on the back of the country’s robust economy.

Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, last year’s gross domestic product rate increased by 6.2 percent.

“With this economic growth, e-commerce

MUNTINLUPA’S TOP TAXPAYER FOR 5TH YEAR

in the Philippines is also growing,” Chi said. “As long as our e-commerce business grows faster, our factories’ [capacity] will also grow faster.”

Other than online businesses, J&T Express also seeks to support homegrown small and medium enterprises, which to date is over 99 percent of total registered establishments in the country.

The company covers nine regions at present.

It delivers parcels and packages through its 254 branches and 41 distribution centers nationwide.

It also offers free pickup services, real-time tracking system and a fast claims structure.

Since its establishment six months ago, the firm has expanded with 1,900 employees. With a fleet of 130 trucks, it has already delivered over 35,000 packages.

To give easy access to more than 1,000 customers, J&T Express has three-service platforms on its web site, mobile application and 24/7 hot line. A VIP platform is on hand for priority partners.

Technology-wise, it uses advanced IT systems to improve efficiency and deliver quality service to clients. It also provides pickup service with high transmission speed of up to two days in Luzon and three days in both the Visayas and Mindanao.

“As an express company, J&T Express is committed to helping our customers thrive in the e-commerce business by bringing our reliable, efficient, and fast-delivery service nationwide,” said Dean Ding, CEO of J&T Express Philippines.

“With ‘Express Your Online Business’ as our slogan, we hope to help our customers realize a more practical and efficient express service for online business and encourage the development of our business partners to be bigger and stronger.” Roderick L. Abad

Ford Philippines was once again recognized by the City of Muntinlupa as its Top Taxpayer for the fifth year in a row. “This is an important achievement for us in Ford as we commit to responsible business practices and good corporate governance. We thank the city government of Muntinlupa for this citation we have been receiving for the past five years. We look forward to helping spur growth and development in Muntinlupa as we continue to operate and conduct business in this progressive city,” said Don Santiago, vice president, finance, Ford Philippines. Joining Santiago during the awarding are (from left): Cong. Rozzano Rufino Biazon, former Sen. Mar Roxas, Santiago, Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, and Muntinlupa City Administrator Allan Cachuela.

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Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, March 21, 2019

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

PAL to mount flights to several intl destinations from Naia Terminal 1

March 20, 2019

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS

ASIA UNITED 58.1 59 58.1 58.1 58.1 58.1 50 2905 BDO UNIBANK 131.8 132 131 132.5 131 132 2693370 355610812 -112803798 BANK PH ISLANDS 87.5 87.9 86.9 88.45 86.9 87.9 1447040 127501855 -38232248.5 CHINABANK 27.3 27.4 27.7 27.7 27 27.4 127500 3477510 -383025 EAST WEST BANK 12.44 12.48 12.48 12.52 12.4 12.44 263000 3276870 -707298 METROBANK 79.55 79.9 82 82.05 79.55 79.55 3376250 270819291 -75663031 PB BANK 13.84 13.96 13.86 13.86 13.86 13.86 27400 379764 -44352 PBCOM 21.55 22.9 21.5 22.9 21.5 22.9 2200 47580 -43000 PHIL NATL BANK 59.4 59.45 59.95 60.1 59.2 59.45 366110 21803314 8573615.5 PSBANK 58.45 58.95 58.45 58.95 58.45 58.95 1300 76511 RCBC 26.45 26.5 26.45 26.75 26.45 26.45 262300 6959860 -1268545 SECURITY BANK 172.5 172.7 165 173 165 172.7 1081400 184786096 -48131153 UNION BANK 61.9 62.2 61.2 62.3 60.6 62.2 14480 892588 -412504 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.34 1.37 1.34 1.34 1.34 1.34 20000 26800 BDO LEASING 2.27 2.31 2.3 2.31 2.3 2.31 8000 18420 COL FINANCIAL 19.08 19.16 19.02 19.16 19.02 19.16 110500 2107818 FERRONOUX HLDG 4.18 4.28 4.26 4.47 4.16 4.28 94000 396120 IREMIT 1.44 1.48 1.42 1.48 1.42 1.48 7000 10060 MEDCO HLDG 0.455 0.465 0.455 0.455 0.45 0.45 70000 31550 MANULIFE 800.5 830 815 815 800 800 240 193500 32000 NTL REINSURANCE 0.95 0.96 0.98 0.98 0.96 0.96 13000 12700 PHIL STOCK EXCH 183.7 184 184.2 184.2 184 184 290 53378 SUN LIFE 1820 1840 1820 1820 1820 1820 510 928200 VANTAGE 1.14 1.17 1.15 1.16 1.15 1.16 109000 126390

INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS 1.42 1.44 1.42 1.42 1.42 1.42 20000 28400 ABOITIZ POWER 35.1 35.4 34.5 35.4 34.5 35.4 1363800 48015595 13584515 BASIC ENERGY 0.24 0.242 0.243 0.243 0.24 0.242 310000 74480 FIRST GEN 21.5 21.65 21.7 21.7 21.3 21.65 704700 15167660 3226395 FIRST PHIL HLDG 76.2 76.6 76 78.6 76 76.5 332200 25667514 -1104893.5 MERALCO 374 374.4 374.2 377.8 373.8 374 365860 136999712 68141842 MANILA WATER 25.3 25.35 25.75 25.75 25.15 25.3 395000 10010715 7010815 PETRON 6.65 6.66 6.69 6.69 6.57 6.65 7178900 47539591 1643258 PETROENERGY 3.75 3.86 3.74 3.85 3.74 3.85 331000 1273800 PHINMA ENERGY 1.32 1.33 1.33 1.34 1.32 1.33 13444000 17952320 -7410330 PHX PETROLEUM 12.18 12.26 12.28 12.28 12.2 12.26 10600 129794 PILIPINAS SHELL 49.9 49.95 49.35 50.1 49.35 49.95 383000 19135995 -2798405 SPC POWER 6.4 6.46 6.41 6.47 6.4 6.46 19300 124599 AGRINURTURE 14.04 14.24 14.38 14.38 14.02 14.24 572200 8147194 -206904 CNTRL AZUCARERA 15.2 15.9 15.88 15.88 15.88 15.88 100 1588 CENTURY FOOD 15.6 15.98 15.5 16 15.5 15.6 118100 1865874 1733616 DEL MONTE 6.18 6.26 6.18 6.27 6.18 6.26 4700 29093 DNL INDUS 11.38 11.46 11.36 11.5 11.3 11.46 892200 10201420 2091372 EMPERADOR 7.4 7.45 7.35 7.51 7.3 7.4 170400 1250296 -903883 SMC FOODANDBEV 103 104 104 104 102.1 104 87530 9038547 -3643418 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.03 1.04 1.04 1.05 1.02 1.04 1590000 1641640 30140 GINEBRA 27.15 27.4 27.15 27.15 27.15 27.15 17400 472410 JOLLIBEE 313.4 313.6 313 315 312.8 313.6 285920 89737984 -34764542 MACAY HLDG 10.36 10.5 10.8 10.8 10.5 10.5 30100 317784 MAXS GROUP 12.3 12.34 11.98 12.5 11.98 12.36 613100 7575012 -2571904 MG HLDG 0.193 0.201 0.194 0.194 0.192 0.193 380000 73410 PEPSI COLA 1.4 1.41 1.4 1.41 1.38 1.41 6040000 8462640 -2380370 SHAKEYS PIZZA 11.92 12.02 12 12 11.88 11.92 90800 1081094 522524 ROXAS AND CO 1.79 1.8 1.8 1.81 1.8 1.8 105000 189580 RFM CORP 4.68 4.74 4.67 4.68 4.67 4.68 3000 14020 -4670 SWIFT FOODS 0.128 0.13 0.128 0.128 0.128 0.128 140000 17920 UNIV ROBINA 148 148.1 146.1 148 145.8 148 737400 108614825 18287723 VITARICH 1.62 1.63 1.64 1.65 1.62 1.63 1198000 1960270 -751419.9996 VICTORIAS 2.58 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.58 2.58 11000 28580 CONCRETE A 65.55 71.9 71.9 71.9 71.9 71.9 10 719 CEMEX HLDG 2.82 2.83 2.71 2.82 2.66 2.82 17011000 46880410 -1924250 DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.74 5.8 5.74 5.8 5.74 5.8 81700 469618 EAGLE CEMENT 15.98 16 15.82 16.02 15.82 16 2697500 43135878 36097892 EEI CORP 9.09 9.1 9.05 9.32 9.05 9.1 1889300 17397372 -1403220 HOLCIM 9.65 9.69 9.7 9.79 9.62 9.65 2357200 22,765,236( 12,578,477.9999) MEGAWIDE 20.95 21 20.85 21 20.75 21 1359800 28491170 13436690 PHINMA 8.01 8.92 8.81 8.94 8.81 8.94 6100 54404 TKC METALS 0.98 0.99 0.98 1 0.96 1 103000 100700 VULCAN INDL 1.29 1.3 1.26 1.29 1.24 1.29 1555000 1972110 CHEMPHIL 109.8 119 114.8 114.8 109.8 109.8 1560 171510 1148 CROWN ASIA 1.87 1.89 1.88 1.88 1.87 1.88 40000 75160 18800 LMG CHEMICALS 4.05 4.08 4.06 4.06 4.05 4.05 133000 538980 PRYCE CORP 5.81 5.95 5.8 5.84 5.8 5.81 21400 124264 -116130 CONCEPCION 42.05 43 43 43 43 43 1100 47300 -47300 GREENERGY 2.3 2.31 2.36 2.37 2.27 2.31 6084000 14113160 226330 INTEGRATED MICR 13.2 13.24 13.3 13.46 13.1 13.2 619700 8230714 -1206592 IONICS 1.62 1.63 1.7 1.7 1.63 1.63 237000 387310 SFA SEMICON 1.34 1.35 1.26 1.34 1.26 1.34 101000 133720 CIRTEK HLDG 29.25 29.8 29.75 29.8 29.1 29.8 205600 6112805 -1445915

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL 0.67 0.68 0.66 0.68 0.62 0.68 36012000 23875810 ASIABEST GROUP 20.5 20.55 20.4 20.8 20.1 20.5 54300 1101230 AYALA CORP 926.5 927 929 930 924 927 207430 192350190 ABOITIZ EQUITY 56.2 58 58.4 58.4 56.2 56.2 843420 47880582 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 15.72 15.74 15.48 15.74 15.42 15.72 6927800 108439434 ANSCOR 6.5 6.75 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 5870600 38158900 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.73 0.76 0.74 0.76 0.74 0.76 35000 25920 ATN HLDG A 1.36 1.37 1.36 1.38 1.36 1.37 2318000 3176240 ATN HLDG B 1.37 1.39 1.37 1.39 1.37 1.39 168000 232310 COSCO CAPITAL 7.5 7.55 7.48 7.56 7.45 7.5 2278800 17116315 DMCI HLDG 12.12 12.2 11.92 12.26 11.92 12.12 1731600 21000580 FILINVEST DEV 15.92 16.1 15.48 16.1 15.4 16.1 6127900 97762068 FJ PRINCE A 4.14 4.82 4.8 4.88 4.8 4.88 3000 14480 FORUM PACIFIC 0.222 0.239 0.239 0.239 0.224 0.225 1400000 322880 GT CAPITAL 1012 1018 1000 1018 999 1018 134720 136150012.5 HOUSE OF INV 6.26 6.47 6.47 6.51 6.47 6.48 7400 47943 JG SUMMIT 60.6 60.9 61.7 62.85 60.45 60.6 4798060 291771429.5 LODESTAR 0.53 0.55 0.56 0.56 0.52 0.53 1080000 568030 LOPEZ HLDG 5.35 5.37 5.27 5.39 5.24 5.37 3543900 18897140 LT GROUP 16.52 16.56 16 16.64 16 16.52 5071200 83227750 MABUHAY HLDG 0.56 0.57 0.56 0.57 0.56 0.57 35000 19660 METRO PAC INV 4.86 4.87 4.9 4.91 4.85 4.86 12348000 60115260 PACIFICA 0.038 0.039 0.039 0.039 0.038 0.038 14800000 564700 PRIME ORION 3.12 3.13 3.13 3.14 3.08 3.13 551000 1720100 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.55 2.67 2.55 2.55 2.55 2.55 3000 7650 SOLID GROUP 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.34 1.34 59000 79160 SYNERGY GRID 443 448 448 448 448 448 20 8960 SM INVESTMENTS 949 950 956 956 931.5 950 118770 112601045 SAN MIGUEL CORP 175 175.2 176 176 172 175 361970 63066516 SOC RESOURCES 0.75 0.79 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.75 4000 3000 TOP FRONTIER 275 280.8 282 282 275 281 2730 764874 WELLEX INDUS 0.24 0.245 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 300000 72000 ZEUS HLDG 0.37 0.375 0.385 0.39 0.37 0.37 26940000 10188900

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.83 0.84 0.82 0.84 0.82 0.84 3215000 2661820 ANCHOR LAND 9.9 10.92 10.92 10.92 10.92 10.92 6600 72072 AYALA LAND 43.7 43.75 43.25 43.7 43.25 43.7 12432300 541972185 ARANETA PROP 1.95 2 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 2000 3900 BELLE CORP 2.38 2.39 2.4 2.41 2.36 2.39 795000 1897400 A BROWN 0.77 0.78 0.77 0.79 0.77 0.79 494000 384400 CITYLAND DEVT 0.91 0.93 0.91 0.93 0.91 0.93 13000 11850 CROWN EQUITIES 0.239 0.24 0.242 0.242 0.24 0.24 8790000 2110100 CEBU HLDG 6.43 6.6 6.22 6.63 6 6.6 63800 407511 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.39 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.36 4.4 967000 4239860 CENTURY PROP 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.53 0.51 0.52 11676000 6060450 CYBER BAY 0.385 0.39 0.385 0.385 0.385 0.385 1200000 462000 DOUBLEDRAGON 22.1 22.2 21.15 22.5 21.1 22.2 1494100 32966615 DM WENCESLAO 11.24 11.26 10.96 11.3 10.96 11.26 689800 7703342 EMPIRE EAST 0.495 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.495 0.5 1440000 719800 EVER GOTESCO 0.126 0.128 0.128 0.128 0.126 0.126 510000 65240 FILINVEST LAND 1.53 1.54 1.54 1.55 1.52 1.54 4465000 6842540 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.22 1.23 1.22 1.23 1.22 1.22 491000 601020 8990 HLDG 12.78 12.8 12.1 12.78 12.1 12.78 5494800 68453328 PHIL INFRADEV 1.89 1.9 1.88 1.9 1.86 1.89 1489000 2792390 CITY AND LAND 0.84 0.85 0.86 0.86 0.85 0.85 3000 2570 MEGAWORLD 5.57 5.58 5.57 5.62 5.56 5.57 7278200 40618716 MRC ALLIED 0.375 0.38 0.37 0.38 0.37 0.38 7740000 2890850 PHIL ESTATES 0.445 0.45 0.45 0.45 0.445 0.445 180000 80600 PRIMEX CORP 2.79 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.79 2.79 23000 64370 ROBINSONS LAND 23.5 23.75 23.2 23.9 23.2 23.5 7348300 173029145 PHIL REALTY 0.45 0.46 0.45 0.46 0.45 0.46 20000 9100 ROCKWELL 2.05 2.06 2.04 2.05 2.01 2.05 78000 159620 SHANG PROP 3.09 3.12 3.15 3.15 3.09 3.12 13000 40710 STA LUCIA LAND 1.6 1.63 1.6 1.64 1.6 1.6 2544000 4111550 SM PRIME HLDG 39.1 39.4 39.15 39.4 38.8 39.4 5588000 219350570 STARMALLS 6.8 6.9 6.74 7 6.73 6.85 333400 2271565 SUNTRUST HOME 0.75 0.79 0.8 0.8 0.79 0.79 16000 12650 PTFC REDEV CORP 45.05 47.9 46.9 47.9 46.9 47.9 400 18880 VISTA LAND 7.3 7.37 7.32 7.4 7.3 7.3 2929000 21506381

SERVICES ABS CBN 20.35 20.4 20.5 20.5 20.35 20.4 28900 590375 GMA NETWORK 5.72 5.73 5.72 5.74 5.72 5.73 265200 1518621 MANILA BULLETIN 0.58 0.59 0.56 0.59 0.55 0.59 1992000 1142790 GLOBE TELECOM 1937 1970 1972 1979 1937 1937 14330 27982200 PLDT 1152 1160 1160 1165 1152 1160 132395 153503860 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.043 0.044 0.044 0.045 0.042 0.044 23000000 996500 DFNN INC 6.83 6.9 6.95 6.95 6.84 6.9 56200 386471 IMPERIAL 1.92 2.01 1.91 2.05 1.91 1.93 27000 53670 ISLAND INFO 0.123 0.124 0.126 0.127 0.123 0.123 2700000 334780 ISM COMM 5.37 5.41 5.35 5.55 5.31 5.41 1680400 9126968 JACKSTONES 3.07 3.22 3.09 3.09 3.06 3.07 82000 251820 NOW CORP 2.5 2.51 2.59 2.59 2.44 2.5 4600000 11423740 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.41 0.415 0.415 0.415 0.41 0.41 4630000 1903500 PHILWEB 2.65 2.66 2.65 2.66 2.62 2.65 156000 413940 2GO GROUP 12.8 12.82 12.82 12.88 12.76 12.8 32800 420726 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.78 16.8 16.84 16.84 16.8 16.8 5900 99248 CEBU AIR 81 81.5 81 81.8 80.95 81 41740 3388812 CHELSEA 5.8 5.84 5.8 5.9 5.77 5.8 767200 4452343 INTL CONTAINER 121.8 122 122 122.5 121.2 122 2703910 330337605 LBC EXPRESS 15.38 15.76 15.36 15.36 15.36 15.36 2300 35328 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.89 0.9 0.89 0.9 0.89 0.9 21000 18700 MACROASIA 20.2 20.4 20.2 20.8 20.2 20.4 301700 6199690 METROALLIANCE A 1.72 1.8 1.78 1.84 1.7 1.8 233000 405660 PAL HLDG 10.26 10.3 10.4 10.4 10.18 10.3 9300 95914 HARBOR STAR 2.89 2.9 2.87 2.92 2.83 2.9 476000 1371670 ACESITE HOTEL 1.23 1.33 1.33 1.33 1.23 1.23 161000 205520 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.073 0.074 0.076 0.076 0.073 0.074 51350000 3805190 WATERFRONT 0.65 0.66 0.66 0.67 0.65 0.66 483000 317910 FAR EASTERN U 890.5 903 890.5 890.5 890.5 890.5 50 44525 IPEOPLE 10.7 10.8 10.7 10.7 10.7 10.7 1300 13910 STI HLDG 0.69 0.7 0.71 0.71 0.69 0.69 366000 256060 BERJAYA 2.78 2.81 2.78 2.88 2.78 2.81 446000 1254870 BLOOMBERRY 12.06 12.1 11.8 12.2 11.7 12.06 5796900 69937700 PACIFIC ONLINE 10.06 10.1 10.16 10.2 9.98 10.06 160200 1613364 LEISURE AND RES 3.35 3.36 3.31 3.37 3.3 3.36 162000 537290 MANILA JOCKEY 4.71 4.73 4.73 4.73 4.71 4.73 21000 99160 PH RESORTS GRP 4.72 4.75 4.76 4.78 4.72 4.75 79000 374990 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.89 0.9 0.9 0.91 0.89 0.9 1379000 1241340 TRAVELLERS 5.63 5.65 5.6 5.64 5.6 5.63 1953200 10990316 METRO RETAIL 3.16 3.19 3.21 3.25 3.15 3.2 1317000 4197280 PUREGOLD 48.2 48.5 48 48.5 48 48.5 799900 38628270 ROBINSONS RTL 78.5 78.9 80 80 78 78.5 666050 52201628.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 124.5 125 124.5 125 124.5 125 610 76214 SSI GROUP 2.38 2.39 2.41 2.41 2.37 2.38 1870000 4460460 WILCON DEPOT 15.48 15.6 15.4 15.7 15.32 15.6 790000 12220594 APC GROUP 0.405 0.425 0.41 0.425 0.405 0.425 260000 106250 EASYCALL 12.38 12.4 12 12.6 12 12.38 180500 2220732 GOLDEN BRIA 373 380 378 383 378 380 780 296566 PRMIERE HORIZON 1.15 1.16 1.1 1.16 1.09 1.16 107743000 121819270 SBS PHIL CORP 8.5 8.78 8.4 8.78 8.4 8.5 17000 147410

MINING & OIL APEX MINING 1.44 1.45 1.43 1.45 1.43 1.44 895000 1292710 ABRA MINING 0.0021 0.0022 0.0021 0.0021 0.0021 0.0021 1000000 2100 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.295 0.31 0.3 0.3 0.295 0.295 90000 26750 CENTURY PEAK 2.4 2.41 2.38 2.41 2.35 2.41 1408000 3362810 DIZON MINES 7.82 7.89 7.85 7.91 7.82 7.82 300 2358 FERRONICKEL 1.5 1.51 1.49 1.5 1.48 1.5 3322000 4932780 GEOGRACE 0.242 0.246 0.239 0.255 0.239 0.242 1880000 461390 LEPANTO A 0.118 0.122 0.118 0.119 0.118 0.118 2910000 343390 MANILA MINING A 0.008 0.0083 0.0081 0.0081 0.008 0.008 12000000 96200 MANILA MINING B 0.008 0.0084 0.0081 0.0081 0.0081 0.0081 1000000 8100 MARCVENTURES 1.09 1.11 1.09 1.1 1.09 1.1 116000 126560 NIHAO 1.03 1.06 1.06 1.1 1.02 1.06 317000 339630 NICKEL ASIA 2.55 2.58 2.6 2.6 2.52 2.55 2501000 6428700 OMICO CORP 0.58 0.62 0.57 0.58 0.57 0.58 271000 157160 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.94 0.96 0.95 0.96 0.95 0.95 269000 255570 PX MINING 3.71 3.75 3.67 3.71 3.65 3.71 500000 1832160 SEMIRARA MINING 22.7 23.2 22 23.2 22 23.2 3118500 71269935 ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 16500000 198000 ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 1300000 15600 PHILODRILL 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 1600000 19200 PHINMA PETRO 3.14 3.28 3.14 3.14 3.14 3.14 1000 3140 PXP ENERGY 13.96 14 14.08 14.1 13.96 13.96 561500 7868862

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A AC PREF B1 ALCO PREF B DD PREF SMC FB PREF 2 FGEN PREF G FPH PREF C GLO PREF P GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B LR PREF PNX PREF 3A PCOR PREF 2A PCOR PREF 2B SFI PREF SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H

95 465.4 100 97 975 100.7 450.8 480 880.5 886 0.98 99.5 985 998 1.31 75 76.2 71.8 74.5 72.55 72

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

19.9 5.42

LR WARRANT

1.84

-217940 -235000 -178100 12400 -675930 -832730 35552870 -938640

96 474.6 100 98.4 975 100.7 451 480 880.5 891 0.98 100 998 998 1.7 75.55 76.5 71.8 74.8 72.55 74.45

96 474.6 100 98.4 980 100.7 451 480 929 900 0.98 100.1 998 998 1.71 75.55 76.5 71.8 74.8 73 74.45

96 474.6 100 98.3 975 100.6 450.8 480 880 882 0.98 100 998 998 1.7 75.5 76.5 71.8 74.8 72.55 71.6

96 474.6 100 98.3 980 100.6 450.8 480 929 900 0.98 100 998 998 1.71 75.5 76.5 71.8 74.8 73 72

70 20 6330 260 3050 3050 440 100 120 80 150000 16930 10 10000 7000 1500 200 1800 200 350 1520

6720 9492 633000 25559 2988500 306839 198360 48000 107690 71010 147000 1693080 9980 9980000 11910 113275 15300 129240 14960 25491.5 109274

12240 -

20.05 5.6

20.05 5.65

20.05 5.65

20.05 5.6

20.05 5.6

10000 128200

200500 717930

-

1.89

1.89

1.89

1.84

1.89

3000

5620

-

ITALPINAS 5.1 XURPAS 1.35

5.12 1.36

5.06 1.38

5.2 1.39

5.06 1.34

5.1 1.36

204300 6288000

1042305 8544570

-3752140

FIRST METRO ETF

117.1

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS 117

117

117.1

116.4

117.1

3900

455525

In the meantime, from March 20 to March 30, PAL’s flights to New York (JFK) will continue to depart from Terminal 2 and arrive at Terminal 1; while flights to and from Auckland will continue to depart from, and arrive at, Terminal 2.

21078

@rectomercene

Following is the updated list of PAL f lights departing from and arriving at Naia Terminal 1 starting on March 31, 2019, onwards: PR 218/219 Manila— Auckland—Manila; PR 126/127 Manila—New York (JFK)—Ma-

nila; PR 118/119 Manila—Toronto—Manila; PR 116/117 Manila—Vancouver—Manila; PR 595/596 Manila—Hanoi—Manila; PR 521/522 Manila—Phnom Penh—Manila; PR 682/683 Man i l a—Da m m a m—Ma n i l a ; PR 684/685 Manila—Doha—Manila; and PR 654/655 Manila— Riyadh—Manila.

However, for other USA and Vietnam flights, PAL said the.following schedules should be noted: Flights to Los Angeles (PR102/ PR112 / PR124 ) and flights to San Francisco (PR104/ PR 114) will continue to depart from Naia Terminal 2; flights from Los Angeles (PR103 / PR113 /PR125 ) and flights from San Francisco (PR105/ PR115) will continue to arrive at Naia Terminal 1; flights to/from Honolulu (PR100/PR101) will continue to

depart from/arrive at Naia Terminal 2; and flights to/from Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon (PR591/592 and PR596/ 597) will continue to depart from / arrive at Naia Terminal 2.

All international flights other than the above departing from or arriving in Manila shall maintain the current terminal assignments.

PAL advises passengers to double check the terminal assigned for their specific PAL flight.

Travelers w it h connect i ng f lights may approach any PAL customer service agent upon arrival for inquiries and assistance.

PAL assures the public that these operational adjustments being carried out to help minimize passenger congestion at the concerned Naia terminals, and thus to improve service for its valued customers.

Bengzon camp to appeal Pasig RTC decision on Medical City case

T

HE group of former Health Secretary Alfredo Bengzon, who used to head The Medical City hospital, on Wednesday said they will appeal the decision of the Pasig Regional Trial Court dismissing the application for a preliminary injunction to prevent the new officers of the hospital to make any decision.

Bengzon lawyer Roderico Puno said they will raise the matter to the Court of Appeals.

“The Pasig RTC decision is based on a finding that Margaret Bengzon [the former health secretary’s daughter-in-law] does not have standing in this case as a stockholder of PSI Healthcare Development Services Corp. since her name is not recorded in the corporation’s stock and transfer book; nor does she have a stock certificate in her name,” Puno said.

Ms. Bengzon is a senior executive of Professional Services Inc. (PSI), the beneficial owners of the hospital.

“However, the Pasig Court failed to appreciate that Ms. Bengzon has been recognized as a stockholder of record in PHSDC since 2009, based on the corporation’s General Information Sheet, a sworn statement submitted annually to the SEC,

-67200 -133688030 89020 8690 -107604 -884390 270400 13008240 7856 -690000 241060 4702038 20 15007771 -65279390 4080 3260 41167135 2070 -501353

96 474.6 100.4 98.3 980 104.3 475.8 494.8 930 900 0.99 100 998 1020 1.78 76 76.5 73.95 74.8 73 74.35

WARRANTS

S

By Recto Mercene

TARTING March 31, 2019, all Philippine Airlines (PAL) flights to and from New York (JFK), Auckland (New Zealand), Hanoi (Vietnam) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia) will use Naia Terminal 1 for both departures and arrivals.

243090 103830.0001 -41718730 -16958139 45653460 203450 176129.9999 -2279843 3645200 1629638 12879755 -127570214 -1748817 8844938 -18071960 62600 -8960 -44099205 -28149356 -175642 -307050

-6637370 26400445 -356400 3475 42550 232359.9999 -41000 -60890 14160 42100 -419912.5 17400 110609391 504654.9997 -150800 760 29600 -5940 18880 -1474082 9074 6680 19020 -229970 -8451204 635650 -13269435 -28519122.5 62487 1473900 -955704 286 3616749.9998

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

and that the corporation has acted consistently with this recognition of her status over all these many years,” Puno said.

Puno said they are still hopeful the Securities and Exchange Commission will decide in favor of Bengzon, a founding shareholder of Medical City, was responsible for rescuing the institution from near bankruptcy in the 1970s.

In November last year, the SEC charged with fraud and deceit the corporations of Jose Xavier Gonzales, the new head of the hospital, specifically Viva Holdings (Phil.), Gonzales’s Singapore partner in the Medical City investment.

The group of Gonzales, the nephew of Bengzon, held their own stockholders’ meeting last year, unseating the former health secretary as chief executive of the hospital.

“We eagerly await the SEC decision regarding the parties’ alleged fraudulent acquisition of PSI shares. The SEC decision, when finally issued, will provide definitive and just resolution to PSI current corporate challenges and will enable the hospital to rechart the course of growth and leadership it has pursued over the last five decades,” Puno said. VG Cabuag

Amaia Land ready to launch first townhouse project in Imus, Cavite

R -

E A L - E S TAT E p r o v i d e r Amaia Land Corp. is launching the new Amaia Series— its first venture in the vicinity of Vermosa, Ayala Land’s 700-hectare mixed-use township development in Imus, Cavite.

Located along Patindig Araw Road, the new exclusive Amaia Series Vermosa is on 6.9 hectares of land with a unique mix of townhouses. Being the only affordable townhouse development in the area, Amaia Series Vermosa is privileged to stand next to Ayala Land’s fully master-planned development that will feature retail hubs, schools, business districts and recreational facilities.

Amaia Series Vermosa is envisioned to stand out. Marking its entrance will be a beautiful landscaped space that will encircle the main amenity area.

Two spacious and well-designed house types will be available to suit the needs of growing families. Both inner and end units can accommodate three bedrooms, toilet and bath at the second floor and avail-

able provisions of toilet and bath at the ground floor, a kitchen, and a dining and living area. All units will have car ports for residents’ parking requirements.

Amaia Series Vermosa is easily accessible from Makati, Manila, Muntinlupa and Tagaytay through major roads like Daang Hari, South Luzon Expressway via the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, the Cavite Expressway and the upcoming Cavite-Laguna Expressway.

“This 2019, Amaia Land is setting its sights on launching more projects to further bolster its goal of making quality and affordable living possible to Filipino families,” Kristel Manalo of Ayala Land said. “First is the Amaia Series Vermosa in Imus, Cavite. Located near Ayala Land’s fourth-largest estate project, Amaia Series Vermosa brings Amaia’s trademark of superior quality, affordable homes to Caviteños.”

Amaia Land has easy payment options for its target buyers, hardworking Filipinos who can pay in cash, deferred cash and bank financing.

MUTUAL FUNDS

March 20, 2019

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

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 263.14 -6.1% 1.38% 2.02% 4.33% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 1.5999 -0.26% 10.82% 3.97% 11.04% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 4.0973 -7.41% 1.94% 0.72% 4.98% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP. -A 0.9347 -3.79% N.A. N.A. 4.96% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. -A 0.8625 N.A. N.A. N.A. 5.09% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC. -A 5.4468 -4.67% 1.36% 1.39% 3.33% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. -A 127.18 8.82% N.A. N.A. 9.2% ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC. -A 0.8704 -7.24% -4.05% N.A. 4.57% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC. -A 51.6628 -4.47% 2.16% N.A. 4.99% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 541.26 -4.01% 1.26% 1.49% 5.15% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC. -A 1.3063 -3.22% 2.91% 4.73% 4.17% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC. -A 38.5107 -3.49% 3.69% 3.95% 5.13% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,3 1.0291 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC. -A 5.2269 -4.31% 3.03% 3.92% 5.41% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP. -A 872.42 -4.2% 2.72% 3.87% 5.3% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 0.9125 -2.39% 1.43% N.A. 5.96% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC. -A 4.293 -2.62% 3.13% 2.88% 5.77% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC. -A 1.0034 -4.64% 2.72% N.A. 5.15% UNITED FUND, INC. -A 3.6827 -1.41% 4.96% 3.79% 5.19% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC. -A,C,2 116.6926 -3.8% 3.81% 4.95% 5.37% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC. -B $1.0226 -10.63% 7.79% 1.89% 10.06% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC. -A $1.2642 -3.53% N.A. N.A. 14.4% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC. -A 1.7108 -4.52% -0.44% -1.08% 3.61% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 2.2985 -3.78% 1.31% 1% 4.04% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC. -A 2.6227 -2.75% -0.5% -1.15% 3.1% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION -A 1.3458 -4.7% N.A. N.A. 3.18% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC. -A 1.905 -1.72% 1.37% 1.54% 3.36% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC. -A 3.6387 -3.86% -0.04% 0.54% 3.1% PHILAM FUND, INC. -A 16.4566 -2.77% 0.24% 0.66% 3.45% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC. -A 2.1405 -2.05% 1.67% 2.52% 3.29% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 3.8286 -1.41% 1.53% 1.81% 4.85% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2028, INC. -A,D,4 0.99 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2038, INC. -A,D,4 0.9886 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2048, INC. -A,D,4 0.9868 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A 0.975 -1.37% 1.31% N.A. 5.78% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC. -A $0.03581 1.13% 0.24% 1.57% 1.59% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC. -A $0.9864 -8.95% 4.15% -0.1% 5.36% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC. -A $3.6551 -2.27% 6.31% 2.47% 10.48% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC. -A $1.0795 -2.03% N.A. N.A. 6.88% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 346.46 2.68% 2.12% 2% 0.9% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC. -A,1 1.8701 0.23% -0.31% -0.44% 0.59% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 2.999 5.27% 5.25% 5.25% 0.95% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC. -A 2.1581 2.54% 1.54% 1.72% 1.3% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC. -A 2.2463 1.56% 0.35% 0.68% 1.67% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP. -A P 1.5967 0.01% -0.35% 0.02% 2.06% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.9673 -0.16% -0.43% 0.31% 1.21% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.5817 2.65% 1.24% 1% 1.84% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. -A 0.9128 0.46% -0.79% N.A. 2.26% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC. -A 2.8511 3.11% 1.52% 1.42% 3.08% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC. -A 1.5815 2.67% 0.79% 0.91% 2.7% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $452.63 2.29% 1.99% 2.88% 0.97% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. -A Є215.61 1.42% 1.45% 1.6% 1.39% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -B $1.1596 3.73% 1.58% 2.17% 3% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $0.0251 1.21% 0.67% N.A. 1.21% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP. -A $1.7019 -1.62% -1.25% 0.77% 0.69% MAA PRIVILEGE DOLLAR FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. MAA PRIVILEGE EURO FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. ЄN.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC -A $1.056 0.83% -0.8% -2.45% 1.77% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $2.2308 2.11% 0.43% 2.63% 2.75% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC. -A $0.0577835 1.69% 1.06% 1.67% 1.41% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC. -A $2.9417 0.06% -0.14% 1.93% 2.42% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 122.17 3.47% 2.14% 1.75% 1.1% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A,5 1.0052 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 1.1909 2.5% 0.96% 0.68% 0.76% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 1.2296 3.07% 2.43% 1.78% 0.87% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC. -A $1.0214 2.05% N.A. N.A. 0.54%

* - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY ** - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO *** - LISTED IN THE PSE.

**** - RE-CLASSIFIED INTO A BALANCED FUND STARTING JANUARY 1, 2017 (FORMERLY GREPALIFE BOND FUND CORP.).

***** - LAUNCH DATE IS NOVEMBER 6, 2017 ****** - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 08, 2018 ******** - RENAMING OF THE FUND WAS APPROVED BY THE SEC LAST APRIL 13, 2018. ********* - BECAME A MEMBER SINCE APRIL 20, 2018. ******* - ADJUSTED DUE TO CASH DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JANUARY 29, 2018

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Thursday, March 21, 2019

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CIIF-Oil Mills to buy copra at ₧20/kg–Piñol

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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@joveemarie

OVERNMENT-OWNED Coconut Industry Investment Fund Oil Mills Group (CIIFOMG) has agreed to increase its buying price for copra to P20 per kilogram, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said on Wednesday.

Piñol said CIIF-OMG President Aquilino D. Trinidad made the announcement during the recent con su lt at ion he ld b y t he De pa r t ment of A g r ic u lture (DA) with coconut farmers and other stakeholders in the coconut industry.

“The P20 per kilo mill-gate price is still P5 lower than what the DA had earlier asked but Trinidad said it is the best they could offer given the very low market prices of coconut oil in the world market,” he said in a post in his official Facebook page.

Piñol said the DA is ready to extend loans to organized coconut farmers’ group which they could

use to buy the crop of their members and trucks to haul the copra to oil mills.

He added t hat t he agenc y also offered a maximum loan of P50,000 under the Production Loan Easy Access for coconut farmers which they can use in starting livelihood activities that will tide them over while the buying price of copra is low.

Piñol said the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) has already been directed to identify and validate all coconut farmers associations and cooperatives to facilitate the granting of the loans.

Earlier, House Minority Leader Danilo E. Suarez of Quezon said

the average farmgate price of copra is now at P15 per kg, compared to the P30 per kg to P40 per kg recorded in previous years.

CIIF-OMG has copra buying stations that are set up in locations near coconut farmers and local dealers.

Its operating plants have a combined annual crushing capacity of 370,000 metric tons of copra with a refining capacity of 240,000 MT of different grades of processed coconut oils. The oil mills’ total crushing capacity accounts for about 10 percent of the country’s coconut oil milling industry.

Established in the 1970s, the CIIF-OMG is a conglomerate of strategically located oil mills and refineries in the Philippines. It operates four coconut oil mills all over the country.

T he DA h ad w a r ne d t h at “heartless” traders who failed to raise their copra buying price will not be able to enjoy the benefits of a business deal that will expand exporters’ access to the Eastern European market.

Piñol made the pronouncement after he and officials of CIIF-OMG and the PCA met with Monacobased Russian businessman, Igor Malyshkov. He said Malyshkov has firmed up a supply agreement

PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY

with CIIF-OMG in a meeting arranged by the DA. The Russian businessman’s Austria-registered Arteks Generation, he said, has links with

a supermarket chain in Eastern Europe that has 15,000 outlets.

Piñol said many of the traders d id not heed h i s appea l to raise their buying price in

November. He issued the appeal after farmers stopped harvesting copra when its average mill-gate price fell to as low as P15 per kg.

BFAR’s appeal to Pinoys: Stop FAO warns against extensive use of pesticides to fight fall armyworm throwing plastics in the ocean

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HE use of chemical pesticides to stop the spread of fall armyworm (FAW) that damages maize and other crops should be carefully considered by farmers and governments in Asia, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Wednesday.

The United Nations (UN) unit said that the FAW larvae hide largely in the ring of leaves (whorl), and that chemical pesticides can have negative effects on environment and public health.

“FAO has been working with the relevant authorities to initiate awareness programs that inform and train farmers on integrated pest management techniques,” the UN unit said in a statement.

“These include identifying natural enemies of the FAW, enhancing natural biological controls and mechanical controls, such as crushing egg masses and employing the use of biopesticides,” it added.

FAO noted that FAW, an insect that can infest and damage hundreds of hectares of maize fields, is sweeping across Asia. But the UN unit said the damage can be limited.

“FAW is native to the Americas.

However, since 2016 it has been aggressively moving ever eastwards, sweeping across Africa, and making landfall for the first time in Asia last summer,” it said.

“It was first detected in India in July 2018 and by January of this year, it had spread to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and China’s Yunnan Province,” FAO added.

In the case of Sri Lanka, there were reports that up to 40,000 hectares had been infested, damaging some 20 percent of its crops. China is the biggest maize producer in Asia, and secondlargest producer globally.

“While economic losses there and in the other Asian countries have not yet been tallied, estimates of economic damage from FAW in Africa ranged from $1 [billion] to 3 billion,” FAO said.

In response to the sudden onset of FAW in Asia, FAO said it is convening a meeting of officials from the affected countries, as well as experts who’ve been tackling the fallout of FAW in Africa and Latin America—and who have been

learning ways to limit the damage. “[Countries] need to work together because this is a pest that has no respect for international boundaries, threatens our food security, our economies, domestic and international trade, and, of course, the smallholder farmer who wakes up one morning to a cash crop under attack,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, assistant directorgeneral and FAO regional representative for Asia and the Pacific.

The Philippines is no stranger to armyworms as the insect invaded farms planted with onions in Nueva Ecija last year. Farmers in the province incurred losses of more than P200 million.

In 2015, the Department of Agriculture (DA) urged farmers to promply report infestations to their local agriculturists or to Regional Crop Protection Centers so that appropriate measures for effective pest management or eradication can be immediately implemented to reduce yield losses.

The DA had recommended the use of biological control agents against rice black bug and armyworm that infested some areas in Mindanao in 2015.

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HE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) on Tuesday appealed to the public to stop throwing plastics and other harmful pollutants in the country’s seas and oceans.

The attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA) made the appeal after a huge amount of foreign objects, mostly plastics and cellophane, were found in the stomach of a dead Cuvier’s beaked whale.

The whale was found stranded along the coastline of Brarangay Cadunan in Mabini, Compostela Valley.

Personnel from BFAR and the local government tried to ferry the beached whale to deeper waters but it returned to shallow waters where its condition further deteriorated and eventually died.

“The DA-BFAR expresses regrets over this incident, which is somehow a result of improper waste disposal.

We urge the public and concerned government entities to support the ‘Malinis at Masaganang Karagatan,’ a holistic program of the DABFAR, which would ensure that our

seas and oceans are free of plastics and other harmful pollutants,” the BFAR said in a statement.

The BFAR said it will step up its monitoring and law enforcement efforts to prevent activities that threaten marine animals and Philippine seas.

The agency said its regional office in Davao City collected tissue samples for scientific determination of other possible causes of death of the stranded whale.

Bfar said the initial diagnosis is the ingestion of some 88 pounds of foreign objects of mostly plastics and cellophane. The agency said it is now preserving the animal’s remains which will be used for educational purposes.

According to the Ocean Trash Index by Ocean Conservancy, around 4.22 million items were collected during the 2017 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) in the Philippines, 268,983 of which were straws and stirrers.

Based on a study by Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center

for Business and Environment, the Philippines is one of the five countries globally that account for half of the world’s plastic waste. Around half a million metric tons of plastic waste in the country leaks into the ocean every year.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror last year, SMARTSeas PH Project Management Office Project Manager Vincent V. Hilomen said the Philippines can already overtake China given its size and the amount of plastic pollution it creates.

He said that based on 2016 data, the Philippines ranked third— behind China and Indonesia—in plastic pollution.

Greenpeace said an estimated 12.7 million tons of plastic—everything from plastic bottles and bags to microbeads—end up in oceans each year.

It added that these pollutants are turning in every corner of the world—from Cornish beaches, to uninhabited Pacific islands, and is even being found trapped in Arctic ice.

Bayer loses first phase of Roundup trial, liability up next

BOTTLES of Roundup weed killer move along the production line at the herbicide manufacturing facility operated by Monsanto Co. in Antwerp, Belgium. JASPER JUINEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS

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AYER AG lost the first phase of a trial over claims that its Roundup weed killer causes cancer, and now moves to a second phase to determine liability and damages in the case of a man who sprayed the herbicide on his property for decades.

The next stage, starting on Wednesday,

will be a steeper climb for the defense: jurors will hear evidence, including damaging e-mails, that the company manipulated public opinion to bury health concerns and promote sales of the best-selling herbicide.

After Bayer lost its first United States trial over Roundup, Tuesday’s decision

probably edges the company one step closer to a settlement, according to analysts. They predict that paying to resolve more than 11,000 related US lawsuits, which Bayer inherited with its acquisition of Monsanto Co., could cost as much as $5 billion.

The verdict will “likely result in a flood of cases filed quickly” against Bayer, and “may expedite the ultimate settlement” of the Roundup claims, Anna Pavlik, senior counsel for special situations at United First Partners Llc. in New York, said in an e-mail.

Pavlik cautioned that Bayer and plaintiffs’ lawyers probably remain far apart on the price of resolving the lawsuits.

Bayer said moving to the next phase of Edwin Hardeman’s trial against the company has no impact on future cases because each one has its own factual and legal circumstances.

“We are disappointed with the jury’s initial decision, but we continue to believe firmly that the science confirms glyphosatebased herbicides do not cause cancer,” the company said in a statement. “We are confident the evidence in phase two will show that Monsanto’s conduct has been appropri-

ate and the company should not be liable for Mr. Hardeman’s cancer.”

The trial in San Francisco federal court is structured more favorably for Bayer than the first one last summer. In that case, a California state court jury awarded a former school groundskeeper damages eventually reduced by a judge to $78.6 million.

The proceedings were split—at the company’s request and in its favor—to first focus jurors’ attention on the medical question of whether exposure to Roundup was a “significant factor” in causing plaintiff Hardeman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Bayer argued that the hepatitis Hardeman suffered for decades is the primary cause of his disease.

With that question decided against Bayer, jurors will now hear about two more weeks of testimony to determine whether the company is liable for Hardeman’s cancer, and if so, what damages he’s owed.

“Now we can focus on the evidence that Monsanto has not taken a responsible, objective approach to the safety of Roundup,” Hardeman’s attorneys, Aimee Wagstaff and Jennifer Moore, said in a statement. “Instead, it is clear from Monsanto’s actions

that it does not particularly care whether its product is in fact giving people cancer, focusing instead on manipulating public opinion, and undermining anyone who raises genuine and legitimate concerns about the issue.

Evidence is almost certain to resurface that Monsanto ghostwrote scientific literature and influenced regulators to claim that Roundup is safe. The revelations proved pivotal in the previous verdict, which caused Bayer shares to plunge. Bloomberg News

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TheBroa

Business

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Real transformation seen to boost effor

THE La Trinidad Srawberry Farm, located in Barangay Betag of La Trinidad, Benguet, March 2, 2015. Owned and maintained by the Benguet State University, the average annual harvest of the farm as of 2018 is 1,775 metric tons harvested by 660 farmers. MICHAEL PINE | DREAMSTIME.COM

By Bianca Cuaresma & Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas

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EARLY four decades ago, artist Rody Vera sang about Tano, a farmer victimized by usurious practice that led him to join the enemies of the State. The song popularized by Vera’s group Patatag struck a discordant note in civilized society that the State issued policies addressing usury. The latest among these policies is Republic Act (RA) 10000 or the Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act. When the 10,000th law was signed in 2009, the government intended to pursue equal access to opportunities for farmers and fishermen, in an effort to promote rural development. The spirit of the law is on enhancing access of the agricultural sector to financial services and programs that increase market efficiency and promote the modernization of the farm sector.

The mandated lending to agriculture and agrarian reform requires banks to allocate 25 percent of their total loan portfolio to the two sectors—10 percent for the agrarian reform credit and 15 percent to other agricultural credit.

The decade-old law, however, has failed to steer the target level of bank funds to the farm sector.

Bank compliance

IN end-September 2018, universal and commercial banks’ compliance to the 10-percent required lending to the agrarian reform sector hit 0.79 percent; their compliance to the 15-percent required lending to the agricultural sector reached only 12.95 percent.

The thrift banking sector follows the universal and commercial banks’ trend, with a 1.2-percent compliance rate against the 10-percent mandate for the agrarian reform sector and 6.19 percent

as against the 15-percent mandate for the agricultural sector.

Even rural and cooperative banks—whose major market are composed of farmers and fishermen—are finding it increasingly difficult to comply with the mandatory lending to the agrarian reform and agricultural sector, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

Five-year data trend from the BSP showed that while rural and cooperative banks are still the only banking group that is able to comply with the agri-agra lending quotas, their share in this sector has been shrinking over the years.

This is despite the crucial role of agriculture in a country’s overall development.

By end-September of last year, the rural and cooperative banks’ lending to the agrarian reform sector hit 11.79 percent and 24.19 percent for the agricultural sector. This is versus their allocation in end-2013, when these smaller banks were able to allocate 24.53 percent of their total loan portfolio to agrarian reform credit, way above the 10-percent mandate. For the agriculture sector, rural and cooperative banks set 44.59 percent of their loan portfolio to this sector, also exceeding the 15-percent quota.

According to the BSP, providing access to credit to the agriculture sector has significant economic implications especially for a developing country like the Philippines especially in terms of food security, employment and poverty reduction.

Data from the BSP also showed that the nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio of agricultural loans has actually been decreasing along the overall decline in NPLs of the whole banking industry. From an NPL ratio of 4 percent in 2014, the NPL ratio of agri-agra loans dropped to 2.78 percent in 2018 as end-September 2018. However, this is still higher than the NPL ratio of the banking industry, which posted a ratio of 2.3 percent in 2014, 1.7 percent in 2017, and between 1.83 percent and 1.87 percent in 2018.

rowers and lenders, and other mechanisms.

“We recognize that agriculture is a highly political issue and amending the agri-agra law is— ultimately—the sole discretion of the legislators; stakeholders can simply advocate and support a position,” the BSP official said. “As a financial system regulator, BSP’s main interest in the mandated credit is its potential impact on financial stability and consumer protection.”

The BSP also urged banks to “formalize” their position as a group to provide legislators a better appreciation of their concerns and issues not simply from the perspective of agri-agra compliance but also, and perhaps more importantly, on how they can play a more strategic role in rural development as financing providers.

Implementation challenges

Absorptive capacity

A BSP official who requested to remain anonymous told the BusinessMirror that although mandatory credit quota appears to be a straightforward approach in channeling funds to the agri sector, it does pose serious implementation challenges and financial stability risks.

The BSP has, for years, been vocal in its support to amending the decade-old law, saying that mandated lending is an outdated mode of pushing funding into specific sectors in the economy.

In October 2017, the InterAgency Agri Agra Task Force— composed of the BSP, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)—submitted to the Senate Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food and Agrarian Reform its report on the state of agriculture financing in the country, as part of the mandated periodic review of the implementation of the mandated credit quota under RA 10000.

The report aims to shift the focus of government efforts to promote sustainable agriculture financing from mandated credit into other strategic interventions around building the necessary financial and data infrastructure, improving capacities of both bor-

HOWEVER, the problem of financing the agricultural sector, the BSP official further explained, is not just a banking issue, but an issue that will have to be addressed coherently by multiple sectors of the government.

Although banks are known to be hesitant to lend to the agricultural sector because of the given risks to the sector’s ability to earn, such as seasonality and susceptibility to weather conditions, the BSP argued that not all impediments to the implementation of the agri-agra law are due to financing issues.

“There are many factors affecting the state of agriculture financing and why bank lending to the sector is not at the desired level [at least based on agri-agra quota requirements], including the issue on the productivity and absorptive capacity of the sector,” the BSP official said.

In particular, in terms of loan disbursements by banks to the agriculture sector, it actually grew from P232.7 billion in March 2012 to P598.3 billion in September 2018.

“While compliance rates to the Agri-Agra Law actually fell, the absorptive capacity of the agriculture sector could be a limiting factor as it has been significantly outpaced

by the growth of the banking sector’s total loanable funds,” the BSP official said.

New moves

EARLIER, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded a comprehensive study on financing agriculture value chains in the country. The draft report prepared and submitted by an ADB consultant in October last year emphasized, among others, the need to build the technical capacity of banks and farmerbased organizations to effectively engage in value chain financing.

In response to the findings of the study, the BSP official told the BusinessMirror that they are— in partnership with the ADB—exploring the possible development of a pilot value chain financing ecosystem that will involve a bank or several banks, and value-chain players and government agencies such as the departments of agriculture (DA), agrarian reform (DAR), trade and industry (DTI) and the Cooperative Development Authority, among others.

“Lessons from this pilot can inform interagency approach to ensure implementation of focused, structured and coordinated efforts to promote AVCF [agriculture value chain financing] in the country,” the BSP official said. “For the BSP in particular, the pilot implementation can provide useful inputs for policy development and interventions to strengthen the technical capacity of banks to engage in value chain financing.”

Such intervention may include development of an AVCF toolkit for banks and design of a training program for agriculture-focused bankers, documents from the BSP revealed.

Compliance rates

FOR the Philippine Chamber for Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI), the problem of how to increase compliance rates could be addressed by guarantee.

To turn around the low compliance rate by commercial banks to RA 10000, PCAFI President Danilo V. Fausto proposes that the government intervene by providing sovereign guarantee.

Fausto told the BusinessMir-

ror that the government used to have the Agricultural Guarantee Fund Pool (AGFP). However, he said the government failed to maximize this scheme that allows farmers to have wider access to credit.

The AGFP, together with other state guarantee funds, was merged with the Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency to become the Philippine Guarantee Corp. (PhilGuarantee). The merger was approved by President Duterte last year.

“It is not attractive to banks to grant loans to the agriculture sector due to risks. And the government could intervene to mitigate risks by providing guarantee to banks,” Fausto said. “In this way, farmers would now have access to credit from banks.”

He added they are hoping that PhilGuarantee would focus on providing guarantee to borrowers from the farm sector. Fausto chided the government’s predilection to provide more guarantee to loans going to the housing sector than to the agriculture sector.

“The guarantee fund for agriculture then was only P5 billion compared to the P180 billion for housing sector. If you just do to the agriculture sector what you did with the housing sector then, for sure, the farm sector would expand by leaps and bounds,” he said.

“So our appeal to the government is to increase the fund for the agriculture guarantee fund. As much as possible put it at the same level as the fund for housing guarantee,” he added.

Anomalous approval

FAUSTO pointed out that even state-run Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) is not able to fully cover the agriculture sector in providing financial credit.

He pointed out that LandBank’s loan exposure to the agriculture sector is only about 30 percent, with 7 percent being directly granted to farmers or producers.

This, according to him, is far from what China, Thailand and other Asian countries’ LandBankcounterpart financial institutions are doing: a 100-percent loan exposure to their farm sector.

“LandBank was built for the

aderLook

sMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace | Thursday, March 21, 2019

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rts to finance PHL’s agriculture sector

agriculture sector,” he said. “Why is it lending to companies such as Hanjin?”

Farmers groups like the Philippine Maize Federation Inc. (PhilMaize) criticized LandBank for being involved in the credit default by Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co.-Philippines (HHICPhil).

PhilMaize has written to leaders of both chambers of Congress and even to Duterte to probe the $85-million loan exposure of LandBank to HHIC-Phil.

“The anomalous approval is an outrageous act, a mortal sin and an act of treason to the farming and fishery sector, which [LandBank]’s mandate emanates,” Navarro said in the letter, which was sent to Duterte and other government officials on January 17.

“We must take a closer look on whether [LandBank] granted in haste and on whether it has even granted 50 percent of its loan portfolio to agriculture, its foremost beneficiary,” he added.

Justifiable spending

FAUSTO also proposes that LandBank employ credit extension officers (CEOs) that would reach out to Filipino farmers, especially those who are financially illiterate.

Duterte has repeatedly pronounced that the LandBank should go to the farmers and not the other way around.

Fausto surmises that LandBank could put five CEOs across all of its branches which he estimates are around 380.

This means that LandBank would hire 1,900 CEOs and, at a conservative estimate of P20,000 monthly wage, the state-run financial institution would only have to spend at least P456 million.

“LandBank earned P14 billion in 2018 and it remitted P7 billion.

You are just asking or looking at P450 million to P5000 million to be invested on extension services so that farmers learn how to create business plans, be financial literate and be knowledgeable on credit,” he explained.

“So what is P500 million in relation to their income? That’s nothing, especially the extent of benefits that it would give to farmers,”

he added.

“Farmers lack financial literacy, that’s why traders take advantage of them easily,” he added.

Fausto added that the government could tap professors from state universities and colleges to teach financial literacy to farmers.

Acquiring funding

THE DA, for its part, has been keen on issuing bonds that would fund the agency’s flagship programs to improve the country’s farm productivity.

Last month, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he had had initial talks with private banks, which have already expressed interest to offer financing of up to P200 billion worth of government agricultural projects.

According to Piñol, the banks include the members of the Chamber of Thrift Banks, the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Bank of the Philippine Islands, EastWest Bank and Sterling Bank of Asia.

These banks, he said, also signified interest to fund projects that would be certified compliant to the Agri-Agra law.

“They said they have about P200 billion, which they could use to fund agriculture and agrarian projects to comply with the AgriAgra law,” he said.

Some of the projects being eyed to be funded by the private banks are DA’s solar-powered irrigation system banner program, farm mechanization and farm-tomarket road construction, according to the agriculture chief.

“The banks said they are not avoiding exposure to agriculture.

It’s just that they do not know the government’s programs where they can invest in,” he told the BusinessMirror in an interview in February.

“They said it is unfair to them that they pay the fines while the government is not offering any agricultural programs to them,” he added.

Sectoral support

ACCORDING to the Agricultural Credit Policy Council (ACPC), the total loans granted to the agriculture, fishery and forestry (AFF) sector in 2017 rose by 23.7 percent

to P619 billion from the P500 billion recorded in 2016.

The double-digit growth drove the share loans granted to AFF sector to increase to 1.6 percent of the total loans granted by banks to the whole economy, from 1.3 percent in 2017, documents from ACPC showed.

“This may be attributed to the favorable factors affecting the agricultural sector, like favorable weather conditions, ample government interventions, which boosted agricultural production,” the ACPC said in an annual report.

ACPC data showed that the bulk or about 61.68 percent of the loans granted to the AFF sector came from the private banks, with the remaining amount being provided by state-run financial institutions.

In 2017, private banks provided P381.642 billion as loans to the AFF sector, which was 24.50-percent higher than the P306.541 billion the banks lent in 2016, ACPC data showed.

Private commercial banks led the sector in terms of agricultural loans in 2017 as it accounted for 56.47 percent of the total loans granted by the private sector. These banks accounted for 34.83 percent of the loans provided by all financial institutions to the AFF sector.

Agricultural lending by private commercial banks in 2017 rose by nearly 24 percent to P215.524 billion from P173.929 billion in 2016, ACPC data showed.

This was followed by loans extended by thrift banks that reached P123.812 billion in 2017, 31.5 percent over the P94.151 billion thrift banks provided in 2016, according to ACPC documents.

“Rural banks (RBs), on the other hand, whose commitment is to sustain growth in the countryside, barely posed a 10-percent growth in loan releases to agriculture amounting to P42 billion,” ACPC said.

Total agricultural loans by state-run banks in 2017 expanded by 22.58 percent, but their share to the total value shrank to 38.32 percent.

“As the leading government agricultural lending institution, LandBank continues to beef up

its lending to priority sectors (i.e., small farmers, [fishermen], microenterprises, small and medium enterprises, among others), posting a 24.57-percent growth in agricultural loans at P202 billion,” ACPC said.

“On the other hand, loans released by the DBP [Development Bank of the Philippines] to the agriculture sector rose by 12.28 from last year’s level amounting to P35 billion,” it added.

Production loans

LIKEWISE, the ACPC observed growth in the agricultural production loans granted by all types of banks in 2017.

Total agricultural production loans in 2017 reached P350.382 billion, which was 29.20 percent higher than the P271.204 billion recorded in 2016, ACPC data showed.

This is the highest value of loans provided directly to farmers since 2012, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Loans provided directly to farmers accounted for more than half or about 56.62 percent of the total agricultural loans granted during the reference period.

The ACPC noted that the value of government banks’ farm loans expanded by 26 percent to P65.435 billion from P51.896 billion in 2016.

Loans provided by state-run financial institutions to farmers accounted for 18.68 percent of the total agricultural production loans granted in 2017, according to ACPC. “LBP, as it continued to intensify lending to the agricultural sector, released nearly P62 billion worth of production loans, a 14-percent increase compared to the previous year,” it said.

“On the other hand, DBP showed strong performance as the bank continued to strengthen its assistance to agriculture when its agricultural production loans grew more than double (147 percent) from P1.3 billion to P3.3 billion for the year,” it added.

Loans granted directly to farmers by private banks, which accounted for 81.32 percent of the total value, expanded by

nearly 30 percent to P284.947 billion from P219.308 billion in the previous year.

Exposure rate

ACPC data revealed that Philippine banks in 2017 had a total loan exposure of P8.811 trillion, 1.9 percent over P7.473 trillion recorded amount in 2016.

Of the total amount, outstanding loans to agriculture only accounted for 4.6 percent with a value of P405.329 billion.

Nonetheless, the loan exposure to agriculture sector rose by 10.5 percent from P366.824 billion recorded in 2016, ACPC data showed.

“The loan receivables of government banks rose by almost 10 percent amounting to P143 billion,” the report read.

Total loan exposure to agriculture sector by private banks, which accounted for 64.73 percent of the total value, expanded by 11 percent to P262.366 billion from P236.351 billion.

“Meanwhile, among the private banks, only private commercial banks and thrift banks exhibited an increase in their loan exposure to agriculture at 13 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively,” the ACPC report added. On the other hand, total agricultural loans outstanding of rural banks contracted by measly less than 1 percent.”

Real transformation

TO address the issues underlying agriculture financing, the BSP said the country will have to have a clearly laid out and demonstrated commitment to implement a whole-of-nation road map for the agriculture sector.

“We believe that the issues and challenges confronting the Philippine agriculture sector will not be solved by mere allocation and pouring of more credit resources to the sector. What is needed is a real ‘structural transformation’ where resources are directed not only to credit but more importantly to infrastructure development, research and development, training and capacity-building, modern equipment and machineries, and land distribution,” the BSP said.

For the agricultural sector, the BSP said it would be good, especially for the smallholder farmers, if they could gather themselves and form an organized group such as a small farmers’ organization or cooperative. Doing so, their agricultural endeavors could be viewed by banks as something more viable and sustainable.

“Further, as an organized group, they will be able to purchase farm inputs at lower cost, get access to farm machineries and equipment, obtain fair prices for their farm produce and possibly increase their likelihood of getting access to formal credit from banks given the lower risk associated with a larger group vis-à-vis individual smallholder farmers,” it added.

The BSP said it will take more than a whole-of-government approach to get things done.

“All stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society, should work closely together in order to meet the current and future challenges of the Philippine agriculture sector through a combination of policy and market reforms, training and capacity-building, better governance and a stable political environment and improved relations with trading partners,” the Central Bank said.

The BSP, nevertheless, reiterated its commitment to continue pushing for a more sustainable lending environment to the agricultural sector.

“As a regulator, the BSP’s primary goal is to provide an appropriate and enabling regulatory environment that facilitates access to credit and other financial services while ensuring the stability of the financial system as a whole. While we seek to encourage financial innovation and promote innovative financing models in agricultural financing, we also aim to effectively manage any and all ensuing risks that may arise from these activities. Nevertheless, we recognize that agricultural financing, if better understood and with risks properly managed, can have a transformative effect for smallholder farmers, the agriculture sector and the economy as a whole” the BSP said.

B6

Thursday, March 21, 2019

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Editor: Angel R. Calso

China trade pushback bothers US negotiators as Trump touts talks

S

OME US negotiators are concerned that China is pushing back against American demands in trade talks, according to people familiar with the negotiations, even as President Donald J. Trump sounded optimistic about reaching a deal that could boost his reelection chances.

Chinese officials have shifted their stance because after agreeing to changes to their intellectual-property policies, they haven’t received assurances from the Trump administration that tariffs imposed on their exports would be lifted, two of the people said on condition of anonymity.

Beijing has also stepped back from its initial promises over data protection of pharmaceuticals, didn’t offer details on plans to improve patent linkages, and refused to give ground on dataservice issues, one person familiar with the US’s views said. Beijing is trying to bring in wording that would ensure rules in the trade agreement have to comply with Chinese laws, the person added.

“Talks with China are going very well,” Trump said in response to a shouted question at the White House where he held a joint press conference on Tuesday with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing the week of March 25 for high-level talks to try to hammer out a deal, according to a senior administration official, who asked not to be identified. The men agreed to the plans in a phone call on Tuesday with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who would then make a return visit to Washington at a date yet to be confirmed. The Wall Street Journal earlier on Tuesday reported details about the trip.

Talks are going well and are expected to wrap up in the coming weeks, the official said.

In recent days, USTR has sent comments to its Chinese counterparts seeking to address concerns with language in China’s revised offer on intellectual-property protection, according to one person briefed on the discussions.

While some American officials see China’s strategy as backped-

TRUMP BUDDIES UP WITH BOLSONARO, THE ‘DONALD TRUMP OF THE TROPICS’

W

ASHINGTON—President Donald Trump welcomed Brazil’s new far-right leader to the White House on Tuesday and made clear that flattery pays.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro— the “Donald Trump of the Tropics”—ran an unabashedly pro-Trump, pro-American campaign last year, emulating Trump in tone and style. It seems to have paid off for Bolsonaro on his first official trip to Washington.

At a joint news conference, Trump announced that he’d agreed to designate Brazil a “major non-Nato ally”—something Brazil had pursued to smooth US weapons purchases and military coordination. Trump even said he’d be open to granting full Nato membership to Latin America’s largest and most populous nation, even though Brazil doesn’t qualify to join the North Atlantic alliance.

The showing was the latest example of the premium Trump puts on personal relationships and the extent to which he’s willing to work with those who sing his virtues. And it renewed focus on the growing wave of populist strongmen who have captured voters’ support with blunt admonitions of “political correctness” and hardline immigration views.

As they sat down for the first time, Trump hailed Bolsonaro’s run as “one of the incredible campaigns,” saying he was “honored” it had drawn comparisons to his own 2016 victory. And he predicted the two would have a “fantastic working relationship,” telling reporters at a joint press conference that they have “many views” in common. The two also exchanged soccer jerseys in a sign of their budding friendship.

Bolsonaro was equally complimentary, predicting Trump would win reelection in 2020 and drawing parallels between their efforts.

Standing side-by-side in the White House Rose Garden, Bolsonaro said their two countries “stand side by side in their efforts to ensure liberties and respect to traditional family lifestyles, respect to God, our Creator, against the gender ideology or the politically correct attitudes and against fake news.”

“I’m very proud to hear the president use the term ‘fake news’,” Trump later remarked.

The embrace represents a shift in US-Brazilian relations. In 2013, leaks from Edward Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency had

wiretapped conversations of former President Dilma Rousseff, leading to several years of tense relations between the nations.

Bolsonaro had arrived in the US with a half a dozen ministers and a goal of expanding trade, diplomatic and military cooperation between the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere. And Trump appeared eager to deliver.

He announced he would back Brazil’s effort’s to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, while floating the idea of full Nato membership, though he said he’d “have to talk to a lot of people” for Brazil to join the organization.

However, James Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral who was the Supreme Allied Commander at Nato from 2009 to 2013, said Brazil does not qualify for full membership under the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949.

“The idea of formal membership is a nonstarter in every dimension—the treaty doesn’t allow it, the Brazilians wouldn’t want it and the Europeans wouldn’t approve,” Stavridis said in an e-mail exchange.

The efforts came as both countries continue to denounce the crisis in Venezuela and called on members of the Venezuelan military to end their support for President Nicolas Maduro. Both the US and Brazil have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, and Trump reiterated that “all options” to address Venezuela’s economic and political crisis remain on the table. The leaders also were expected to discuss a range of other issues, including expanding trade relations and increasing US private-sector investment in Brazil.

Bolsonaro has much in common with Trump.

He, too, ran an insurgent, social media-powered campaign. And like Trump, he has blasted unflattering stories as fake news and used Twitter and Facebook to bypass mainstream news organizations.

As a congressman, Bolsonaro frequently made disparaging comments about gays, women, indigenous groups and blacks, and he has praised torture and killings by police and waxed nostalgic for Brazil’s old military dictatorship. While such comments have drawn sharp criticism, they have also generated attention and fed into his narrative as a leader unencumbered by political correctness. AP

aling on commitments, others were less concerned saying it was a normal part of the negotiation process.

A person close to Lighthizer denied that Chinese officials have backed away from previous pledges. A Chinese official briefed on the talks said that the negotiations are still ongoing and that a back-and-forth is to be expected in such circumstances.

Trump is pushing for US negotiators to close a trade deal with China soon, concerned that he needs a big win on the international stage to boost his reelection chances. Trump has repeatedly said that talks with China are “moving along nicely,” and said earlier this month that markets will experience “a very big spike” as soon as the trade deal is complete.

In recent weeks, possible dates for a signing of an accord between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have been pushed back amid what Lighthizer has called “major” outstanding issues.

The US has said a trade deal with China must address its alleged theft of trade secrets and IP from American companies, regardless of any pledge from Beijing to buy more US goods and services.

In video conferences over the past few weeks, the two countries have advanced a series of documents that would eventually become the trade agreement. On IP, US and Chinese officials had

come up with an almost 30-page text, Lighthizer told lawmakers this month.

The Ministry of Commerce and the State Council Information Office in Beijing didn’t immediately respond to request for comment on the negotiations. White House communications aides didn’t immediately respond to a question for comment.

Tariff reversal

A DEAL between the US and China could see them reverse tariffs on roughly $360 billion of goods they’ve imposed on each other’s imports since July.

Trump has twice delayed imposing additional tariffs on Chinese goods that were scheduled to begin on January 1 and then March 1, citing progress in the trade talks. In recent weeks, investors had been heartened by signs that Trump is looking to sign a deal with Xi, possibly at a summit at Trump’s Mara-Lago resort in Florida.

The US is pushing for enforceable targets after Trump and his trade team have criticized China for failing to live up to past promises.

US and European business groups voiced skepticism about the effectiveness of a new law on foreign investment that China’s parliament rubber-stamped last week. The legislation, which is set to take effect next year, is supposed to put foreign-run enterprises on more equal footing

with locally owned business and end forced technology transfers.

The American Chamber Commerce in China, however, said in a statement that it appreciated some “last-minute” changes in the laws to address the concerns of foreign investors, without offering details.

But the legislation’s lack of details, including on how it will be executed, has raised concerns it lacks teeth. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday that China will protect IP and he hopes “foreign governments can view in an objective light the collaboration between Chinese and their foreign partners based on contractual consent.”

Bipartisan issue

TRUMP has the benefit of bipartisan support for taking a tough approach on China, even from political adversaries in Congress.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in multiple floor speeches in the past month, has urged Trump to hold the line and strike a strong and lasting deal with Beijing rather than resolve the trade war for a quick win.

Still, Trump has maintained the threat of abandoning the China talks. After walking out of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi last month, Trump stressed that he would be willing to do the same in a meeting with Xi if he didn’t like the terms of their deal. Bloomberg News

Fed is likely to stay ‘patient’ and project fewer rate hikes W A S H I N G T O N —T h e Federal Reserve is expected to end its latest policy meeting on Wednesday by refining its new overarching message that it plans to be “patient” about any further interest-rate hikes.

The Fed is all but sure to keep its key short-term rate in a range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent, still low by historical standards.

And most analysts think the policy-makers will scale back their projection of rate hikes this year from two to one or perhaps even none.

The central bank ’s new theme of patience and f lexibility ref lects its calming response since the start of the year to slow economic growth at home and abroad, a nervous stock market and persistently mild inf lation.

The Fed executed an abrupt pivot when it met in January by signaling that it no longer expected to raise rates anytime soon.

T he s h i f t t o w a rd a more hands-off Fed and away from a policy of steadily tightening c red it h a s plea sed i nvestors and encouraged the view that the central bank is done raising rates for now and might even act this year to support rather than restrain the economy.

Besides issuing a new polic y st atement on Wed nesd ay, t he Fed w i l l prov ide a n upd ated econom ic out look a nd C h a i r m a n Jerome Powe l l w i l l hold a news con ference. Powe l l i s e x pec ted to note t h at wh i le t he US e conomy i s on f i r m foot i ng , it f aces r i sk s f rom

slow ing g row t h and trade conf l ic t s. A ga i nst t h at bac kd rop, t he t h i n k i ng goes, it wou ld be u nw i se to kee p ra i si ng rates.

There is also anticipation that the Fed will specify when this year it expects to stop shrinking its huge portfolio of bonds, part of its balance sheet. Doing so would help keep a lid on loan rates.

A ll of which suggests that the Fed may recognize that it went too far after it met in December. At that meeting, the Fed approved a fourth rate hike for 2018 and projected two additional rate increases in 2019.

Powell also said he thought the balance sheet reduction would be on “automatic pilot.”

T hat message spooked inve s tor s, w ho wor r ie d a b out the prospect of steadily higher borrow ing rates for consumers and businesses and perhaps a f u r t her econom ic slowdow n.

T he stock market had begun fa l l ing in early October and then accelerated after the Fed ’s December meeting.

President Donald Trump, injecting himself not for the first time into the Fed ’s ostensibly i ndependent de l iberat ions, made c lear he wasn’t happy, ca l ling the December rate h i ke w rong-headed . R e por t s emerged that Trump was even contemplating tr y ing to f ire Powell, who had been his handpicked choice to lead the Fed. But after the December turmoil, the Fed in January began sending a more comforting message. At an economic conference soon after New Year’s, Powell

stressed that the Fed would be “flexible” and “patient” in raising rates—a word he and other policymakers have invoked repeatedly since—and “wouldn’t hesitate” to change course if necessary.

Powell, appearing last week on CBS’s 60 Minutes, denied that pressure from Trump had inf luenced the Fed ’s policy shift.

Pr ivate economists genera l ly agree that a slow ing economy and a sink ing stoc k market, which eased Fed worries about any possible stock bubble, were more decisive factors.

Economists expect the Fed’s updated forecasts to downgrade its estimate of growth in light of a slowdown in manufacturing and retail, sluggish housing and construction activity and global pressures, including an ongoing trade war.

A f ter sh a r ply fa l l i ng i n De ce mb e r, s to c k s h ave r a l l ie d a nd recouped most of t he i r late-year losses in trad ing si nce t he st a r t of 2019, a re bou nd c red ited l a rger to t he Fed ’s ea sier monet a r y st a nce.

Some analysts say they think the Fed won’t raise rates at all this year if the outlook becomes as dim as they are forecasting.

That view is supported by the CME Group, which tracks trading in futures contracts on the Fed’s benchmark rate. It says traders now put the probability of any Fed rate hike this year at zero and project a one-in-four chance that the Fed will actually cut rates by year’s end to help prevent a slowing economy from toppling into a recession. AP

ITALY TO JOIN CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE DESPITE OBJECTIONS FROM U.S.

M

ILAN—Premier Giuseppe Conte pledged on Tuesday to make Italy the first Group of Seven nation to join China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, despite objec tions from the United States and concerns within his governing coalition.

Speaking to parliament, Conte said that Italy’s signing of a memorandum of understanding for the infrastruc ture building venture, which is due to happen during the Chinese premier’s visit this week, would not “in the least” put into question Italy’s position within the strategic transAtlantic alliance or with European partners.

Italy’s signature would be considered a major legitimation of the project that envisions overland and maritime routes connecting China with Europe. A White House official has warned Italy against joining, calling it a Chinese “vanity project.”

European governments declined to sign a joint declaration on the Belt and Road at a forum last year in Beijing. They argued it lacked standards on financing and transparency.

In his first remarks to lawmakers on the deal on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit, Conte said the details have been worked out over months of consultations at every level of government.

He emphasized that the memorandum is not legally binding and that it would give Italy access to an enormous market. “ We w a n t t o f i r s t a n d f o r e m o s t rebalance our trade, which is not favorable to us now. Our exports to China are far lower than other European countries,” Conte said.

“The infrastructure will redefine commercial traffic routes. We will have new airports, new trade corridors, and it will certainly influence our economic growth.

We don’t want to lose any opportunity.”

C h i n a ’s f o r e i g n m i n i s t r y s a i d o n Wednesday that Xi will visit Sicily in addition to Rome, with plans to meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, as well as Conte. It also defended the Belt and Road Initiative against naysayers in Italy.

“During the process of developing the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation, it is inevitable that we may encounter some misunderstandings and even doubts,” said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao. “But facts will always speak louder than words.”

Wang said an agreement between China and Italy would be beneficial for both countries’ economic development.

“As for...whether it will help promote trade for Italy, I think it is absolutely ‘Yes,’” he said.

Pressed about Chinese investments in Italian ports and whether there is an excess in infrastruc ture developments, given Chinese existing investments in the area that could lead to additional debt, Wang said Chinese investments are decided by market rules.

“Whether to invest in a region or not, I believe that will be decided by the market” Wang said without elaborating.

In parliament, the opposition attacked the planned memorandum and the lack of detail provided to lawmakers, warning that the deal could be a Trojan horse for China to undermine Italian industries. Concerns also center around whether the accords include 5G access.

Even lawmakers from the right-wing League, par t of Conte’s coalition, say their suppor t for the memorandum is co n d i t i o n a l o n i t n o t h a r m i n g I t a l y ’s relations with its par tners.

“If it opens exports for Italian companies, it is great. The only constraints are security, the control of Italians’ data and energy. I would not like someone to wake up on the other side of the world and turn off the switch,” League leader Matteo Salvini said this week.

“If the Chinese want to invest in railways and ports, fine. What is important that control remains in Italian hands.”

Francesco Sisci, a China expert currently working as a researcher at Renmin U n i ve r s i t y i n Ch i n a , s a i d t h e b i g g e s t problem with the deals with China is that Italy pursued them without properly keeping its allies informed.

“There was a lack of professionalism and political know-how. Whatever the deal is, they need to speak first with the Americans and the Europeans, agreeing to a common approach, then speak with China,” Sisci said. AP

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

S. No. 454 H. No.8528

period provided for in the rules of the Commission; Republic of the Philippines

CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES Metro Manila Seventeenth Congress Third Regular Session Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-third day of July, two thousand eighteen

[ REPUBLIC ACT No. 11241 ]

AN ACT REGULATING THE REGISTRATION, LICENSURE, AND PRACTICE OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER RELATED PURPOSES Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled: SECTION 1. Short Title of Act. – This Act shall be known as “The Philippine Occupational Therapy Law of 2018”.

SEC. 2. Statement of Policy. – The State recognizes the importance of occupational therapists in nation building. Hence, it shall develop and nurture competent, virtuous, productive and well-rounded occupational therapists whose standards of practice and service shall be excellent, world-class and globally competitive through inviolable, honest, effective and credible licensure examinations and through regulatory measures, programs and activities that foster their continuing professional growth.

SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. – As used in this Act, the following terms shall mean: (a) Occupational Therapy – is a client centered health profession concerned with promoting health and well-being through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life.

Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by working with people and communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they want to, need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupational engagement. (b) The Scope and Nature of the Practice of Occupational Therapy – shall embrace, but is not limited to, the analysis and application of purposeful and meaningful activities need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupational engagement. (c) The Scope and Nature of the Practice of Occupational Therapy – shall embrace, but is not limited to, the analysis and application of purposeful and meaningful activities specifically directed to occupational performance in the areas of self-care, work, play, and leisure. Reference to occupation is in the context of the individual’s goal-directed use of time, energy, interest, and attention. Upon referral, occupational therapists interpret and intervene or address problems impeding functional or adaptive performance. The purpose is to prevent limitations in participation, and to promote, maintain, or restore occupational performance, health, and psychosocial well-being. Occupational therapy may be part of the health and/or social services in hospitals, community settings such as residential, vocational and leisure centers, schools, day programs, private agencies, the academe, clinics, the workplace and other organizations which provide preventive or health promotive services. (d) Occupational Therapist – refers to a person who is a holder of a valid registration and professional license issued by the Board of Occupational Therapy and the Professional Regulation Commission, and who is legally qualified to practice occupational therapy in the Philippines pursuant to this Act. ARTICLE II CREATION OF THE PROFESSIONAL REGUALTORY BOARD OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY SEC. 4. Creation and Composition of the Board. – There is herby created a Board of Occupational Therapy, hereafter referred to as the Board, under the administrative supervision of the Professional Regulation Commission, hereinafter referred to as the Commission, composed of a chairperson and two (2) members appointed by the President of the Philippines within six (6) months from the enactment of this Act upon the recommendation of the Commission from among occupational therapists of recognized standing nominated by the accredited and integrated professional organization of occupational therapists.

(m) Administer the examinations to applicants for the practice of occupational therapy in accordance with the provisions of this Act; (n) Adopt a program for the full computerization of the licensure examination; (o) Grant registration without examination subject to approval by the Commission; (p) Issue special permits to persons admitted to the practice of occupational therapy for a specific duration of time, and certificates of recognition for advanced studies, researches and accomplishments that contribute to the enrichment of the profession; and (q) Perform such other powers and functions as deemed necessary to carry out the objectives of this Act; The policies, resolutions, rules and regulations, orders or decisions issued or promulgated by the Board shall be subject to review and approval of the Commission.

SEC. 6. Qualifications of Board Members. – The members of the Board shall, at the time of their appointment, possess the following qualifications: A resident of the Philippines for at least (5) years;

(a)

(b) A duly registered occupational therapist under this Act, with a valid certificate of registration and professional license; (c) Has engaged in rendering occupational therapy services for at least five (5) continuous years immediately preceding appointment; (d) A member of good standing of the accredited and integrated professional organization of occupational therapists, and not an officer thereof; (e) Has no prior conviction by any competent court, of an offense involving moral turpitude; and (f) Has no pecuniary interest, directly or indirectly in any school, college or university or institution conferring an academic degree necessary for admission to the practice of occupational therapy; or where review classes in preparation for licensure examination are offered or conducted; nor be a member of faculty or administration thereof.

SEC. 7. Term of Office. – The members of the Board shall hold office for a term of three (3) years or until their successors have been appointed and duly qualified: Provided, That members of the first Board to be appointed after the approval of this Act shall hold office for the following terms: the chairperson for three (3) years, one (1) member for two (2) years, and the other member for one (1) year: Provided, further, That a chairperson or member may be reappointed for a second term, but may not serve more than two (2) consecutive three (3)-year terms or six (6) consecutive years. Interim vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term only.

SEC. 8. Removal of Board Members. – Any member of the Board may, upon the recommendation of the Commission after due process of law and investigation conducted by the Commission, be suspended or removed by the President from office for cause such as gross neglect of duty, incompetence, malpractice, unprofessionalism, immorality, unethical or dishonorable conduct, final judgment of crimes involving moral turpitude, and manipulating or rigging of the licensure examination results, disclosure of secret and confidential information in the examination questions prior to the conduct of the said examination, or tampering of grades.

SEC. 9. Compensation and Allowances of the Board.

– The chairperson and members of the Board shall receive compensation and allowances comparable to that being received by the chairpersons and members of existing regulatory boards under the Commission as provided for in the General Appropriations Act. SEC. 10. Supervision of the Board, Custodian of Records, Secretarial, and Support Services. – The Board shall be under the administrative supervision of the Commission. All records of the Board, including applications for examination, examination papers and results, minutes of deliberation, administrative cases, and other investigations involving occupational therapists, shall be kept by the Commission.

The Commission shall designate the Secretary of the Board and shall provide the secretariat and other support services to implement the provisions of this Act. SEC. 11. Annual Report. – The Board shall, at the close of each calendar year, submit an annual report to the Commission, giving a detailed account of its proceedings and accomplishments during the year and recommending measures to be adopted, with the end in view of upgrading and improving the conditions affecting the practice of occupational therapy in the Philippines.

SEC.5. Powers and Functions of the Board. – The Board shall have the following powers and functions:

ARTICLE III LICENSURE EXAMINTATION AND REGISTRATION

(a) Promulgate, administer, and enforce rules and regulations necessary for carrying out the provisions of this Act; (b) Supervise and regulate the registration, licensure and practice of occupational therapy in the Philippines; (c) Administer oaths in connection with the administration of this Act; (d)

Adopt an official seal of the Board;

(e) Maintain a roster of occupational therapists indicating therein the basic information about the registered professionals; (f) Issue, reinstate, suspend, cancel or revoke the registration and license, or special permits for the practice of occupational therapy; (g) Study and monitor conditions affecting the practice of occupational therapy and adopt such measures as may be deemed necessary for the enhancement of the profession and maintenance of high professional and ethical standards; (h) Ensure, in collaboration with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) or its equivalent, that all educational institutions offering occupational therapy education comply with the prescribed policies, standards, and guidelines; (i) Prescribe that Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for occupational therapists endorsed by the accredited and integrated professional organization of occupational therapists; (j) Hear or investigate any violations of this Act, its implementing rules and regulations and the Code of Ethics, and for this purpose, issue subpoena duces tecum and/or ad testificandum to secure the appearance of the witnesses and the production of documents in connection therewith: Provide, That the decision of the Board shall, unless appealed to the Commission, become final and executory after fifteen (15) days from receipt of judgment or decision; (k) Prescribe guidelines and criteria in the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program for occupational therapists; (l) Prescribe the subjects in the licensure examination and table of specifications, determine the syllabi of the subjects and their relative weights, score and the rate examination papers, and submit the results to the Commission within the

SEC. 12. Examination Required. – All applicants for registration for the practice of occupational therapy shall be required to undergo a licensure examination to be given by the Board in such places and dates as the Commission may designate subject to compliance with the requirements prescribed by the Commission.

SEC. 13. Qualification for Examination. – A applicant for the licensure examination for occupational therapists shall establish, to the satisfaction of the Board, that the following qualifications are met: (a) A citizen of the Philippines or a foreigner whose country has reciprocity agreement with the Philippines; (b) Has not been convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude; and (c) A graduate of a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy degree or its equivalent degree as determined by the Board from a school, college or university in the Philippines or abroad whose occupational therapy program is recognized by the CHED. SEC. 14. Scope of Examination. – The licensure examination for occupational therapists shall cover the basic sciences and health science foundations integrated into the following domains:

Thursday, March 21, 2019 B7

(4)

Psychosocial Dysfunction

(5)

Community-based Practice

(c)

Occupational Therapy Application 3

(1)

Professional Reasoning and Behavior

(2)

Professional Competence and Ethics

(3)

Organization, Administration and Management

(4)

Research Process

The Board, subject to the approval by the Commission, may revise or exclude any of the subjects or add new ones as the need arises, and may adjust or modify the percentage weight of the subjects in order to keep the examination abreast and in conformity with the latest developments in the profession here and abroad.

SEC. 15. Ratings in the Examination. – To be qualified as having passed the licensure examination for occupational therapists, a candidate must have obtained a general average of seventy-five percent (75%), with no grade lower than sixty percent (60%) in any given subject.

SEC. 16. Report of Ratings – The Board shall submit to the Commission the ratings obtained by each candidate within ten (10) calendar days after the examination, unless extended for just cause.

SEC. 17. Issuance of the Certificate of Registration, Professional License, and the Professional Identification Card. – Registration and a professional license shall be issued to examinees who pass the licensure examination for occupational therapists subject to payment of fees prescribed by the Commission. The registration and professional license shall bear the signature of the chairperson of the Commission and the members of the Board, stamped with the official seal, indicating that the person named therein is entitled to practice the profession with all the privileges appurtenant thereto. The registration and license shall remain in full force and effect until revoked or suspended in accordance with this Act. SEC. 18. Initial. – The initials OTRP, which stands for Occupational Therapists Registered Philippines, shall be used following the name of the registered occupational therapist, especially when signing documents pertinent to the practice of the profession.

SEC. 19. Refusal to Register. – The Board shall refuse to register any successful examinee who has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction of any criminal offense involving moral turpitude, or has been found guilty of immoral or dishonorable conduct after investigation by the Board, or has been declared to be of unsound mind. The reason for the refusal shall be set forth in writing.

SEC. 20. Reinstatement, Re-issuance or Replacement of Certificate of Registration and Professional License. – Two (2) years after the date of revocation, the Board may, upon application and for the reasons deemed proper and sufficient, reinstate any revoked certificate of registration or professional license, and in so doing, may, in its discretion, exempt the applicant from taking another examination.

A new certificate of registration, professional license, or special permit, to replace lost, destroyed, or mutilated ones, may be issued subject to the rules as implemented by the Board.

SEC. 21. Oath of Occupational Therapists. – Successful examinees qualified for registration, and qualified applicants for registration without examination, shall be required to take an oath of profession before any member of the Board or any government official authorized by the Commission to administer oaths, prior to entering into the practice of occupational therapy in the Philippines.

SEC.22. Indication of Licensure and Privilege Tax Receipt.

– The occupational therapist shall be required to indicate his/her registration/professional license number and date of issuance thereof, the duration of validity of said license, including his/ her privilege tax receipt number, on the documents he/she signs, uses or issues in connection with the practice of his/her profession.

SEC. 23. Revocation or Suspension of the Certificate of Registration and Cancellation of Special Permit. – The Board may, after giving proper notice of hearing to the party concerned, revoked the practitioner’s certificate of registration and professional license, or be suspended from the practice of the profession; or cancel the special permit for any of the causes or grounds mentioned in Section 25 of this Act or for any unprofessional or unethical conduct, malpractice, violation of any of the provisions of this Act, its rules and regulations, the Code of Ethics, and Standards of Practice for occupational therapists.

SEC. 24. Roster of Occupational Therapists – The Board shall prepare, update and maintain a roster of occupational therapists which shall contain the name of each registered occupational therapist, his/her residence and office addresses, the date of registration and issuance of certificates, and other data which the Board may deem pertinent. The roster shall be open to the public, copies of which shall be mailed to each person listed therein.

SEC. 25. Issuance of Special and Temporary Permit. – Special or temporary permits upon recommendation of the integrated professional organization of occupational therapists may be issued by Board, subject to the approval by the Commission and payment of the fees the latter has prescribed and charges, to the following persons: (a) Foreign-licensed occupational therapists called for consultation or a specified purpose that is deemed essential to national development: Provided, That the practice shall be limited only for the particular work being engage: Provided, further, That there is no Filipino therapist qualified for such consultation or purpose; (b) Foreign-licensed occupational therapists whose service shall be free and who are highly needed under particular settings; (c) Foreign-licensed occupational therapists engaged as professors, lecturers, or critics in fields essential to occupational therapy education in the Philippines, whose engagement is limited to teaching only; and (d) Foreign-licensed occupational therapist recognized as an expert or specialist whose service is deemed essential to the advancement of the profession in the Philippines.

The permit shall, among other things, include these limitations and conditions: valid only for a period of not more than one (1) year subject to renewal; the branch or specialty of occupational therapy which the permit holder can practice; and the specific place or places of practice such as clinic, hospital, center, school/college/university offering the course of occupational therapy. The Board, subject to the approval by the Commission, shall prescribe rules and regulations for the implementation of this particular section.

ARTICLE IV

(a) Engage in the practice of occupational therapy by representing himself/herself as an occupational therapist without a valid registration, registration, professional license, or valid temporary/special permit granted by the Board pursuant to this Act; (b) Represent to be an occupational therapist during the time that his/her professional license is not valid or that his/her certificate of registration has been suspended or revoked, or that his/her temporary/special permit has been cancelled; (c) Allow anybody to use his/her certificate of registration and/or professional license and/or temporary/special permit as an occupational therapist to enable such an unqualified individual to engage in the practice of occupational therapy; (d) Use as his/her own the certificate of registration professional license, or temporary/special permit of another person; and (e) Violate any provision of the Code of Ethics as recommended by the accredited national occupational therapists.

SEC. 28. Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Occupational Therapists. – The Board shall adopt and promulgate the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for occupational therapists prescribed and issued by Accredited and Integrated Professional Organization (AIPO) of occupational therapists.

SEC. 29.Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Program. – All occupational therapist shall abide with the requirements, rules and regulations on continuing professional development to be promulgated by the Professional Regulatory Board of Occupational Therapy, subject to the approval of the Commission, in coordination with the AIPO of occupational therapists and/or the recognized representative of duly accredited education institutions. For this purpose, the Board may create a CPD council to implement the CPD program, subject to such guidelines as may be prescribed by the Commission.

SEC.30. Integration of Occupational Therapists. – The occupational therapy profession shall be integrated into one (1) national professional organization of occupational therapists, which shall be duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Board, subject to approval by the Commission, shall accredit the said organization as the one and only AIPO of registered occupational therapist s. All occupational therapists whose names appear in the current Registry Book of Occupational Therapists shall ipso facto or automatically become members thereof and shall receive all the benefits and privileges appurtenant thereto upon payment of the required AIPO membership fees and dues.

Membership in the AIPO shall not be a bar to membership in other organizations of occupational therapists.

SEC. 31. Foreign Reciprocity. – No foreign occupational therapist shall be given a certificate of registration/professional license and professional identification card or be entitled to any of the privileges under this Act unless the country or state of which the foreign occupational therapist is a subject or citizen permits Filipino occupational therapists to practice within its territorial limits on the same basis as the subjects or citizens of said country or state.

ARTICLE V PENAL AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS SEC.32. Penal Provision. -Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this Act or any of its implementing rules and regulations as promulgated by the Board, subject to the approval of the Commission, shall upon conviction, be punished with a fine of not less than Twenty thousand pesos (20,000.00) nor more than Fifty thousand pesos (50,000.00), or by imprisonment of not less than two (2) years nor more than five (5) years, or both, at the discretion of the court.

SEC. 33. Funding Provision. –The Chairman of the Commission shall immediately include in the Commission’s budget program, the implementation of this Act, the funding of which shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act. SEC. 34. Implementing Rules and Regulations.- To implement the provisions of this Act, the Board shall subject to the approval of the Commission, promulgate the rules and regulations, as well as the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for occupational therapists, within sixty (60) days after the effectivity of this Act. SEC. 35. Transitory Provisions. -The existing Board of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy shall continue to function in the interim until such time that the new and separate Professional Regulatory Board of Occupational Therapy shall be constituted pursuant to this Act. SEC. 36. Separability Clause.- If any part, portion, section or provision of this Act shall be declared invalid or unconstitutional, such shall not invalidate any other part, portion, section or provision of this Act and the same shall continue to be in force and effect.

SEC. 37. Repealing Clause. -All laws, decrees, orders, issuances or part thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby modified, revised, superseded or repealed. Republic Act No. 5680 is hereby modified accordingly.

SEC. 38. Effectivity- This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) major newspapers of national circulation, whichever comes earlier.

Approved,

GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

VICENTE C. SOTTO III President of the Senate

Speaker of the House of Representatives

This Act was passed by the Senate of the Philippines as Senate Bill No. 454 on January 29, 2018 and adopted by the House of Representatives as an amendment to House Bill No. 8528 on December 12, 2018.

DANTE ROBERTO P. MALING

MYRA MARIE D. VILLARICA Secretary of the Senate

Acting Secretary General House of Representatives

Approved: MAR 11, 2019

PRACTICE OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY (a)

Occupational Therapy Application 1

(1) Occupational Therapy Theories and Frames of Reference (2) (3) Lifespan

Growth and Human Development Occupational Performance and Behavior Across the

(4)

Occupational-based practice

(b)

Occupational Therapy Application 2

(1)

Adult Physical Dysfunction

(2)

Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics

(3)

Occupational Therapy in Geriatrics

SEC.26. Prohibition on the Practice on Occupational Therapy. –No person shall practice or offer to practice occupational therapy, nor offer to be an occupational therapist, or use the title, word, letter, figure, or any sign tending to convey the impression of being an occupational therapist, nor advertise or indicate in any manner whatsoever to be qualified to perform the work of an occupational therapist without passing the licensure examination given by the Board, except as otherwise provided in this Act. SEC. 27. Prohibited Acts- No person shall:

RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE President of the Philippines O

PRRD 2016-009765

B8 Thursday, March 21, 2019

IKEBANA MANILA CELEBRATES 52ND YEAR IN BUSINESS, STAGES FLORAL EXHIBIT

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KEBANA International Manila Chapter 108 celebrates its 52nd anniversary from March 22 to 24 at the grand atrium of Shangri-La Mall in Mandaluyong City, with an exhibit of floral arrangements created by its members, the Embassy of Japan, Ikebana Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao, and with special participation of Lalique/Rustans.

“Ikebana Manila at 52” will be Philippine-inspired as mentioned by Sogetsu founder Sofu Teshigahara that “Ikebana Art has no national or ethnic boundaries.”

Ihoko Haneda, spouse of the ambassador of Japan, will head the traditional lighting of the sulo to mark the opening of the exhibit today, March 21, which is by invitation only.

Free demonstrations by certified Ikebana teachers will be on March 23 from 3 to 5 p.m.; and on March 24 from 3 to 6 p.m. The public is cordially invited in these days.

Ikebana, the ancient art of flower arrangement, dates back to the 13th century. Originally used as flower offerings in religious temples, it was only in the 19th century that the word became known and appreciated as an expression of art. Eventually, this led to the establishment of Ikebana schools in Japan, each with its own set and distinguished style. Among the popular Schools are Ikenobo, Sogetsu, Ohara, Ryuseiha, Ichiyo, Chico, Koryu and many more.

PAG-IBIG FUND: EMPLOYERS MUST SETTLE OBLIGATIONS PRIOR OF LAPSING PENALTY CONDONATIONS

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N a move to improve the plight of more Filipino workers, top executives of the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) reminds employers of settling due obligations before penaltycondonation programs end by midyear. “...We a re of fer i ng pen a lt ycondonation programs to employers to improve compliance. This way the employees get to enjoy their PagIBIG membership, while we offer payment plans under our penaltycondonation programs to ease the burden on employers. It’s a win-win situation for all parties involved,” said Eduardo D. del Rosario, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and Pag-IBIG Fund board of trustees.

The fund is currently offering two penalty-condonation programs: One under Circular 416, for employers who haven’t deducted monthly savings from employees; and another under Circular 411, for those who have deducted monthly savings but failed in remittance. Under the two circulars, unregistered and delinquent employers will be given two payment options and terms that best suit their capacity.

Employers covered by Circular 411 only have until June 26 to settle, while employers covered by Circular 416 only have until August 13 to do so.

More than 6,100 unregistered and delinquent employers have already availed themselves of the penalty-condonation programs. They have collectively remitted

P260 million in previous monthly savings of over 194,000 benefit-deprived employees.

With the employers’ compliance, these employees now have an updated membership and can fully enjoy the benefits and services of the Pag-IBIG Fund.

“Pag-IBIG Fund is offering the penalty-condonation programs to help employers comply with the law. Since 2017 we already helped delinquent employers save a total of P200 million in penalties. As we work to allow more workers to become members of the fund, we want to make sure that their monthly savings are remitted properly and on time by their employers because it is their right....,” Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said.

EMPOWERED SALESWOMEN AT THE CORE OF ODYSSEY LIVELIHOOD PROGRAM

M CLUB ANANDA TURNS 5! The premier wedding destination in the south, Club Ananda welcomes guests and soonto-wed couples in a day of fun activities and surprises, on its fifth anniversary on March 23. The Taste of Sandari mini bridal expo will feature newest trends in wedding ceremonies and receptions, and host food tasting, mobile bar games, outdoor cocktails, live entertainment and raffle draws. The Club Ananda events hall, waterpark and garden are inside Sandari Batulao at km 77, Barangay Kaylaway, Batulao, Nasugbu, Batangas. For more information, visit Club Ananda on Facebook and Instagram.

JRS EXPRESS OPENS 404TH BRANCH IN MARIKINA

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RS Express, the leading next-day courier- and deliveryservice provider, opens its 404th branch on the secondfloor level of Unit Thaddeus, Arcade corner Pitpitan Streets and Gil Fernando Avenue, San Roque, Marikina City.

The increased economic development drives JRS Express

in opening more branches nationwide. With its tagline “ Kahit Kailan Maasahan, Kahit Saan Makakarating”, JRS Express, for 58 years, has proven its commitment to deliver clients’ needs on time, in the least possible cost.

Visit www.jrs-express.com.

SUN CELLULAR’S NEW LTE PLANS TO BE FEATURED ON SYSTEMS INTEGRATION PHILIPPINES 2019

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DVANCES in smart-phone technology have enabled them to keep us connected, organized, updated on the latest news and be entertained. To ensure we make the most of our gadgets, we need to be connected 24/7.

That is precisely what one of the exhibits on the upcoming Systems Integration Philippines has to offer from August 15 to 17 at the SMX Convention Center.

Sun Cellular boasts of a wide array of mobile services, including mobile telephony, voice, messaging, international roaming services, wireless broadband and valueadded services. Their latest offering is their new nonstop LTE plans powered by their newest and fastest LTE network. With these plans, you can expect nonstop calls, texts, web surfing and more! Drop by at Sun Cellular’s booth and find

ORE than 3,000 mothers have benef ited f rom different livelihood trainings and seminars initiated by the Odyssey Foundation Inc. (OFI), the corporate socialresponsibility arm of CDO Foodsphere Inc. OFI, in commemoration of the National Women’s Month, said that, as of February 28, some 3,051 beneficiaries, mostly mothers of undernourished children i n p o or c o m mu n it i e s , graduated from a livelihood assistance program themed “Gabay Hanapbuhay”.

Many of them received starter kits from OFI and its partners to continue their small businesses at home and help their families achieve a better life. “[The] Gabay Hanapbuhay is now on its seventh year. It is one of the hallmarks of Odyssey Foundation [Inc.] in keeping its social commitment to help uplift the lives of our brothers and sisters who do not have much in life,” OFI President Jerome D. Ong said.

The Gabay Hanapbuhay aims to help the marginalized members of society suffering from inadequate household income and unemployment, resulting in malnutrition among children. It also supports poor parents to attain financial independence through self-help.

Beneficiaries were trained on meat processing, cosmetology, weaving, basic massage therapy, mushroom cultivation, among other actitivities initiated by OFI. “We believe in the capacity of the

people to take an active role toward their own development and success.

We will strive to create avenues for them to be productive members of [the] society,” Ong said.

OFI has administered 118 training work shops i n 4 6 i mpover i shed communities across the National Capital Region, Bulacan and Batangas provinces, over the past seven years.

The Gabay Hanapbuhay started on October 8, 2011, in Barangay Maysan, Valenzuela City, with 142 female parents as participants. Because of the overwhelming response by community leaders, the program was expanded to different barangays in the cities of Valenzuela, Caloocan, Malabon and Quezon, different Bulacan towns and in Malvar, Batangas.

OFI conducted its 34th Gabay Hanapbuhay in Barangay Pinalagad, Valenzuela City, with 90 participating women in February.

OFI has 46 community partners in the NCR and the provinces of Bulacan and Batangas. Such partners include the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), Truth Foundation Inc., AngHortaleza Foundation Inc., Valenzuela City Livelihood Development Office, Saint Martin of Tours Parish Church in Bocaue, Bulacan, and Dakilang Handog Foundation Inc. “We, at Odyssey Foundation [Inc.], shall continuously respond to the needs of communities where we operate our business. Thus, we created social programs and services that will capacitate and empower mothers, fathers and other members of the community,” Ong added.

“As the journey continues, our heart will always be committed to serve communities. We are developing new programs and services that will empower and equip the people to achieve their goals in life.”

FREEDOM TRAIL A TRIBUTE TO WORLD WAR 2 HEROES—VETERANS BANK out how you can unlock nonstop connections. Visitors can preregister at www.globallinkmp.com/SIP to get a free one-day event pass.

Organized by Global-Link MP Events International Inc., the SIP and its three incorporating shows— Commworld global ICT expo; global e-business solutions; and Global Security Philippines—bring to the country the latest and best technology, know-how and services available in the world market to help address the need for constant innovation in the public and private sectors.

In photo are (from left) Sheila Dimaya-Malubay, junior manager, Sun Postpaid trade marketing category; Roma Ramirez, manager, Sun Postpaid trade marketing category; and Rochelle Ann David, project executive officer, Global-Link MP Events International Inc.

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EFENSE Sec ret a r y Del f i n Lorenzana receives the guidon from retired Brigadier General Restituto Aguilar, chief of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) veterans’ memorial and historical division, at the final leg of the Veterans Bank Freedom Trail, which kicked off the monthlong commemoration of the Bataan Death March’s 77th anniversary.

Witnessing the symbolic turnover are Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) chairman Roberto de Ocampo and PVAO administrator Ernesto Carolina.

The PVB-organized annual memorial event, a corporate social-responsibility program of the bank, retraces the route of the 160-kilometer Death March during the second World War, starting from Mariveles, Bataan, down to Camp O’Donnell in Capas, Tarlac, via San Fernando, Pampanga.

“[The] Freedom Trail is our way of remembering our second World War veterans’ bravery and heroism, particularly the Battle for Bataan. They were abandoned and yet, against all odds, held on and defended the country for three months, unlike [of] our Southeast Asian neighbors. That’s why their captors let them go through what is now known as the Bataan Death March.

Let the Freedom Trail be a tribute to these brave heroes,” says PVB marketing communications division head Mike Villa-Real.

Considered as one of the darkest days in Philippine history, the Death March is the forcible transfer of some 80,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war after they surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army on April 9, 1942. The POWs were loaded onto freight trains in San Fernando,

Pampanga, up to the Capas station, where they were forced to walk again toward the concentration camp.

Tens of thousands died in the infamous march and during their t h re e -ye a r i nc a rce r at ion u nde r subhuman conditions.

Hundredsofpersonnelfromthearmed forces, police and civilian volunteers, together with former United States Navy SEALs, took part in the annual event.

A partnership with the PVAO and the provincial government of Bataan, this year’s commemorative activities also included “Ride for Valor”, a competitive bike tour along the same route.

The Bataan Freedom Run is set on April 14, where running enthusiasts are invited to take part. Proceeds will be used for the restoration and maintenance of historical markers along the Death March routes.

Sports

Curry, Warriors hunt down Wolves

BusinessMirror

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INNEAPOLIS—Golden State’s most recent homestand included a 33-point loss to Boston and a startling defeat to last-place Phoenix, reminding the Warriors of the work that’s ahead of them to win a fourth NBA championship in five years.

The Warriors passed their first challenge with a 3-1 record on this tough road trip, finishing in Minnesota with a clinic in half-court passing and shooting.

Stephen Curry scored 22 of his 36 points in the third quarter and Klay Thompson pitched in with 28 points, giving the Warriors more than enough production to beat the fading Timberwolves, 117-107, on Tuesday and regain first place in the Western Conference.

“If we can do that the rest of the way to the playoffs, we will definitely solidify this No. 1 seed,” Thompson said.

The Warriors had 39 assists on 44 made field goals and finished 19 for 42 from three-point range. They’ve won 20 of their last 25 games away from home.

“Some possessions, it was a lot of overpassing, to be honest,” Curry said, “but against teams that try to put pressure on you and take away that first option, that’s the best way for us to really attack.”

Jonas Jerebko added 18 points, Kevin Durant scored 17 points and Draymond Green had 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Warriors (48-22), who bounced back with little rest from a loss at San Antonio on Monday and moved a half-game ahead of idle Denver (47-22) for the top seed. The

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| Thursday, March 21, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

NO GIANNIS, NO LEBRON THE Bucks’ Brook Lopez and the Lakers’ Rajon Rondo reach for a loose ball during the second half of their game on Tuesday. AP

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NBA RESULTS Philadelphia 118, Charlotte 114 Houston 121, Atlanta 105 Golden State 117, Minnesota 107 Milwaukee 115, LA Lakers 101 Brooklyn 123, Sacramento 121 GOLDEN State’s Stephen Curry drives against Minnesota’s Josh Okogie. AP

Warriors beat Houston and Oklahoma City, currently in the third and sixth spots in the stacked conference race, to start the trip. Falling at home to Phoenix clearly captured their attention.

“I think that loss is probably the biggest lesson for us throughout the season,” Durant said.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points and 21 rebounds, Andrew Wiggins totaled 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Josh Okogie had 19 points for the Timberwolves, who played again without the injured Jeff Teague, Derrick Rose, Robert Covington and Luol Deng, and lost their fourth straight game.

“When you’re going against the world champions, you have to really be on your game offensively and defensively,” Wolves Coach Ryan Saunders said, “then just your collective resolve as a group to withstand those runs.”

The Warriors, finishing their ninth set of games on consecutive nights out of 12 back-to-backs on their schedule this season, started rather sleepily and watched the Wolves build a 22-9 lead.

The beauty of the Warriors—or irritation, depending on the rooting interest—is how quickly they can recover. They used a 21-3 run over the next 5:51 to take control, with their long-range shooting simply too much for this undermanned Wolves team that, even at full strength, is vulnerable defensively.

Jerebko, whose playing time has dwindled since DeMarcus Cousins returned, had 14 points in the second quarter alone, including a couple of deep three-pointers from the wing to help the Warriors cruise into halftime with a 59-47 lead.

The Wolves managed to work their way back to tie the game at 61 on Okogie’s three-pointer, but the Warriors needed only 3:18 for a 14-1 spurt that put them right back in charge. Curry had eight of those points.

“We were scoring two. They were scoring threes,” Towns said.

“That put them up a little bit. We had some breakdowns, but we played hard.” AP

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By Rich Rovito The Associated Press

ILWAUKEE—Billed as a battle of All-Star captains, the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers instead took the court on Tuesday night without their respective franchise players.

Missing Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is nursing an injured ankle, the Bucks repeatedly thwarted rallies by the Lakers, who didn’t have the services of LeBron James due to a sore groin, before finally putting away Los Angeles, 115-101.

“We didn’t play well with the lead. That’s frustrating on a lot of different levels,” Milwaukee Coach Mike Budenholzer said.

Khris Middleton scored 30 points and had 10 rebounds, Brook Lopez tied a season high with 28 points, and Nikola Mirotic chipped in with 23 for Milwaukee, which improved to a National Basketball Association (NBA)-best 53-18.

Budenholzer credited Lopez’s all-around game for leading the Bucks to victory.

“I thought he was phenomenal,” Budenholzer said.

“Some of his shots were just very timely, then he’s finishing in the paint, he’s driving it, getting to the free throw line. He did a lot of things offensively.”

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had a season-high 35 points for the Lakers, three off his career best.

“He’s a very skilled shooter. It’s a lot of fun when he is having a game like that,” Lakers Coach Luke Walton said.

ONDON—Britain’s richest man has bought the Team Sky cycling team, which will be renamed Team Ineos.

Jim Ratcliffe, who is the chairman of chemicals giant Ineos, is reported by the Sunday Times rich list as being worth $21 billion (€18.5 million).

Ineos pledged in a statement on Tuesday to honor all “existing commitments to riders, staff and partners.”

The team’s launch takes place at the Tour de Yorkshire which starts in Doncaster on May 2.

Sky’s longtime team principal Dave Brailsford welcomed the move, saying “it ends the uncertainty around the team” and “represents a huge vote of confidence in our future.”

Sky has won six of the past seven Tour de France races, with Chris Froome winning four times and Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas winning it once.

British broadcaster Sky announced its withdrawal from the sport last December following the European pay TV giant’s takeover by American company Comcast.

Primoz Roglic of Slovenia, meanwhile, won the Tirreno-Adriatico cycling race by one second when he beat British rider Adam Yates in the final-stage time trial on Tuesday in San Benedetto del Tronto in Italy.

Victor Campenaerts won the 10-kilometer individual time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto.

Roglic, who rides for Team Jumbo-Visma, started the time trial in second place in the overall standings, 25 seconds behind Yates.

“It was unbelievably close. I was lucky in the end,” Roglic said. “I felt strong...I tried to make a difference and really go for it and I really pushed until the finish line.

“I was confident but I can only control myself.”

Yates had been in the lead of the race since the second of the seven stages, while his MitcheltonScott team had won the opening-day team time trial.

“It was close, but it wasn’t enough, that’s how it goes, that’s bike racing,” Yates said. “I did the best I could, I said yesterday that 25 seconds isn’t really enough. But I did a good TT, I’ll have to look back but I think the power was good and I held my position for as long as I could.

“There wasn’t much more I could do, the strongest man won, but for sure next year I’ll be back and hopefully I can come back stronger.”

Jakob Fuglsang of Denmark finished third overall, 30 seconds behind Roglic and nearly a minute ahead of Tom Dumoulin.

Campenaerts won the final stage in 11-plus minutes. Alberto Bettiol was three seconds behind the Belgian. Jos van Emden of the Netherlands was four seconds back. AP

Kyle Kuzma added 17 points for Los Angeles, which has lost four consecutive games and nine of 10.

Antetokounmpo, a front-runner for the league MVP award, poured in a career-high 52 points in a 130-125 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, but sprained his right ankle in that game after colliding with Joel Embiid on a drive to the basket late in the third quarter.

He remained in the game, but continued soreness forced him to sit against the Lakers.

James, who had 33 points in a loss to the Knicks on Sunday, didn’t play due to a sore left groin, the same injury that caused him to miss a career-high 17 consecutive games earlier this season.

The Bucks led by 11 after the first quarter, but the Lakers worked their back in the second, eventually tying it at 56 before falling behind, 61-58, at the half.

Caldwell-Pope had 23 first-half points, helped by 5-for-8 shooting from three-point range.

Milwaukee seemed to gain control in the third quarter, building a 23-point lead at one point. The Bucks led 99-84 heading to the fourth.

The Lakers clawed back, however, and cut the lead to five midway through the fourth quarter. But the Bucks again pushed the lead to double digits.

“I thought our guys gave everything they had tonight,” Walton said.

Antetokounmpo received treatment on his ankle during the team’s off day on Monday. Budenholzer said before the game he wasn’t good to play. “He can’t play,” he said. Tony Snell started for Antetokounmpo.

To help fill a void at guard, the Bucks signed Tim Frazier, who played 47 games this season for the New Orleans Pelicans before being waived on February 28. He averaged 4.8 points, 4.5 assists and 1.8 rebounds. The 28-year-old Frazier appeared in four preseason games for the Bucks.

“We feel really fortunate that Tim was somebody that we could add to the team,” Budenholzer said. Frazier played 12 minutes but didn’t score. To clear a roster spot, Milwaukee cut forward Christian Wood. “We are very appreciative of all he did for us, the progress he made, the player he’s becoming,” Budenholzer said.

When a ball became wedged between the top of the backboard and the shot clock early in the second quarter, Bucks 7-foot center Brook Lopez grabbed a long-handle broom from a ball boy. After successfully knocking the ball loose, Lopez triumphantly raised his hands and bowed to the cheering crowd, which responded with a chant of “MVP.” “We’re all heroes. We’re just each waiting for our moment and mine came tonight,” Lopez said.

Antetokounmpo, who was in uniform, donned a thick white headband with the NBA logo while on the bench, something he doesn’t do during game action. “I don’t think that’s a good look for him,” Middleton said.

When asked to assess what sparked his hot shooting, Caldwell-Pope, who made 8 of 14 shots from three-point range, had a quick explanation. “I had a great nap. I woke up feeling good. I don’t like to take long naps, so I try to plan my naps, 45 minutes to an hour long.”

BRITAIN’S RICHEST MAN BUYS FROOME, TEAM SKY

TEAM Sky will be renamed as Team Ineos.

C2

SUZARA

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HE Mall of Asia Arena will be the venue of 5-on-5 basketball of the 30th Southeast Asian Games, Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Executive Director Tats Suzara confirmed on Wednesday.

A week after the news broke that basketball was moved to the much smaller Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City, the Phisgoc finally reached an agreement with SM Prime Holdings—owner of the

Business

Thursday, March 21, 2019

MOA, FINALLY, TO HOST SEA GAMES BASKETBALL

huge indoor arena—to host the centerpiece event of the biennial games.

“We are happy about this news. This was confirmed after a fruitful meeting this morning,” Suzara said. “This is a big news for all basketball fans. This is a lucky day.”

The Mall of Asia Arena, a 20,000-seat multipurpose stadium located in the SM Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City, is one of the major venues of the Philippine Basketball

Lady Realtors vs PLDT gals

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Spo

ANTA Lucia hopes to end its string of misfortune when it battles PLDT in the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix on Thursday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Action is set at 7 p.m. with the Lady Realtors looking to get out of the basement as the elimination round enters its crucial stretch.

Struggling Foton collides with Cignal at 4:15 p.m. while United VC hopes to extend its winning run when it tangles with hungry GenerikaAyala in the 2 p.m. appetizer.

Petron, which clobbered PLDT late on Tuesday, remains on top of the team standings with 10 straight wins while its bitter rival in F2 Logistics is sitting at the second spot with an 8-2 win-loss card to secure a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinal round.

That makes this playdate very interesting as the rest of the pack are in dire need of a victory to improve their chances for the two remaining quarterfinal bonuses.

Sta. Lucia is coming off a loss to F2 Logistics and a victory would put them in a perfect position to avoid either powerhouse Petron or F2 Logistics in the next round.

“We have to step up and work doubly hard in our next five matches,” said Sta. Lucia Coach Babes Castillo, adding that import Casey Schoenlein remains as their primary option on offense while local players Jhoanna Maraguinot, Pam Lastimosa and middle blocker Molly Lohman are all tipped to step up.

Association, University Athletics Association of the Philippines and other sporting events.

It was expected that the MOA Arena, and the Smart Araneta Coliseum, will host basketball because of their size.

But the two venues begged off last week, according to Suzara, because they have long been booked on the same dates the SEA Games are set from November 30 to December 11. Phisgoc considered

Filoil Flying V Centre as an option because it is the only available venue.

The news received negative feedbacks from fans because the San Juan could only accommodate a little more than 5,000 spectators.

Besides basketball, the MOA Arena will also host speed skating, ice skating, ice hockey and eSports.

The 3-on-3 basketball will still be at the Filoil.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Letran, Durham Toronto in Fantastic 8 L ETRAN-MANILA and Durham Crossover-Toronto emerged victorious to earn the first tickets to the Fantastic 8 of the Division 1 in the 2019 Chooksto-Go National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) League National Finals presented by SM on Wednesday at SM Mall of Asia Arena.

The eighth seed Squires opened Day Three with a big 60-57 come-from-behind win over ninth seed Hope Christian-Manila behind the efforts of John Tabajen whose relentless effort allowed them to fight back from a 12-point first half deficit.

Tabajen’s putback in the final minute sealed the victory as he finished with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds in the Supreme 16 of the national championship for high school sponsored by Chooks-toGo, Darlington-Exped Socks, EPSON, Huawei, Freego, Purefoods, Gatorade, Go for Gold, SM, Molten, and presented by 5Plus and Lighthouse Events.

Andrei Romenez topped Letran-Manila with 14 points and three rebounds, CJ Saure got 13 points and 12 boards, and Shawn Umali scored 10 points and hauled down 16 rebounds in the win.

It was a tough defeat for the Soldiers who lost

four-time NBTC All-Star and top gun Harvey Pagsanjan with three minutes remaining after his second unsportsmanlike foul, ending his day with a statline of 19 points and five rebounds.

Durham Crossover-Toronto, meanwhile, progressed to its first Fantastic 8 berth with a 10975 trouncing of Sta. Clarita International-Iloilo to end the 26-seed’s Cinderella run.

Tyler Garcia poured 32 points for 10-seed Toronto as Marc Casilla added 17 points and seven rebounds.

Meanwhile, at Palm Coast Marina, Sto. Domingo National HS-Legazpi held off Narvacan National HS-Candon, 72-62, even as First City Providential College-Bulacan blasted University of San JoseRecoletos-Cebu, 75-50, to be the first teams to advance to the Division 2 Fantastic 8.

Medwin Ariate poured in 17 points, John Nagar got 16 points, as JD Areno went a rebound shy of a double-double his 15 points and nine rebounds for Sto. Domingo NHS. Neil Moralejo, on the other hand, starred for FCPCBulacan with his all-around effort of 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Theo Pablico also added 15 points, as John Bravo got 12 points, 16

boards and three dimes.

Big matchups are still in slate at SM Mall of Asia Arena, with the Jalen Green-led FilAm Sports-USA taking on Kai Sotto and the rest of the Ateneo-Quezon City serving as the marquee matchup at 5 p.m.

University Athletic Association of the Philippines titlist NU-Manila also continues its path to back-to-back NBTC titles when it faces Calayan Educational FoundationQuezon at 2 p.m., followed by National Collegiate Athletic Association champion Mapua-Manila bracing for contender Far Eastern University-Manila at 3:30 p.m.

The weeklong tourney is still free of admission, with fans needing just a valid ID to enter SM Mall of Asia Arena.

The tournament semis and finals, alongside the annual All-Star Game, will be aired live on ESPN5. All games, from the seeding round to the championship round, will also be streamed live over at tv5.espn.com.

LETRAN’S John Tabajen tries to defy his defenders from Hope Christian.

orts

sMirror

Thursday, March 21, 2019 C3

Gan, Barro top 30th Bill Shaw Golf Classic

TESSA JAZMINES tessa4347@gmail.com

PART OF THE GAME

The numbers game

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LIVER GAN and Paqo Barro scored a thrilling victory in the 30th Bill Shaw Golf Classic, scoring a low gross 152 at the East and 145 at the West for a two-day aggregate 297 for the low gross title to beat the pair of Marvin Caparros and King Stehmeier by five at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club.

Up by only three after a Caparros birdie on No. 15, Barro and Gan birdied on the next hole, with the former on a pitch in from 20 yards and the latter on a long, downhill putt from 20 feet to increase their lead to four.

Sharing the premiere podium finish were Ronnie Emata and Robert Figueroa, who were awarded the overall net crown after amassing a combined 128 points. Wilbert Tan and Antonio Arce topped Group I with 128 points, three clear from the 125 of Lance Chan and Jerwin Lim. Manuel Ong Jr. and Eddie Tan Jr. (Group II), Karl Tan and Dexter Lee (Group III), Robert Go and Gene Sison (Seniors) and Mikaela and Monique Arroyo (Sponsors) were the other winners in the event presented by CATS Motors, Shell, Yakult and Delta supported by San Miguel, D&L Laurin, and Emirates. Jummy Panganiban made a hole in one and won a Mercedes Benz car.

VMJ, SMDC, Stradcom, DDT Konstract, Boysie Soriano Jr., Mikey Arroyo, Edwin Gardiola, GP Padiernos, Meralco, PGT Inc., Hydranation Nation, GSN+P Architecture, Transcycle/Unistar, MC88, Shang Wack Wack Properties, Steel Asia, Oxford Distributions, Katinko, Transview/JLindeberg, J-Ten, Mizuno Master Sports, Movenpick Boracay, Unioil, GG&A Clubshares, Peerless Products Manufacturing Corp., PAL, Northern Island and Bizu Patisserie were sponsors.

NATIONAL University’s Joni Anne Kamille Chavez (8), Audrey Kathryn Paran (15) and Gelina Mae Luceño (12) challenge University of the East’s Seth Marione Rodriguez at the net. NONOY LACZA

LADY WARRIORS PREVAIL U

NIVERSITY of the East (UE) drew strength from Mean Mendrez to conquer National University, 25-16, 25-18, 24-26, 25-16, in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines Season 81 women’s volleyball on Wednesday at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan City.

The Lady Warriors finally bagged their second win in eight attempts and tie the Lady Bulldogs at sixth place.

Mendrez paced UE with 19 points built on 18 attacks and an ace as the team started the second round on a good note and could still vie for the playoffs after years of dismal outing.

“For us, if we would not be able to earn a spot in the Final Four, at least we can improve our rank,” UE Head Coach Karl Dimaculangan said.

Judith Abil also has solid contributions of 13 points, 29 digs and 21 receptions. Seth Marione Rodriguez added 12 points for the Lady Warriors.

Lai Bendong facilitated the offense with 38 excellent sets and had seven points.

“It’s the start of the second round so we want to be confident. Our coach told us to pour all our efforts and show the fruits of our training,” graduating player Abil said.

After a tight start of the opening set, UE erected a 16-9 lead off three straight aces from Bendong.

Bendong continued her magic as her ace put the team to a 16-8 lead en route to a commanding 2-0 lead.

NU fought back in the third set, but UE owned the momentum and went on to bag the fourth frame.

Princess Robles led NU with 13 points, while Ivy Lacsina and Roselyn Doria added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Ateneo, meanwhile, forged a baseball finals duel with De La Salle following a 11-10 victory over University of Santo Tomas on Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

Rodrigo Bitong and Kiko Andaya delivered the goods in the final two innings to erase the Growling Tigers’ 10-8 lead and complete the Blue Eagles’ come-from-behind win.

After missing the bus last year, Ateneo is back in the championship The last time the two fiercest rivals met for the crown was in 2016, where the Green Batters ended a 13-year title drought via a 2-0 Finals sweep of the Eagles.

De La Salle became the elimination round

topnotcher at 8-2 and completed a sweep of the second round with a 21-9 dismantling of University of the Philippines.

Ateneo finished second with a 7-3 card.

The best-of-three championship between the Green Batters and the Eagles will start on March 29.

In softball, National University and University of the Philippines will dispute the remaining Final Four berth at 10 a.m. on Thursday at the same Malate venue. The winner of the knockout match will face reigning eight-time champion Adamson University in the semifinals starting on Saturday.

The other semis pairing pits No. 2 De La Salle and No. 3 UST. The Lady Falcons and the Lady Batters earn twice-to-beat bonus in the Final Four after finishing 1-2 in the doubleround eliminations. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

DULA GRABS SPOTLIGHT

By Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Steffen of Switzerland, Guam’s Manami Iijima and Kirra Seidel and Lisa Tyack of Australia.

Over 2,200 triathletes have confirmed participation in the event organized and conducted by Sunrise Events Inc., which features individual and relay competitions with bets coming from the United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Mexico, Ukraine, India, Malaysia, Qatar, the US, Belgium, Spain, Italy, New Caledonia, Singapore, South Africa, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain, Korean, Norway, Thailand, Switzerland, Greece, Kuwait, New Zealand, Turkey, China, Guam, Mexico, Panama and Taiwan.

LAGAN CITY—Mark Bryan Dula showed no rookie jitters when he dominated four races in one day to become an instant star in the 2019 Batang Pinoy Luzon leg.

A first-timer in the annual multisport event organized by the Philippine Sports Commission, the 12-year-old swimmer from Parañaque City hit the pool like a true champion after his quick work of the four events he topped in the morning session of the swimming competition.

The fastest in the 12 and under 50-meter backstroke race in the first day of action, Dula collected more mints on Wednesday after dominating the 100m butterfly, 200-m backstroke, 100-m backstroke and 50-m butterfly at the Isabela Sports Complex pool.

The youngster isn’t slowing down as he is set to compete in a tournament in Thailand next week after his appearance in the Isabela capital.

Dula knew he needs more exposure to keep himself in prime condition in his attempt to dominate the Palarong Pambansa next month.

“I’m really focused because if I think positively I know I can achieve my goal,” said Dula, who will also fly to the Palaro in Davao City as a newcomer. “I want to break records and go home with gold medals.”

Dula timed one minute and 8.82 seconds

to claim the gold in 100-m butterfly, then went on to win 200-m backstroke in 2:44.46, the 100-m backstroke in 1:14.71, and the 50-m butterfly in 30.78 seconds.

Similarly, Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh made her presence felt after bagging two more golds to hike his haul to four.

Mojdeh of Parañaque City, winner of the 200-m and 400-m individual medley, dominated the girls 13-15 100m in 1:06.30 and the 50-m butterfly in 30.44 seconds.

As the athletics finally opened hostilities, top prizes went to tracksters from Baguio City, Bulacan province, Camarines Sur and Dasmariñas City.

Hussein Lorana clocked 4:27.1 to clinch gold in boys 1500 m as James Bryle Ballester of Laguna (4:30.2) and Mark Daniel Tambot of Iligan City (4:31.9).

Marvelyn Canon of Bulacan had her winning moment in girls long jump with a tally of 5.50 m, while Lheslie de Lima of Camarines Sur had the same glory in 1,500 m girls with her time of 4.51.5.

Ron Gabriel Villa of Dasmarinas City heaved 35.24 meters to top the boys’ discus throw.

Baguio City’s Aton Yuan Jucutan, meanwhile, took two golds in 20-m and 30-m cub event of archery.

Golds were split in taekwondo as Magnus Carlus Garcia (welterweight), Jude Francis Rubio of Nueva Ecija (light-middleweight), and Alexander Joseph Calpito of Pangasinan (light-heavyweight) seized golds.

UAAP crown in 2015 and coached the RP team to the Seaba Cup gold medal in 2016.

Metta World Peace is a former NBA All-Star (2004) with the Indiana Pacers and NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers (2010).

Aside from being named the 2004 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, he also made numerous All-Defensive fives. His son, JeRon, is currently playing with FilAm Sports USA in the ongoing Chooks to Go NBTC National Finals.

The three accomplished coaches, along with veteran Fiba doctor George Canlas, Singapore sports official Vincent Ong and motivational speaker Ardy Abello will discuss and break down various aspects of basketball related to coaching the next generation of youth cagers in the Go for Gold Coaches Convention presented by SM from March 22 to 24 at the MOA Arena.

National Basketball Training Center director

Eric Altamirano said that all the talks pertain to youth development. “As you can see, our theme for this edition of the Coaches Convention is, ‘Coaching Excellence: Empowering the next generation athletes.’ And while many principles remain the same over the year, the techniques as well as understanding people in our everchanging world have made sports and coaching even more challenging. We chose these coaches not only because of their accomplishments, but also because they are known for molding and developing young players into terrific athletes.”

Breaking down the topics, Altamirano said that Ardy Abello will discuss the importance of leadership in sports and coaching, Dr. Canlas will talk about hydration and injury prevention, and Vincent Ong will tackle the subject, “What makes a great youth coach.”

For the big game coaches, Racela will teach “offensive concepts for high-school basketball.”

Joy Reyes will discuss the crucial and allimportant topic of identifying young talent.

Veteran and renowned strength and conditioning Coach Dan Rose will reveal secrets to ultimate training without going to the weight room.

Metta World Peace will teach defense and basketball opportunities globally while Baldwin will share the secrets of finding peace in the midst of pressure.

“We believe that this current batch of coaches and instructors will provide a unique insight into developing young players and molding them into upright citizens of the world, as well as top student-athletes.”

Registration for the Coaches Convention starts at 12 noon on March 22 and is open to all coaches including those from non-NBTC schools.

The Go for Gold NBTC Coaches Convention is also sponsored by Gatorade.

I

MARK BRYAN DULA becomes an instant star in the Batang Pinoy Luzon leg.

New-look IronKids spices up Ironman 70.3

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HE IronKids, long regarded as the local junior version of the Ironman, will now be a swim-run event instead of triathlon, ensuring a wide-open battle for supremacy among the future of the sport when it is held Saturday at Azuela Cove in Davao City.

Dubbed as the Alaska Fortified IronKids Swim-Run race, the event will still feature the sport’s regular campaigners in the 6-to-14 years old bracket plus a slew of new faces eager to steal the spotlight from the fancied bets in the event firing off at 5 a.m.

While the IronGirl on Friday is a virtual fun run, keen competition is seen in IronKids, staged

to promote a well-balanced lifestyle for kids and at the same time serves as venue for family bonding. It is also held to help kids develop the values of discipline, hard work, integrity and determination through a series of races.

The twin events serve as fitting appetizers to the second Ironman 70.3 Davao, headlined by back-to-back title seeking Mauricio Mendez and Czech Radka Kahlefeldt along with Aussies Tim Reed, Sam Betten, Tim Van Berkel, David Mainwaring, Matt Lewis and Fraser Walsh.

Meanwhile, out to foil Kahlefeldt’s repeat bid in the premier 1.9K swim, 90K bike, 21K run event are regular PHL campaigners Caroline

Go for Gold NBTC Coaches Convention BLEACHERS’ BREW

RICK OLIVARES | bleachersbrew@gmail.com

WHAT do Tab Baldwin, Rob Beveridge, Nash Racela, and Metta World Peace have in common?

They are all winners and who know a thing or two and more about developing teams into winners.

Among Baldwin’s accomplishments outside numerous club titles is leading New Zealand to the 2001 Fiba Oceania championship and the semi-finals of the 2002 Fiba World Championship; steering Lebanon

to the 2010 Fiba Stankovic Cup; and guiding the Philippines to the 2015 Fiba Asia silver medal. He has also mentored the Ateneo Blue Eagles to back-to-back University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball championships.

Beveridge coached Australia’s Under-20 squad to the Fiba U20 World Championship in 2003.

Racela piloted Far Eastern University to the

AFTER LeBron James made National Basketball Association (NBA) history in early March by passing Michael Jordan for 4th on the All-Time Scoring List, other NBA players have made a mad dash to put their names in the history books, as well.

Shortly after, Dirk Nowitzki passed Wilt Chamberlain for sixth place on the National Basketball Association (NBA) all-time scoring list. History happened after the Dallas Maverick legend converted his first two jumpers in their (date) game against the New Orleans Pelicans. It happened in the first quarter in the Mavs’ home court, with 8:35 remaining. The sellout crowd lapped up the moment and gave their hero a tremendous ovation.

Interestingly, Nowitzki was sixth leading scorer in NBA history before LeBron James passed him, Chamberlain and Michael Jordan in his history-making zoom to fourth place in March.

Now the NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorers are: 1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—38,387 points 2. Karl Malone—36, 928 points 3. Kobe Bryant—33,643 points 4. LeBron James—32,439 points 5. Michael Jordan—32,292 points 6. Dirk Nowitzki—31,424 points 7. Wilt Chamberlain—31,419 points.

And what do you notice about that list?

Five of the seven names have all played for the Los Angeles Lakers at one point or other in their NBA careers.

Of all of them, LeBron James is in the best position to still move upwards in the scoring list, considering that Nowitzki is set to retire anytime soon and the other five are all just watching from the sidelines or impacting the NBA from various other positions and capacities. Like team owner, maybe?

The King may yet pass Kobe Bryant, later if not sooner. And Karl Malone, even Kareen AbdulJabbar, are both reachable with some projection and a little stretch of the imagination. Look at how he landed in fourth. In one fell swoop, it seems, he leap-frogged over Chamberlain, Nowitzki and Jordan all during his current season with the LA Lakers. His career points per game currently rank fifth behind Jordan, Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Kevin Durant.

Making history is not the domain of King James and Dirk Nowitzki alone. Always ready to join the party is the Houston Rockets’ James Harden who has made eyes pop with his numbers in every game this season. Just a few hours ago at the time of writing, The Beard made history that’s all his own. No other names to pass, no other records to break. He just stamped his class and made himself “The OG,” the original guy on this new list. Harden became the first NBA player to score 30 or more points against all 29 NBA teams in a single season. That happened when he scored 31 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds against the Atlanta Hawks yesterday (Manila Time), with Houston winning it all.

Here’s a footnote to that game. Harden must have felt real accomplishment by grounding the Hawks. It was Atlanta that stopped his 30-point streak earlier this season. He just set things right this time.

Harden has now scored no less than 30 points in 48 of 67 games this season. And he is the acknowledged consistent scoring machine of the league this season. As for the record he has established, he need not fear being passed for that anytime soon. The Beard is having an incredible performance this season and looks like he’ll just keep going and going and going..

Meanwhile, here’s more trivia about other NBA players who are in position to make history in their own unique ways: n Klay Thompson has joined teammate Stephen Curry as the only players to hit 200 three-pointers in seven straight seasons. n Eleven players have scored at least 50 points in a game this season, breaking the NBA single-season record: Giannis Antetekuonmpo, La Marcus Aldridge, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Blake Griffin, Damian Lillard, Derrick Rose, Klay Thompson, Kemba Walker and LeBron James. n Mike Coley of the Memphis Grizzlies needs 65 points to pass Marc Gasol as the leading scorer in Grizzlies franchise history. n Rajon Rondo needs 34 assists to pass Hall of Famer Guy Rodgers (6,917) for 19th place all time. n Dwayne Wade needs 86 points to reach 23,000 for his career. n Kevin Durant’s next game where he scores 30 or more points will be the 300th of his career.

LeBron James who has 445 games with 30 or more points is the only active player with more numbers than KD.

Who can nominate?

Professional level: Entries may be submitted by any person or organization wishing to direct

the attention of the CMMA to a meritorious program, series, article, material and the like. A person or a company may submit more than one entry in each category. Entries need not be Christian and nominees need not be Catholics. All entries must be those media works released from May 2018 to April 2019.

Student level: All bona fide students enrolled in any of the participating schools, colleges and

universities within the school year 2018-2019.

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Praise the Lord

H God from the heavens; praise the Lord in the heights. Praise the Lord, all His angels; praise the Lord all His hosts. Praise the Lord, sun and moon; praise the Lord shining stars. Praise the Lord, highest heavens and the waters above the heavens. (Psalm 148: 1-5) Oh Lord, how will we praise You in our own ways?

Teach us and make us holy all the days of our lives. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY, SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Life

MOMMY NO LIMITS: INTELLIGENCE, DISABILITIES, CONGRATULATIONS TO GRADUATES D3

BusinessMirror

Thursday, March 21, 2019

D1

ABOUT 150,000 people flocked over the weekend to see this year’s rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near Lake Elsinore, California. The crowds became so bad on Sunday that Lake Elsinore officials closed access to poppy blanketed Walker Canyon. By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was reopened. AP

Tens of thousands converge on California ‘poppy apocalypse’

By Amy TAXin & JULie WATsOn The Associated Press

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AKE ELSINORE, California—Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, the Southern California city of Lake Elsinore is being overwhelmed by the power of the poppies.

About 150,000 people over the weekend flocked to see this year’s rain-fed flaming orange patches of poppies lighting up the hillsides near the city of about 60,000 residents, about a 90-minute drive from either San Diego or Los Angeles.

Interstate 15 was a parking lot. People fainted in the heat; a dog romping through the fields was bitten by a rattlesnake. A vibrant field of poppies lures Dorothy into a trap in the Wizard of Oz when the wicked witch, acknowledging that no one can resist their beauty, poisons the wildflowers and she slips into a fatal slumber until the good witch reverses the spell.

Lake Elsinore had tried to prepare for the crush of people drawn by the super bloom, a rare occurrence that usually happens about once a decade because it requires a wet winter and warm temperatures that stay above freezing.

It offered a free shuttle service to the top viewing spots, but it wasn’t enough.

Sunday traffic got so bad that Lake Elsinore officials requested law enforcement assistance from neighboring jurisdictions. At one point, the city pulled down the curtain and closed access to poppy blanketed Walker Canyon.

“It was insane, absolutely insane,” said Mayor Steve Manos, who described it as a “poppy apocalypse.”

By Monday the #poppyshutdown announced by the city on Twitter was over and the road to the canyon was reopened. And people were streaming in again. Young and old visitors to the Lake Elsinore area seemed equally enchanted as they snapped selfies against the natural carpet of iridescent orange.

Some contacted friends and family on video calls so they could share the beauty in real time. Artists propped canvasses on the side of the trail to paint the super bloom, while drones buzzed overhead.

Patty Bishop, 48, of nearby Lake Forest, was on her second visit. The native Californian had never seen such an explosion of color from the state flower.

She battled traffic on Sunday but that didn’t deter her from going back on Monday for another look. She got

there at sunrise and stayed for hours.

“There’s been so many in just one area,” she said.

“I think that’s probably the main reason why I’m out here personally is because it’s so beautiful.”

Stephen Kim and his girlfriend got to Lake Elsinore even before sunrise on Sunday to beat the crowds but there were already hundreds of people.

The two wedding photographers hiked on the designated trails with an engaged couple to do a photo shoot with the flowers in the background, but they were upset to see so many people going off-trail and so much garbage. They picked up as many discarded water bottles as they could carry.

“You see this beautiful pristine photo of nature but then you look to the left and there’s plastic Starbucks cups and water bottles on the trail, and selfie sticks and people having road rage because some people were walking slower,” said Kim, 24, of Carlsbad.

Andy Macuga, honorary mayor of the desert town of Borrego Springs, another wildflower hot spot, said he feels for Lake Elsinore.

In 2017, a rain-fed super bloom brought in more than a half-million visitors to the town of 3,500.

Restaurants ran out of food. Gas stations ran out of

Summer travel-ready essentials ❶ ACTIVE

Vacuum Hydration Bottle 20 oz Perriwinkle

❷ NUXE Sun

SPF 30 Face and Body Lotion 150ml

❸ CHAMPION

Women’s Absolute SemiFit Pants

RINGING in the beginning of the summer months, luxury retail destination Rustan’s offers a wide selection of travel-friendly, go-anywhere essentials that are bound to make every vacation a little more worthwhile.

Whether your definition of a summer getaway is a tour around the city, a hike along a mountain trail, an afternoon spent under the sun, or a cool evening along the beach, these beauty, style and lifestyle staples have got you and your itinerary covered!

Escape the scorching summer heat of Manila and schedule a much-needed getaway to the far north. Between one-of-akind limestone formations and picturesque waterfalls, there’s plenty to see and do in Sagada. Women’s Absolute Semi-Fit Pants from Champion are a perfect match for your Sagada escapade, armed with Double Dry technology to keep the body cool and dry. Complement your gear with Levi’s Accessories’ Batwing Tonal Flexfit Cap that fits snugly on your head and absorbs sweat while keeping the sun out of your eyes.

Complete your look with a swipe of the longlasting GRLBOSS Demi-Matte Lip Cream from Australis, that’s packed with a punch of

hydration to keep your lips moisturized but with a lightweight feel as if you’re wearing no lipstick at all.

Celebrated as one of the most well-loved snorkeling and diving spots in the country, Apo Island is a picture of nature at its finest.

Whether you want to get up close and personal with sea turtles during an afternoon swim, or enjoy a leisurely trek along one of the island’s multiple trails, you can count on Nuxe Sun collection to see you through.

Ocean-friendly Nuxe Sun collection includes the After Sun Hair and Body Shampoo that gently removes sand, chlorine, UV filters and residue; an SPF 30 Face and Body lotion for golden, protected skin, and an SPF 50 highprotection product for the face that keep your skin safe from the sun’s harmful effects.

An architectural hot spot, Vigan is wellknown and loved for its rich culture and heritage. Keep your refreshments cool and ready on your road trip and as you make your way through the cobblestone streets of Calle Crisologo with Reisenthel Coolerbag that’s made with a very thick insulation for that excellent cooling performance. It features a sturdy base with a two-way zip that can

fuel. Traffic backed up on a single road for 20 miles (32 kilometers). The city is again experiencing a super bloom. The crowds are back. Hotels are full. More than 6,000 people on a recent Saturday stopped at the visitor’s center at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California’s largest park with 1,000 square miles (2,590 sq km).

But it helps that the masses of blooms are appearing in several different areas this time, and some sections are fading, while others are lighting up with flowers, helping to disperse the crowds a bit.

Most important, Macuga said, the town’s businesses prepared this time as if a major storm was about to hit. His restaurant, Carlee’s, is averaging more than 550 meals a day, compared to 300 on a normal March day.

“We were completely caught off guard in 2017 because it was the first time that we had a flower season like this with social media,” he said. “It helps now knowing what’s coming.” n Julie Watson reported from San Diego. The Associated Press writer Amanda Lee Myers in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

❶ easily be collapsed for easy packing.

Be greeted by the sight of turquoise water and waterfalls unspoiled by nature in this beautiful pocket of Cebu, Kawasan Falls.

Before leaving for this action-packed tour, be sure to pack the leak-proof Aladdin 20 oz Active Vacuum Hydration Bottle to keep beverages ice-cold all day long thanks to its vacuum-insulated stainless steel body.

This hydration bottle also keeps your other hand free as you go through the rocky paths going to Kawasan Falls with its onehand push-button.

Arguably one of the most scenic provinces, Batanes boasts of the smallest population and land area in the Philippines.

The beaches, lagoons, rolling hills and caves that punctuate Batanes provide an obvious answer as to why this place is so well-loved by locals and foreign travelers alike.

Don’t forget to carry along the chic, reusable Teeny glass bottle in Elle from bkr to keep hydrated. This summer beauty staple features a signature small mouth, leak-proof ergonomic cap and silicone sleeve that’s too cute to put down, you’ll be motivated to constantly hydrate.

❸

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Thursday, March 21, 2019

Entertaining BusinessMirror

A full-flavored chicken dish with sweet and nutty garlic CHICKEN with 40 Cloves of Garlic, the recipe for which appears in the cookbook How to Braise Everything. AP

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By America’s Test Kitchen The Associated Press

ERHAPS an arbitrary number of cloves, the 40 in this French dish are iconic; while the chicken braises, the generous cloves become appealingly soft and spreadable. But their flavor is often spiritless.

Another offense: The chicken is tender, but the breast meat dries out and tastes wan. We wanted to revisit this classic dish to make it faster and better, so it would boast well-browned, full-flavored chicken, sweet and nutty garlic, and a savory sauce.

Using chicken pieces rather than a whole bird ensured that the meat cooked evenly—and quickly.

We roasted the garlic cloves first to caramelize them and develop their flavor, and then added them to the braising liquid with the chicken.

Finishing the braised chicken under the broiler made the skin crispy. Some shallots and herbs added flavor to the sauce, and several roasted garlic cloves, smashed into a paste, thickened and flavored the sauce. If using a kosher chicken, skip the brining process. Avoid heads of garlic that have begun to sprout (the green shoots will make the sauce taste bitter).

Tie the rosemary and thyme sprigs together with kitchen twine so they will be easy to retrieve from the pan. Serve the dish with slices of crusty baguette; you can spread them with the roasted garlic cloves.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss garlic and shallots with 2 teaspoons oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in pie plate; cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast until softened and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes, shaking pie plate once after 15 minutes to toss contents (foil can be left on during tossing). Uncover, stir, and continue to roast,

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Jace Norman, 19; Matthew Broderick, 57; Rosie O’Donnell, 57; Gary Oldman, 61.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Learn through experience, and concentrate on making physical and financial improvements that lead to personal freedom. Consider your options and whether you should invest more time in the people and projects that monopolize your time. This is a year of transformation. Reevaluate the past, and make the necessary adjustments that are conducive to discovering what makes you happy. Your lucky numbers are 6, 14, 20, 23, 31, 35, 42.

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Make the most of your time, and put your energy into getting things done. What you accomplish today will set the stage for an overdue change. Don’t deny yourself the opportunity to create and manufacture what you want to see unfold. HHH

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GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Take it easy. Spend time with someone you enjoy being around.

Distance yourself from those who tend to get you into trouble or make you angry. Make decisions that will help keep the peace instead of promoting chaos and dissension. HHHHH

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CANCER (June 21-July 22): An idea you have may sound outlandish, but toned down it can turn into something extraordinary.

Don’t give up on a dream because someone ridicules you. Adjust to the current economic climate, and follow through with your plans. HH

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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Learn from experience. Plan your actions instead of winging it and hoping things turn out OK. Less risk and more research will make a difference to the way things unfold. Live life to win, not to scramble your way through. HHHH

uncovered, until garlic is browned and fully tender, about 10 minutes longer, stirring halfway through roasting. Remove pie plate from oven and increase oven temperature to 450°F. Using kitchen twine, tie together thyme sprigs, rosemary sprig and bay leaf; set aside.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch ovensafe skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken skin side down and cook until well browned, five to eight minutes, reducing heat if pan begins to scorch. Using tongs, flip chicken and lightly brown second side, about three minutes; transfer to large plate. Pour off fat from skillet.

Off heat, add vermouth, broth, and herb bundle to now-empty skillet, scraping up any browned bits.

Place skillet over medium heat, add garlic mixture, then nestle chicken skin side up on top of and between

garlic cloves.

Transfer skillet to oven and cook chicken until breasts register 160°F and drumsticks/thighs register 175°F, 10 to 12 minutes. If desired, heat broiler element and broil chicken to crisp skin, three to five minutes.

Remove skillet from oven (skillet handle will be hot) and transfer chicken to platter. Using slotted spoon, remove 10 to 12 garlic cloves and set aside.

Transfer remaining garlic cloves and shallots to platter with chicken.

Discard herb bundle. Place reserved garlic cloves in fine-mesh strainer set over bowl. Using rubber spatula, push garlic cloves through strainer; discard skins. Add garlic paste to sauce in skillet and bring to simmer, whisking occasionally to incorporate garlic.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Off heat, whisk in butter. Serve chicken, passing sauce separately. n

On this rare and special night, the Zest Quest Asia champions will be working alongside Romulo Café’s chef brigade to prepare a seven-course menu of Filipino specialties. The legendary Chef Cyrus Todiwala, founder of Zest Quest Asia and patron of the longest-running Michelin BIB restaurant in the world, Café Spice Namaste, will personally cook the evening’s main course, a unique take on one of the Philippines’s best-loved dishes.

Romulo Café will be donating all the proceeds from the evening to Zest Quest Asia and The Foundation for Professional Training Inc. More information on the benefit dinner is available at www.romulocafe.com.

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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Participate to learn a lot about life. The people you encounter will offer interesting opinions that make you realize what you can do to improve your life.

Let go of emotional situations that hold you back. HHH

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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Set down some guidelines, and refuse to let anyone bully you or make you feel inferior. If you love who you are, your attributes will shine. It’s time to make personal changes that motivate you to live life your way. HHH

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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Don’t lose sight of what’s going on in your personal life because you are too busy with work.

Balance will be required if you want the best of both worlds. Include someone you love in your plans. HHH

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Alter what isn’t working for you. Distance yourself from people you can’t trust or those who are indulgent or who exaggerate. Truth will matter when it comes to your personal and professional goals. HHHH

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Make a move.

Whether it’s from one location to another or an attitude change, the difference will encourage you to take control of your life and to do the things you enjoy more and those you don’t less. HH

Benefit dinner for student chefs HAPPENING on April 12 at Romulo’s Café in Makati is a benefit dinner featuring a Filipinoinspired main course by special guest Cyrus Todiwala, OBE DL, chef patron of Café Spice Namaste. Assisting Chef Cyrus will be students of the London Geller School of Hospitality and Tourism, and Romulo Café Chef Aone Rebueno.

The benefit dinner is being hosted by Zest Quest Asia, the United Kingdom’s most prestigious culinary competition designed to raise the profile of Asian cuisine among student chefs. In February 2019, a team from the famed London Geller School of Hospitality and Tourism were awarded the first prize: a food and cultural trip to the Philippines.

Today’s Horoscope

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Listen carefully and consider all sides of a situation before you let your emotions take over. If you act without having all the facts, you will find it difficult to backtrack.

Offer kindness and consideration to others to keep the peace. HHH

CHICKEN WITH 40 CLOVES OF GARLIC Servings: 4 Start to finish: 2 hours 3 large garlic heads, cloves separated and unpeeled 2 shallots, peeled and quartered lengthwise 5 teaspoons olive oil Salt and pepper 2 sprigs fresh thyme 1 sprig fresh rosemary 1 bay leaf 4 pounds bone-in chicken pieces (2 split breasts cut in half crosswise, 2 drumsticks, and 2 thighs) 3/4 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine 3/4 cup chicken broth 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces and chilled

www.businessmirror.com.ph

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Helping others is honorable, but don’t let anyone take advantage of you or take on something that could end up leading to injury or an argument.

Offer suggestions, not physical or financial help. Put your money in a safe place. HHHHH

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Take one step at a time. If you rush, it will cause delays and stress. Plan your actions, and stick to what works best for you. Don’t promise more than you can deliver to impress someone. HHH

CHEF Cyrus Todiwala (center) with the winners of Zest Quest Asia

BIRTHDAY BABY: You are appealing, outgoing and progressive.

You are challenging and driven.

‘believe it or not’ BY ANDREA CARLA MICHAELS The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Subject of Attila 4 Chocolate syrup brand 9 Flag pin spot 14 Game with Skip cards 15 Martin’s Laugh-In partner 16 “Remember the ___!”

17 Big Bird’s mammoth-like pal 20 Beauty’s love 21 Cause of weird weather 22 ___ land (dreamy state) 23 Calvin’s tiger pal 25 Sandwich with two spreads, briefly 28 Boston summer hrs.

29 “What ___ I tell you?”

30 Vice star Christian 31 Couric or Holmes 33 Chewy candy 35 Christopher Robin’s bear pal 38 One may end with “or else!”

39 Needing a scrubbing 40 Achy 41 Teeth expert’s deg.

42 Gymnast’s landing pad 45 Omega preceder

6 Elwood P. Dowd’s rabbit pal 4 50 Huge: Prefix 51 ___-weenie 53 Like Cheerios 54 Any of the starred answers, some say 58 Word before “bike” or “boat” 59 Game for little sluggers 60 Horatian poem 61 Black cats, to some 62 Test, as ore 63 Hit in a bumper car DOWN 1 Take down a peg 2 Inbox status 3 Margarita specification 4 Old Spice alternative 5 (That punch hurt!)

6 Personal ad abbr.

7 One of Moses’ spies 8 16 oz.

9 ___ lazuli 10 Actor Rickman 11 American Samoa’s capital 12 Ostrich relative

3 ___ Angeles 1 18 Code-breaking org.

19 A, in Arles 23 Bandleader’s “Let’s go!”

24 Garfield pooch 26 Humdrum 27 Jumbo flier 29 SNL alumnus Carvey 30 Gull’s floating perch 31 ___-slapper (funny joke) 32 Flight takeoff stat.

33 Hardly hip 34 Chooses 35 “___ there?”

36 Vex 37 Stay out of sight 38 Honey meas.

42 Crater maker 43 List of things to discuss 44 Bicycle type for two 46 Will figures 47 Advice columnist Landers 48 Cowboy’s lasso 49 “Rock” and “roll,” for two 50 “Boo’d Up” singer Ella

2 Dr. Spengler of Ghostbusters 5 53 Air France airport 54 “I think,” in an e-mail 55 Carol Brady, to the Bunch 56 “___ queen!”

57 Cape Canaveral’s locale: Abbr.

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Parentlife BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Thursday, March 21, 2019

FROM left: Joy Go, co-owner of BrainRx; and speakers, Neuropsychologist Sabrina Tan, Beatriz Gonzales, School Deputy Head Rebekah Russell, Meditation Specialist Robin Velasco, art educator Taka Coloma Mendiola; and Mel Sua, co-owner and head trainer of BrainRx.

Intelligence, disabilities, congratulations to graduates

FIRST-EVER VEGGIE FESTIVAL STAGED

EATING shouldn’t be merely about satisfying your hunger because the diet you choose affects every aspect of your health and even the environment. It’s about time to eat healthy, live healthy and take control of your health.

As obesity and unhealthy lifestyles continue to grow into a global problem, leading health-care provider Maxicare Healthcare Corp. arranged its first-ever outdoor festival: Maxicare Veggie Fest 2019, a project in support of the company’s Chairman of the Board Roberto “Bobby” Macasaet Jr.’s personal advocacy for healthier lifestyles.

“One of the easiest ways to start your journey to living a healthy life is by eating a plant-based diet, which is why we are very proud to be holding the Maxicare Veggie Fest. Today, we invite everyone to live their best by boosting not only their physical health, but also their mental well-being. It’s like eating your favorites, but without the guilt,” said Macasaet whose main objective is to improve health and wellness, focusing on plant-based nutrition.

In its mission to improve others’ quality of life, Maxicare encourages members and nonmembers alike to incorporate a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and starches, good fats, and lean proteins into their diet so they can live longer and feel stronger by inspiring others to fight disease and eat healthy.

Held at the Legaspi Active Park in Makati City, the veggie fest was packed with plant-based advocates that offered handpicked products for health-conscious consumers. The activities included a film showing on plant-based lifestyle and a talk on “Holistic Healing for Wholesome Living” presented by yoga instructor Donna Francisco, “Guilt Free and Gluten Free Dessert” by Jertie Abergas of Jerties Kitchen, “Skin Food: Understanding the Right Food for Beautiful Skin” by Dr. Kathy Amurao-Herrera, “Aging Gracefully” by May ManahanLagdameo and Dr. Willie Lagdameo of Health & Wellness Coaches Philippines Inc., “Lifestyle Medicine” by Dr. Johann Manez, and a “Local Native Plant-Based Eating with Mesa ni Misis” by Juana Manahan-Yupangco.

It’s time to get rid of old habits and start concentrating on moving toward excellent health.

MOMMY NO LIMITS

MAYE YAO CO SAY

mommynolimits@gmail.com

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RADUATION rites are just around the corner. Graduation is a time for each student to celebrate a milestone of passage.

Graduates celebrate the results of their hard work. Parents watch their children go up the stage with the proudest smiles. The journey to get on that stage varies for each individual—in hard work, in emotions and in obstacles. For other kids, graduation is not even a certainty.

I have spent a few months now learning about the “Exceptional Child” from Tara Santos. It is an eyeopener for me to learn the many “exceptionalities” that kids today face. Some kids experience intellectual and learning disabilities. Others have physical obstacles, such as visual, hearing and other health disabilities. Increasingly, we hear kids experiencing Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD or other behavior disorders. Giftedness also poses challenges for a child. It has made me more empathetic and even more hopeful to help.

I was lucky to be invited last Sunday to an interesting talk for families and educators, called “Brain Learning & Well Being,” hosted by BrainRx Philippines. It was great to learn how to build on one’s cognitive skills in our everyday life from Mel

Sua. Rebekah Russell made me want to read more about Martin Seligman’s view on Positive Education.

Robin Velasco exposed the participants to a simple meditation exercise. I was quite intrigued with Taka Coloma Mendiola’s “Intelligent Art.” She shares the eight Studio Habits of Mind, which include: Develop a Craft; Engage and Persist; Observe; Envision; Express; Reflect; Stretch and Explore; and Understand Art Worlds. I never knew art could actually encourage that much critical thinking.

The last speaker of the talk was a 23-year-old artist, marketing entrepreneur, teacher and youth coordinator Beatriz Gonzales. Her topic was “Everything I Am Not: Debunking Stereotypes, Welcoming Challenges and Accepting Oneself.” Many have read her inspiring valedictory address last 2018.

I have chosen my most favorite part of her speech below: “....Class of 2018, today’s lesson will be about why you shouldn’t aim to be valedictorian.

“First, people think that the valedictorian is someone perfect—top grades, pleasant conduct and Kate Middleton hair. But why aim for perfection, when you can instead aim to serve as an inspiration?

“It was in August 2006 when I literally crawled to my parents’ bedroom asking for help because I was in so much pain—pain that I can never fully describe or ever forget. I was diagnosed with Congenital Intestinal Malrotation. In other words, I was born with a messed-up digestive system. I became a 10- year-old stuck in a vicious cycle of surgeries, making life or death decisions instead of playing patintero.

“Hospital bills started piling up; my parents were exhausted from working overtime to earn enough; they were barely sleeping on the hospital’s lousy couch; my brother was alone and scared. I realize today that after all of that, I’ve never even said sorry. Mom, Dad, Kuya, I am sorry for what I

put you through.

“Apart from my family, I found solace and comfort in Br. Ceci Hojilla, FSC. In his eyes, I wasn’t a ‘sick girl’, but rather a resilient fighter who had a story that needed to be shared.

“He taught me that although challenges may leave scars, they make for good stories and the stories impart a wisdom that cannot be learned in the classroom. Sadly, Br. Ceci has left us and now all I have of him is this tiny picture and a mission to urge others to make their own impact.

“If there’s one thing that vicious, painful cycle has taught me, it is that while certain diseases can be treated with surgery or medicines, some remain invisible and existing. I was diagnosed with multiple invisible disorders.

“At 14, I was told I had Depression, “At 17, I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, “At 19, I was diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder.

“In the process, I lost my way, and lost the heart that once aimed to make an impact to a soulless version of myself that I didn’t recognize. I lost me. But just as my family refused to give up on me, I refused to give up on myself. I refused to be my diagnosis. See, I’m not really sick. I was just given the ability to feel more than the normal range of human emotion.

“And, yes, that means crippling sadness, but that sadness makes me appreciate the sun a bit more. And it also means knowing a happiness that is secret to everyone else.

“I fell and got hurt on impact. But today, I want to use that hurt to create an impact.

“I AM NOT PERFECT. “But I am standing in front of you with shaking knees and waterproof mascara admitting that I am mentally ill and sharing my story because I hope to inspire you to overcome your own challenges, learn from life and be brave enough to share yours, too. Let your voice be heard and use it to inspire....”

Congratulations, Graduates of 2019. Inspiration lies not in the highest of intellect, but in the depth of a strong and soulful heart. n

FREE PREGNANCY FORUM FOR PARENTS-TO-BE

TOP medical institution Makati Medical Center (www. makatimed.net.ph) invites parents and parents-to-be to a free series of lay forums, titled “Pregnancy & Beyond.”

Now on its 10th year, the monthly lay forum features MakatiMed’s doctors from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Department of Pediatrics to share what moms and dads need to understand about parenthood, as well as the mom-to-be’s journey from prenatal to postpregnancy. The forums cover a range of topics scheduled throughout the year. On March 23, learn about “Relaxation Techniques, Preparing for the Big Day” and “10 Ways to be the Perfect Birthing Partner” at the auditorium of Tower 2, Makati Medical Center. Interested parents-to-be can contact 888-8999, locals 3757 for inquiries and other details.

Other dates and topics for the first leg include: April 20— Setting Expectations: A Guide to EINC (Essential Intrapartum and Newborn Care), Newborn Baby Care, and Breastfeeding FAQs; May 18—Postpartum Blues, Immunization and Motherhood for Millennial Moms; and June 22—Baby Sign Language/Baby Sleep Training/Baby-led Weaning, First Aid for Babies, and Spotting Red Flags: Developmental Delays.

MakatiMed’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has been offering this series of lay forums with the Department of Pediatrics since 2010 to promote pre- and postnatal care, safe infant-care practices, breastfeeding and pediatric development.

Aside from learning from the experts and a chance to socialize with other parents-to-be, attendees are treated to giveaways, product discounts, raffle prizes and hefty lunch.

GMA Artist Center stars Klea Pineda, Joaquin Manansala and Ashley Ortega at the Captain Marvel block screening hosted by Watsons Card

L2R Watsons Senior CRM Manager Loi Sanchez, Customer Director Viki Encarnacion, CRM Controller Jay Soliman

This loyalty program offers more than just points

By DinnA chAn VAsQUeZ WHAT do you look for in a loyalty program? Of course, you’d want the retailer to give you points for purchases made and these points, hopefully, can be used for shopping. You want dibs on sales and special events.

When Watsons rolled out Watsons Card last year, it was on the belief that “Look Good, Feel Great” is a full customer experience that starts when a person enters one of the leading health, beauty and

wellness retailer’s 700 plus stores in the Philippines.

The Watsons Card program gives its members exclusives, discounts and deals, and more value for money.

“Customers pay a one-time membership fee of only P100 to be a lifetime Watsons Card member.

This means no accumulated receipts needed and no annual renewal fees.

You have the Watsons Card for life.

This program is really about members getting more savings and the best offers” said Jay Soliman, controller for Watsons Customer Relationship

Management.

Once you’re a member, you get exclusive member discounts on your favorite products. Watsons Card holders also earn points whenever they shop. One point is earned for every P200 spent. You even earn more points when you shop online at www. watsons.com.ph.

Shoppers also get double points for all Watsons Brand products—from personal care to Watsons Generic medicines. They also get five times more points on their first transaction during their birthday month. Every 1

point earned is equivalent to P1. Points can be used to pay for health and beauty purchases at Watsons.

“Watsons Card members also get dibs on new products and invites to member-only events like movie block screenings, trips, symposia and a lot more experiential events,” said Soliman.

To be a member, just go to any Watsons store in the Philippines, pay a one-time membership fee, fill out a short members registration form and start enjoying your exclusive member benefits.

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Thursday, March 21, 2019

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘Ulan’: A lovely, singular film about loving and not loving REELING

TITO GENOVA VALIENTE

titovaliente@yahoo.com

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OW does one pitch a film about love to a producer, one that has lovers not ending with each other? But here is that film with the most cryptic and least romantic title, Ulan, and it dares us to listen to the stories of Maya, a young woman in whose life any kind of rain brings unhappiness.

The stories of Maya are all about love, all kinds of loves. And many films have been made about these narratives. Enough already, we may tell ourselves. But Maya is one unusual person, an unusual woman. She grew up with her grandmother who has explanations about the many things happening around us, in nature, in the night, about the stars and the universe.

As a child, Maya listens to the stories of her grandmother and believes in them. She sees elementals but is not afraid of them. One rainy day, she walks to an orchard and there sees three tikbalangs—the mythical figures that are half-human, half-horse—with the two getting married and one presiding the ritual. Maya has known them in her heart and proceeds to ask them how come they are doing the ritual when they are not, according to the tale, allowed to be in love. The creatures tell the young girl how no force can ever be stronger than love, not even the rain.

But the rains are not good to Maya. It is a rainy day when she walks up to the house of Mark, her “first love,” and discovers that all her days of waiting are in vain.

It is a rainy day when Mark asks her to come out into the rain and she gets sick.

Heartbroken, Maya runs to her confidant, Topi, and vows never to fall in love again. But she meets a handsome man who calls her his princess. But this man has an associate whose name is “Princess.” There cannot be two princesses in the life of a prince. Maya thinks she is not that pretty princess and finds out sooner that, indeed, her prince has another woman in mind. The wonder of this part of Ulan is how the filmmakers utilize the motifs of those ancient fairy tales: the love that saves the lonely, poor, young girl; the magic shoes that fit; the love that will last forever—and subvert all these elements. It is as if the storyteller is using enchantment to disenchant us.

Terrific technique but there is a problem: Where do these love stories lead us to?

In the many insipid movies about love and loss, lurking in between trite conversations, is the promise that the film will end happily ever after. As with all fairy tales.

But Ulan, and this is where the film compels us to consider it as significant, is not a fairy tale. There are sensing of unnatural objects, of tiny things that have remained of stars and the expanding universe, of elementals in the rains, but they tell us about something else beyond folk tales. Ulan talks about love and the distressing and puzzling forms it assumes, but the film is not necessarily a love story. Ulan is a

forest of accounts, a hallway of memories, a report on childhood and adulthood trying to make sense of happenings when every occurrence can be reduced to the coincidental and accidental.

Making these attempts to make us believe in love—and life—once more, and rendering those aims believable and beautiful is the story and screenplay written by Irene Emma Villamor and Neil Daza, respectively. Where flashbacks are the regular bane to the flow of story, in this film, the juncture between the world of Maya, the little girl, and Maya, the young woman, is blurred. It is a difficult act to conduct but therein lies the captivating poetry of Ulan in the fluidity between the worlds that are in our memories and those that are yet to be remembered.

Mention must be made also about how the story and screenplay present the world of the “unseen” as not separate from the “seen.” In Maya (the young girl and the woman), the world of enchantment is as palpable and real as the world of the real. In the end, when Maya, amid the raging storm, rushes outside to confront the tikbalang, we believe her as we believe the presence of the tikbalang.

This brings the many images in the film heretofore unseen and not confronted by any filmmaker. There is, of course, the tikbalang, profoundly and with such charming fancy depicted as masked figures. There is the terrifying woman in a bed who tells us she is Storm, a woman whose response to infidelity is the

destruction of the environment. Given that these images are closer to sorcery and spell, we find them alluring. And yet, what makes the many scenes in Ulan unforgettable are those ordinary days in the rain and the extraordinary days they will bring to a woman and a man.

Ulan runs on these series of tales and myths as the storytelling, unabashedly and with ease, moves from the present to the past and back to the present again, from the real to the enchanted, from the gripping pictures of poverty in children to the facts of death and loss when rains and storms cease to be mascots of magic and memories. Maya herself grows up to be a writer, and works in a press that churns out romantic and sexy tales, with a boss who is forever taunting her and sexually harassing her.

Two very good actors are in Ulan. One has proven himself many times in the past and this is Carlo Aquino. As Peter, the person who teaches Maya and us that true love does exist, Carlo Aquino reminds us about the much quoted line from Alec Guinness, who said that when he finally decided to act before the camera, he would not do anything at all. Aquino is a wondrous face from one scene to another. The camera tilts and catches him, nuance after nuance with the uncertainty of a love that could not be there. When his Peter decides to kiss Maya, the camera moves afar for there is no need for a close-up; Aquino has prepared us already for this great scene with the many small,

Rep’s ‘Father’s Day’ a refreshing ode to imperfect families WE all know what being in a family is like. There are happy moments, bitter fights, and a whole lot more in between. Repertory Philippines (www. repertoryphilippines.ph) is giving us a play that examines this shared journey in the most relatable way.

Father’s Day is a fitting tribute to imperfect families, so prepare yourself for a fresh and unique theater experience.

The second offering in Rep’s 2019 season, Father’s Day runs from March 22 to April 14 at the Onstage Theater in Greenbelt 1. Witness the legendary Baby Barredo make her comeback in the director’s chair as she adapts this West End play for Filipino audiences.

One unassuming winter evening, Henry Willows receives an unexpected visit from his estranged son, Matthew, and his goth girlfriend, Christine. Still bitter from the divorce that tore his family apart, Henry treats them unkindly.

After discovering that Matthew has run away however, he decides to call his ex-wife, Sue, resulting in an uneasy family reunion. When it is revealed that the 16-year-old Christine may be pregnant, it prompts Henry and Sue to recall their past, prodded on by the mischievous and conniving Matthew, who wishes to see his parents together again. Though filled with no-holds-barred dialogue and savage comebacks,

FILLED with no-holds-barred dialogue and savage comebacks, Father’s Day is a witty take on the ups and downs of family life.

Father’s Day is a touching story about how family sticks together no matter what. Leading the cast is widely respected theater stalwart Miguel Faustmann as Henry Willows, accompanied by Andres Borromeo as Matthew Willows, Liesl Batucan as Sue, and Becca Coates and Rachel Coates alternating as Christine.

After its run, Father’s Day will give way to the rest of Rep’s exciting 2019 season.

Watch out for The Dresser, which runs from May 3 to 26 and features a dramatic look at what happens behind-the-scenes of a theater. And perfect for kids and kids at heart, The Quest for the Adarna in September transforms the beloved Ibong Adarna tale into a colorful English musical.

Tickets are available via Ticketworld at 891-9999 or on www.ticketworld.com.ph.

enthralling, quiet gestures in the previous scenes.

As for Nadine Lustre, halfway through the film, I muttered to myself: Where was I when this young woman had begun acting? Nadine Lustre has proven to be the best actress in her generation in this role of a person whose life seems to be ruled not by the stars but by the rains. Even when her confidant makes fun of her personal tragedies, she shows us that her pains are real. The role is not heavy, if we go by the measure of the local film industry; Lustre has made the light character believable—and heavily important. It has been such a long time when the camera of a local film has ever been in love with an actress. Nadine Lustre, with the face that can act, deserves that love.

Carlo Aquino and Nadine Lustre are not the usual loveteam but Ulan shows them with such compelling chemistry.

Neil Daza’s cinematography and Renald Torres’s editing contribute keenly to the narrative of the film.

Ulan comes at this time when the great metropolis is suffering from a water crisis. Its director, Irene Emma Villamor, is daring enough to shake from its roots the genre of romance and love stories to remind its practitioners that, digging deep and with truthful imagination, one can find true and new ways of talking about love. Ulan does not, however, bring real rains; what the film does bring is the hope for new, fertile ideas to a genre that has all but dried up. n

OKADA MANILA’S CORAL LOUNGE HEATS UP

AS the weather turns warmer, world-class entertainment destination Okada Manila (www.okadamanila.com) is gearing up for a season of dance, music, celebration and comedy at The Coral Lounge.

Located right at the heart of the gaming floor, the Coral Lounge makes for a stylish, cozy space for friends, families, and colleagues to relax and unwind. The lounge features live entertainment complemented by finely crafted cocktails and an opulent yet laidback ambiance. From March to May, the Coral Lounge will be presenting events that go perfectly well with the heat and excitement of summer.

Get ready to unleash your sizzling moves on the dance floor with the “¡Bailamos!” Latin dance parties on April 12 and May 10. Perfect for those who want to let their hair down for some steamy ballroom dancing, these regular Latin nights start at 9 pm. Music is provided by a live Latin band and instruction from dance instructors, and there will be no entrance fees or coverage charges.

For those looking for a sweet hit of 1980s nostalgia, The Coral Lounge’s ’80s Night will bring back all the memories, kitsch, and unabashed fun of the iconic decade on March 30, April 27, and May 25 at 6 pm.

Meanwhile, laugh all night long with two of the country’s best stand-up acts. Wacky Kiray and TonTon will deliver all the jokes and punch lines for the Coral Lounge’s first-ever comedy showcase on April 24.

Cover charge is at P600+ per person, which comes with one standard drink. Doors open at 8 pm.