BusinessMirror May 21, 2019 by BusinessMirror

GOVT TO UPDATE VINEGAR STANDARDS T

HE Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will update the country’s vinegar standards, in place for nearly 50 years, in the wake of the controversy sparked by the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute’s (PNRI) revelation that most commercial vinegar brands use synthetic acetic acid, which is harmful to the body. Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards Executive Director Vivencio R. Mamaril told reporters in a news briefing on Monday that PNRI’s findings will be reviewed by the FDA and will be used to update the country’s existing vinegar standards. Standards for producing commercial vinegar were encapsulated in Administrative Order 134 issued by the Department of Health in 1970. AO 134 prohibited the use of “any artificial matter such as synthetic acetic acid.” “Moving forward, the PNRI data will have to

BOTTLES of commercially available vinegar are laid out on a shelf. NONIE REYES

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

be studied. Nonetheless, it will not hinder the FDA [from examining] the country’s standards, how it can still be enhanced. The existing administrative order was issued in 1970. So we see here an [opportunity] for us to improve it,” Mamaril said. Improving the standards, Mamaril said, could mean looking at international limitations when it comes to vinegar production. However, Mamaril said currently there are no known international standards for vinegar, particularly in the Codex Alimentarius, or the “Food Code” of the Food and Drug Administration-World Health Organization. He said the government will also look at the possibility of including provisions on whether vinegar should only come from biogenic sources. This can have an implication on the standards for vinegar, which currently prohibit synthetic ascetic acid.

A broader look at today’s business n Tuesday, May 21, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 223

BOP in recovery mode, April surplus hits $467M

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE local economy continued to earn millions of dollars more than it could spend in the first four months of the year, as short-term global investors put in more money in the Philippines as a vote of confidence. On Monday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported a balance of payments (BOP) surplus of $467 million in April this year—a huge turnaround from last year’s $270-million deficit in the same month.

The country’s BOP is the summary of the dollar country’s transactions with the rest of the world; a surplus in this economic indicator means the country earned more dollars than what it spent at a particular period while a deficit means

the economy lost more dollars than what it earned. This is the fourth consecutive month that the country has been incurring monthly surpluses in its BOP position—a strong recovery from what was seen in 2018, when

$4.265B Total BOP surplus for first four months of 2019, a strong rebound from the $1.497-billion deficit seen in the same January-to-April period in 2018

the entire first half of the year was consistently getting a BOP deficit, along with three other months in the red in the second half of the year. The BSP said the inflows in April stemmed mainly from the BSP’s foreign-exchange operations and income from its investments abroad, and the national government’s net foreign currency deposits. It could have been higher, the See “BOP,” A2

LGUs’ 2020 IRA share up 12.75%

This is also why, Cariño said, there is no basis yet for the government to order a market See “Vinegar,” A2

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Preventing miscarriage of justice in our country Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

ONGRATULATIONS to the 1,800 new lawyers who passed the 2018 Bar Examinations. As announced, 22.07 percent of 8,155 examinees made it. I was listening to the interviews of the successful bar candidates at the Supreme Court ground, where the results were announced, about their plans now that they have joined the legal profession. The answers were varied and interesting: Start one’s own legal practice. Join a big law firm and work one’s way up to become a partner. Work in the government. Go into corporate law practice. Continued on A11

Legislative franchises for telcos should be removed–PIDS study

@BNicolasBM

OC AL government units (LGUs) are set to receive higher internal revenue allotment (IRA) shares for 2020. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the total IR A shares of LGUs for next year shall be P648.92 billion, per certification of the Bureau of Internal Revenue on the actual internal revenue taxes collected in FY 2017. The FY 2020 IRA level is 12.75 percent, or P73.4 billion higher than the FY 2019 IRA level at P575.52 billion, according to a Local Budget Memorandum 78 uploaded by DBM on its web site on Monday. Broken down per level of LGU, a total of P220.63 billion or 34 percent of the P648.92 billion will be shared by 1,478 municipalities, while 82 provinces and 145 cities will partake from the allocated total of P149.25 billion each (23 percent each) for both levels of LGUs. Mea nwhi le, 41,913 ba ra ngays will get their part from P129.78 billion or a fifth of the total IR A.

2017 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

By Cai U. Ordinario

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

See “IRA,” A2

No market recall—yet

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Flerida A. Cariño, former head of the University of the Philippines’s Department of Chemistry, said just because something came from non-biogenic sources does not mean that it should automatically be deemed illegal or harmful to human health. Cariño explained that in fact, the toxicity or any adverse effects of biogenic or naturally fermented ascetic acid is exactly the same as the synthetic or nonbiogenic kind. What could possibly threaten human health are the other contents of, in this case, vinegar. These contaminants as well as their effects on human health were not included in the PNRI study.

A BREATHTAKING view of Banwa Private Island, tagged the “most expensive resort in the world,” as seen in the Banwa Private Island web site

No DOT accreditation for costliest resort By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

NBC and The Independent have dubbed it “the most expensive resort in the world.” Forbes calls it “the world’s most exclusive island retreats.” Located off Palawan, Banwa Private Island, which garnered high praise and write-ups in international business and travel publications earlier this month, reportedly charges

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.5370

$100,000 a night. However, the posh accommodations don’t come with an accreditation by the Department of Tourism (DOT), a violation under Philippine law. DOT Assistant Secretary for Tourism Regulation Coordination and Resource Generation Arturo P. Boncato Jr. confirmed as much in a Viber message with the BusinessMirror, “it [Banwa] is not-DOT accredited.” Under the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9593 (Tourism Act of 2009), “Primary

tourism enterprises shall be periodically required to obtain accreditation from the department as to the quality of their facilities and standard of services.” Primary tourism enterprises are “travel and tours services, land, sea and air transport services exclusively for tourist use; accommodation establishments; and such as other enterprises as may be identified by the [DOT] Secretary, after due consultation with concerned sectors.” See “DOT,” A2

@caiordinario

F the government wants to improve telecommunication activities in the country and encourage more players, it may do well to consider removing the need to secure legislative franchises prior to operation, according to a study released by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). In a Policy Note, titled “ICT regulation and regulatory authority,” PIDS Consultant Lai-Lynn A.B. Barcenas said the issuance of legislative franchises takes an average of five years, delaying the entry of a telecommunication investment. Barcenas said along with legislative franchises, the government should also remove the requirement of securing a certificate of public convenience and necessity among other permits and licenses to telecommunication firms. “Given that the processing of the first two can take an average of five years, this slows down investment in telecommunications services. This, in turn, creates a domino effect on other ICT [Information and Communications Technology] services and ICT-ES [ICT-enabled services] dependent on basic telecommunications services and infrastructure,” Barcenas said. Barcenas said apart from these permits and licenses, other hindrances to the entry of more telecommunication players includes the provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. The Constitution limits the in-

“Given that the processing of [legislative franchises and certificate of public convenience and necessity] can take an average of five years, this slows down investment in telecommunications services. This, in turn, creates a domino effect on other ICT services and ICT-enabled services dependent on basic telecommunications services and infrastructure.”—Barcenas

vestment in these industries to only Filipino nationals, particularly in terms of the practice of these professions such as those needed in ICT services. “These provisions restrain the entry of foreign capital, technology, and skilled human resource that, together with the use of local resources, could be equally harnessed to spur ICT development,” Barcenas said.

DICT mandate

MEANWHILE, the author suggested that policy-makers revisit and rethink the scope of power of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). Barcenas said the law establishing the DICT has “insufficient guidance on the scope of the agency’s authority.’” She said some of the functions of the DICT overlap or are incompatible with those of other departments. For instance, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) still governs the promotion of trade and See “Franchises,” A2

n JAPAN 0.4770 n UK 66.9321 n HK 6.6931 n CHINA 7.5934 n SINGAPORE 38.1699 n AUSTRALIA 36.3083 n EU 58.6365 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.0114

Source: BSP (20 May 2019 )

News

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A2 Tuesday, May 21, 2019

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DTI: Registered PHL firms expand to 1.42M M By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

ORE than 30,000 new businesses registered in the first five months of the year, as the government expands its programs for the promotion of small businesses down to the barangay level. Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said programs for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) should be felt at the barangay level. This is to encourage more people

to take advantage of the country’s fast-growing economy and open their own businesses. T he M SM E D e ve lopme nt (MSMED) Council in its meeting

“We will find ways for our programs to reach micro, small and medium enterprises at the grassroots.”—Lopez

last week reported registered businesses in the Philippines went up to 1.42 million as of May, from 1.39 million last December. “Part of fulfilling President

DENR gives El Nido, LGUs 1 week to act on env’tal law violations By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has directed incoming local officials to compel tourist establishments within their jurisdiction to comply with various environmental laws as soon as they assume office. At the same time, DENR Undersecretary Benny D. Antiporda said outgoing local officials should also make sure to act on environmental problems within their jurisdiction or face criminal and administrative charges. “We’ve given them leeway to act on the problem. Now that the election is over, I think it’s about time that they address the problem,” Antiporda, the DENR’s undersecretary for local government units (LGUs) and solid waste management, said at a press conference on Monday. He said the business permits of

BOP. . .

Continued from A1

BSP said, if not partially offset by the payments made by the national government for its foreignexchange obligations during the month in review. The April development pushed the total BOP surplus in the first four months of the year to $4.265 billion, also a reversal of the $1.497-billion deficit seen in the same January-to-April period in 2018. The BSP said for the entire first four months of the year, the surplus may be attributed partly to remittance inflows from overseas Filipinos and net inflows of foreign portfolio investments during the first quarter of the year, and net inflows of foreign direct investments (FDI) in first two months of 2019.

Hot money saves the day

WHILE the BSP released the breakdown of the country’s BOP after a few months, ING Bank Manila economist Nicholas Mapa said the financial accounts component of

IRA. . .

Continued from A1

Top regions LEADING the top 5 regions in terms of IRA share is Region 4A, which is set to enjoy the highest share at P74.30 billion, followed by Region 3 (P62.11 billion), Region 6 (P51.86 billion), Region 12 including ARMM (P48.49 billion) and Region 7 (P45.74 billion). The lowest IRA share will go to Cordillera Administrative Region at P19.70 billion. The DBM explained in its memorandum that the computation of IRA allocation of LGUs was based on the FY 2015 Census of Population by level of LGU, as well as the FY 2001 Master List of Land Area certified by the Land Management Bureau. The DBM also noted that the IRA was computed based on the list of existing LGUs as of December 31, 2018.

the 10 El Nido hotels and restaurants that were recently issued with ceaseand-desist orders (CDOs) by the DENR Mimaropa region and EMBMimaropa should be suspended. Issued with CDOs for grave violation of the Clean Water Act were El Nido Sea Shell Resorts and Hotel in Barangay Buena Suerte; Doublegem Beach Resort and Hotel, Buko Beach Resort, Panorama Resort (Mangonana Inc.), Four Seasons Seaview Hotel and Stunning Republic Beach Resort in Barangay Corong-corong; and Sava Beach Bar/Sava Nest Egg Inc., El Nido Beach Hotel, and The Nest El Nido Resorts and Spa Inc. in Barangay Masagana. Aside from CDOs, the DENRMimaropa and EMB-Mimaropa are set to issue notices of violation to establishments found violating the 25+5 or 30-meter easement rule. Other LGUs, he said, should also act and take the cue from the actions taken by various task forces

formed to rehabilitate tourist areas around the country. “For me, one week should be enough for the newly elected local officials to act on the problem,” he told reporters. According to Antiporda, LGUs within the Manila Bay Area should also start working to compel establishments that pollute Manila Bay to institute corrective measures or the DENR and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will file appropriate cases. Outgoing local officials, he added, “are not yet off the hook” as those who failed to enforce environmental laws despite repeated appeals by the DENR and other national government agencies under various Task Forces will face criminal and administrative sanctions. “These LGUs issue business permits. These permits cover sanitation permit. So where’s the sanitation?” he said.

the BOP—which is largely composed of the FPI—likely pushed the overall position to be in surplus, despite the still ailing current-account position owing to the country’s high importation needs. “The PHL posted yet another month of surplus compared to a deficit seen in the same period in 2018 with improvements seen in the financial account despite the continued presence of a current account deficit,” Mapa said. “The financial account likely saw a strong surplus after portfolio flows remained positive while the government issued foreign currency debt in the first four months of the year. Meanwhile, the current account was likely still in the red but possibly a tad bit narrower with OF [overseas Filipino] remittance growth seen to offset some of the deficit from the trade gap,” he added. FPI are known as “hot” or “speculative” money because they are easily pulled in and out of the local platforms in the slight change of global and local sentiment. This type of foreign investment is usually a measure of the global

economy’s investing sentiment on the Philippines in short-term prospects for yields, in contrast to FDI which are placed in the Philippines in search of long-term yield. In the first four months of the year, the country’s hot money hit $223.39 million in net inflows, as the $6 billion total inflows was more than enough to compensate for the $5.8 billion total ouflows during the period. Mapa said the surplus is likely to continue in the coming months —a contrasting story to the country’s BOP position in 2018. “We expect the Philippines to continue to see months of surplus, with the external position less vulnerable in 2019 as the PHL looks to see heavier reliance on the financial account even as the current account remains in deficit,” he said. “Meanwhile, we also expect the current account to narrow, on sustained growth in OF remittances and BPO receipts which are seen to counter a slightly narrower trade deficit on the back of slowing imports with capital goods seeing only single-digit growth of late,” he added.

However, the IRA shares of some LGUs concerned are still subject to change. Since some municipalities in Maguindanao were converted into regular municipalities because of the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the DBM said these municipalities shall be included in the allocation of FY 2020 IRA shares of LGUs once the DBM receives from the relevant government agencies the documents that will serve as the basis in computing their respective IRA shares. Moreover, LGUs that may be created/converted by Congress and approved by the President—and the corporate existence of which will commence in FY 2019—shall likewise be included in the allocation of the FY 2019 IRA shares of LGUs. The DBM will inform concerned LGUs of the resulting adjustments in the computation of their respective FY 2020 IRA shares through a subsequent Local Budget Memorandum that DBM

will issue in December 2019, inasmuch as the authorized adjustment to the IRA covers factors that occurred or happened within FY 2019. “Given the foregoing, LGUs, especially the municipalities and barangays, are advised to anticipate the said the possible adjustments in their respective indicative FY 2020 IRA shares as initially computed under this LBM,” the DBM memorandum read. In addition to the IRA, other LGUs are also entitled to Special Shares in the Proceeds of National Taxes. This includes shares in the proceeds from the utilization and development of national wealth within their territorial jurisdiction, excise tax on Virginia Tobacco cigarettes, excise tax on Burley and Native Tobacco products, gross income taxes paid by all businesses and enterprises within the economic zones, value-added tax, value-added tax in lieu of franchise tax, and share in fire code fees.

Duterte’s promise of ‘tapang at malasakit’ [courage and sacrifice] is providing job and business options to help Filipinos live more comfortable lives. So even if the DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] is only [down] to the provincial level, we will find ways for our programs to reach MSMEs at the grassroots,” Lopez said in a statement on Monday. To increase the number of registered firms, the DTI vowed to intensify the information campaign on the benefits of the Barangay Micro

Business Enterprise law. Lopez also made it clear that entrepreneurs can still register as single proprietors in the DTI, even after the Securities and Exchange Commission allowed the registration of one-person corporations. The DTI’s procedure has much simpler registration requirements. Further, the MSMED Council plans to synchronize data and figures produced by the Philippine Statistics Authority and the National Economic and Development Authority on MSMEs.

It also intends to count the MSMEs in the informal sector, or those who are not registered with the government. These statistics, the MSMED Council argued, will help the DTI, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and other finance institutions grasp where microfinancing is needed. Upcoming events for small businesses include the MSME Summit in July and the three-leg Youth Entrepreneurship Program Roadshow in Visayas in June, Cebu in July and Luzon in November.

Palace backs review of PHL pact with Kuwait as another OFW dies M

ALACAÑANG is backing the call for a review of the Memorandum of Understanding that the Philippines signed with Kuwait following the recent death of a Filipino household service worker, but stopped short of saying whether the MOU is “useless.” The gruesome killing of Constancia Lago Dayag, who died after severe injuries allegedly inflicted by her employer in Kuwait last week, prompted several migrants’ rights advocates to ask the government to revisit the provisions of the accord to check possible gaps in its implementation by the Philippine and Kuwaiti governments. “I think we should [review] because according to [Labor] Secretary [Silvestre H.] Bello, there has been a breach in the agreement signed between two countries,”Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sal-

DOT. . .

vador S. Panelo said in a briefing on Monday. Responding to Migrante-Philippines’s statement that the incident just proves that the MOU between Kuwait and the Philippines is “useless” in protecting overseas Filipino workers, Panelo said: “We will wait for the report of Secretary Bello regarding this incident.” Nonetheless, Panelo assured the public that the government will seek justice on behalf of the OFW. “He [Bello] is putting the government in Kuwait to task for the murder of our countryman. So he is investigating it and the DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] is waiting for an autopsy report,” he said. The Philippines-Kuwait MOU, signed last year as one of the conditions for the lifting of the country’s deployment ban to Kuwait, was supposed to increase welfare protection of Filipino household service workers in Kuwait,

Continued from A1

Based on DOT’s web site (www.tourism.gov.ph), the only accredited resorts in Palawan are Daluyon Beach and Mountain Resort (Sitio Sabang), Blue Palawan (Hidden Beach), Deep Forest Garden Inn (Barangay Bancao-Bancao), Dos Palmas Arrecefi Island Resort (Honda Bay), Nemo Beach Hotel (Barangay San Jose), Palawan Seaview Resort (Barangay San Manuel), Ponce de Leon Resort Palawan Inc. (Barangay San Pedro), Coron Westown Resort (Sitio Dipulao), Amanpulo Resort (Pamalican Island), Doublegem Hotel and Resorts Inc. (El Nido), Last Frontier Beach Resort (El Nido), El Nido Garden Beach Resort (Barangay Masagana), Club Agutaya Inc. (San Vicente), and Crystal Paradise Resort, Spa and Winery (Narra). Boncato, however, was quick to stress that the resort has, “applied for accreditation and [is] complying with documentary requirements.” The DOT official implied that the resort had applied for accreditation before it opened, but neither he nor other DOT officials would say the exact date the application was submitted. “Application [was] made earlier. Several documentary requirements are being complied,” Boncato emphasized. Earlier, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued Memorandum Circular 2019-17 signed by Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año reminding all local government units (LGUs) that under the Tourism Act’s IRR, “Primary tourism enterprises [PTEs] such as hotels, resorts, inns and other accommodation establishments are required to secure accreditation from the Department of Tourism [DOT] for issuance of license or permit to operate.” The memo further instructed LGUs “to ensure that all PTEs have complied with and have obtained DOT accreditation before operations.” (Emphasis theirs.) Per the memo, the DOT is supposed to notify the concerned LGUs if tourism enterprises fail to comply with the accreditation requirement. The LGUs “will have to issue necessary closure orders should PTEs fail to rectify the same,” according to the memo, which was issued on February 6, 2019, two months before Banwa opened its doors to the public. In an earlier interview, Año said in Filipino that “we [DILG] will file cases against them [local officials],” if LGUs fail to follow his memo and enforce the Tourism Act IRR’s provisions. (See, “5 Manila Bay hotels get notices of violations,” in the BusinessMirror, February 22, 2019.) According to an article in Forbes on April 11, 2019, Banwa Private Island has been in development for 10 years. “The 15-acre island is home to six stylishly beachfront villas, 12 garden rooms, and one residential 360-degree suite, which is positioned at the highest point of the island for unrivalled views over the ocean,” it noted. Guests of the island fly in by private helicopter, after a short layover by private jet from Manila to a private airport in Palawan, or directly from Manila via helicopter or seaplane, according to Banwa’s web site. The entire island can accommodate 48 people, and has a full complement of chefs supervised by Nadedja Bouacha, a former private chef of Qatar’s royal family. Per its web site, Banwa is managed by the Aquos Management Inc. for the Aquos Foundation, an institution committed to environmental protection. The latter is a member of the Palawan Knowledge Platform overseeing the online platform designed by the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development. The PCSD is the multisectoral body overseeing the implementation of the Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan.

according to Migrante-Philippines and Blas F. Ople Policy Center Head Susan Ople. Under the MOU, Kuwaiti employers are required to allow OFWs to keep their passports and mobile phones. They are also compelled to open bank accounts where they will deposit the salary of their Filipino employees. Aside from investigating the possible violation by the Kuwaiti government of certain provisions of the MOU with the death of Dayag, Bello earlier said DOLE is also eyeing the reimposition of the deployment ban if the Kuwaiti government fails to ensure the protection of OFWs in its territory. After the reported recovery of the remains of Joanna Demafelis from the freezer of her employer’s home in Kuwait enraged President Duterte last year, the government decided to impose the deployment restriction.

Bernadette D. Nicolas

Franchises. . .

Continued from A1

investments on e-commerce, the improvement of ICT skills of the labor force, and network security and connectivity. The DICT has absorbed some of the functions of the Postal Regulation Division, which regulates courier delivery services. However, these delivery services include online payments, which may properly be under the jurisdiction of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Also unclear is the DICT’s extent of authority over other components of the ICT sector such as telecommunications and broadcast information operators, ICT equipment manufacturers, multimedia content developers, IT solution providers, Internet service providers, ICT training institutions, software developers, and ICT-ES providers. To address these challenges, the author urged the government to further strengthen the DICT’s role in ICT matters by defining the extent of its functions, and clarify the role of DTI in promoting e-commerce. Barcenas likewise proposed an assessment of the adaptive capacity of the present regulatory structure, and to consider establishing a single ICT regulator that has authority on all ICT matters, including the power to regulate industries normally handled by other regulatory authorities, and the authority to interpret ICT-related issues for the guidance of other regulators. Established in 2015, the DICT is a government agency tasked to develop policies and plans for ICT development in the country. It exercises broad powers over telecommunications and broadcasting, data privacy, consumer protection, and the promotion of trade and investment in ICT and ICT-ES. Among its attached agencies are the National Telecommunications Commission, the National Privacy Commission and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center.

Vinegar. . .

Continued from A1

recall of the commercial vinegar brands, or caution the public against consuming these products. “We don’t have data yet to say that; there is nothing published nor was there a contaminant found that would have adverse health complications. Right now, what we know is there are vinegar brands that probably have nonbiogenic sources and there are vinegar brands that perhaps came from petroleum products,” Cariño said. “But as I said, the chemistry is the same, its just depends on where the carbon came from. So I really think we just got carried away. It can be a basis for further assessment of our present standards, maybe for labeling purposes or for consumer preference,” she added. Researchers from the PNRI used isotope-based analytical techniques to determine that from more than 360 samples of vinegar in the Philippines, 8 out of 10 are made from synthetic acetic acid. The PNRI is an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology. Cai U. Ordinario

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Comelec reports 74.89% voters’ turnout in ’19 midterm elections By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

ECHNICAL glitches and election-related violence (ERV) failed to dampen the enthusiasm of over 46.3 million voters to participate in the 2019 midterm elections last week. Based from its initial report as of Monday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported 74.89 percent of the 61,843,728 registered voters nationwide were able to cast their votes. This could still increase since it has yet to include the canvassed votes from the province of Isabela, Japan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United States and Nigeria. A total of 1,683,938 voters are registered in the five areas. Comelec Spokesman James B. Jimenez said they are confident of meeting their voter turnout rate (VTR), or the ratio of those who voted and those who are registered voters for the 2019 polls. “We are on track to meet the 75- percent projected [VTR] we said earlier,” Jimenez told reporters in a news conference. He said this already above the international average for VTRs, which is only around at 40 percent. The poll official noted VTRs rarely reach 100 percent since some voters would opt not to vote by choice. Jimenez attributed the high vote turnout to colorful candidates, engaged electorate, and more trans-

“We are on track to meet the 75-percent projected [VTR] we said earlier.” — Jimenez

parency for the Comelec in the conduct of its operations. “There are so many criticism against the Comelec, but that is because it has been transparent. If it was not, what will people complain about,” Jimenez said. The said factors also helped boost voter participation in the local absentee voting (LAV) for government officials and personnel, including police and soldiers, as well as the media. T he V T R for L AV w a s at 77.08 percent. These improvements, however, still did little to perk up VTR for the overseas absentee voting, which was only at 20.66 percent. Some poll watchdogs have expressed concern that the reported increase in the number of defective vote-counting machines, Secure Digital cards and Voter Registration Verification System has discouraged many people from participating in the 2019 polls.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, May 21, 2019 A3

Gordon urges probe as PNP chief confirms poll win of ‘narco-pols’

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM & Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

EN. Richard J. Gordon on Monday pressed for a full-blown probe on how several candidates linked to drug syndicates won, after noting the victory of at least “26 out of 35 candidates’’ earlier linked to the illegal-drugs racket. The lawmaker’s statement came as Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar D. Albayalde confirmed on Monday that a total of 27 politicians, who are included in President Duterte’s narco list, won in the midterm elections. The PNP, he added, is leaving it up to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to take actions against them. The 27 listed by the PNP are among the alleged narco-politicians who ran for various positions and won during last week’s elections, which Albayalde and Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials admitted, were marred by incidents of buying and selling of votes. “Actually out of the 47 who are in the narco list, 37 ran but

only 27 won, that is what is in our data,” said Albayalde during a news briefing on Monday, adding the investigations against the narco-politicians were continuing. “As the SILG [Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Eduardo Año] have said, if something is seen against them, both administrative and criminal charges will be filed against them. It is the DILG that is handling the cases against them,” he said. Albayalde said there were reports of vote buying and vote selling in every region in the country as he mentioned that aside from the more than P12 million total cash that the police confiscated around the country for the purpose, they have also seized goods.

“ We have collected a total amount of P12,208,958 and confiscated 62 sacks of rice and 22 trays of eggs, which have been used for buying votes of the people,” the PNP chief added. Gordon, in a news statement, noted that the so-called narcopoliticians managed to get elected to various local posts in several provinces and municipalities “despite their inclusion in President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s narco list, since there were massive, flagrant and scandalous vote buying in these areas.” Gordon asserted that an extensive five pronged investigation should be carried out by the Comelec, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the National Bureau of Investigations (NBI) and the PNP. “While vote buying may have become commonplace to some people, the inordinate, flagrant and scandalous vote buying in areas where the narco-politicians won must be investigated,” the senator stressed, after noting that “a lot of vote buying occurred and there are affidavits to show that.” Citing reports reaching his office. Gordon added: “Where there are massive vote buying, cash was used. And because so many thousands of pesos were distributed,

AMLC should look into that. The BIR should look into their capability, the Comelec should investigate, and the police should also investigate.” The senator stressed the AMLC should determine if there were large-sca le w ithdrawa ls from banks and “find out who withdrew money on those days, so that charges could be filed.” He warned that, otherwise, the strategic areas where the narcopoliticians won that are conducive to drug smuggling, could “become part of a drug cartel just like the Cali Cartel, a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, which had military, political and legal connections.” Gordon also cited reports that the narco-politicians fielded other family members to various positions, in a bid to “have the influence to ensure their protection from harassment.” “They [narco-pols also forged alliances with local candidates who were also just as desperate to win to protect their graft and corrupt practices,” Gordon said. For instance, the senator cited Zambales, describing it as “a province with a 272-kilometer coastline which is right next to Scarborough Shoals and near China where lots of smuggled drugs originate from,” noting that “there was rampant vote buying from Subic to Santa Cruz and Olongapo City.”

A4 Tuesday, May 21, 2019 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

WB expert: Males still outnumber females in taking up STEM courses

“In this digital age, the demand for STEM graduates far exceeds its supply. This disparity in professional choices reflects a missed opportunity. Encouraging more girls into STEM can help fill the supply gap.”—Wadhwa

NLY a third of the country’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program graduates are female, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) data cited by the World Bank. In a data blog, World Bank Junior Data Scientist Divyanshi Wadhwa said there are fewer female than male STEM graduates from 107 out of 114 economies. This includes the Philippines and its peers in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, only 36 percent of STEM graduates were female, the same as the Slovak Republic. Br unei Dar ussa lam was the only Asean member to have more women graduate from STEM courses. “In this digital age, the demand for STEM graduates far exceeds its supply. This disparity in professional choices reflects a missed opportunity. Encouraging more girls into STEM can help fill the supply gap,” Wadhwa said. Other countries in the Asean who also had a third of their STEM graduates that are female are Malaysia at 39 percent; Indonesia and Vietnam, 37 percent; Singapore, 34 percent; and Thailand, 30 percent. The top 5 countries in the world that had the most number of women STEM graduates were Sint Maarten (Dutch part) at 75 percent; Tunisia, 58 percent; Algeria and Benin, 55 percent; and Oman, 53 percent. Lao PDR and Cambodia lagged behind with only 25 percent and 17 percent of their STEM graduates being female. Burkina Faso had the least number of women STEM graduates at 15 percent. “Among every 10 STEM graduates in South Korea, Chile, Burundi, Cambodia and Burkina Faso, only less than two are girls,” Wadhwa said. In 2015, another study titled “How has basic education in the Philippines fared and what else needs to be done” pointed out the disparity between girls and boys when it comes to education. Philippine Institute of Development Studies Senior Research Fellow Jose Ramon Albert and University of the Philippines Professor Clarissa David said more boys than girls are still dropping out of school. The study stated that dropout rates among boys are twice than that of girls. The study also said boys are more likely to drop out in schools where student-teacher ratios are high. The authors explained that having smaller class sizes will encourage boys to pay more attention in class. Albert said that there is no ideal number of students in a class, but at the current level of having an average of 60 students in a class, more boys are likely to lose interest in their subjects. Apart from smaller class sizes, the government can also consider increasing the incentive for sending boys to school through a higher Conditional Cash Transfers. With a higher incentive to keep boys in school, families will not be tempted to pull out their male children from school to work. Parents will also be more proactive in encouraging their male children to finish their schooling. Cai U. Ordinario

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Cement firms sustain heavy losses due to imports, DTI probe indicates

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

RELIMINARY investigation conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Monday has revealed that the importation of cement has caused the average earnings of cement companies to decline by as much as 49 percent in 2017. During a hearing at the Tariff Commission on Monday, DTI Bureau of Import Services Atty. Luis M. Catibayan said that in one instance, the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of a cement company even plunged by 95 percent. Catibayan said three cement firms that submitted information for DTI’s investigation revealed their Ebitda declined by 63 percent, 47 percent and 37 percent. “It’s really now with the Tariff

Commission to make the necessary recommendation,” Catibayan said. “DTI continues to monitor prices.” Catibayan said the DTI compared the Ebitda of the same firms in 2013 to 2017. The Ebitda of the companies were growing prior to 2017, and one firm even recorded a 15-percent growth in its earnings. Catibayan said the data was obtained from only four cement firms, which, altogether, represented over 80 percent of the local cement industry. The decline in the profitability of

local cement firms was confirmed by the Cement Manufacturers’ Association of the Philippines at the same hearing. Based on their calculations, the profitability of firms such as Eagle Cement, Holcim and Cemex declined to 37 percent, 11 percent and 6 percent in 2018 from 38 percent, 13 percent and 8 percent, respectively. The negative impact of the importation, Catibayan said, gave the DTI the reason to impose a safeguard duty of P8.40 per bag, or P210 per metric ton. “I have to emphasize that based on the latest monitoring report, prices are stable and supply is sufficient. And No. 2, the cement industry is an important industry to the country and therefore it is crucial that the cement industry [operate on a] level playing field in competing with imports. And then third, the DTI is doing its job in providing the necessary support to domestic industry,” Catibayan said. Under Department Administrative Order 19-02, the DTI slapped a safeguard duty of P210 per metric ton on cement, effective for a period of 200 days starting February 9, on complaints from cement manufac-

DOE sets issuance of draft circular for smart grid technologies in Q3

HE Department of Energy (DOE) will issue a draft circular for the adoption of smart grid technologies in the third quarter of this year, an energy official said on Monday. “The draft circular on the policy framework is targeted to be released by the third quarter of 2019,” said DOE Assistant Secretary Redentor Delola after he delivered his speech during The Future Energy Show Philippines 2019 held in Manila. “The government is moving toward this smart grid development that will support security of energy supply,” he added. The DOE is spearheading the formulation of a policy framework and road map for the smart grid implementation. Among others, smart grid technology involves the use of smart meters in which real time electricity consumption is known. “You can see immediately the electricity you consume. When you have smart grid, the level of competition is at its full blast. Meralco [Manila Electric Co.] is doing it…,” Delola said. As part of its implementation, the agency has undertaken steps, such as the identification of the plans, projects and programs for the generation, transmission, distribution and load sector necessary for the establishment of the national smart grid framework; the creation of Smart Grid technical working group; the conduct of forums and workshops; and collaborating with other government agencies, stakeholders, private companies, and academe through information sharing and education campaigns. Delola said the challenges of increasing energy demand and rising oil prices in the international

market and other sociopolitical world events drive the agency to pursue immediate to long-term solutions that will address these issues. “As we progress and energy demand increases, and our energy systems become more complicated, this calls on us to revisit our policies, and the measures that we will undertake have to be responsive and competitive. We need to do something to improve our current power system and venture to the newest technologies and innovations, such as the introduction of smart grid technologies, which are foreseen to be the way of the future,” he said. Delola cited several factors meant to improve the current power system and venture toward smart grid. “First, to have a more reliable, more efficient, secure and flexible grid, there is a need to integrate new and emerging technologies in our system,” he said. Second, the promotion of renewable energy as our policies, like net metering, renewable portfolio standards, green energy option and a provision of a RE market, make our system more complex. Third, the government is also promoting the use of electric vehicles, where over 2 million were sold in 2018 and its number is expected to increase significantly in the future. Lastly, the rapid development of ICT or information communications technology. All of these call for the urgent shift to smart grid, which is expected to provide a safe environment, reliable sources, flexible, sustainable and more efficient system, and competitiveness toward consumer empowerment.” Lenie Lectura

DOTr firms up multiphase completion of NSCR project

OLLOWING the signing of the deal for the construction of the first portion of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR) project on Monday, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is preparing for the acquisition of new rolling stocks to serve the future train line that will connect Clark and Calamba in just two hours. Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John R. Batan said there will be three packages for the acquisition of new trains for the proposed commuter railway system. The first one, which is already on its way, is for the Tutuban-Malolos alignment. It will consist of 13 train sets with eight cars each. This is expected to be awarded to Sumitomo Corp. and JR East Railway of Japan sometime in the next two months. The second package, on the other hand, involves the supply of 38 train sets in eight-car configuration, which will be used for the Malolos-Clark alignment. The publication of the invitation to bid for this is scheduled for the third quarter of the year. The third package is for the supply of seven express train sets with eight cars each to serve

the airport line. In total, the future commuter line will have a rolling stock portfolio of 58 train sets, or a total of 464 cars. “The beauty of it is that because the system is interoperable, the first trains can run all the way to Clark and all the way to Calamba,” Batan said. Envisioned as a 147-kilometer elevated, doubletrack railway that will run from the Clark International Airport to Calamba, Laguna, the 36-station NSCR will cost the government roughly P777.55 billion to build. The entire NSCR line aims to serve 700,000 passengers daily once fully operational. For its first portion, which is the PNR Clark Phase 1, the government has tapped FilipinoJapanese joint venture D.M. Consunji Inc.-Taisei Corp. to build the first six stations of the line. These stations are in Solis, Caloocan, Valenzuela, Meycauayan, Marilao and Bocaue. Its second contract package, which covers the construction works for three stations, namely, Balagtas, Guiginto and Malolos, started in February with Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. Ltd. winning the contract. Lorenz S. Marasigan

turers that they were seriously injured by the surge in imports from 2013 to 2017. Market share of imports rose to 15 percent in 2017, from 0.02 percent in 2013, according to the DTI. Moreover, sales of the local industry reportedly declined 12 percent, or P11.1 billion, as local players were compelled to reduce prices by nearly 10 percent to compete with imports. In April, the DTI said, it will impose a price cap on cement should retail prices hit P240 per bag in light of the delay in Tariff Commission hearings. Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said he will enforce a suggested retail price (SRP) of P225 per bag on cement if proven the prevailing price of the commodity is now at P240 per bag. He vowed to look into the situation and verify the figures, as well as assess how the delay in Tariff Commission hearings could affect cement prices. The Tariff Commission is investigating the merits of imposing a definitive safeguard measure against imported cement as endorsed by the DTI in January. Further, it is hearing the arguments of cement manufacturers and importers on whether there is a need to protect the local industry.

PETROLEUM COMPANIES RAISE FUEL PUMP PRICES By Lenie Lectura @llectura

IL companies on Monday announced a price increase in fuel pump prices that will take effect on Tuesday morning. In separate advisories, petroleum firms said they will increase gasoline prices by P0.90 per liter, diesel by P0.80 per liter and kerosene by P0.75 per liter. Pilipinas Shell, Seaoil Philippines, PTT Philippines, Eastern Petroleum, Total Philippines and Petro Gazz said the price adjustment takes effect 6 a.m. of May 21. Prior to this week’s oil price hike, oil firms reduced pump prices for two weeks. The Department of Energy said recent world events have once again caused the increase of oil prices in the local market.

Anti-corruption compliance guide pany must focus most on managing the most serious corruption risks. Perform a periodic and comprehensive risk assessment to identify and weigh internal and external risks and, in turn, define your priorities. Remember to work together with those familiar with your company’s processes and sales channels to make effective risk assessments.

Geographical risks—identify

the nature and levels of corruption, including relevant regulations in the countries you do business in. For instance, the Chinese Compliance Guide underlines the high risk of official bribery as many Chinese companies are state-owned enterprises.

Sector and products—your market sector By Henry J. Schumacher

HY do companies have to create and implement anticorruption policies and procedures? The answer is easy: to meet the legal compliance obligations and mitigate corruption risks. Corruption creates potential criminal, civil and business consequences. Implementing adequate procedures can help manage these risks while creating a competitive business advantage. Gan Integrity Inc. has developed a Compliance Program Guide, and I have taken the liberty to quote on some of their arguments for risk management:

Liability—criminal and civil penalties for corruption offenses can cost your company millions and result in tough prison sentences. Some pieces of anti-corruption legislation have near global jurisdiction and can hold almost any company liable for corruption.

Opportunity—business partners and suppliers are increasingly required to document their anti-corruption compliance programs, or risk losing contracts.

Reputation—your company’s reputation is its most valuable asset. Corruption investigations can harm business opportunities.

Blacklisting—companies convicted of cor-

ruption offenses can be excluded from bidding on contracts. The European Union, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and others blacklist convicted companies. In this context, your company should perform periodic risk assessments of its internal and external risks. Your com-

may entail a higher risk of corruption than others. If you operate in sectors dependent on large-scale government contracts or tightly controlled licenses, your business may be exposed to a higher risk of agents or subcontractors committing a corruption offense on your company’s behalf.

Representatives—make sure to identify

current and anticipated future representatives. Different types of representatives have different risk profiles and include third-party agents, consultants and jointventure business partners.

Corruption types—evaluate

risks for the various forms of corruption. Does your company risk encountering big-value kickback payments, or small-value bribery or facilitation payments? Does your company give gifts or donations, and could these be seen as a corrupt influence on their recipients? Keep in mind that some legislations do not distinguish between bribery and facilitation payments.

Keep records —document your compliance

activities, including your risk assessments. This will demonstrate your commitment to fighting corruption, facilitate potential cooperation with authorities, help establish possible legal defences and demonstrate compliance to your business partners.

Define priorities—your risks should be

evaluated for likelihood, impact and velocity. And tools can be used to help visualize your assessments to distinguish risk levels. Remember, your compliance activities should be proportionate to your risks! If you need assistance, contact us, email me under Schumacher@eitsc.com or contact Gan Integrity Inc. (www.ganintegrity.com) directly. Remember, implementing adequate procedures can help manage risks while creating a competitive business advantage.

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If you have any information / objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400-6011. ATTY. ANA C. DIONE, CPA REGIONAL DIRECTOR

A10 Tuesday, May 21, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

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editorial

What now?

E can appreciate Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s candidness in admitting during a CNN Philippines interview that he still needs training on how to craft laws and even asked if there is a seminar for it. Even President Duterte, before he committed himself to running in the presidential elections, also expressed reservations during media interviews about his own abilities, at times saying he was already old and might not have the stamina and the stomach for the pressures and intrigues that go with the presidency. There’s nothing wrong with honesty. Honesty is actually much better than pretending you know more than you actually do, or claiming you are a graduate of this and that school when you are not. Lack of experience isn’t necessarily a bad thing in politics. Considering the Philippine experience, politics is perhaps best not learned from the old hands anyway. In the really important things, newly elected politicians have to learn the ropes themselves. But to answer senator-elect dela Rosa’s question, yes, there is a lawmaking seminar; in fact, it is the usual practice for the secretariat of both Houses of Congress to give an orientation and workshop for new senators and congressmen, as well as their staff before they start their jobs. Dela Rosa’s plan to seek advice from other senators is also a good idea. Just like in any other job, finding good mentors is essential. There is much to learn from senators who have served previous terms that one wouldn’t hear in any formal briefing. Veteran legislators know their way around the often-tedious legislative process and the murky world of congressional politics. Senators whose terms are expiring might even pass their pending or archived bills to newly elected senators who are willing to reintroduce them. Having good relations with other senators is important in seeing bills pass through the legislative mill and getting things done. Senators cannot merely rely on party affiliates for support. They need to talk to fellow committee members. In the Senate, where there are only 24 members, it is possible to talk to every senator to solicit support for measures and investigations. A certain level of statesmanship is expected of senators. Personal disagreements should not get in the way of professional relationships, and professional disagreements should be settled through debates on the session floor. Senators need a broad coalition to be effective in their jobs. One’s opponent on a bill today might be his or her ally on another bill tomorrow. So, being civil and cordial and not burning bridges work to one’s advantage. Hiring good people is also a must. If they promised honesty, integrity and competence in their duties, then newly elected politicians should hire people who have the skills they need to help them serve honestly and professionally. But senators must not simply rely on their staff. They need to do their homework, take their job seriously and give it their full attention. They have to read and understand the bills, study hard so that they actually have something to contribute to floor deliberations, so they can join the debates and discussions and not just be warm bodies that show up for attendance. While finishing school may not be a requirement, constant learning and improvement is, in any profession. Lito Lapid, a returning senator, always uses his poverty as an excuse for not finishing school and not being adept at the English language. But the late Blas Ople was a college dropout, yet he went on to become one of the country’s most eloquent and distinguished Senate presidents. We apologize for offering such unsolicited advice, especially to dela Rosa, who has served in the government as head of the Bureau of Corrections and the Philippine National Police, aside from being a Philippine Military Academy graduate with a master’s in public administration and a doctorate in development administration. But he did ask. New senators should also keep in mind that most of what they say would be covered by media, even off the cuff, not just during interviews, Senate sessions and public hearings. Hence, it is just as easy to look foolish and stupid, as it is to look wise and senatorial.

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T. Anthony C. Cabangon

THE ENTREPRENEUR

HE 5.6-percent economic growth in the first quarter of 2019 is still healthy and no cause for alarm. The Philippine economy still registered one of the highest growth rates in Asia, and I believe it is poised to expand more robustly in the remaining quarters of the year as the government plays catch-up with the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program. The growth momentum is on our side. The inflation rate continues to decelerate, dropping to a 16-month low of 3 percent in April from 3.3 percent in March. The exchange rate has stabilized at around 52:$1, while the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas just reduced the overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points to 4.5 percent, the first time in more than six years, after the inflation rate eased to the government’s target range. Bangko Sentral Governor Benjamin Diokno said the decision was based on the board’s assessment that “the inflation outlook continues to be manageable, with easing price pressures owing to the decline in food prices amid improved supply conditions.” Global debt watcher S&P Global Ratings on April 30 increased by a notch its long-term sovereign credit

rating on the Philippines to “BBB+” from “BBB” with a stable outlook, citing the country’s above-average economic growth, a healthy external position and sustainable public finances. The latest upgrade placed the Philippines on a par with Mexico, Peru, Thailand and Trinidad and Tobago, and above the BBB ratings of Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Panama and Uruguay. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III is even optimistic the Philippines will attain a credit rating of “A” a debt score normally reserved for highly stable advanced economies within the next two years. The gross international reserves, meanwhile, rose for the sixth straight month to $83.96 billion in April this year from $83.61 billion a month before and $79.6 billion a year ago, according to data from the Bangko Sentral.

Spending like an OFW

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Growth momentum now on PHL side

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

URING his 40-year career as a bank robber, “Willie” Sutton stole an estimated $2 million. When asked by a newspaper reporter why he robbed banks, he replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” The same could be said about overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). A portion of a generation of children grew up without full-time mothers and fathers who went abroad because “that’s where the money is.” OFWs are “heroes of the republic” because of the money they send home. Obviously, remittances of the OFWs are tracked religiously because of the amount. Every “financial literacy” speaker has a passport full of Middle East countries’ stamps because of the money. While an important part of the Philippine economy, the spending habits of OFWs can give an interesting picture about the nation and its finances.

There is no question that OFW remittances are the financial lifeblood of many Filipino families, particularly two decades and more ago. The money that they sent home provided the necessities of life for millions and educated children that otherwise would not have had much opportunity. Homes that would have never been built were constructed from the sacrifice that OFWs made for their families and the nation. Countless small informal businesses existed only because—after the family’s needs were met—there’s family savings from remitted funds. In 2008, a study by the Asian

The Philippines successfully returned to the international capital markets, where investors swarmed on the offering of €750 million of eight-year global bonds in the second week of May. Investment pledges, as collated by the Board of Investments, jumped 46 percent in the first four months to P286.7 billion from P195.7 billion year-on-year after a significant increase in foreign projects. Commitments from foreign investors jumped 2,224 percent in January to April to P66.9 billion from P2.9 billion in the same period last year. Investment pledges from domestic sources also rose 14 percent in the four-month period to P219.7 billion from P192.8 billion a year earlier. I find all these data and developments encouraging. They lead me to believe that the Philippine economy is still on course to register a 6-percent to 7-percent growth this year. Last week’s generally peaceful midterm elections are also a positive development they reflected the country’s political stability and bolstered further investor confidence. Malacañang, after being briefed by the country’s economic managers, remains upbeat that the Philippines will still reach the full-year 2019 economic target of 6-percent to 7-percent growth. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia himself expects higher growth in the next few quarters “as the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program starts to gather steam.”

Pernia said the full-year growth target of 6 percent to 7 percent remained possible if the economy would expand by an average of 6.1 percent over the next three quarters. Dominguez is also bullish. He expects the domestic economy to expand at a higher clip for the rest of the year as inflation continues trending toward the official target range of 2 percent to 4 percent. The finance chief says given the 2019 budget snag, the Philippine GDP growth of 5.6 percent in the first quarter is still a “decent expansion” that has kept the Philippines among the ranks of the region’s fastestgrowing economies. “Economic growth is expected to finish stronger over the April-toJune period and for the rest of 2019 as the government puts Build, Build, Build on the fast lane following the passage of the 2019 GAA and domestic consumption picks up amid cooling inflation,” says Dominguez. In implementing a catch-up plan to accelerate state investments, he said “the Duterte administration aims to offset the lower spending at the outset of 2019 resulting from the budget delay and the construction ban during the election season.” “Henceforth, we expect growth to pick up on higher state spending in continuance of last year’s upward momentum,” he added.

Development Bank reported that beneficiaries of the remittances spent for food, utilities and other household operations, personal care, and communications and transportation. That study showed that 60 percent reported that they were able to save money. Eightyseven percent kept their savings in banks. Proving also that all those financial literacy seminars did change lives for the better, and life insurance was the most popular financial instrument. There were some interesting differences in spending habits. For those families where the OFW experience was intended to be for a limited time, large capital expenditures for homes and a family business were the priority. For those that planned to be career OFWs, after basic needs were met, the money went for bigger television sets, the electric keyboard, and for computers and other gadgets. While many think of the OFWs as some unique class, the only thing different about them is their source of income. Their spending habit reflects most everyone’s spending habit. If you get a big bonus or make a big commission, you might use

that money to buy a car or put a down payment on a condominium. If you get a salary increase, you might head to the mall to buy the newest gadget. I see the money management of the OFWs as a reflection of the bigger picture of the Philippine economy. For example, the Philippine stock market is only now becoming an investment vehicle for OFWs as companies introduce investing in mutual funds. Like everyone else, once OFWs provide for basic needs, health care and education were next. Then came the house and lot. A small business might be next on the list after buying the “luxuries” to make life more fun and enjoyable. Along the way, some funds are put away for the future and a rainy day. Personal spending is like eating the Food Pyramid. You start at the bottom and work your way up to the chocolate sundae. And at the top is direct investment in the Philippine Stock Exchange.

For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

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.

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A timely perspective on national security

Preventing miscarriage of justice in our country Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

Cecilio T. Arillo

DATABASE

ERE’s a timely perspective to understand national security (NS) in relation to Executive Order 70, signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea by authority of President Rodrigo Duterte on December 4, 2018, formulating a National Peace Framework that shall include, among others, a mechanism for local peace engagements or negotiations and interventions. In essence, NS is not just about the military and the police securing the seat of power against the enemies of the State. More than that, it is about having food, jobs, education, health, infrastructure, water, electricity, markets, information, technology, copyrights, public order, public health and safety for the majority of our people, if not for all individuals. Neither is NS static nor a passive condition. Rather, it is vibrant and contextual, adjusting to situations as they develop or as they can be foreseen, involving the interplay of dynamic and static forces. Nor should NS be treated as an occurrence that we have to take as it is and as it comes; rather, we should shape it rationally, all the time. We should manage it, or its deterioration will control us. We must constantly monitor it and understand it from the perspective of history and the requirements of the future. And we must invest in its stability, for without such investment, we might lose not just our collective security, but our nationhood as well. National security starts with nationhood. Officially, it was not until 1946 that the Philippines became an independent nation. Before that, it was neither a nation nor independent. It was just an archipelago of settlements that had to face common enemies for them to develop a sense of nationhood, with some of the patriots seeking not independence but parity with citizens of the colonial master. It, in fact, was a colony with a population as diverse as it was dispersed, its tenuous national unity vulnerable to the contrarian forces of regionalism and ethnocentric factors. The Philippines has been invaded four times, by the Spaniards, by the British, by the Americans and then by the Japanese before it attained formal nationhood. She was under foreign rule for around 425 years, and since then, has been formally independent for only 73 years. Our history, therefore, is much shorter as a sovereign state than our history as a colony.

Historical perspective

THE country’s history has a direct influence on our national security. More than four centuries of exploitation by colonial masters had depleted much of our resources that could have made us more prosperous today. Our colonial masters had twisted our loyalties and values and skewed our perspectives over this long period of religious, political and cultural indoctrination. They had deprived us of precious experience in self-rule; their divide-and-rule strategy left a deplorable legacy that continues to keep us divided to this day. Worse, their central authority had left our people in various states of ungovernability: Resentful, skeptical, suspicious, rebellious, fatalistic, irresolute, individualistic, regionalistic and myopic. This situation did not end with the formal grant of independence to us by the United States in 1946. We continued to be dominated by America, and we remained susceptible to other foreign powers. The Second World War reduced our economy to ruins, and we had depended on American help to recover; but in doing so, we had to grant so-called

“parity rights” to American citizens and companies in the exploitation of our natural resources. As a safeguard against non-American invasion, we also had to agree to the establishment of American military bases on our soil. So, for the next decades after the formal grant of independence, American interests shaped our national security. The end of the Second World War was the beginning of the Cold War, pitting the Western powers led by America against the Communist powers led by the Soviet Union and Red China. We were drawn into the Cold War because of our alliance with America and because of the presence of the US military bases in the Philippines. The communist powers, to challenge American hegemony in this part of Asia, lent support to the local communist movement, which had then been outlawed by Republic Act 1700 or the Anti-Subversion Law. It was a period when nationalism was rising among the newly independent states of the so-called Third World. Among many of these nations and former colonies, the common theme was anti-imperialism. The communists exploited this situation. The late national security expert, Dr. Galileo Kintanar, recalled in a series of interviews with this writer that a leading communist in China at the time, M.N. Roy, described the process as “painting nationalism red.” “So, in the Philippines, the communists infiltrated nationalist movements and established ostensibly nationalist organizations, in order to broaden and increase their influence,” Kintanar said. Kintanar said the roster of the Movement for the Advancement of Nationalism on its founding in 1967 included such nationalists as Dr. Salvador Araneta, Teofisto Guingona Jr. and Dr. Sotero H. Laurel, as well as activists who were to rise high in the Communist Party of the Philippines: Jose Ma. Sison, Nilo Tayag, Fernando Tayag, Ibarra Tubianosa, Jose Luneta, Arthur Garcia, Hermenegildo Garcia IV, Monico Atienza, Leoncio Co, Manuel Collantes, Satur Ocampo, Carolina Malay, Julius Fortuna and Milagros Astorga, among others. The same roster listed “Nur Mizhuarie” as a Charter member, along with Sen. Lorenzo Tanada, Orlando Mercado, Haydee Yorac, Ruben Torres, Felixberto Olalia, Rolando Olalia, Dr. Nemesio Prudente and Renato Constantino, who subsequently distinguished themselves as dissidents, with some becoming government officials. As a consequence, the nascent Philippine government found it hard to distinguish between communists and nationalists. This was just what the communists wanted as part of their strategy: to bait the government to treat nationalist organizations as communist fronts, and thereby press moderates to turn into radicals and radicals into rebels. “It was part of the strategy of fomenting a revolutionary situation and of giving depth and breadth to the communist insurgency,” Kitanar said. To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com.

Tuesday, May 21, 2019 A11

Continued from A1

UT the most challenging answer I heard was: Enter politics. The great thing about a lawyer is he can try many things. His training fits into different jobs in today’s market—legal, personnel management, human resources, security, governance, compliance, academe, corporate, tax, labor and legal enforcement. And if there is none, he can invent it. A lawyer is a “jack-of-all-trades”. My simple advice to my new compañeros and compañeras is: Always uphold the glory of justice and respect the majesty of the law. In his book, Letters to a Young Lawyer, the famous American lawyer Alan Dershowitz asked: “What kind of lawyer will you become? Will you accept the Faustian bargain or resist it? Many lawyers never make an explicit choice. They simply drift toward a widely accepted form of elite corruption without ever engaging in the “to be or not to be” soliloquy. Most lawyers who cross the line into corruption do not make an explicit decision to become corrupt. They do not make a deliberate and calculating step over the line. They move closer and closer until they

realize—and sometimes they don’t realize—that “the line is well behind them.” In legal practice, unlike in a ball game, there is no referee who will call out when you step on the line. nnn

JUSTICE Noel Tijam has proposed to the Supreme Court that new lawyers, aside from the mandatory free legal aid required of them, be assigned to act as judiciary watchdogs to monitor for 30 days judges in all courts nationwide. The monitors shall be required to accomplish a survey form on judicial decorum, temperament, knowledge of the Rules of Court, and prompt disposition of cases. This will reinforce the fresh lawyers’ training and provide actual court exposure be-

fore they plunge into practice. More importantly, they will be able to give impartial feedback on judges’ performance to the SC, JBC, Office of the Court Administrator and the Philja. Justice Tijam believes that these young lawyers are best suited for monitoring roles since they are energetic, objective, idealistic and independent. In exchange, they will earn MCLE credits. nnn

THE publication of the YouTube clips titled “Totoong Narcolist” and the subsequent appearance of Peter Joemel Advincula who introduced himself as “Bikoy” during a press conference at the national headquarters of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines has apparently created a rift between the IBP national leadership and its powerful chapter in Davao. Following the press conference that was viewed by millions of Filipinos a week before the midterm elections, the Davao Chapter has criticized its national leadership for allegedly allowing itself to be used for political ends by “Bikoy” and his handlers when they conducted a press conference at the IBP. “The IBP Davao Chapter does not and will not tolerate any statements from the present leadership of the IBP that will result in politicizing the organization,” said, adding that the move of the IBP National “does not reflect the sentiment of

the membership of the chapter as an organization.” Advincula has reportedly sought free legal assistance from the organization to submit his sworn statement and file cases against the alleged drug syndicate that he openly denounced during the media event. After vetting his case, the IBP national leadership has decided not to take up Bikoy’s case and denied him free legal assistance. The Bikoy affair with the IBP exposes the dearth, if not a total lack of an apolitical legal representation for unpopular causes or despised personalities in our country. Unlike in countries where there’s a vibrant civil libertarian tradition, here it is difficult to obtain the services of mainstream lawyers who are capable of providing free legal assistance to people like Bikoy. As a member of the Bar myself, I feel strongly that we need a vigorous and dynamic bar that adheres to civil liberties and human rights. We need legal advocates who will not be daunted to represent the accused regardless of his religion, color, ideologies or politics. We cannot just leave it to the Public Assistance Office, otherwise there will be a miscarriage of justice in our land. nnn

WHAT’S the difference between a good lawyer and the best lawyer? A good lawyer knows the law; the best lawyer knows the judge.

Rules on material related party transactions Atty. Kara Louisse B. Eramis

TAX LAW FOR BUSINESS

T is not a secret that several tycoons control our country. These tycoons have established many companies, and almost all of these companies have dealings with each other. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants transparency in these dealings, that’s why it issued SEC Memorandum Circular 10, which contains the rules on material related party transactions (RPT) for publicly listed companies (PLC). As defined under the Circular, related party transactions are transfer of resources, services or obligations between a reporting PLC and a related party, regardless of whether a price is charged. As a rule, related party transactions are allowed. However, when the transaction amounts to 10 percent or higher of company’s total assets, it shall be considered as material related transactions covered under the rules. And compliance to these rules shall be mandatory for all publicly listed companies. As a requirement, all existing PLCs are required to submit to the Commission a policy on material RPTs within six months from the effectivity of Material RPT Rules, which was on April 27, 2019. And

those listed after the effectivity of the rules are required to submit after six months from the date of listing. Also, an advisement report on material RPTs shall be filed within three days after the execution date of transaction. Further, PLCs are required to disclose in the company’s Integrated Annual Corporate Governance Report (I-ACGR) the summary of material related party transactions entered into during the reporting year. It is also important to note that under this rule, SEC imposed certain penalties for non/late filing of or incomplete/incorrect signature in the material related party transaction policy. There will be a basic penalty amounting to P10,000 and a monthly penalty of P1,000. This monthly penalty shall continue to

accrue until the material RPT policy is submitted to the SEC. SEC also provides penalties to non/late filing of or incomplete/incorrect advisement report. On the first offense, the company shall only be reprimanded. However, on the second to third violation, there shall be an appropriate monetary penalty imposed. And in case of continued nonpayment of the assessed and/or failure to comply with the requirement within a period of 15 days, after notice and hearing, shall be a sufficient ground for the Commission to resort to the remedy provided under the Revised Corporation Code. Moreover, the PLC must take note that a violation for the same offense for the fourth time is a ground for the suspension/revocation of the erring company’s registration or secondary license. Hence, PLCs must religiously comply with these requirements; otherwise, their business operations will be greatly affected by possible closure or suspension of operations. PLCs should not disregard these rules especially if their business operations involve related party transactions. In addition to the grounds provided under the Revised Corporation Code, an interested director or officer of a corporation shall be disqualified from being a director, trustee or officer of any other corporation on the basis of a final judgment rendered by the Court for committing abusive

material RPTs. This disqualification shall be for a period of at least one year or more, depending on the decision of the Commission. Note that these penalties imposed by the SEC is without prejudice to the administrative penalties that may be imposed by the Commission and as may be provided by the Revised Corporation Code, Securities Regulation Code and other related laws. I understand that the SEC wants transparency, and that is why it established these rules. But the other government entity that will be most interested with the data that the SEC will be able to collate in the implementation of this Circular is the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). The BIR has been struggling on how to implement transfer pricing rules. But with this data, the BIR will be equipped with reliable information on how to trace and uncover all material related party transactions that until today have remained hidden. The author is a senior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a memberfirm of WTS Global. The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported, therefore, by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at karalouisse.eramis@bdblaw.com.ph or call 403-2001, local 170.

Huawei supply freeze signals start of tech cold war By Tim Culpan Bloomberg Opinion

HIS is the moment Huawei Technologies Co. has been waiting for. Chipmakers including Qualcomm Inc., Xilinx Inc. and Broadcom Inc. have told employees they won’t supply to the Chinese electronics giant until further notice, Bloomberg News reported late Sunday in the US. Those companies will need clarification from the Trump administration on whether they can ship to Huawei, so for now it seems they’re erring on the side of caution. A similar process took place when ZTE Corp. was banned from buying US products after reneging on a deal to settle charges of breaking trade sanctions. Staffs were told to halt shipments until they could work out what was allowed and what was

forbidden. The US ended up imposing an embargo (later removed) that crippled the smaller Chinese communications company. The prospect that the US government would cut off the supply of components to Huawei was precisely what management had been anticipating for close to a year, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Huawei has at least three months of supplies stockpiled. That’s not a lot, but it speaks to the seriousness with which the Shenzhen-based company took the threat. There’s hope that this latest escalation is just part of the US’s trade-war posturing and will be resolved as part of broader negotiations. Huawei, or Chinese leaders, are unlikely to be so naive as to share that. Even the briefest of bans will be proof to them that China can no long rely on outsiders.

We can now expect China to redouble efforts to roll out a homegrown smartphone operating system, design its own chips, develop its own semiconductor technology (including design tools and manufacturing equipment), and implement its own technology standards. This can only accelerate the process of creating a digital iron curtain that separates the world into two distinct, mutually exclusive technological spheres. Expect hiccups there. An initial Chinese version of Android—let’s call it Chandroid—won’t hold a candle to the original developed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Homegrown communications chips will be inferior to those offered by Qualcomm and Xilinx. But whereas past attempts to develop local products could flop because Western alternatives were still available, failure is no longer

an option in the eyes of China’s top leadership. The government will pump in more subsidies to make sure the industry doesn’t fall short, and much money will be wasted. Money can’t solve all problems. But given time, Chinese state funding will overcome enough challenges to make local alternatives viable, if not comparable to American technology. It’s unlikely the US has the political will to subsidize its own companies to the same extent. Initially, it won’t need to because of America’s current superiority. But Huawei’s position at the forefront of 5G mobile technology shows that this lead won’t be held forever. So now the tech cold war has begun. The winner won’t be the side with the best fighters, but the one with the greater ability to endure the pain of prolonged losses.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Tuesday, May 21, 2019

DOF prods other agencies on illegal foreign workers By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

HE Department of Finance (DOF) has called on the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to team up with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), as well as law-enforcement agencies in weeding out illegal foreign workers in the country. This, after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported last week that it had initially uncovered some 12,000 foreign nationals without the necessary work permits employed in various establishments, most of them from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos). In a recent meeting with members of the interagency task force created to monitor and list down the number of foreign nationals working in the country, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III learned that out of 148 establish-

ments employing around 37,000 workers that were inspected so far, 12,000 foreign nationals in 33 Pogos lacked the necessary permits from the BI and the DOLE. The finance chief, who wants personal income taxes (PIT) collected from foreign nationals employed by Pogo, said that the BI, Pagcor, DOLE and law-enforcement agencies such as the Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) should get their act together to weed out illegal aliens working in the country. “Why don’t we step on the gas

“Why don’t we step on the gas here? As I’ve told you last time, BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] has a job to do, to collect taxes. For them to be effective, everybody else has to contribute to their effectivity.”— Dominguez

here? As I’ve told you last time, BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] has a job to do, to collect taxes. For them to be effective, everybody else has to contribute to their effectivity,” Dominguez said. He said he will inform President Duterte about the outcome of the meeting and report that “we are making progress, but not fast enough.” Dominguez told the BI’s Deputy Commissioner Atty. Tobias M. Javier to prioritize the rounding up of the 12,000 illegal aliens after finding out that the bureau was only able to arrest 393 illegal foreign workers last year. “For the next meeting, we would like to see movement on the assessment; we would like to see

@butchfBM

ENATORS returning from a four-month recess have yet to firm up a consensus on whether to back or set aside fresh efforts to tinker with the 1987 Constitution, crafted under the first Aquino administration in the aftermath of the 1986 People

Power uprising. The split was evident in contrasting positions taken by proadministration and opposition senators when asked by the BusinessMirror if an enabling law to carry out the controversial Charter change scheme, seen to lift existing term limits, among others, should be frontloaded in the Senate agenda. “Nope,” Senate President Vi-

SOUTHWESTERLY SURFACE WINDFLOW AFFECTING WESTERN SECTION OF LUZON as of 4:00 pm - May 20, 2019

cente Sotto III curtly replied, affirming the leadership’s position that Charter change is not in their priority list of bills to be tackled during their May 20 to June 7 regular session. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto also thumbed down the proposal, saying, “I have always been against amending the Constitution.”

SAVE THE CHILDREN PHL: 1.8M CHILDREN AT RISK IN BANGSAMORO AREA

inspections and closure of establishments with illegal foreign workers. So we’d like to see progress. And you know, if there are 12,000 that you found, there must be a lot more, a lot more who are floating around. This is a crime. It’s a violation of the law,” he added.

Guballa’s report

MEANWHILE, BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel S.D. Guballa also reported that the initial raw data showing 138,000 working permits issued to foreign nationals—as collated from various offices—had been trimmed to 122,397 foreign workers and will be subject to further validation, after checking for duplications. Guballa said that from the cleaned-up list, the BIR has so far assessed 19 out of the 204 Pogo service providers registered with Pagcor. The BIR’s computations show a final withholding tax assessment of P1.4 billion combined for these 19 taxpayers for 2018 alone, with the 19 assessed being given the standard 10 days to reply to the assessments.

Senators: No consensus to rush Charter change By Butch Fernandez

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Federalism HOWEVER, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, a former Senate President and close ally of President Duterte, confirmed that a renewed Charter change effort, tied to the administration’s push for federalism, is about to get under way. “Discussion on federalism will be revived soon,” Pimentel told the BusinessMirror. Asked to clarify if he meant the Charter change issue will be tackled at the plenary or committee level, he replied: “Discussion with the people.” A ruling PDP Laban party leader, Pimentel earlier dodged a query on whether he would heed the research group IBON’s plea for the Senate to assert its independence by rejecting Charter change. IBON said the move poses a threat to Philippine economic sovereignty through a proposed provision opening the economy to full foreign participation. Still, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, foresees the revival of the Charter change effort triggering lively public debates. “Charter change will be subjected to healthy vigorous debates for certain,” Angara told the BusinessMirror when asked about the prospects of renewed efforts to tinker with the 1987 Constitution. Asked if the Charter change scheme should be frontloaded in their agenda as the Senate and the House of Representatives reconvened regular sessions this week, Sen.Joel Villanueva replied: “Right now, I don’t think so. We have so many urgent measures to finish with very limited time.

Kiko’s report

AT the same time, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, signaled his readiness to render a report on the Charter issue for plenary debates. “It will be routed for signature this week.” He, however, declined when asked to confirm if the panel’s recommendation is to set aside the divisive, highly controversial Charter change issue given the Senate’s full agenda. Senate rules prohibit disclosure of the contents of the report until a majority has signed up.

MISS World 2018 Katarina Rodriguez, Save the Children Philippines Ambassador, and Atty. Alberto Muyot, CEO of Save the Children Philippines, answer questions from the media at a program marking the Save the Children global movement’s centenary at the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria. NONOY LACZA By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

ONPROFIT Save the Children Philippines on Monday called on the government to improve living conditions in the Bangsamoro region to support and protect the about 1.8 million vulnerable children there. Save the Children Philippines CEO Alberto T. Muyot said children are the most in danger in conflict areas, as their fragile bodies are in constant need of social and health protection. He identified children in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) as most vulnerable to conflict. Data collected by Save the Children Philippines reported that 96.4 percent, or around 3.6 million, of the BARMM population are imperiled by the armed conflict there. Of this number, the group said 48.8 percent, or 1.8 million of them are children. Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi make up the provinces under BARMM. Save the Children Philippines mounted a special program on Monday to mark the centenary of the global Save the Children, which be-

gan as a response to the utter misery of thousands of children victimized by the first world war.

‘Stop the War’ campaign THE demand to ensure efficient delivery of social services in Bangsamoro is in line with Save the Children’s “Stop the War on Children”campaign, which seeks protection of some 420 million children around the world living in conflict zones. “Across the world, children wake up to the sound of explosion of bombs, gunshots, suffer hunger and displacement, are orphaned and are separated from friends and classmates. The impact of war on children lingers beyond the area of conflict,” Muyot said. The lack of access to social services, such as health care, water and sanitation, aggravates the situation, he added. The number of deaths of children five years old and below due to armed conflict reached about 870,000 between 2013 and 2017, according to data from Save the Children. The group claimed this is way higher than the estimated 175,000 adult fighters who died during the same period.

Strong liquidity prompts BTr to fully award T-bills

HE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has awarded the full P15 billion on offer in its latest auction for Treasury bills (Tbills), with rates at the lower end, on the back of strong liquidity in the market. The auction committee decided to fully award all tenors in its latest auction as strong liquidity was present in the market as shown by the low rates for the government security. “As expected with the 200-basispoint reduction, so you unleash more liquidity, coupled by the previous policy cuts,” National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told reporters, adding that the Treasury expects “rates to be [really] going down significantly.” De Leon said the BTr “also saw strong participation in the auction: the three to four times oversubscription than what we have offered given that liquidity is very abundant.” The 90-day tenor was awarded the full P4 billion on offer with bids for the T-bill amounting to P16.160 billion. The average annual rate for the security settled at 5.258 percent, which is 13.1 basis points lower than the previous auction rate of 5.389 percent. Bids for the 182-day T-bill amounted to P17.938 billion with the auction committee awarding the full P5 billion on offer. The average annual rate for the security settled at 5.70 percent, which

decreased by 6.8 basis points from the previous rate of 5.768 percent. The 364-day T-bill was awarded the full P6 billion on offer as bids for the security amounted to P16.17 billion. The average annual rate settled at 5.869 percent, contracting by 6.7 basis points from the 5.936 percent set in the previous auction for the government security. Last week, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) decided to cut its reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 200 basis points, reducing the RRR of banks from 18 percent to 16 percent. The cut will be done in three phases: 100 basis points on May 31, 50 basis points on June 28, and 50 basis points on July 26. Earlier in the month, the BSP also moved to ease its monetarypolicy stance with a main policyrate cut, as gross domestic product (GDP) registered a decline during the first quarter of the year, as well as inflation rate for April. A 25-basis-point cut to its overnight reverse repurchase was made during its monetary-policy meeting, with the interest rates on the overnight lending and deposit facilities reduced accordingly.

Samurai bond

MEANWHILE, de Leon said the BTr hasn’t scrapped plans on issuing a Samurai bond later this year pending results of a review of the spending and revenue program for the year. Rea Cu

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

SEC okays Petron’s ₧20-B preferred shares offering T

Nlex Corp., construction firm sign deal to expand SFEx By Lorenz S. Marasigan

By VG Cabuag @villygc

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the P20-billion preferred shares offer of Petron Corp., the country’s largest oil refining and marketing company. Petron will issue an initial 15 million shares with a par value of P1 at an offer price of P1,000 per share. It provided a greenshoe option of 5 million shares. The said shares will form part of the company’s preferred shares series 3A and 3B, the company said in its registration statement. Proceeds of t he prefer red

shares offering will be used to redeem another series of preferred shares, 2A, worth P7.12 billion when its call option takes effect by November 3. It will also be used to repay P6.96-billion short-term debt from the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), upon the issuance of the new preferred shares se-

ries, or a day after it, as well as for general corporate purposes. The said shares are nonvoting, nonparticipating, nonconvertible and no preemptive rights. BDO Capital and Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp. and PNB Capital and Investment Corp. served as joint issue managers. Petron will sell the said shares between May 27 and June 10, and list the shares with the Philippine Stock Exchange by June 18. Pricing of the dividend yield for the shares is on May 23. The yield will have an upward adjustment after the fifth year from listing date for series 3A and after the seventh year from listing date for series 3B. Petron’s income plunged 77 percent during the first three months of the year to just P1.3 billion from last year’s P5.78 billion. Revenues declined but a

narrower rate at P124.55 billion from last year’s P129.11 billion, or a drop of 4 percent. The company said its fuels and oils business were pulled down by volatile global oil prices. Petron lost 5 percent in terms of volume for its Philippine operations following the implementation of the Tax-Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law, the company said referring to the first round of the Duterte administration’s tax-reform package. By now, a total of around P4.50 per liter in excise taxes plus 12-percent VAT (value-added tax) are carried by fuel prices, it said. On a quarterly basis, this translates to around P9 billion in excise taxes and P1.1 billion in VAT. The volatility in global crude prices also eroded refining margins by almost P3.3 billion in the first quarter, it added.

@lorenzmarasigan

HOROUGHFARE operator Nlex Corp. and construction company Santa Clara International Corp. have signed a P1.6-billion deal to expand the capacity of the Subic Freeport Expressway (SFEx). Under the contract, Santa Clara will build two additional expressway lanes, two new bridges at Jadjad and Argonaut, and a tunnel at the expressway to free up traffic build up and accommodate more vehicles at the Subic Bay Freeport. Nlex will also install expresswaystandard LED lights to “keep the SFEx safe and convenient for motorists, particularly for those driving at night.” “The SFEx capacity expansion is seen to improve traffic in the area and promote road safety as the new lanes will segregate northbound and southbound motorists along separate carriageways,” an Nlex statement read. The project is expected to complement the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority’s infrastructure development program, which includes the im-

provement of airport and seaport, the widening of roads, and the construction of an SBMA Corporate Center. SFEx is the Tipo-SBMA section of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), a 93.77-kilometer, four-lane expressway in Central Luzon. Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., through Nlex Corp., holds the concession for the SCTEx, and subsequently, the SFEx. Aside from SCTEx, MPTC also operates the Nlex, the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway, and the future Cavite-Laguna Expressway in Luzon. In Visayas, it holds the concession for the CebuCordova Link Expressway. MPTC also plans to bid for expressway projects in Mindanao. It has significant investments in tollway companies in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. It has set its eyes on expanding to Malaysia and Myanmar to build a so-called Pan-Asean Tollway Group that is led by its parent, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. MPTC is considered the largest toll-road developer and operator in the Philippines—in terms of vehicle traffic volume, revenue levels, asset base—and in terms of combined length of expressways in kilometers.

Property, liquor units pull up Alliance Global’s Q1 income A lliance Global Group Inc., the investment holding company of businessman Andrew Tan, said its income grew 16 percent to P6.5 billion in the first quarter, from P5.6 billion last year on the strong contribution of its property and liquor units. Consolidated revenues rose 19 percent to P41 billion from P34.4 billion last year, the company said. “Our much-improved performance is a testament to our strong brand equity across all our business segments. We will continue to offer our premium products and excellent services to the market as we remain optimistic of the opportunities that lie ahead,” AGI Chief Executive Officer Kevin Andrew L. Tan said in a statement. “We are mindful of the challenges in the external environment, but we will strive to work harder to sustain such good results,” Tan added. Property developer Megaworld Corp.

reported attributable net income of P3.8 billion in the first quarter, a 16-percent increase from P3.3 billion last year. Resorts World Manila operator Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.’s income fell 45 percent during the first quarter to P244.43 million from last year’s P444.04 million as costs rise. Emperador Inc., previously known for its brandy of the same brand but now is the world’s fifth-largest Scotch whiskey manufacturer, recorded gross profit growth of 10 percent to P3.7 billion, with increasing contribution from its premium Scotch whiskey and Spanish brandy products. About 80 to 85 percent of the company’s revenues now come from its five premium brands—Dalmore, Fettercairn, Jura, Tamnavulin and Shackleton. The rest comes from other cheaper brands. “The direction is very clear, the direction is to go for [the] high-value, highmargin, fast-growing segment of the

PHL to US firms: Invest in new energy exploration By Lenie Lectura @llectura

ollowing its successful kickoff in Singapore last month, the Department of Energy (DOE) continues to entice investors in the United States to take part in the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCECP). The DOE delegation presented PCECP during the International Road Show at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Annual Convention and Exhibition (ACE) in San Antonio, Texas. This will be followed by road shows in North America, South America and the Middle East. The AAPG ACE is one of the most prestigious events for the geosciences community and one of the largest global gatherings for oil and gas industry professionals and investors, with an estimated 7,500 professionals from more than 72 countries participating this year. “As we support and strengthen the effort of President Duterte’s administration to explore and discover indigenous petroleum resources, the DOE remains committed in establishing the ‘Explore, Explore, Explore!’ program,” said Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi. The DOE delegation is led by Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos, who will be presenting at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and conduct one-on-one meetings with various petroleum exploration companies at the booth located in the International Pavilion.

To date, 17 requests for the issuance of Area Clearance for various areas in the Sulu Sea, Recto Bank, Palawan, Quezon, Albay and Mindoro have been received by the DOE from nine local and foreign companies. Three companies have successfully acquired Area Clearances and have submitted their respective Letters of Intent (LOIs) to formalize their Area Nominations for approval by the DOE. Furthermore, six companies have viewed and four companies have purchased technical data sets that include seismic lines and well listings. Sixteen companies have so far conducted courtesy visits to the DOE for one-on-one meetings regarding the details of the PCECP. Evaluation of applications is made by the DOE’s Centralized Review and Evaluation Committee based on the criteria pursuant to Department Circular DC2017-12-0017 and existing PCECP guidelines. Interested parties must comply with the legal, financial and technical requirements, which include the proposed work program and economic development plan for the contract area. At present, there are 22 active petroleum service contracts in the Philippines with Shell Philippines Exploration, Total E&P, PNOC-EC, Nido Petroleum, Philodrill, PXP Energy, and Galoc Production Co., to name a few of DOE operator-partners. The Philippines is home to the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Power Project, the largest and most successful natural gas industrial project in Philippine history.

market. We are using our global distributions...behind this as well. We believe that the Philippines five years from now will be very different,” Winston S. Co, Emperador president, said. “The consumption pattern will change so much because of the affluence that is coming to our growing middle class. We believe that this will change the landscape of the Filipinos’ con-

sumption. In fact, it has changed already,” he said. Currently, about 72 percent of Emperador’s revenues still come from brandy and 28 percent from whiskey. Golden Arches Development Corp. (GADC), which holds the exclusive franchise to operate restaurants in the Philippines under the “McDonald’s” brand, reported an attributable net in-

come of P383 million, up 16 percent from P329 million last year. It recorded a 13-percent yearon-year increase in sales revenues to P7.5 billion, supported by a same-store sales growth of 4.8 percent and its ongoing new store additions. Tan owns 49 percent of GADC and the Yang family controls the rest and operates the business. The total number of Mc-

Donald’s stores in the country reached 633 by the end of the first quarter period, reflecting an additional one store per week from the 620 stores in end-2018. “We always need to keep our products and services relevant amid the changing times. That way, we promote our brand equity to keep our products and services at top of mind of our various publics,” Tan said. VG Cabuag

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

May 20, 2019

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS ASIA UNITED 56.15 58.5 58.8 58.8 58.8 58.8 20 1,176 BDO UNIBANK 130.9 131 130.1 131.4 128 130.9 930,950 121,545,037 BANK PH ISLANDS 80.95 81 80.85 81.7 80.8 81 1,825,310 148,049,837 CHINABANK 26.1 26.5 26.85 26.9 26.1 26.1 130,100 3,427,600 EAST WEST BANK 11.58 11.6 11.42 11.58 11.4 11.58 265,300 3,051,068 METROBANK 74.15 75.5 73 75.5 72.9 75.5 955,290 71,154,559 7 PB BANK 13.12 13.48 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 200 2,700 PBCOM 20.65 21.55 20.65 21.65 20.65 21.65 600 12,690 PHIL NATL BANK 56.1 56.2 54.5 56.65 54.2 56.1 495,150 27,672,988 PSBANK 57.5 57.6 57.45 57.55 57.45 57.45 550 31,627.5 RCBC 26.2 26.5 26.5 26.5 26.2 26.2 13,200 349,415 SECURITY BANK 177 178.5 175 179.1 172.1 178.5 730,630 127,792,216 UNION BANK 61.1 61.5 60 61.5 58.1 61.1 10,490 637,191 BDO LEASING 2.1 2.25 2.15 2.15 2.15 2.15 3,000 6,450 COL FINANCIAL 18.78 18.8 18.8 18.88 18.78 18.88 11,300 212,444 FIRST ABACUS 0.52 0.6 0.56 0.56 0.54 0.54 150,000 82,550 FERRONOUX HLDG 4.41 4.58 4.59 4.59 4.41 4.58 32,000 141,970 MEDCO HLDG 0.455 0.475 0.45 0.47 0.45 0.47 50,000 22,900 MANULIFE 755 818 818 818 755 755 130 100,610 NTL REINSURANCE 0.94 0.95 0.96 1 0.94 0.95 668,000 638,790 PHIL STOCK EXCH 184 184.5 182.9 184 182.9 184 4,160 762,154 SUN LIFE 1,780 1,800 1785 1,785 1,780 1,780 30 53,450 INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS 1.37 1.38 1.37 1.37 1.37 1.37 62,000 84,940 ABOITIZ POWER 35.5 35.55 35 35.55 34.6 35.5 853,200 30,098,245(5, BASIC ENERGY 0.27 0.275 0.265 0.305 0.265 0.275 186,280,000 53,041,150(1, FIRST GEN 21 21.5 21 21.5 20.8 21.5 607,000 12,765,420 FIRST PHIL HLDG 76.45 76.55 76.5 76.6 76.45 76.45 41,310 3,160,438 MERALCO 356.2 359 360 360.2 356 356.2 109,170 38,972,630 MANILA WATER 21.75 22 22 22 21.5 22 2,451,600 53,390,460 PETRON 5.41 5.44 5.56 5.59 5.4 5.41 8,910,500 48,855,457 PETROENERGY 4.5 4.55 4.45 4.5 4.45 4.5 20,000 89,580 PHINMA ENERGY 2.08 2.09 2.04 2.16 1.97 2.09 28,974,000 60,454,830 ( PHX PETROLEUM 11.82 12.04 11.7 12.08 11.68 12.04 247,300 2,973,364 PILIPINAS SHELL 42.3 42.5 42.6 42.8 42.3 42.3 76,400 3,254,780 SPC POWER 6.47 6.5 6.5 6.69 6.4 6.5 82,300 536,897 AGRINURTURE 15.14 15.46 15.46 15.5 15 15.46 438,500 6,728,054 CNTRL AZUCARERA 14.66 16.1 14.62 16.1 14.62 16.1 1,500 22,082 CENTURY FOOD 13.92 14.12 14.24 14.24 13.76 13.92 2,815,800 39,756,804 DEL MONTE 5.4 5.7 5.75 5.75 5.4 5.7 5,200 28,798 DNL INDUS 10.18 10.2 10.32 10.4 10.06 10.18 395,300 4,011,624 EMPERADOR 7.49 7.5 7.59 7.59 7.49 7.49 496,200 3,719,667 SMC FOODANDBEV 105.7 106 109 109 105 106 323,480 34,266,647 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.67 0.68 0.72 0.73 0.66 0.67 4,771,000 3,255,380 GINEBRA 41.75 41.8 39.05 42.45 39 41.75 480,000 19,569,530 JOLLIBEE 274.2 276 277 278 272 274.2 1,336,880 367,386,242 MACAY HLDG 9.23 9.59 10 10 9.07 9.6 54,700 509,754 MAXS GROUP 13.78 13.9 14.2 14.2 13.7 13.9 323,700 4,487,192 PEPSI COLA 1.25 1.28 1.24 1.28 1.22 1.28 2,128,000 2,681,530 SHAKEYS PIZZA 13.1 13.2 13.24 13.24 12.9 13.2 186,100 2,433,026 RFM CORP 4.9 5 4.95 5 4.95 5 106,000 528,700 SWIFT FOODS 0.128 0.134 0.128 0.128 0.128 0.128 510,000 65,280 UNIV ROBINA 153.7 154.6 152.6 155.8 151.2 153.7 897,020 137,463,786 VITARICH 1.11 1.12 1.25 1.25 1.1 1.12 15,889,000 18,174,490 VICTORIAS 2.5 2.51 2.51 2.51 2.51 2.51 22,000 55,220 CONCRETE A 65.8 69.95 66 66 66 66 500 33,000 CONCRETE B 63.1 88.95 63.1 63.1 63.1 63.1 1,010 63,731 CEMEX HLDG 2.72 2.73 2.71 2.78 2.71 2.73 10,251,000 28,281,710 DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.25 5.7 5.3 5.3 5.25 5.25 50,600 266,380 EAGLE CEMENT 15.86 16 15.86 16 15.86 16 34,900 556,844 EEI CORP 9.41 9.42 9.39 9.42 9.39 9.42 569,800 5,365,452 HOLCIM 14.04 14.22 14.38 14.72 13.9 14.22 755,200 10,722,372 MEGAWIDE 21.8 21.85 21.65 22.3 21.65 21.85 688,000 15,298,125 PHINMA 9.48 9.5 9.42 9.48 9.42 9.48 28,500 269,216 TKC METALS 0.87 0.88 0.85 0.93 0.85 0.87 106,000 93,430 VULCAN INDL 1.03 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.02 1.05 324,000 334,640 CROWN ASIA 1.88 1.89 1.92 1.92 1.89 1.89 154,000 291,620 MABUHAY VINYL 3.35 3.65 3.75 3.75 3.4 3.65 4,000 14,500 PRYCE CORP 4.68 4.85 4.75 4.75 4.7 4.7 92,000 432,790 CONCEPCION 43.75 45 45 45 45 45 300 13,500 GREENERGY 2.39 2.4 2.34 2.4 2.29 2.4 6,978,000 16,380,400 INTEGRATED MICR 9.97 10 10.06 10.14 9.94 10 576,600 5,761,401 IONICS 1.68 1.72 1.69 1.74 1.66 1.72 248,000 416,770 PANASONIC 5.63 5.79 5.69 5.79 5.63 5.63 7,900 45,046 SFA SEMICON 1.24 1.25 1.27 1.27 1.25 1.25 26,000 32,710 CIRTEK HLDG 26.9 27 27.95 27.95 26.85 27 2,459,200 66,598,480 HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.59 0.6 0.62 0.64 0.58 0.59 23,546,000 14,213,070 ASIABEST GROUP 14.56 14.88 15.22 15.52 14.56 14.88 57,600 867,534 AYALA CORP 856.5 857 851.5 863.5 851 857 156,510 134,108,850 ABOITIZ EQUITY 50.1 50.3 48 50.35 48 50.25 1,866,700 92,928,845 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 13.8 13.88 13.9 13.9 13.5 13.8 5,436,100 75,021,148 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.74 0.75 0.74 0.75 0.73 0.75 434,000 317,820 ATN HLDG A 1.25 1.27 1.28 1.28 1.23 1.25 1,519,000 1,905,590 ATN HLDG B 1.28 1.32 1.28 1.32 1.28 1.32 49,000 62,960 COSCO CAPITAL 7.03 7.2 7.15 7.2 7 7.03 170,200 1,203,470 DMCI HLDG 10.32 10.42 9.84 10.42 9.82 10.42 10,226,600 104,035,815 FILINVEST DEV 14.3 14.4 14 14.48 13.98 14.4 181,000 2,567,118 FORUM PACIFIC 0.249 0.265 0.26 0.265 0.26 0.265 50,000 13,050 GT CAPITAL 836 850 838 850 820 850 79,620 67,012,925 HOUSE OF INV 6.14 6.15 6.1 6.15 6.1 6.15 65,300 400,695 JG SUMMIT 58.75 58.8 57.55 58.75 56.35 58.75 1,975,080 113,974,340 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 5.85 5.96 5.98 5.98 5.86 5.86 11,300 66,254 LODESTAR 0.48 0.51 0.51 0.51 0.48 0.51 7,000 3,480 LOPEZ HLDG 4.8 4.81 4.79 4.85 4.73 4.8 7,007,000 33,789,360 LT GROUP 16.22 16.3 16.92 16.92 16.2 16.22 3,330,000 54,404,270 14 MABUHAY HLDG 0.55 0.56 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 268,000 147,400 METRO PAC INV 4.29 4.33 4.25 4.33 4.25 4.33 9,243,000 39,705,330 PACIFICA 0.039 0.04 0.039 0.04 0.039 0.039 7,800,000 306,000 AYALA LAND LOG 3.49 3.5 3.35 3.51 3.34 3.5 17,442,000 60,189,380 PRIME MEDIA 1.12 1.16 1.12 1.16 1.12 1.16 19,000 21,640 SOLID GROUP 1.32 1.36 1.36 1.36 1.32 1.36 291,000 384,520 SYNERGY GRID 431 440 431 431 429 429 110 47,290 SM INVESTMENTS 884.5 895.5 888 898 877 884.5 432,470 382,202,695 SAN MIGUEL CORP 184.7 186.7 180 186.7 178.6 186.7 224,950 40,712,634 SOC RESOURCES 0.8 0.83 0.81 0.83 0.79 0.83 514,000 412,530 SEAFRONT RES 2.38 2.5 2.38 2.38 2.38 2.38 26,000 61,880 TOP FRONTIER 267 274.8 270 274.8 266 274.8 3,830 1,032,222 WELLEX INDUS 0.233 0.234 0.24 0.24 0.233 0.233 250,000 58,520 ZEUS HLDG 0.275 0.28 0.3 0.3 0.27 0.28 27,370,000 7,681,600

(52,055,479) (74,145,428) (2,403,995) 535,526 ,238,070.9999 6,213,434.5 (18,365) (12,709,082) (486,496.5) 47,850 (0) (3,662) 5,480 219,405.0004) 722,200.0001) (3,275,335) (2,053,754.5) (13,838,878) 39,294,330 7,830,482 125,250.0001) (2,377,290) 38,380 (110,106) (2,065,000) (2,852,065) 2,473,579 4,693,125 (138,489,594) (1,735,450) 1,400,750 1,805,912 (77,235,578) (2,100,430) 5,679,770 355,100 124,383 1,449,300 (221,115) 2,040 19,020 (409,150) 265,770 (1,396,767) (101,605) (276,660) (30,440) (56,320,100) 7,311,655 (36,325,066) (772,798) (54,098,393) (129,156) (13,122,540) 61,200 (58,782,817) 6,425,810 ,381,593.9997 146,850 (15,690,610) (755,190) (205,247,620) (1,329,883) (48,520) 108,650

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP 0.75 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.74 0.75 1,552,000 1,157,970 AYALA LAND 47.5 47.6 46.75 47.6 46.75 47.5 4,448,100 210,252,165 (36,071,845) ARANETA PROP 2.12 2.2 2.18 2.22 2.1 2.2 98,000 210,830 BELLE CORP 2.28 2.31 2.32 2.32 2.28 2.28 746,000 1,714,220(1, 130,209.9996) A BROWN 0.77 0.78 0.73 0.78 0.7 0.78 2,884,000 2,198,890 CROWN EQUITIES 0.231 0.238 0.23 0.24 0.23 0.231 420,000 97,390 CEB LANDMASTERS 5.04 5.05 4.91 5.09 4.91 5.05 5,917,000 29,706,010 (3,096,660) CENTURY PROP 0.51 0.52 0.51 0.52 0.51 0.52 3,378,000 1,726,250 DOUBLEDRAGON 24.5 24.55 25.6 25.65 24.5 24.5 472,300 11,733,740 1,332,935 DM WENCESLAO 10.22 10.26 10.24 10.32 10.12 10.22 45,500 466,872 (9,288) EMPIRE EAST 0.47 0.475 0.475 0.475 0.47 0.47 430,000 202,250 94,000 FILINVEST LAND 1.53 1.55 1.55 1.56 1.53 1.55 1,760,000 2,713,180 (940,770) GLOBAL ESTATE 1.32 1.33 1.33 1.33 1.32 1.33 2,238,000 2,970,240 8990 HLDG 14.3 14.34 14.22 14.4 14.2 14.34 2,242,000 32,056,470 (187,060) PHIL INFRADEV 1.7 1.71 1.72 1.76 1.68 1.71 2,075,000 3,553,760 106,000 CITY AND LAND 0.78 0.85 0.87 0.87 0.85 0.85 12,000 10,280 MEGAWORLD 5.37 5.38 5.43 5.49 5.33 5.37 24,277,800 130,569,389 (52,876,585) MRC ALLIED 0.305 0.31 0.32 0.32 0.305 0.305 18,380,000 5,650,400 461,900 PHIL ESTATES 0.465 0.47 0.465 0.47 0.46 0.47 760,000 353,300 PRIMEX CORP 1.97 2 2.24 2.26 1.95 1.99 2,644,000 5,402,430 352,200 ROBINSONS LAND 23.6 24.2 23.55 24.2 23.05 24.2 792,400 18,823,460 (2,223,010) PHIL REALTY 0.415 0.435 0.42 0.45 0.405 0.435 3,740,000 1,568,400 ROCKWELL 2.03 2.04 1.99 2.04 1.99 2.03 111,000 225,580 (39.9999) SHANG PROP 2.98 3.02 2.97 3.02 2.97 3.02 93,000 280,760 (2,970) STA LUCIA LAND 1.83 1.84 1.8 1.83 1.73 1.83 3,731,000 6,558,930 (361,000) SM PRIME HLDG 39.1 39.4 39.1 39.4 38.25 39.4 7,410,300 289,826,330 (45,158,110) STARMALLS 6.61 6.79 6.8 6.82 6.61 6.79 99,600 668,339 SUNTRUST HOME 0.71 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.72 0.72 40,000 28,800 VISTA LAND 7.17 7.2 7.22 7.22 7.17 7.17 1,638,400 11,782,527 2,005,731 SERVICES ABS CBN 18.9 19 19.18 19.18 18.88 19 375,500 7,156,472 GMA NETWORK 5.33 5.34 5.42 5.42 5.33 5.34 148,800 799,346 MANILA BULLETIN 0.56 0.57 0.54 0.57 0.54 0.56 3,241,000 1,796,940 GLOBE TELECOM 2,010 2,018 1987 2,022 1,974 2,018 39,425 79,080,685 19,133,510 PLDT 1,260 1,270 1256 1,275 1,256 1,270 101,950 129,130,310 56,511,485 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.043 0.045 0.044 0.045 0.044 0.045 1,400,000 61,700 IMPERIAL 1.76 1.85 1.75 1.76 1.75 1.76 61,000 107,350 ISLAND INFO 0.122 0.123 0.122 0.124 0.122 0.123 960,000 118,010 (12,300) ISM COMM 5.81 5.82 6.1 6.12 5.75 5.81 6,989,000 41,096,748 2,241,606 JACKSTONES 3.01 3.14 3.09 3.18 3.09 3.11 24,000 75,410 NOW CORP 2.01 2.04 2.11 2.11 1.96 2.04 5,471,000 11,016,870 (24,480) TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.325 0.33 0.335 0.335 0.325 0.33 3,420,000 1,141,450 PHILWEB 2.96 2.97 3.09 3.11 2.97 2.97 1,213,000 3,675,040 (475,990) 2GO GROUP 11.52 11.9 11.7 11.9 11.5 11.9 23,900 281,128 1,152 ASIAN TERMINALS 19.8 19.9 19.94 20 17.76 19.8 183,800 3,616,806 781,978 CHELSEA 5.96 5.99 6.38 6.39 5.95 5.96 2,859,500 17,350,912 55,870 CEBU AIR 84.7 84.95 84.3 85 83.3 84.7 58,820 4,952,033 1,117,033.5 INTL CONTAINER 139.5 139.6 139.5 142.5 138 139.5 1,428,030 199,181,392 (38,658,578) LBC EXPRESS 14.8 15.4 14.8 14.8 14.8 14.8 1,700 25,160 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.75 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 1,000 790 MACROASIA 19.06 19.08 19.2 19.24 19.04 19.08 187,200 3,577,650 1 ,004,132.0003 METROALLIANCE A 1.66 1.73 1.66 1.74 1.66 1.66 21,000 35,030 METROALLIANCE B 1.63 1.93 1.63 1.63 1.63 1.63 13,000 21,190 PAL HLDG 9.9 9.95 9.7 9.95 9.64 9.95 9,000 87,609 HARBOR STAR 2.38 2.4 2.4 2.44 2.37 2.39 650,000 1,548,840 59,820 ACESITE HOTEL 1.32 1.36 1.32 1.36 1.32 1.36 49,000 66,480 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.063 0.064 0.066 0.066 0.063 0.063 20,180,000 1,289,280 WATERFRONT 0.69 0.71 0.69 0.71 0.67 0.71 2,431,000 1,690,930 CENTRO ESCOLAR 7.03 7.34 7.5 7.5 7.03 7.03 3,600 25,637 9,842 STI HLDG 0.66 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.66 0.66 3,342,000 2,227,710 225,000 BERJAYA 2.42 2.53 2.48 2.55 2.41 2.53 194,000 484,410 BLOOMBERRY 11.3 11.32 11.16 11.3 10.92 11.3 3,007,700 33,402,976 (11,989,862) PACIFIC ONLINE 3.23 3.36 3.34 3.36 3.24 3.36 104,000 340,380 74,620 LEISURE AND RES 4.44 4.45 4.28 4.48 4.28 4.44 4,623,000 20,359,020 1,445,190 MANILA JOCKEY 3.71 3.78 3.7 3.92 3.7 3.71 75,000 283,320 PH RESORTS GRP 4.11 4.31 4.09 4.33 4.09 4.33 21,000 87,760 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.73 0.74 0.69 0.75 0.69 0.73 15,476,000 11,310,280 (721,010) TRAVELLERS 5.58 5.6 5.6 5.65 5.58 5.58 105,400 589,684 METRO RETAIL 2.85 2.86 2.73 2.86 2.73 2.86 2,897,000 8,194,750 348,680 PUREGOLD 45.55 46.5 45.55 46.5 44.5 46.5 1,145,800 52,326,420 (7,428,925) ROBINSONS RTL 72.6 73 71.05 73 70.5 73 155,550 11,298,420 (4,534,154) PHIL SEVEN CORP 126 130 123 126 123 126 19,610 2,454,400 983,980 SSI GROUP 3.26 3.29 3.2 3.3 3.11 3.29 9,630,000 30,632,640 7,694,440 WILCON DEPOT 16.68 16.7 16.72 16.84 16.6 16.7 1,491,100 24,929,196 10,559,788 APC GROUP 0.42 0.425 0.42 0.425 0.42 0.425 840,000 353,900 EASYCALL 10.58 10.6 11.18 11.2 10.58 10.58 71,700 767,490 GOLDEN BRIA 399.8 412.8 397.2 416 397.2 412.8 500 202,280 PAXYS 3.03 3.22 3.22 3.22 3.22 3.22 2,000 6,440 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.93 0.94 0.93 0.95 0.92 0.94 30,065,000 28,033,990 937,480 SBS PHIL CORP 9.04 9.29 9 9.38 8.9 9.29 44,500 407,974 MINING & OIL ATOK 11.04 11.9 11.9 12 11.04 11.94 4,700 53,974 APEX MINING 1.18 1.19 1.2 1.2 1.18 1.19 1,465,000 1,734,950 (297,500) ABRA MINING 0.0018 0.0019 0 0.0019 0.0019 0.0018 0.0019 25,000,000 45,600 ATLAS MINING 2.75 2.83 2.76 2.76 2.75 2.75 97,000 267,230 BENGUET A 1.1 1.15 1.15 1.15 1.12 1.12 46,000 52,480 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.28 0.295 0.29 0.295 0.28 0.295 910,000 255,050 CENTURY PEAK 2.75 2.76 2.76 2.8 2.75 2.76 563,000 1,552,290 5,540 DIZON MINES 7.79 7.83 7.8 7.83 7.76 7.8 4,900 38,251 FERRONICKEL 1.54 1.55 1.53 1.57 1.53 1.54 18,454,000 28,532,550 GEOGRACE 0.225 0.233 0.234 0.234 0.224 0.233 1,590,000 359,020 LEPANTO A 0.101 0.105 0.106 0.107 0.099 0.099 6,470,000 664,660 LEPANTO B 0.104 0.112 0.112 0.112 0.112 0.112 10,000 1,120 MANILA MINING A 0.0079 0.0084 0 0.0079 0.0079 0.0079 0.0079 2,000,000 15,800 MARCVENTURES 1.02 1.03 1 1.03 1 1.03 159,000 162,110 20,000 NIHAO 0.97 0.99 0.98 1.01 0.97 1 16,000 15,790 NICKEL ASIA 2.18 2.19 2.2 2.25 2.17 2.18 891,000 1,963,070 (502,230) OMICO CORP 0.55 0.61 0.55 0.61 0.55 0.61 100,000 59,940 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.87 0.88 0.87 0.88 0.87 0.88 209,000 181,840 PX MINING 2.87 2.9 2.92 2.92 2.87 2.9 243,000 701,260 (63,260) SEMIRARA MINING 21.95 22 21.95 22.8 21.95 22 2,357,300 52,194,400 43,971,710 ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.011 3,800,000 43,800 PHILODRILL 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.012 296,900,000 3,532,400 186,000 PHINMA PETRO 3.75 3.8 3.59 3.75 3.56 3.75 137,000 494,890 PXP ENERGY 8.14 8.2 8.38 8.42 8.07 8.14 707,300 5,770,470 32,864 PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 95.1 97.5 95.1 95.1 95.1 95.1 20,000 1,902,000 DD PREF 97.8 98 98 98 97.8 98 1,690 165,440 FGEN PREF G 102 104 102 102 102 102 1,090 111,180 GTCAP PREF B 920 959 940 940 920 920 170 158,000 (158,000) LR PREF 0.98 1 0.98 0.99 0.98 0.98 201,000 197,100 SMC PREF 2C 76.3 76.9 76.5 76.9 76.5 76.9 2,710 208,133 SMC PREF 2F 73.9 74.4 73.85 73.85 73.85 73.85 2,120 156,562 SMC PREF 2H 72.65 73.85 73 73 73 73 9,000 657,000 SMC PREF 2I 72.15 73.5 73 73.5 73 73.5 65,600 4,795,600 -

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS

ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

17.7 5.35

18.1 5.4

19 5.35

17.64 5.35

18.1 5.35

148,900 7,300

2,687,170 39,055

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

2.06

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 4.75 XURPAS 1.08

2.07

2.08

2.11

2.02

2.06

392,000

809,810

4.78 1.09

4.81 1.07

4.81 1.13

4.75 1.03

4.75 1.09

248,000 11,027,000

1,183,390 12,002,590

(1,684,670)

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

114.8

(1,562,370) -

115

114.8

114

114.8

9,430

1,078,695

(1,145)

www.businessmirror.com.ph

UCPB loses bid to recover ₧1B from local rice traders

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) has lost its bid to recover nearly P1 billion from a rice trading family who allegedly failed to pay its loan obligations from the bank since 2006. In a nine-page decision penned by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, the Court’s Second Division affirmed the ruling issued by the Court of Appeals (CA) in 2012 which reversed and set aside the 2007 order issued by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City in favor of UCPB. The Makati RTC, in its June 8, 2007, ruling denied the respondents’ motion to dismiss the complaint for sum of money and/or damages with prayer for the issuance of a writ of preliminary attachment filed by UCPB. The bank named the Nation Granary Inc. (NGI), spouses Alison Ang-Sy and Guillermo Sy, Renato Ang, Nena Ang and Ricky Ang as respondents in the complaint. A lso included in the notice served by the court sheriff were Derick Chester Sy and National Pe-

troleum Gas Inc. (NPGI), formerly National Petroleum Corp. Aside from denying the respondents’ motion to dismiss, the trial court also issued a writ of preliminary attachment preventing them from disposing of their assets and holdings pending resolution of the UCPB’s complaint. Nation Granary sought to set up the Sariaya port by obtaining P1.6billion loans from several banks, including UCPB. However, the High Tribunal held that the CA did not commit any mistake in reversing the Makati RTC’s orders. It affirmed the argument of the respondents that the trial court had failed to acquire jurisdiction over them for failure to properly serve the summons against them. “In the absence of summons or when the service of summons

Davao Light expects higher electricity sales By Manuel T. Cayon

Mindanao Bureau Chief |

& Lenie Lectura

@awimailbox @llectura

avao Light and Power Co. (Davao Light) expects growth in electricity sales in the next five years as new customers are scheduled to sign up with the AboitizPower-led distribution firm. It is projecting an increase in annual electricity sales from 2,468,191 megawatt hours in 2018 to 3,137,336 MWh in five years. By 2023, Davao Light also estimates to grow its customer base to 504,911 customers from 404,574 last year. Among the utility’s big customers coming in between 2019 and 2021 are several residential buildings, a hotel, a business park, a multipurpose indoor arena, a factory and schools. For this year alone, Davao Light’s franchise area will welcome two manufacturers, a mall, a food complex, a business park and real-estate development. “We expect to serve more customers from these industries this year, especially in light of the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. The construction boom in the city is a win-win for all sectors,” said Davao Light Director, President and Chief Operating Officer Rodger Velasco. Its parent firm, AboitizPower, has set aside P3.1 billion in 2019 to modernize its existing distribution assets across the country in the next few years. Davao Light said peak demand will grow from 421 megawatts in 2018 to 546 MW by 2023, which the distribution utility attributes to the growth in real-estate businesses, sprouting huge universities, commercial complexes and businessprocess outsourcing offices. Apart from this, Davao posted a double-digit economic growth of 10.9 percent in 2017, the highest in

the region’s history, which can be attributed to the positive performance of the service and industry sectors. “We want to take advantage of the robust economic growth in our franchise areas by making sure power is delivered to our customers reliably, sustainably and at the most cost-effective way. The initiatives we have mapped out for this year and beyond are part of our effort to become world-class and the best at what we do,” said Jaime Jose Y. Aboitiz, EVP and COO of the Aboitiz Power Distribution Group. Part of this modernization program is the construction of facilities in Davao Light’s franchise area that will add 424 MVA in transformation capacity, further improving network efficiency and reliability. The Davao-based utility is also set to string a total of 228 circuit kilometers of combined sub-transmission and backbone distribution lines to reinforce the existing system. To help improve its efficiency, Davao Light will also implement distribution automation and its advanced distribution management system. In terms of reliability, Davao Light reduced the average duration of power interruptions a customer experiences in a year from 315 minutes in 2017 to 301 minutes in 2018, which can be attributed to faster response time on the utility’s end. However, the average number of interruptions a customer experiences increased from 4.4 in 2017 to 5.2 in 2018, mainly due to ongoing construction works in the city, which affect the utility’s distribution lines. Davao Light is the third-largest privately owned electric utility in the country. It holds the franchise for distributing electric power to Davao City, as well as Panabo City and the municipalities of Carmen, Dujali and Santo Tomas in Davao del Norte.

upon the person of the defendant is defective, the court acquires no jurisdiction over his person and the proceedings, and any judgment rendered are null and void,” the Court explained. Based on the records, the SC said the prerequisites for valid substituted service were not observed as there was only a single day effort to personally serve the summons upon the defendants. Furthermore, the SC observed that the sheriff ’s report also failed to indicate that the person who received the summons was a person of suitable age and residing in the residence of the defendants. “Nor is there a statement that validates that such person understood the significance of the receipt of the summons and the correlative duty to immediately deliver the same to the therein defendants or, at the very least, to notify the said persons immediately,” the SC pointed out. “Jurisprudence is clear and unequivocal in making it an ironclad rule that such matters must be

mutual funds

clearly and specifically described in the Return of Summons,” the Court ruled. As regards to the service of summons to NGI and NPGI, the SC said the CA correctly held that since the summons was served on a mere employee and not to its officials, the services of summons were defective. Contrary to the argument of UCPB, the Court said even the filing of the motion to dismiss the complaint and suspend proceedings by the respondents cannot be construed as voluntary submission on their part to the court’s jurisdiction. Their appearance before the court, according to the SC, should fall under the concept of conditional appearance, such that a party who makes a special appearance to challenge, among others, the court’s jurisdiction over his person cannot be considered to have submitted to its authority. Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Jose Reyes Jr. and Amy Lazaro-Javier.

May 20, 2019

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 254.83 -3.24% -0.45% 0.04% 1.03% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.5804 3.19% 8.46% 2.69% 9.69% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.9715 -5.33% -0.46% -0.84% 1.76% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.9047 -1.83% n.a. n.a. 1.59% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.8419 -1.64% n.a. n.a. 2.58% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 5.2798 -2.87% -0.42% -0.09% 0.17% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 122.07 6.48% n.a. n.a. 4.82% One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc. -a 0.8423 -4.53% -5.17% n.a. 1.19% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 50.1103 -1.61% 0.08% n.a. 1.84% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 523.89 -2.04% -0.8% -0.18% 1.78% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.2781 0.27% 1.06% 2.52% 1.92% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 37.4511 0.08% 1.73% 1.94% 2.24% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.0005 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 5.076 -0.86% 1.03% 2.05% 2.36% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 847.31 -0.81% 0.74% 1.98% 2.27% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.9115 2.92% 0.65% n.a. 5.84% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 4.1904 0.6% 1.21% 1.41% 3.24% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.9743 -1.27% 0.7% n.a. 2.1% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.6175 0.41% 3.36% 2.09% 3.33% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c,2 113.4563 -0.45% 1.76% 3.05% 2.45% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $0.972 -12.3% 6.39% 0.16% 4.62% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.2726 -1.74% 8.56% n.a. 15.16% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.6735 -2.57% -1.96% -2.15% 1.35% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.2606 -2.46% -0.18% 0.05% 2.33% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.5755 -1.92% -1.3% -2.08% 1.25% Grepalife Balanced Fund Corporation -a 1.3334 -1.49% n.a. n.a. 2.23% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8932 1.34% 0.39% 0.78% 2.72% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.6128 -0.99% -1.06% -0.22% 2.37% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.306 0.01% -0.89% -0.15% 2.5% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.1044 0.12% 0.54% 1.34% 1.55% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.7776 1.59% 0.33% 0.85% 3.46% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,4 0.9768 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,4 0.9676 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,4 0.9649 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.968 2.05% 0.61% n.a. 5.02% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03657 5.45% 0.83% 1.44% 3.74% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $0.9593 -8.68% 3.32% -1.14% 2.47% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.685 0.3% 6.22% 2.77% 11.38% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a $1.0895 1.22% 3.76% n.a. 7.87% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 348.59 3.02% 2% 2.14% 1.52% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a,1 1.8958 1.83% -0.06% -0.2% 1.97% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.0292 5.35% 5.23% 5.25% 1.97% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.1669 2.56% 1.1% 1.75% 1.71% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.266 2.27% 0.52% 0.96% 2.57% Grepalife Fixed Income Fund Corp. -a P 1.6042 1.62% -0.8% 0.17% 2.54% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.065 2.66% -0.54% 0.74% 3.7% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.6246 3.84% 1.08% 1.11% 3.06% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 0.9215 1.67% -0.79% n.a. 3.24% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 2.898 5.69% 1.39% 1.77% 4.78% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.6067 5.25% 0.83% 1.3% 4.34% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $455.53 3.22% 1.84% 2.71% 1.62% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є216.12 1.64% 1.48% 1.46% 1.63% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1708 5.35% 1.67% 2.08% 4% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0254 2.83% 0.94% n.a. 2.42% Grepalife Dollar Bond Fund Corp. -a $1.7136 1.25% -1.29% 0.66% 1.38% 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 $1.0698 4.16% -0.42% -2.28% 3.1% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.2814 6.85% 0.77% 2.61% 5.08% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0585185 3.43% 1.32% 1.7% 2.7% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $2.9908 3.8% 0.04% 1.93% 4.13% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 122.92 3.55% 2.29% 1.84% 1.72% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,5 1.0112 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.2014 3.04% 1.35% 0.85% 1.65% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2383 3.47% 2.54% 1.93% 1.58% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0254 2.1% n.a. n.a. 0.94% a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU). 1 - Adjusted due to cash dividend issuance last January 29, 2018. 2 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last June 5, 2018. 3 - Launch date is January 3, 2019. 4 - Launch date is January 28, 2019. 5 - Launch date is February 1, 2019.

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Report: More companies in China compelled to hand over technology

EIJING—The number of foreign companies that feel compelled to hand over technology in exchange for Chinese market access— an issue that sparked President Donald J. Trump’s tariff fight with Beijing—has doubled since two years ago despite official promises to end such pressure, a business group reported on Monday. The European Chamber of Commerce in China’s report highlighted enduring complaints about “forced technology transfer” that China’s trading partners say violate its market-opening commitments despite denials and promises of change. European leaders have criticized Trump’s tactics in confronting Beijing over its technology ambitions but echo US criticisms. One in five companies that responded to a survey in January, before the latest round of US and Chinese tariff hikes, said they felt compelled to hand over technology, up from 10 percent in a 2017 survey,

the European chamber said. “It is not something that is back in history. It is still happening now,” a chamber vice president, Charlotte Roule, told reporters ahead of the report’s release. She said ending that “should be a priority.” The share of companies that said they felt compelled to transfer technology was higher in some fields—30 percent in petroleum and chemicals, 28 percent in medical devices, 27 percent for pharmaceuticals and 21 percent in the auto industry. Onequarter of those companies said transfers were happening at the time of the survey.

IN this May 22, 2018, file photo, a staff member works in a circuit board manufacturing facility in Hangzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. In a report issued on Monday, May 20, 2019, a business group says the number of foreign companies in China that feel compelled to hand over technology in exchange for market access has doubled since two years ago. CHINATOPIX VIA AP

The report gave no details of why companies felt compelled to hand over technology. But the heavily regulated economy gives Chinese regulators leverage over companies,

and business groups say they sometimes give orders in secret. Trump started raising tariffs on Chinese imports last July over complaints Beijing steals or pressures for-

eign companies to hand over technology. Europe, Japan and other trading partners echo US complaints that such practices violate Chinese commitments to open its markets and

treat foreign companies equally in exchange for access to their markets. “China’s lagging reform agenda not only holds back economic development but it has also driven global tension,” said Roule. Chinese officials deny foreign companies are required to hand over technology. But companies in auto manufacturing, electronics and other industries that want to operate in China are required to be minority partners in ventures with stateowned partners, which forces them to share technology and expertise. A law endorsed in March by China’s ceremonial legislature tries to reassure foreign investors by prohibiting use of “administrative measures” to compel technology transfer. Business groups welcomed that but said Chinese officials still have extensive leverage in the heavily regulated economy. Tech transfer was one of a series of complaints the European chamber said prompts pessimism among companies about whether the ruling Communist Party will follow through on promises to open its markets. One-third of companies surveyed said they don’t expect ever to see a “meaningful opening” of Chinese markets. AP

US to roll out economic part Rocket attack hits near US Embassy of peace plan for Middle East in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone B W ASHINGTON—The Trump administration will unveil the first phase of its longawaited blueprint for Mideast peace next month at a conference in the region designed to highlight economic benefits that could be reaped if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved, the White House said on Sunday. The plan, which has been two years in the making, envisions large-scale investment and infrastructure work in the Palestinian territories. But the central political elements remain mostly unknown. And the economic workshop, on June 25 and 26 in Bahrain, will not address the most contentious parts of the conflict: borders, the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and Israel’s security. In a joint statement with Bahrain, the White House said the workshop will give government, civil and business leaders a chance to gather support for economic initiatives that could be possible with a peace agreement. The US wants to ensure security for Israel and economic opportunity to improve the lives of Palestinians. The administration hopes that Arab countries will help bankroll economic incentives, such as infrastructure and industrial projects, to get Palestinians to buy into the plan. But with details of the political aspects of the plan still under wraps, any commitments for economic development won’t be easily attained. “The Palestinian people, along with all people in the Middle East, deserve a future with dignity and the opportunity to better their lives,” President Donald J. Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said in a statement on Sunday. “Economic progress can only be achieved with a solid economic vision and if the core political issues are resolved.” Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, envoy of inter-

national negotiations, have been leading efforts to write the plan, but so far, there’s been no participation from the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority, which has complained that the White House favors Israel, severed ties with the Trump administration following several actions targeting them. Trump closed the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington, saying the Palestinians refused to engage in peace talks with Israel. The US stopped funding the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees, slashing hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for projects in the West Bank and Gaza and cutting funding to hospitals in Jerusalem that serve Palestinians. Trump also recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv. The Palestinians’ demand that Israel fully withdraw from all territories it occupies. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those territories for a future state. They also seek the right of refugees to return to the lands and the recognition of east Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestine. It’s an open question as to whether the Palestinians will exchange some or all of their demands for the prospect of economic prosperity. In an interview last month with The Associated Press, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh likened that to “financial blackmail, which we reject.” Kushner said it has been disheartening that the Palestinian leadership has attacked the plan before it’s unveiled. A senior administration official told reporters that invitations to the workshop are being sent to individuals in the United States, Europe, the Gulf, the wider Arab world and “some” Palestinian business leaders. AP

AGHDAD—A rocket was fired into the Iraqi capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday night, landing less than a mile from the sprawling US Embassy, an Iraqi military spokesman said. The apparent attack, which Iraq’s staterun news agency said did not cause any casualties, came amid heightened tensions across the Persian Gulf, after the White House ordered warships and bombers to the region earlier this month to counter an alleged, unexplained threat from Iran. The US also has ordered nonessential staff out of its diplomatic posts in Iraq. It was the first such attack since September, when three mortar shells landed in an abandoned lot inside the Green Zone. No one claimed responsibility for the attack that took place after sunset when many Baghdad residents were indoors breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Associated Press reporters on the east side of the Tigris River, opposite the Green Zone, heard an explosion, after which alert sirens sounded briefly in Baghdad. Iraqi military Spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul told The Associated Press that a Katyusha rocket fell near the statue of the Unknown Soldier, less than a mile from the US Embassy. He said the military was investigating the cause but that the rocket

Oil jumps as Opec signals continued production cuts

IL started the week strongly after Saudi Arabia and other Opec+ members signaled intentions to keep supplies constrained for the rest of the year, while US tensions with Iran ratcheted up as President Donald J. Trump threatened the country in a tweet. Futures in New York rose as much as 1.7 percent, following a 1.8-percent gain last week. Saudi energy minister Khalid Al-Falih urged members of the alliance meeting in Jeddah to “stay the course” on output cuts. Meanwhile, just weeks after the US increased sanctions pressure on Iranian crude exports, Trump tweeted: “If Iran wants to fight, that

will be the official end of Iran.” Oil has rallied about 40 percent this year as supply cuts have outweighed concerns about slowing demand growth caused by trade tensions between the US and China. Saudi Arabia and fellow oil producers have to balance their desire to maintain high crude prices with the need to fill any supply gaps caused by rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East and disruptions in Venezuela, Libya and Iran. “Crude prices are rising because investors view Opec wants to tighten supply and demand to maintain current prices,” Takayuki Nogami, the chief economist at Japan Oil,

Gas and Metals National Corp. in Tokyo., said by phone. “While the outcome of the Opec+ meeting was in line with expectations, it’s still uncertain” what the producers will ultimately decide on production cuts in June, Nogami said. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery rose as much as $1.05 to $63.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $63.60 at 12:26 p.m. in Singapore. The contract added 1.8 percent last week, the biggest weekly increase since early April. The contract expires after end of trading on Tuesday. The more actively traded July contract rose to as high as $63.96. Bloomberg News

was believed to have been fired from east Baghdad. The area is home to Iran-backed Shiite militias. Shortly afterward the rocket launcher was discovered by security forces in the eastern neighborhood of Wihda, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The official also said the roads leading to the Green Zone were closed briefly for security reasons before they were reopened as normal. Iraq’s state-run news agency said a

Katyusha rocket crashed inside the Green Zone without causing any casualties. The US military confirmed an explosion in the zone without saying what caused it, but said there were no American or coalition casualties. As tensions escalate between the US and Iran, there have been concerns that Baghdad could once again get caught in the middle, just as it is on the path to recovery. The country hosts more than 5,000 US troops, and is home to powerful Iranian-backed militias, some of whom want those US forces to leave. AP

B4 Tuesday, May 21, 2019

NESTLÉ, REPUBLIC CEMENT TEAM UP TO COPROCESS POSTCONSUMER WASTE

HYUNDAI FOSTERS DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH IN THREE MONTHS’ TIME

HE amount of plastics ending up in waterways and in the ocean is of great global concern. Nestlé Philippines , and Republic Cement and Building Materials Inc. both agree to coprocess postconsumer plastic waste in the cement kilns of Republic Cement. The agreement was signed by chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kais Marzouki and corporate affairs head lawyer Ernesto Mascenon of Nestlé Philippines, and President Renato Sunico and director Nabil Francis of Republic Cement and Building Materials Inc. Francis is the concurrent CEO of Republic Cement Services Inc. Cement kiln coprocessing takes raw materials, such as calcium carbonate and silica, and feeds them into a kiln along with fuel. The materials are burned to such a high temperature that any complex material is broken into simpler compounds. The end result of the process is cement, and any emissions form the process are filtered and monitored by the minute to abide by local Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) standards. Coprocessing is an alternative wastemanagement solution that can use waste as fuel. In the Philippines, while landfilling and physical treatment are more common, coprocessing is more advantageous, given that energy and minerals coming from waste are almost completely utilized. “There’s still a lack of knowledge on the importance of coprocessing. We look forward to helping address the issue of postconsumer waste and the successful implementation of this project,” Sunico said.

Last April Nestlé fully committed to its recyclable/reusable packaging by 2025. Achieving the vision entails developing the packaging of the future; helping shape a waste-free future through collection and recycling; and driving new behaviors and understanding on waste. Nestlé has initiated and is driving wastecollection efforts with various partners. A portion of the wastes collected go to recycling and upcycling programs producing construction materials, such as eco-bricks and eco-pavers, as well as school chairs. “Nestlé is aiming for plastic neutrality, which is essentially recovering plastics equal to what we produce. Aside from our current collection and recycling initiatives, we believe this effort will help us gather and coprocess bigger volumes of postconsumer waste. We target to divert more postconsumer waste, from landfills to the ocean...” Marzouki said. Republic Cement is a CRH–Aboitiz company with five cement plants and a grinding station in the Philippines, and more than 60 years cement manufacturing experience. The company has the capability and is duly licensed by the DENR to use and dispose of qualified waste streams through cement kiln coprocessing. “Taking action on plastic waste is a big challenge. We are on a journey exploring possible avenues in our defined focus areas, applying our learnings, looking to build on successes along the way,” Marzouki said. “And, in all this, it is important for different sectors to work together.”

YUNDAI Asia Resources Inc. (Hari), one of the country’s leading automotive companies, sustained its growth over the past three months by posting sales of 2,795 units in April, representing a 17.4-percent increase year on year (YOY). Hari’s April sales were boosted by its best-selling Reina, globally awarded crossover Kona and the versatile H-100 light truck. In April Hyundai sales grew by 13.5 percent to 12,744 units versus the same period last year, bucking the automotiveindustry trend from flat to minimal. “Coming from a challenging year, we are delighted to report three straight months of robust growth underpinned by strong sales of our core products, customer-experience solutions and strategic initiatives in place that are now bearing fruit. We have several projects in the pipeline that will further strengthen our existing business while giving us flexibility, as we explore new revenue streams,” Hari President and Chief Executive Officer Ma. Fe PerezAgudo said. Hari has been establishing dedicated commercial vehicle (CV) dealerships in key areas across the Philippines, underscoring its efforts to support the Philippine government’s bid to boost the country’s infrastructure. Hari currently has a network of 11 CV dealerships nationwide, delivering complete sales, service and spare parts to commercial and industrial customers, as well as MSMEs. It aims to expand this

network to 20 dealerships by 2020. The company also plans to establish more Hyundai City stores, a pioneering initiative to widen its reach in highdensity urban areas. City stores provide customers with a convenient, innovative, and personalized retail experience enhanced by digital technology. Hyundai’s passenger-car segment continues to maintain its position as the main volume driver for the brand, selling a total of 7,016 units from January to April. Although experiencing a 10.2-percent dip, the gap is slowly being bridged as the Reina is gaining traction in the market. This can be attested by the 0.4-percent YOY increase, or 1,612 units sold in April. The light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment continues to make significant

strides as it grew by 65.3 percent to 5,396 units sold versus the same period last year. The strong sales of the Kona and the higher demand for H-100 are key contributors to the growth of Hyundai’s LCV volume. Hyundai’s CV segment is aggressively expandingasreflectedinits124.3-percent year-to-date growth. In April CV sales grew by 158.3 percent. Hyundai trucks and buses are poised to grow further with the introduction of its new models in the coming months. “We intend to leverage on our strong performance as we gain more momentum. We aim to sell 40,000 Hyundai units by the end of the year and we are confident we can hit this target, especially with new vehicle models that we are launching within the year,” Agudo added.

PICTURE-PERFECT SPLASH OF COLORS

HIS summer see and experience Boysen colors differently. Engage the senses with each part of this whole immersive booth—a colourful, fun space for every one. Explore the new color playground at the SM Mall of Asia! Take creative photos and upload these on Facebook and Instagram using #BOYSENCOLORSCOPEATMOA, and get a chance to win a Fujifilm camera. Visit the biggest Boysen installation from May 14 to 28.

BROOKS DOMINATES PGA CHAMPIONSHIP F

By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press

ARMINGDALE, New York—His place in Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship history finally secure, Brooks Koepka draped both arms around the top of the Wanamaker Trophy and let out a deep sigh. The stress was more than he wanted. The satisfaction was more than he imagined. Koepka lost all but one shot of his record seven-shot lead on Sunday. Then he lost the brutal Long Island crowd, which began chants of “DJ! DJ!” as Koepka was on his way to a fourth straight bogey that allowed Dustin Johnson to pull within one shot. “It’s New York,” Koepka said. “What do you expect when you’re half-choking it away?” He responded like a player capable of piling up major championships faster than anyone since Tiger Woods. Motivated by the crowd turning on him, Koepka delivered the key shots over the closing stretch as Johnson faded with two straight bogeys. He closed with a four-over 74 for a two-shot victory and joined Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the PGA Championship since it went to stroke play in 1958. That gives him four of the last eight majors he played and makes him the first player to hold two back-to-back majors at the same time. He won his second straight US Open last summer 60 miles down the road at Shinnecock Hills before a far less rowdy crowd. When his 6-foot par putt fell on the last hole, Koepka thrust his muscular right arm in the air and hugged his caddie hard. “Today was definitely the most satisfying out of all of them for how stressful that round was—how stressful DJ made that,” Koepka said. “I know for a fact that was the most excited I’ve ever been in my life there on 18.” Koepka said at the start of the week that majors are sometimes the easiest to win. This one should have been. It wasn’t. And it didn’t help that a raging wind that gusted up to 25 mph turned Bethpage Black into a beast, with Johnson (69) the only player out of the last 12 groups to shoot par or better. Koepka’s 74 was the highest final round by a PGA champion since Vijay Singh (four-over 76) won in a playoff at Whistling Straits in 2004. “I’m just glad I don’t have to play any more holes,” Koepka said. “That was a stressful round of golf. I’m glad to have this thing back in my hands.” Koepka appeared to wrap it up with a gap wedge from 156 yards to 2 feet on the 10th hole for a birdie, as Johnson made his first bogey of the round up ahead on the 11th. That restored the lead to six shots, and the coronation was on. And then it all changed in a New York minute. Four holes later, Koepka walked off the 15th tee with a one-shot lead. He looked over to his left to see Johnson facing a 7-foot par putt on the 16th hole—the most difficult hole at Bethpage Black on Sunday because it was into the wind—to stay within one shot. The groan of the crowd told him Johnson had missed. “I felt like as long as I had the lead, I was fine,”Koepka said.“As long as I put it in the fairway, I was going to be all right.” Koepka, who finished at eight-under 272, returned to No. 1 in the world with a performance that defines his dominance in golf’s biggest events. He was the first wire-to-wire winner in the PGA Championship since Hal Sutton at Riviera in 1983. It was his third straight year winning a major, a feat achieved by only seven others since the Masters began in 1934—Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Peter Thomson and Ralph Guldahl. Winning four of his last eight majors is a stretch not seen since Woods won seven out of 11 when he captured the 2002 US Open at Bethpage Black. Next up is the US Open at Pebble Beach, where Koepka already is the betting favorite as he defends his title for the second time. No one has won the US Open three straight years since Willie

Anderson in 1905. No one will doubt whether Koepka is capable the way he is playing. Johnson knew he was a long shot going into the final round—no one had ever lost a sevenshot lead in a major—and he still managed to make Koepka work for it. He came undone with a shot he thought would be perfect—a 5-iron from 194 yards, dead into the wind on the 16. It one-hopped over the green into thick rough. “Hit the shot I wanted to right at the flag,” Johnson said. “I don’t know how it flew 200 yards into the wind like that.” Johnson now has runner-up finishes in all four of the majors, the wrong kind of career Grand Slam. “I gave it a run,” he said. “That’s all you can ask for.” It was more than anyone expected, especially when Koepka was six shots ahead with eight holes to play. The crowd sensed a collapse and began chanting Johnson’s nickname on the par-3 14th as Koepka went long and was headed for a fourth straight bogey. Koepka is a 29-year-old Floridian with an imposing figure, power off the tee and out of the rough, no obvious weakness in his game and the kind of mental fortitude that majors require. He needed all of it to win this one. “I wasn’t nervous,” he said. “I was in shock of what was going on.” Bethpage has a reputation for being over the top, and it irritated Harold Varner III, who shot 81 playing in the final group. “I thought it was pretty weird how they were telling Brooks to choke,” Varner said about the 14th hole. “That’s not my cup of tea. I was pulling for him after that.” Koepka held it together at the most crucial moment. He piped his driver down the 15th fairway and two-putted for par. And he drilled another one into the 16th for another par. He kept it interesting to the end, threeputting the 17th as the lead went back to two shots, and pulling his driver on the 18th into fescue so thick it left him little choice but to lay up and scramble for par. Once his medium lob wedge settled 6 feet away, he could relax. Finally. Woods won the Wanamaker Trophy in consecutive years twice, in 1999 and 2000, and again in 2006 and 2007. Koepka was starting to draw comparisons with Woods for the way he obliterated the competition, much like Woods in his 12-shot victory in the 1997 Masters and 15-shot victory in the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach. Koepka tied the PGA Championship record by opening with a 63. He broke the major championship record for 36 holes at 128. He set another PGA Championship record with his seven-shot lead. In the end, just having his name on the heaviest championship trophy in golf was all that mattered.

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| Tuesday, May 21, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

FOR Brooks Koepka, the stress is more than he wanted and the satisfaction more than he imagined. AP

DUSTIN JOHNSON: It was the most wind we’ve had all week. AP

GONE WITH THE WIND F

ARMINGDALE, New York—Brooks Koepka’s coronation in this Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship nearly got blown off the golf course. It didn’t because his main competition, Dustin Johnson, had just as much trouble keeping his ball in play down the stretch. Johnson was within one stroke of his close friend after a birdie on No. 15, a hole he birdied all four rounds. The three he shot added significant tension to what had looked like a runaway win by Koepka—until Koepka’s seven-shot lead and the way he was mastering the course disappeared in a flurry of bogeys on the back nine after a birdie at No. 10. Two of the longest and strongest players on the PGA Tour struggled mightily with the swirling winds that at times reached 20 mph in some spots. “I knew today, starting off, that it was going to play tough,” said Johnson, who wound up two shots behind Koepka and will relinquish the No. 1 ranking to the winner.

“You know, the wind was up. It was the most wind we’ve had all week.” The gusts might have been at their worst on the 16th hole, where Koepka pretty much clinched his second straight PGA, his fourth major, and became the first player to hold two back-to-back major crowns at the same time. Johnson was having what had been by far the best round of the day. He was at eight under overall when his tee shot on 16 landed smack in the middle of the fairway. But from 194 yards, his 5-iron approach caught a gust and soared over the green into nasty rough. A nice chip out of that toward a flag whipping in the wind got Johnson to seven feet, but he missed the putt. “You know, wind was howling in my face a little bit off the right,” he said. “I hit a 5-iron but almost went back and got a 4-iron because I didn’t think the five was going to even come close, based on the shots that I’ve hit earlier in the round into the wind. The wind was just really eating the ball

up when you’re hitting into it. “So I tried to hit kind of like just a little low draw. Hit the shot I wanted to right at the flag. Just I don’t know how it flew 200 yards into the wind like that.” His momentum was gone with the wind, and he also bogeyed the 17th after a tee shot well right into the rough beside the par-three green. The wind again played a role. Koepka, who was on the 15th fairway and knew from the crowd’s reaction that Johnson had dropped a shot, came to 16 having bogeyed four in a row, looking a bit worn and, perhaps for the first time in four days, sensing this was no cinch. He desperately needed to hit the fairway—something he did only six times all day—and did so. From 163 yards he put his ball 49 feet from the hole, providing more of a test. Koepka passed it by two-putting. “Probably doesn’t sound like much, but the putt on 16 I thought just gave me a little bit more confidence coming down the stretch,” Koepka said. “I know I missed one on 17, but you know, I think 16 helped me make 18.” That was enough for the 29-year-old Koepka to hold on, denying Johnson a massive comeback for his second major title. AP

Varner’s 81 worst round in final group of major F

HAROLD VARNER III has a rough final day at Bethpage Black. AP

ARMINGDALE, New York—After getting supportive messages from Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan the night before, Harold Varner III could not have had a better start to the final round of the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship. The 28-year-old birdied the first hole at Bethpage Black playing in the final pairing to draw within five strokes of eventual champion Brooks Koepka, who bogeyed the hole. It was the best thing to happen to Varner on Sunday. The 174th-ranked player in the world shot an 11-over 81 and went from sole possession of second place to finishing tied for 36th with a six-over score. It marked the first time a player in the last pairing on the final day of a major shot in the 80s. “Man, it’s just rough. It was hard. It was really hard,” said Varner, whose only win was in the 2017 Australian PGA

championship. “I just didn’t play well enough. It was a great experience. I’m going to get a lot better. It’s just a hard golf course. I don’t know, I don’t know. It’s good.” Varner finished with one birdie, three double bogeys, six bogeys and eight pars. His first double came at the par-3 third hole. He missed the green, chipped to 11 feet and three-putted. The worst hole was the par-5, 524-yard No. 4. His 324-yard tee shot landed in stalk-like grass. His second went sideways into the woods, and the ball was lost. Even Koepka came to help, but to no avail. “I had about 30 seconds left,” Varner said of the search. “I didn’t think we were going to find it anyways. I didn’t really look for my golf ball. I thought I was screwed.” Varner had to return to the native area and eventually took a seven. Nothing good happened after that, and it seemed Varner just

tried to play fast the rest of the way on a very windy, difficult day. “That was crazy,” he said. “But it happens. I just—mine happened on the last day. I’m going to get a lot better. It was just really hard. I don’t know what else to say.” Varner said his opening rounds of 71, 67 and 67 convinced him he is good enough to compete with the best on the PGA Tour. It just didn’t happen on Sunday, and he was ticked off, although he never ducked a question. “I was right there,” he said. “Gosh, it was a lot of fun, man. It was something I’ve never felt before. So it was pretty cool.” Varner didn’t disclose exactly what Woods, who didn’t make the cut, said to him, other than to keep it simple. The rest was smack talk between golfers. (Varner, who is also African American, said earlier in the weekend that he was enjoying the give-and-take with the fans, even the ones who called him “Tiger.”) AP

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Nadal beats Djokovic for 9th Italian Open title

OME—Rafael Nadal is right back where he wants to be. After losing in the semifinals of three straight clay-court tournaments, Nadal dominated for stretches against his longtime rival, Novak Djokovic, in a 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 win on Sunday for a record-extending ninth Italian Open title. “You were asking for titles. Finally I have a title,” Nadal told reporters. “Here we are. Important title, important moment.” It marked the first time in an Open Era-record 54 meetings, and in their 142nd set against each other, that Nadal won a set against Djokovic without conceding a game—otherwise known as a bagel. In all, Nadal had a career-high four bagel sets in this tournament. “I played a great first set in all aspects. No mistakes. Playing so aggressive, changing directions,” Nadal said. “It’s not usual and probably will not happen again.” The timing for Nadal’s return to form could not have been more opportune, as he will seek a record-extending 12th title at the French Open starting next weekend. “Winning a title is important, but for me the most important thing is [to] feel myself competitive, feel myself healthy,” Nadal said. “Then with the feeling that I am improving. I know if I’m able to reach my level you can win, you can lose, but normally I’m going to have my chances—especially on this surface. “Now is the moment to keep going,” Nadal added.

In the women’s final, Karolina Pliskova captured the biggest clay-court trophy of her career by beating Johanna Konta, 6-3, 6-4. Top-ranked Djokovic, meanwhile, appeared exhausted after spending more than five-and-a-half hours on court against Juan Martin del Potro and Diego Schwartzman the previous two days. Djokovic was also coming off the Madrid Open title last week. “I don’t want to talk about fatigue or things like that,” Djokovic told the crowd during the postmatch ceremony. “Rafa was simply too strong today.” Speaking to reporters later, Djokovic said, “I was just running out of fuel a little bit today. Just kind of missed that half a step, especially on the backhand side.” The Foro Italico crowd continually tried to encourage Djokovic with chants of Vai Nole!—Go Nole!—but the top-ranked Serb struggled with his overhead and drop shots. Midway through the second set, Nadal chased down a lob with an overthe-shoulder shot and Djokovic’s ensuing overhead landed in the net to conclude a long point. Djokovic again netted an overhead in the next game, and then kicked the ball in frustration when he missed a drop shot attempt late in the second. But Djokovic hung around in the second and converted his first set point when a looping forehand from Nadal sailed wide for his first break of the match. As he walked to

IT’S one of those trophies Rafael Nadal so dearly loves. AP

his chair after winning the second set, Djokovic waved his arms to get the crowd behind him. However, Djokovic didn’t have much left in the tank. When Nadal pushed Djokovic deep into the corner in the opening game of the third set and Djokovic’s desperation lob sailed long to hand Nadal a break, Djokovic smashed his racket to the clay three times in frustration and received a warning from the chair umpire. Djokovic won only 29 percent of the points on his second serve and committed 39 unforced errors to Nadal’s 17. Also, Nadal won 23 of the 31 rallies with nine or more shots. Pliskova’s victory will move her up to No. 2 in the rankings and makes her one of the contenders for Roland Garros. “I just hope to take the tennis I was playing here to Paris,” Pliskova said. “For sure there’s going to be a chance for me if I play this way.” The 2016 US Open runner-up, Pliskova also reached the Australian Open semifinals and the Miami Open final after opening this season with a title in Brisbane, Australia. But she lost in the second round of her previous two tournaments on clay in Stuttgart, Germany, and Madrid. “Nobody really gave me chance for this tournament—even me,” Pliskova said. “Before the tournament, I was not super confident, not thinking about the final at all. I was just happy with every match which I played. So it’s little bit like a miracle for me.” The unseeded Konta appeared nervous at the start, double faulting then landing a backhand into the net to hand Pliskova a break in her opening service game. In the second set, Pliskova used a swinging forehand volley putaway to break for a 4-3 lead and never looked back. “It’s always tough playing Karolina,” Konta said. “There’s rarely really a rhythm to the match. She plays with big shots, quite flat, and big serves. It can feel sometimes you’re fighting an uphill battle. That was the case today.” Pliskova attributed a lot of her success to Conchita Martinez, the four-time Rome champion who she recently named her head coach. “She loved clay so she knows exactly what I should do,” Pliskova said of Martinez. “There were small differences: movement, maybe to put more topspin on the balls, use drop shots—which I never use, but I start little bit, and to mix also the serves.... I know she loved this tournament. I think she prayed so I could win today.” AP

Lillard separated ribs in Game 2 vs Warriors

DAMIAN LILLARD of Portland will have to endure a rib injury in Game Three of the NBA Western Conference Finals. AP

ORTLAND, Oregon—Portland’s Damian Lillard sustained separated ribs in Game Two of the Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors. Lillard confirmed the injury on Sunday, a day after the Trail Blazers lost, 110-99, in Game Three. Lillard was 5 of 18 from the floor and finished with 19 points in Portland’s third straight loss in the series. The injury was originally reported by The Athletic. Lillard said the separation is on the left side, and he wore protective padding in Game Three. “I don’t think it’s something that’s affecting my game. It’s there, but it’s not something that’s affecting anything that I’m doing. Obviously you feel it, but that’s it,” he said. Lillard was hurt in the third quarter on Thursday when Golden State’s Kevon Looney landed on top of him in a scramble for the ball. He said the injury is painful at times when he gets winded and it’s difficult to breathe, and when there’s contact with other players. The Warriors can close out the series with a victory on Monday. No team has ever rallied from a 0-3 deficit in the playoffs to win a series. “Obviously it’s frustrating. I think Game Two, we had that game. We let that one slip away. Had a double-digit lead in Game Three, let that one slip away as well,” Lillard said. “So I think it’s frustrating for that reason. Because you could be up 2-1, and you’re down 0-3. And you look at the numbers and it’s a slim chance of you winning the series like that. But I mean we got a lot to play for: Obviously you never know when the first time is going to happen. We could be the first team to do it.” Although he says he’s unaffected, the injury is still a blow to the Blazers, who are in the conference finals for the first time in 19 years.

Kawhi Leonard scored 36 points, including eight in the second overtime, and Toronto beat Milwaukee, 118112, on Sunday night to cut the Bucks’ lead in the Eastern Conference finals to 2-1. By Ian Harrison

The Associated Press

ORONTO—Pascal Siakam felt guilty about a pair of missed free throws and the extra minutes they added to his teammates’ night. Fortunately for Siakam and the rest of the Raptors, Kawhi Leonard didn’t seem to feel any fatigue. Leonard scored 36 points, including eight in the second overtime, and Toronto beat Milwaukee, 118-112, on Sunday night to cut the Bucks’ lead in the Eastern Conference finals to 2-1. Leonard made 11 of 25 shots and went 12 for 13 at the free throw line in more than 52 minutes of action, a playoff career high. “At the end of the game, Kawhi said he played an hour of basketball,” Siakam said. “I told him ‘My bad.’” Leonard had nine rebounds and five assists despite appearing to be bothered by some leg discomfort. He said he would keep fighting and playing. “I mean, it’s 52 minutes and it’s in the playoffs, so you definitely feel it. When you play 30 minutes, you feel it still,” Leonard said. “Just got to not worry about it, get my treatment and move on to the next one.” Leonard’s previous career high in playoff minutes was 46, set with San Antonio against Miami in Game Six of the National Basketball Association Finals on June 18, 2013. The Spurs lost that game in overtime, then lost Game Seven two days later. A four-time All-Star, Lillard averaged 25.9 points and 6.9 assists during the regular season. He averaged 33 points in the first-round playoff series against Oklahoma City, hitting a series-clinching 3-pointer in Game Five. The Blazers were already without center Jusuf Nurkic, who broke his leg late in the season. Portland has started Enes Kanter, as well as Meyers Leonard in Game Three against the Warriors, in Nurkic’s absence. AP

RAPTOR FIGHT BACK Siakam had 25 points and 11 rebounds, Norman Powell scored 19 points before fouling out, and Marc Gasol had 16 points and 12 rebounds. The Raptors will try to draw even when they host Game Four on Tuesday night. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 12 points and 23 rebounds before fouling out with 4:24 to go in the second overtime. Antetokounmpo shot 5 for 16. “They were just playing better than us,” Antetokounmpo said. “Whenever we got close, they’d hit some shots and take the lead back to seven or eight. At the end of the day, it wasn’t our best game. We can get a lot better.” Toronto won despite guards Kyle Lowry and Powell both fouling out in the fourth quarter. Siakam also missed a pair of free throws with 7.4 seconds left in regulation that could have iced the game for the Raptors. “It’s tough,” Siakam said. “Those are shots that you practice and think about every day.”

Siakam redeemed himself by blocking a potential tying shot by Brook Lopez with 43 seconds to go in the second overtime, leading to a layup for Leonard that put Toronto up 114-110 with just over 30 seconds to play. George Hill scored 24 points and Malcolm Brogdon had 20 for the Bucks, who lost for the first time in five road games this postseason. Milwaukee is 10-2 overall in the playoffs. “We were right on the cusp of winning a game when we didn’t play that well,” Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer said. The Raptors led 10399 with 1:26 to go in the first overtime but Hill tied it at 103 by making a pair of free

SKATEBOARDING goes through some birth pains before its Olympic debut.

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Tamaraws beat Pirates in Filoil summer hoops

Tigers boost D-League bid

throws with 14 seconds left. Toronto used its final timeout to draw up a play for Leonard, who let the clock run down to three seconds before driving for a jumper that missed, sending it to a second extra period. Hill’s tiebreaking basket to begin the second overtime put Milwaukee up 105-103, its first lead since the opening basket of the game. Gasol answered with a three and Leonard finished a fast break with a left-handed dunk, putting Toronto up 108-105 with 3:13 left. Khris Middleton shot three for 16, but one of his baskets tied the score with 2.2 seconds to go in regulation. He finished with nine points. After suggesting on Saturday that he might change his lineup, Raptors Coach Nick Nurse stuck with his normal starters, but gave Powell 30 minutes, the most he’s played in any game this postseason. “We just played a lot tougher, man,” Nurse said. “We were up guarding and we were physical, and we were ready to play tonight.” Toronto fell behind 9-0 early in a blowout loss

TORONTO’S Kawhi Leonard (2) scores past Milwaukee’s Malcolm Brogdon. AP

RONCON-University of Santo Tomas (UST) boosted its Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League playoff hopes with a cardiac 78-75 win over Saint Clare College Virtual Reality on Thursday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City. Dave Ando buried the go-ahead undergoal stab with 20.4 seconds remaining, before Brent Paraiso sealed the win with two free throws in the final 4.3 seconds. Junjie Hallare tried to heave a hail mary three to force overtime, but his shot went way short. Paraiso scored 14 points, five rebounds and four assists for Ironcon-UST, while Mark Nonoy and Rhenz Abando chipped in 13 points. “We just executed the game plan and the players did not deviate from it—because that’s their tendency. They just executed,” UST Coach Aldin Ayo said. Ando and Renzo Subido also combined for 20 points for the Growling Tigers who improved to a 6-2 won-lost record in the Aspirants Group. Ironcon-UST survived the late spurt from Irven Palencia, who scored all of his eight points as Saint Clare rallied back from a 73-67 deficit. The Growling Tigers also missed the services Beninese forward Soulemane Chabi Yo, who is down with the flu. Joshua Fontanilla topped Saint Clare (5-3) with 19 points, as Rojay Santos got 16 points built on five triples.

By Rick Olivares

AR Eastern University (FEU) flashed its potential with a remarkable 86-78 win over erstwhile undefeated Lyceum of the Philippines University in the Filoil Flying V Preseason Cup on Monday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan. The Tamaraws got off to a fast start with terrific outside shooting and stifling defense in the first period, 28-13, with four triples coming from Rey Bienes, Ken Tuffin and Xyrus Torres. The Pirates stormed back toward the latter part of the second quarter when Jeff Santos scored consecutive triples and Alvin Baetiong hitting two close range buckets to make it 43-36 with the time down to 11 seconds. But as the Tamaraws did throughout the game, they answered the Pirates’ run with huge shots. Wendell Comboy drilled a triple right before the buzzer to hike the lead to double digits, 46-36. In the fourth period, with FEU still up by 10, Pirates center Mike Nzeusseu scored on a three-point play to bring Lyceum the closest to the Tamaraws all game, 77-70.

AY PARKS JR.’S debut in Blackwater uniform was nothing short of impressive as his arrival promises to bring the team to greener pastures in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup. The second overall pick in last year’s Rookie Draft played his first game on Sunday and immediately made an impact with 20 points that went with eight rebounds, two assists and three steals to compliment the Elite’s 9491 overtime win over the Meralco Bolts at the Mall of Asia Arena. Parks’s entry to the league came with high anticipation as the journeyman brought with him imepressive credentials that placed him high in the draft and only a notch lower than CJ Perez of Columbian. But his first match was off to a tough start as the 6-foot-4 bled for his points on a five-of-13 shooting and eight turnovers in 41 minutes of play. Nevertheless, Blackwater Head Coach Aris Dimaunahan welcomed the addition of Parks as the squad looks forward to improve their

fulfilled their requirements on the qualification system for Lima 2019 and its status as an Olympic qualifier. The continental organization also criticized a decision to schedule an SLS World Tour in Los Angeles, one of the competitions that offers ranking points for skateboarders hoping to compete at Tokyo 2020, at the same time as the Lima 2019 event. McFerran claimed World Skate and the SLS had “continued to disrespect skateboarding with the mishandling of the great opportunity” to be part of the Pan American Games. The American official—an original participant in the negotiations to integrate the sport into the Olympics before the WSF was allegedly excluded from the process—said the

performance after finishing dead last in the Philippine Cup with a 2-9 won-lost record. “Ray is a winner. He really brings a lot to the table. He may have a hard time scoring, but his leadership was shown in the game. He makes good passes, he could defend even in the tightest situation,” Dimaunahan, who also debuted for the team, said. The 26-year-old son of former PBA Best Import, the late Bobby Parks, vowed to contribute more in their next games. “Rough shooting night, still adjusting but I’m happy we got the win,” Parks said.

Patrombon, Capadocia keep Brookside Open net crowns

two bodies had “decided a long time ago not to participate in the Pan American Games.” He said this was because they “cannot control which skateboarder is invited to qualify, and cannot control the competition to ensure certain skateboarders qualify for the Olympics.” McFerran had previously questioned the involvement of the SLS as skateboarders are invited to their events, which he claims means competitions are “closed,” preventing athletes from less-developed nations from qualifying for the Olympics. “Some of us worked very hard to get skateboarding into the Olympics and to have the fine Panam Sports people treated with such disrespect,” McFerran told insidethegames. “I don’t blame them, I think Panam Sports showed great patience. Ultimately, they had no

choice they had to kick skateboarding out. It’s outrageous,” he added. “I hope someone investigates these characters before we are further embarrassed at the Olympics. When is the last time a sport was kicked out of the Pan American Games? It’s a stain on skateboarding.” In a statement, World Skate said it regretted the decision taken by Panam Sports and promised to “give top priority to key events such as the Pan American Games by means of a qualification process able to guarantee quality, transparency and equal opportunities to athletes and the entire sport community” in future. The global governing body claimed a “basic incompatibility between the qualification system established by World Skate America for Lima 2019

“I understand that the PBA is the most prestigious league here so I have to do my work. As much as possible try get more wins than what we had in the last conference.” Parks said he loves teaming up with their import Alex Stephenson, who had 21 points and 31 rebounds in the game. The Elite also had big numbers from Mike DiGregorio, who also scored 21 markers from five triples. “The firepower of the team is there. We just have to put it together and get used to playing with one another throughout the season,” Parks said. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

JESON PATROMBON and Marian Capadocia (second and third from left, respectively) hold their trophies with Cainta Mayor Kit Nieto (left) and Brookside Hills Tennis Club President Allan del Castillo.

ESON PATROMBON battled back from a set down and pounced on fellow Davis Cup veteran Johnny Arcilla’s poor condition in the decider to fashion out a 4-6, 7-5, 3-0(ret.) win while Marian Capadocia survived Clarice Patrimonio, 6-3, 7-6(5), as they kept their singles crowns in the Palawan PawnshopPalawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) Brookside Hills Open Tennis Championships at the Brookside Hills Tennis Club in Cainta, Rizal, on Sunday. Patrombon blew a 4-1 lead in the second set but recovered in time to fight back from 4-5 down and force a decider with a sweep of the last three games. The 26-year-old ace from Iligan City then took the first three games of the third, and eventually the match and the

Skateboarding encounters hump on way to Tokyo Olympics debut ORLD Skateboarding Federation (WSF) President Tim McFerran has warned the sport’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 could be “embarrassing” after it was axed from the Lima 2019 Pan American Games amid a dispute regarding qualification. McFerran claimed similar issues would continue to plague the buildup to next year’s Olympic Games as he stepped up his criticism of World Skate, installed as the governing body for the sport at Tokyo 2020, and its President Sabatino Aracu. Skateboarding was removed from the program for the Pan American Games in the Peruvian capital by Panam Sports, which claimed World Skate and Street League Skateboarding (SLS) had shown a “lack of respect” toward the multisport event. Panam Sports said the two bodies had not

National University won its second straight game in as many outings at the expense of Jose Rizal University (JRU), 85-66, in the juniors division. Gerry Abadiano led NU with 13 points while Kevin Quiambao scored 10. Patrick Teban topscored for the match with 16 points for JRU, which fell to 0-2. Mapua notched its first win in three outings, this time against winless Adamson University, 73-68, also in juniors action. Streaking University of Perpetual Help Juniors Altas overhauled a six-point deficit in the third period to trounce the University of Santo Tomas Tiger Cubs, 90-82. Emman Galman topscored with 23 points for the Juniors Altas with Edzel Galoy and John Escalante adding 17 and 14 points, respectively. UST was led by Jethro Escoto with 18 points. CJ Austria added 15 while Bismarck Lina finished with a double double of 14 points and 13 rebounds. In the 11-Under Division, Xavier continues to steamroll its opponents. The Golden Stallions destroyed Don Bosco, 68-24, behind Wesley Yu (13 points) and Andrew Chio (11).

PARKS IMPRESSES IN PBA DEBUT R

RAY PARKS offsets his eight turnovers with 20 points, eight rebounds, two assists and three steals

in Game Two, but turned that around in Game Three. After Antetokounmpo made a layup for the opening basket of the game, Siakam replied with a hook shot, Gasol followed with a three and the Raptors didn’t trail again in regulation. Powell scored 10 points on five shots in the first, including a pair of 3-pointers, and Toronto led 30-21. Gasol, who had eight points in Games One and Two combined, also made two from long range and scored eight in the first. “After a tough Game Two personally, you want to come out and get rid of the bad taste,” Gasol said. Gasol played with five fouls for part of the fourth quarter and the entire overtime. “He’s a big reason why they were able to win,” Budenholzer said. Leonard scored 11 points in the second and Lowry added eight, but Pat Connaughton made two of Milwaukee’s five 3-pointers as the Bucks closed the gap. The Raptors led 58-51 at halftime. Toronto took a narrow 77-75 lead into the fourth.

But Comboy snuffed out the fire with a trey of his own with 3:30 left to play. Heads up plays from Patrick Tchuente, Alec Stockton and Barkley Eboña prevented Lyceum from any last-minute rally. “Everyone stepped up and played quality minutes,” FEU Head Coach Olsen Racela said. “But in conditioning, we’re still off so we have to switch players often. This is our first win in Filoil [in three games] and it’s against Lyceum.” “We prepared against their press. Lyceum plays 40 minutes of nonstop press, and we did a good job of breaking their press and playing good half-court defense,” Racela added. “But a team like Lyceum will be competitive for 40 minutes. Thankfully, we played consistent basketball for 40 minutes.” FEU knocked down 17 of 39 triples while Lyceum accounted for 8-of-18. Bienes led FEU with 14 points while Comboy, Stockton and Torres each scored 13 apiece. Bienes and Comboy each had four triples while Torres hit three. Jaycee Marcelino led Lyceum, which dropped to 3-1, with 17 points, while Mike Nzeusseu and Ralph Tansingco added 14 and 13 points, respectively.

and the qualification criteria as defined by the International Federation in view of Tokyo 2020” was the reason behind skateboarding being dropped from the program. “Since the qualification process for Lima has been based on the allocation of quotas to National Olympic Committees rather than on nominal ranking as it is for the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games qualification process, this would have not guaranteed the level of quality and transparency necessary for an Olympic qualification,” the statement added. “Unfortunately, when the qualification process for the Olympics was outlined, the qualifications for the Pan American Games were already under way and, despite the efforts by both World Skate and the Lima 2019 Organizing Committee, it was not possible to reach a mutual agreement.”

Insidethegames

crown as Arcilla gave up due to dizziness. The victory, worth P50,000, came on the heels of Patrombon’s emphatic victory in the Gov. Umali Cup in Oriental Mindoro last month, also against his longtime rival Arcilla. Capadocia, who dropped just two games to reach the women’s singles finals, sustained her form against Patrimonio, taking four of the first six games in the opening frame. But Patrimonio toughened up in the second, breaking Capadocia in the second to go 2-up. But the Antique City bet fought back to rack up the next two sets then broke Patrimonio in the seventh game and held serve twice to seize a 5-3 edge. Patrimonio, however, refused to give up, banking on her baseline game to force another tie at five before the duo traded breaks to reach the tiebreaker where Capadocia proved steadier to repeat over Patrimonio, whom she also edged in last year’s finals of the event sponsored by PPSPEPP and hosted by Brookside Hills. The 24-year-old Capadocia, who pocketed P25,000 in her singles romp, made it a twinkill as she teamed up with Khim Iglupas to trounce Clarice and Christine Patrimonio. 6-3, 6-3, and clinch the women’s doubles crown worth P10,000 in the event backed by Rep. Jack Duavit, One Cainta, Barangay San Isidro, Cainta, Rizal, BRAI, Feeds Edition Batangas, RMJ Agricultural, board member Ross Gongora, Allan del Castillo and Dunlop as official ball. Leander Lazaro and Fritz Verdad, meanwhile, stole the thunder in men’s doubles, hacking out a 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 decision over No. 2 Patrombon and Noel Damian Jr. in the semis then foiling Arcilla and Eric Jed Olivarez, 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-8, for the title worth P15,000.

MESSI HITS 50 GOALS FOR BARÇA

ARCELONA, Spain—Lionel Messi scored twice to hit the 50-goal mark for the sixth time in his career on Sunday while Real Madrid put a fittingly poor ending to its worst season in recent memory after losing in the final round of the Spanish league. Messi scored his 49th and 50th goals in all competitions this season to give Barcelona a 2-2 draw at Eibar and finished as the league’s top scorer with 36 goals for the Spanish champions. This is the sixth season Messi has finished as the top La Liga scorer, equaling a record held by Athletic Bilbao striker Telmo Zarra from the 1950s. Barcelona, which had clinched the league title with three rounds to play, will now look to also retain the Copa del Rey title next weekend when it faces Valencia. Its chance of a rare treble of major titles was ended by Liverpool in the Champions League semifinals. Barcelona won the league with 11 points more than second-place Atletico Madrid. It also finished 19 points ahead of Madrid, the biggest-ever points advantage by Barcelona over its fiercest rival. “We were very consistent all season long, and that’s what allowed us to win the league by such a comfortable margin,” Barcelona Coach Ernesto Valverde said.

JEERS FOR MADRID

MADRID endured the jeers of its own frustrated fans after a 2-0 loss to Real Betis at the Santiago Bernabeu. Most of Madrid’s supporters have long placed their hopes on what changes the club will make to an underperforming squad in the summer. Not even Coach Zinedine Zidane could find a saving grace to the campaign. “It isn’t that we don’t want to [play better], we aren’t able to,” Zidane said. “The best thing is for this to be over. We are already thinking about the future and next season.” Madrid entered the match with nothing to play for, locked into a third-place finish for the second consecutive season for the first time since 1974. Since the return of Zidane to take charge of the club after its shock loss to Ajax in the round of 16 in the Champions League, Madrid has finished the campaign with a record of five wins, two draws and four losses. “The fault is ours,” Madrid defender Marcelo said. “We didn’t start well and we didn’t finish it well either. In no way was this the season we wanted to have.”

MESSI’S DOUBLE

LIONEL MESSI moved four goals ahead of Paris SaintGermain forward Kylian Mbappé—who has 32 in the French league with a round left—as the top scorer in Europe’s major domestic leagues. Marc Cucurella, a Barcelona youth player on loan to

Eibar, opened the scoring before Messi got his first goal from a pass by Arturo Vidal in the 31st. Messi added a second just a minute later when he broke behind Eibar’s high defensive line, received the ball from Ivan Rakitic and chipped it over goalkeeper Marco Dmitrovic. Eibar defender Pablo de Blasis leveled just before halftime when he scored from distance into an open net after Barcelona goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen made a poor clearance with his head outside the area. Barcelona right back Nelson Semedo was taken to the hospital for tests after he received a knock on the head and had to be substituted. Youth player Carles Pérez debuted for Barcelona in the second half. The victory at Madrid didn’t save Quique Setién’s job. Betis announced shortly after that Setién and the Seville-based club had agreed to part ways after two seasons together, confirming weeks of speculation that he was on his way out. At least Setién’s last match in charge was one to remember for the coach. Betis outplayed the hosts from the start and got second-half goals from Loren Morón and former Madrid forward Jesé Rodríguez. A long ball by Giovani Lo Celso set Andrés Guardado free down the left as he sprinted clear of Raphael Varane before crossing for Morón to score. Lo Celso then slipped a ball through to Junior Firpo, who found Jesé unmarked at the edge of the six-yard box. Betis, which beat both Madrid and Barcelona at their stadiums, ended the season in 10th place. “This allows us to finish a season that has been a bit disappointing with a victory against a team and at a stadium that will always be a nice memory,” Setién said before the club announced his departure. AP

LIONEL MESSI scores in front of Eibar’s goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

| Tuesday, May 21, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SLOVENIAN FASTEST IN TIMES TRIAL PRIMOZ ROGLIC celebrates on the podium with the victory girls. AP

AN MARINO—Primoz Roglic of Slovenia won the ninth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday as Italian cyclist Valerio Conti extended his overall lead after the individual time trial. Roglic, who also won the opening individual time trial, was quickest on the rain-soaked 35-kilometer route from Riccione that had an uphill finish in San Marino—the only time this year that the Giro crosses into another country. The 29-yearold Roglic was 11 seconds faster than Belgium cyclist Victor Campenaerts and one minute ahead of Bauke Mollema of the Netherlands. Roglic had been more than five minutes behind Conti going into the time trial but moved into second overall, 1:50 behind the UAE Team Emirates cyclist, who had replaced Roglic in the overall lead after

Preakness winner War of Will likely to run in Belmont B

ALTIMORE—Owner Gary Barber called trainer Mark Casse for the fourth time in 11 hours since War of Will won the Preakness. Only this time, Casse was in the middle of holding court with reporters the morning after his first Triple Crown victory. “All’s good and we’re going to the Belmont?” Casse said to Barber with a Cheshire cat grin. “I was kidding. I was making that up.” Well, not totally. Assuming all goes well in the coming weeks, Casse said “there’s an extremely good shot”War of Will goes to the Belmont Stakes on June 8 in New York. If he wins, he’d be the first horse since Afleet Alex in 2005 to fall short in the Kentucky Derby before capturing the Preakness and Belmont and would be the front-runner for 3-year-old horse of the year. “It’s the third leg of the Triple Crown, who doesn’t want to win it?” Casse said on Sunday. “There are only three Triple Crown races, and they’re pretty important. I think if you can do it you should do it.... “That’s what we do. We run.” Those watching the Preakness saw a horse run the entire race and then some after throwing off his jockey out of the starting gate, a scene that—once it was clear rider John Velazquez was OK—served as a reminder of how much thoroughbreds love to run. Bodexpress provided a memorable spectacle as War of Will fulfilled his potential at Pimlico. The Belmont is another substantial test for the tough and talented War of Will because it’s a third race in six weeks and is the longest of the Triple Crown races at one-and-a-half miles. There won’t be a Kentucky Derby rematch with Maximum Security, who was disqualified for interfering with War of Will, or Country House, who was placed first and since been sidelined by illness. And two-time Triple Crown

JOCKEY Tyler Gaffalione sits aboard War of Will as trainer Mark Casse holds the reins after winning the Preakness Stakes. AP

finishing second in Thursday’s sixth stage. Moreover, Roglic gained time on his rivals. British cyclist Simon Yates—one of the prerace favorites—finished more than three minutes behind Roglic. “It’s a perfect performance in my mind. I did a good job,” Roglic said. “I took it easy at the beginning, and I gave it all at the end. “It’s nice to take some time over the other GC favorites, but the Giro is far from over.” Nans Peters of France moved third overall, 2:21 behind Conti. “It was very rainy for me, but I stayed calm. My goal was to keep the Maglia Rosa, so I’m very happy with the result,” Conti said. Vincenzo Nibali fared the best out of the rest of the prerace favorites, finishing fourth on a day which saw only 12 riders finish within two minutes of the winner. The Italian is 3:34 behind Conti. Monday is the race’s first rest day before Tuesday’s 10th stage, an entirely flat 145-kilometer route from Ravenna to Modena. The Giro finishes in Verona on June 2. AP winning trainer Bob Baffert said he probably won’t take Improbable to the Belmont after finishing out of the money in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness as the favorite. But War of Will could have to contend with Derby returners Tacitus, Master Fencer and perhaps Baffert’s Game Winner, along with Preakness surprise second-place finisher Everfast, third-place runner Owendale and ninth-place Signalman. Trainer Bill Mott ruled out Country House but is planning to take Tacitus to the Belmont and figures the gray colt will have no problem in a significantly longer race. “He should handle it fine,” Mott said by phone on Saturday. “My guess was that he’d handle the Derby distance fine, which he did. I was pleased. I think it goes the same for the Belmont. I think it’s within his grasp.” If the Preakness had more than an extra quarter-mile, closers Everfast and Owendale might’ve put a scare into War of Will on Saturday. Everfast was a late entry by trainer Dale Romans three days before the race and opened at 50-1 but showed he might be a good long-distance runner. “We almost had it,” Everfast jockey Joel Rosario said. “He ran great. We have a great shot at the Belmont.” Tacitus, Everfast and Owendale will be strong challengers, but this should be War of Will’s Belmont to lose. Had he not endured such a rough trip in and been interfered with at Churchill Downs on May 4, there could be another wave of Triple Crown talk going on right now about a third winner in five years. But Casse isn’t thinking about that, still grateful War of Will avoided going down in the Derby and was able to rebound and run well in the Preakness. He’ll monitor the horse back at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky, to make sure a sore foot and his energy level are good enough to run in the Belmont on a three-week turnaround. Casse can’t predict how War of Will responds this time, but he knows what it would mean if the horse comes out on top once again. “He’s just an athlete,” Casse said. “It would just show that he’s tough and able to overcome things.” AP

Almighty God

EAR God, You establish justice and peace. In awe and gladness we pray: Receive our praise, oh gracious God. Strengthen the faith of those who are preparing for baptism and confirmation. Inspire pastors, liturgists, catechists and religion teachers. Help us to perceive Your holy presence in all things. Animate us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit in dealing with other people. May the glory of God shine forth in our lives, through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

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SAVARESE’S Ode to the Sea photographic collection highlighted the energy and peacefulness of water in motion.

PHOTOS: KIM COOK VIA AP

Elements provide inspiration at Architectural Digest show

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Weft’s wool rug from their Tidal Collection at the Architectural Digest Design. The rugs gave the ebb and flow of the ocean an intriguing abstract quality.

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MONTREAL photographer Paul-Emile Rioux’s ocean horizon series at the Architectural Digest Design show in New York.

By KiM COOK The Associated Press

EW YORK—Intrepid visitors to the recent Architectural Digest Design Show braved lashings of chilly rain to get there. But inside, the elements were the source of inspiration. Water, wind, Earth, light—artists found clever ways to showcase these natural elements in art for the home. In the “Made” section of the show, where independent designers were set up, creativity was at every turn. Photographer Susan Richman of Dobbs Ferry, New York, is intrigued by ephemeral qualities in an environment. She has shot dilapidated buildings through mirrors and Mylar. In her newest collection, ReFormations, she combines dyes with botanical material she finds on walks—“grasses, seedpods and hydrangea petals,” among others—and then freezes them. As they thaw, she photographs their transformation. Chicago-based Mitchell Black showed a large mural called Mountain. It was reminiscent of a vintage black-and-white illustration from a good book that might take its reader deep into a mysterious forest. In a wallpaper collection called Storms,

charcoal drawings of roiling clouds and dust become beautifully transcendent wall art. The company is known for avant garde wallpapers that include oversize python-skin prints, captured imagery of sound waves and spattered rain. Tempaper’s creative director Jennifer Matthews drew inspiration from Asian jungles for Utopia, a panoramic mural with lush trees and creatures. Sisyphus Industries drew visitors to their tables that held magnetized steel balls tracing intricate patterns in silica sand, under glass tops. The tables come in several sizes, and each is loaded with a selection of programmed tracks that guide the robotcontrolled balls. Lynn Savarese’s Ode to the Sea series of photographs paid homage to water, in all its frothy, tumultuous forms. Simon Johns of Quebec brought his blackened-ash Shale console, a dramatic piece crafted using hand and machine to carve out the crumbling, textural details of a cliff’s façade. Hollie Heller, who splits her time between New Jersey and a teaching studio in Costa Rica, was displaying artworks made from found materials. She gathers things like shells and beads, and cuts up old playing cards, documents, fabrics and photos, carefully layering, manipulating and composing them

into mixed media art. “I’m thinking of progression when I begin arranging,” Heller says. “It’s a drawing using objects, a journey where the details become clearer upon closer inspection.” Brooklyn, New York-based Richard Clarkson Studio made the Sagittarius lighting fixture mounted on the booth’s ceiling. It’s one of the Light System series of brass, LED and mono-filament pendants representing the zodiac constellations. The sky has frequently been a source of inspiration for the New Zealand-born Clarkson; he showed a billowy, cloud-shaped fixture in his lineup as well. He grew up admiring the night sky over Waimarama Beach, and aimed to recapture that magic in the collection. “We’ve all been left awe-inspired by the stars at some point in our lives,” he says. Another intriguing piece in his booth: a limitededition wall panel made of glass, aluminum and acrylic on a wood frame. More than 700 tiny lights twinkle behind the laser-etched, back-painted glass face. Clarkson created it to commemorate the night of July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Eagle lunar module on the moon, and Armstrong took those first steps. “The Panel is an accurate map of the stars and constellations from New York’s perspective on that very night,” he says. n

CIRCLES: THE ARTIST AS AN AMALGAMATION D4

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

FOR LUXURY PROPERTY BUYERS, IMAGE IS EVERYTHING IN this age of sharing and social media, lifestyle aspirations are driving consumer preferences in the real-estate industry. This is according to Tina Bautista, head of Property24, one of the most powerful online enablers for property buyers and sellers. Bautista cites, in particular, upper mid and luxury properties expected to be in high demand in 2019. The Philippines continues to lead the world in socialmedia usage, spending the most amount of time online, about four hours and 12 minutes a day. The number of social-media users in the country grew by 13 percent, with more than 9 million users added since January 2018. Property24, with Bautista at the helm, keeps a close tab on consumer digital behavior and trends in the real-estate industry. Bautista has many years of experience working in the e-commerce industry. Before joining Property24, she led the overall online product strategy and channel expansion of Samsung as online business demand management lead; served as vice president for the regional head of commercial planning for Ensogo Inc.; and lead broadband planner for the product design and creation division of Globe Telecom. Bautista, who has 12 years of experience in successfully creating strategies for online products and studying online consumer consumption, foresees a shift in buyer preferences, especially in the real-estate industry, over the next five years. “The major shift that may happen over the next five years is that technology will enable more than just searching and communication between property buyers and sellers. Technology will be able to change even how properties are bought and rented or financed by banks. We see this happening in more advanced markets. Generally as well, because of consumer preferences, we can also expect property developers to cater to emerging technology needs, such as high-speed Internet connectivity, online delivery and receiving hubs, and smart home technologies,” Bautista says. In the real-estate industry, the speed of transactions and the expectations of potential property buyers are increasing rapidly, as the amount of information and influence that they receive online also grows. That is why Bautista advises companies to adapt swiftly to these developments. “In our case, we are constantly working with our product and engineering teams, including enhancing our chat and contact form features, to make communication easier and faster between buyers and sellers. We also fine-tune our search algorithms and filters to be able to reflect better user behavior and preferences,” she says. Property24’s willingness to adapt has paved the way for it to become one of the strongest and most influential online platforms in the country today. “Buyers today have many options and resources at their fingertips,” says Bautista. “It’s best for them to compare across all of these to be able to make the best decision. At the same time, they also have to exercise caution and judgment to ensure they are transacting with trusted brokers and agents.”

WILHELMINA GARCIA’S Mountain Chair, which was inspired by the mountains she climbed: Mount Makiling, Mount Cristobal, Mount Batulao and Mount APO. The wood used for this chair is from the acacia tree uprooted from their farm during a typhoon.

To junk or not to junk? Not

KOREAN Cultural Center Director Lee Jin (left) and Jieun Song (right) with SM Senior Vice President for Marketing Millie Dizon beside Kargada, a cargo bike using junk bike parts and plastic waste for the basket.

A CORAL Collection including three chairs made from chichiria wrappers and a center table designed with an old car tire... Kargada, a cargo bike using junk bike parts and plastic waste for the basket...Morocco chairs made from the waste collected during a river cleanup in Morocco. These were some of amazing pieces showcased in the recent Junk Not exhibit at SM Aura Premier, featuring Idr. Wilhelmina Garcia’s creative ways of transforming waste materials into functional/useful items. The event was part of SM Aura Premier’s Lush Initiative, a campaign promoting green programs in the mall, and part of its Earth Month celebrations. Idr. Wilhelmina Garcia is the founder of Junk Not, an interior design company that specializes in finding creative ways to transform everyday trash and other

indigenous materials into functional items. Junk Not engages a community of women in Barangay Alas-as, San Nicolas, in Batangas, to be responsible stewards of the environment by training them to segregate and clean household wastes. These plastic wastes are then turned into ropes that are woven into wooden/metal frames to create beautiful furniture or table accents. Wilhelmina is a graduate of Interior Design at St. Scholastica’s College, Manila. She is a licensed interior designer and a member of PIID (Philippine Institute of Interior Design) since 2006. She attended social entrepreneurship at Youth Encounter Sustainability (YES) held in Armenia, Colombia. In 2007, she won the grand prize in the interior design category “The Environment

Shapes You” of the Metrobank Arts and Design Excellence. She is an advocate of the environment and continues to create art pieces as her means to lessen waste in different communities. Her beautiful furniture pieces and accessories have been exhibited in different events in the Philippines and even abroad: Paris, Belgium and Germany. The recent exhibition was a call for action, an advocacy to push everyone to be more creative and responsible with their waste management. With this, SM Aura Premier and Junk Not encourage everyone to join this movement, give back to Mother Nature, and be a responsible consumer by starting proper waste segregation in your own home. The Junk Not exhibit is one of SM Aura Premier’s many exciting events.

THESE Morocco chairs are the finished products of all the waste materials collected during a cleanup of a river in Morocco.

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Tuesday, May 21, 2019

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Tense ‘If She Wakes’ moves to a surprising finale By Oline H. Cogdill The Associated Press

ULTI-AWARD winning author Michael Koryta again shows his affinity for smoothly melding sophisticated action with solid character development—even when one of the individuals is in a coma—as happens in If She Wakes (Little, Brown). If She Wakes not only works well as a quintessential thriller but also as a tale about rebuilding one’s life and not giving up on one’s self amid insurmountable odds. Bright, personable Tara Beckley, a student at Maine’s Hammel College, ends up in a coma after being injured in a horrific car accident in which visiting Prof. Amandi Oltamu is killed. Tara had been driving Amandi to deliver the keynote speech about his groundbreaking work on batteries and solar panels. The professor insisted they take an alternate route and had wanted them to stop on a bridge so he could take photographs

with his phone when they were struck by another vehicle. Hammel College hires insurance investigator Abby Kaplan to look into the collision to avoid any lawsuits over the death or Tara’s hospital bills. But Abby is a former stunt driver with an encyclopedic knowledge of accidents, having recently been in a high-profile collision that resulted in a fatality. It soon becomes clear that this accident could not have happened as the police reports stated. Soon more deaths linked to the incident occur. As Abby investigates, Tara remains in the locked-in syndrome, able to hear what is going on around her in the hospital room but unable to communicate. While If She Wakes is a stand-alone thriller, Koryta brings back, in a way, brothers Jack and Patrick Blackwell, professional killers who first appeared in 2014’s Those Who Wish Me Dead. While the brothers are now dead, their legacy looms large, especially in the form of Dax Blackwell, a teenage assassin who is more violent than his father or uncle.

Today’s Horoscope By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Fairuza Balk, 45; Lisa Edelstein, 53; Nick Cassavetes, 60; Judge Reinhold, 62. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: This is a year of opportunity. It’s a time to explore new possibilities and to start building for the future. What you develop and put in place will be the foundation for your success. Don’t waste time procrastinating. Get the ball rolling, do your research and put all the pieces you need to excel in place. New beginnings will lead to rewards. Your lucky numbers are 3, 16, 21, 29, 31, 35, 47.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You may feel the urge to make a physical or personal change, but before you do, look for the best route to take. If you let your emotions overrule common sense, you will end up backtracking. Slow down and be methodical. HH

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): A reimbursement or settlement looks promising. Plan to make a personal change that will lift your spirits. An old idea can now be brought to life. Love is on the rise, and a chance to improve an important relationship is within reach. HHHHH

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Size up whatever situation you face, and consider where the information you receive is coming from. Refuse to let someone lead you astray by using charm or persuasive tactics. Be smart, and know when to say no. Trust and believe in yourself. HHH

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Use your energy wisely. Much can be completed if you stay focused on what you want to accomplish. A good plan and creative vision are needed for you to make progress. Partnerships are encouraged, and personal change looks promising. HHH

e Koryta is such a polished writer that his plots zip by as he delves into the amorality of Dax and the humanity of Abby and Tara, whose

personality emerges, despite being paralyzed. Believable twists propel the tense If She Wakes as it moves to a surprising finale. n

1ST PREMYO VALLEDOR AWARD FOR BICOL NOVELS GIVES GRAND PRIZE TO TWO WINNERS FROM left: Neni Sta. RomanaCruz, Niles Jordan Breis, Jerome Hipolito and Victorio Valledor

A STORY about a desaparecido discovered by a community during the martial-law era and a collection of journal entry accounts detailing the quiet but desperate life of a millennial are the grand prize winners of the Premyo Valledor Para Sa Nobelang Bikol. The contest aims to encourage Bicol writers to pursue novel writing in any Bicol language and have them published to be appreciated by an audience. Niles Jordan Breis won for Kalatraban sa Alkawaraan, while Jerome Hipolito took the prize for Dyurnal Intris. Although the literary award intended to have only one grand prize winner, it was the decision of the judges to give the award to two winners instead. Both Breis and Hipolito are prizewinning poets and it is their first time to pursue the novel in their works. Both grand prize winners took home a trophy plus P50,000 in cash. Both novels will also be published by the Ateneo de Naga University Press this year. The award was held at the Ateneo de Naga on April 27 with the presence of the university’s officers, members of the local literary community, and the board of judges led by Victor Valledor, benefactor of the contest, an insurance industry trailblazer, business leader, philanthropist and a true son of Bicol who traces his roots in Catanduanes. Joining Valledor at the awards ceremony were Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz, distinguished author and chairman of the National Book Development Board; Tito Valiente, accomplished film educator, film critic

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Relax and take a moment to think. Time is on your side, so don’t let anyone push you to make a move or a decision before you are ready. Look for alternative opportunities that fit the lifestyle you want to live. HHH

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Pay attention to detail, especially when it comes to how you put yourself together. You don’t want to give anyone a false impression; what you see should be what you get. Let your confidence shine through and your presence make an impact. HHHHH

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Look at what’s available to you. Observe and learn all you can before you decide to take on someone who is difficult to deal with. An argument will be a waste of time. HH

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Make contact with someone you haven’t seen for a long time. The memories will stir up forgotten dreams, prompting you to rethink how you want to move forward. HHHH

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Don’t press forward if something doesn’t feel right. Listen carefully, and you’ll realize someone is not being honest with you. Don’t make a fuss. Remove yourself from any situation or deal that is excessive or risky. HHH

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): It’s your turn to make a move. Proceed with confidence, and don’t leave anything to chance. A change in the way someone treats you will give you an opportunity to discover how you feel about spending more time with him or her. HHH

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You may not like what others are doing or saying, but if you concentrate on taking care of your responsibilities and mind your own business, you will be able to sidestep trouble. HHHH

and BusinessMirror columnist; Marne Kilates, prized literary writer and 1998 Southeast Asia Write Award winner; and Frank V. Peñones Jr., poet, translator, visual artist and Southern Luzon representative for the National Committee of Literary Arts of NCCA. Kristian Sendon Cordero, Ateneo de Naga professor and Ateneo de Naga University Press deputy director, was at the helm of the successful literary contest.

Besides Breis and Hipolito, two other novels included in the short list are Alunsina Kan Dagat by Marvin Davila Aguino, and An Huring Panuga, coauthored by Arthur Justine P. Alemania and Roxanne E. Berido. After a successful maiden launch, organizers have already announced that the 2nd Premyo Valledor literary contest will be accepting entries until November.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Keep emotions under control. Handle your money and personal affairs strategically. If you let someone else meddle in your business, it will end up costing you. Make physical changes to your home. Romance is in the stars. HH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are engaging, creative and changeable. You are dynamic and persuasive.

‘put ’em together’ BY ERIK AGARD The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Philippines currency 5 Morsel in a “casino” dish 9 “___ your heart!” 14 Each 15 Garden sprayer 16 Purple hue 17 Nailed one’s exit? 19 Blue hue 20 The Jeffersons had 11 of them 21 Fasting month 23 ___ Planet (nature series) 24 Colossal 25 Monthly payment 26 Insignificant duel partner? 31 Make tweaks to 32 Not outgoing 33 Hmong, say 37 Simba, to Mufasa 38 Waited for a cue 41 Take to court 42 “Cut me some ___!” 44 Long or Franklin 45 Letters on meat packages 46 Cheech and Chong, e.g.?

0 Prod 5 53 “___-haw!” 54 Prof’s helpers 55 ___ Award (Oscar) 57 Radon finder 61 Geekish 62 What 17-, 26- and 46-Across do 64 Celebrity Big Brother winner Braxton 65 Had debts 66 Smell awful 67 Entrap 68 Pulls the plug on 69 Herbal brews DOWN 1 Amigos 2 Olympian’s blade 3 Living room perch 4 Unsubscribes 5 Viola attachment 6 Pieces of lumber 7 Volcanic powder 8 Like grams but not pounds 9 Explosion sound 10 Iguanas, e.g. 11 Get away from

2 Wrap brand 1 13 Aroma 18 Wipe the court with 22 “That was ages ___” 24 Singer in the 2019 documentary Home-coming 26 Disorder 27 Aspirational figure 28 Singer Simone 29 Desus & Mero channel, for short 30 Aye’s opposite 34 “Little” star Rae 35 German automaker 36 Close by 38 Enjoy Tahoe 39 ___ de los Muertos (Mexican holiday) 40 Makes the rounds? 43 Cheese cracker flavor 45 Arrogant phenom 47 Leg day site 48 Early Hendrix hit 49 Sprinter’s race 50 Capris, e.g. 51 Pacific or Indian 52 Cosmic balance principle

6 Bronte’s Jane 5 57 Knotted up 58 Patella’s place 59 Notion 60 Chiding sounds 63 Take responsibility for

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

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Tuesday, May 21, 2019

JOHN WICK: Chapter 3-Parabellum, the third installment of the hyperviolent Keanu Reeves (in photo) franchise, has taken the top spot at the North American box office, ending the threeweek reign of Avengers: Endgame. AP

‘Black Mirror’ returns with muchanticipated fifth season on Netflix FIVE groundbreaking seasons. Three all-new stories. One future we should have seen coming.... Experience three all-new stories in Black Mirror on Netflix, from mastermind Charlie Brooker and executive producer Annabel Jones, starring Anthony Mackie, Miley Cyrus, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Topher Grace, Damson Idris, Andrew Scott, Nicole Beharie, Pom Klementieff, Angourie Rice, Madison Davenport and Ludi Lin. Black Mirror is an anthology series that taps into our collective unease with the modern world, with each stand-alone episode a sharp, suspenseful tale exploring themes of contemporary techno-paranoia leading to an unforgettable—and sometimes unsettling—conclusion. Without questioning it, technology has transformed all aspects of our lives, in every home, on every desk, in every palm: a plasma screen, a monitor, a smartphone—a Black Mirror reflecting our 21st-century existence back at us. The series returns on Netflix on June 5.

A NEWLY RESTORED ‘THE SHINING’ DEBUTS IN CANNES CANNES, France—Thirty-nine years later, Jack is still not a dull boy. In a new pristine restoration, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening. It was the second straight year that a Kubrick movie landed on the Croisette, following last year when Christopher Nolan brought what he termed an “unrestored” cut of 2001: A Space Odyssey. This time around, Alfonso Cuaron introduced the film, alongside Kubrick’s daughter, Katharina Kubrick, and Leon Vitali, Kubrick’s longtime assistant. Vitali was himself profiled in the 2017 documentary Filmworker, also a Cannes entry. “If anybody hasn’t seen it on the screen before, it’s a different experience completely,” Vitali told the crowd. “Don’t worry, you’ll all come out of here alive.” Cuaron’s presence in Cannes was notable. His film Roma was set to premiere at the French festival last year. But when Netflix and the festival couldn’t agree on distribution terms for the streaming giant’s films, Netflix pulled out of Cannes and Roma headed instead to the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion prize. Cuaron didn’t oversee The Shining restoration. That role went to Steven Spielberg, whose 2018 sci-fi thriller Ready Player One included a lengthy homage to The Shining. But Cuaron lavished praise on The Shining while playfully prodding conspiracy theorists that dig into the film for hidden meanings. “Actually, tonight, we’re going to watch it backwards, because backwards, we’ll see it with the message Kubrick [intended],” joked Cuaron. The 2012 documentary Room 237 chronicled some of those theories, including that The Shining is really about the moon landing or about the treatment of Native Americans. Katharina Kubrick used an expletive to describe the guessing games around The Shining. “This is a seriously cool ghost movie. Don’t believe any of the conspiracy theories because it’s all s---,” she said. “I only said that because I’ve had some champagne.” Cuaron agreed. “Kubrick would have really gotten a laugh out of all of these conspiracy theories,” said the director. “By all reports, he believed in films not to be explained but to be experienced. A little bit like music, he used to say.” The Shining restoration will be released on home video October 1. AP

‘John Wick 3’ dethrones ‘Avengers: Endgame’ with $57 million

By Lindsey Bahr The Associated Press

OS ANGELES—The box office has a new king and his name is John Wick. The third installment of the hyper-violent Keanu Reeves franchise has taken the top spot at the North American box office and ended the threeweek reign of Avengers: Endgame. Studios on Sunday say John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum has grossed an estimated $57 million in its opening weekend. Not only did it far exceed expectations, it’s also a franchise best that nearly doubled the opening of the second film, which itself doubled the opening of the first film from 2014. The audience, in other words, is growing exponentially for this series about a talented assassin who never seems to get a break. This time, there’s a $14 million price tag on his head. Men made up the majority, 63 percent of the John Wick 3 opening weekend crowd. Overall audiences gave the film a rare “A+” CinemaScore, indicating that word-of-mouth will be strong in subsequent weekends. According to comScore’s PostTrak audience survey, 70 percent said they would “definitely recommend” to their friends and 21 percent said they would see it again in theaters. “This is the best reviewed film of the series so far,” said Joe Drake, chairman of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, in a statement. “We believe word-of-

mouth will continue to drive strong business for the film all over the world.” Internationally John Wick 3 earned $35.2 million from 66 territories. Avengers: Endgame slid to second place in its fourth weekend with $29.4 million. Domestically, where the film has grossed $711 million, it’s now second only to Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($937 million) and globally, with $2.6 billion, it’s still second to Avatar ($2.8 billion). In its second weekend, Pokémon Detective Pikachu also continued to do well, placing third with $24.8 million. But with the high-performing trifecta of John Wick, the Avengers and Pikachu, there weren’t very many moviegoers left over for the less flashy newcomers like A Dog’s Journey and The Sun is Also a Star. “The marketplace was so dominated by John Wick,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for comScore. “It’s tough when one movie over-performs by this kind of magnitude.” Amblin Entertainment and Reliance Entertainment’s A Dog’s Journey opened in fourth with an underwhelming $8 million. The Universaldistributed film is a sequel to the 2017 hit A Dog’s Purpose. But unlike John Wick, the audience for this sequel was less than half of that for the first, which opened to $18.2 million. But audiences who did turn out gave it an “A” CinemaScore, which could point toward long-term playability. Most disappointing, however, is the young adult adaptation The Sun is Also a Star which grossed only $2.6 million from over 2,000 screens and landed in eighth place. Although modestly budgeted at a reported $9 million, and featuring popular television actors, such as Riverdale’s Charles Melton and grownish’s Yara Shahidi, the Warner Bros.-released film failed to connect even with the audiences who turned out, 75 percent of whom were women. It got a poor “B-” CinemaScore. It’s a far cry from the days of The Fault in Our Stars’s $48 million debut in 2014, and even the last film based on a Nicola Yoon novel, Everything, Everything, which opened to over $11 million in 2017. “As unpredictable and fickle as young adults are, so are the performances of films that target that

audience,” Dergarabedian said. In limited release, Joanna Hogg’s well-reviewed relationship drama The Souvenir did well with $85,851 from four screens. Even with the success of John Wick, the weekend itself was down about 31 percent and the year to date is still down around 9 percent, but, Dergarabedian said this is the calm before the storm. In the next few weekends theaters will see an influx of could-be hits, such as Rocketman, Aladdin and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. 1. John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum, $57 million ($35.2 million international) 2. Avengers: Engame, $29.4 million ($46.8 million international) 3. Pokémon Detective Pikachu, $24.8 million ($53.8 million international) 4. A Dog’s Journey, $8 million ($13.9 million international) 5. The Hustle, $6.1 million ($9.5 million international) 6. The Intruder, $4 million 7. Long Shot, $3.4 million ($1.8 million international) 8. The Sun is Also a Star, $2.6 million ($484,000 international) 9. Poms, $2.1 million ($396,000 international) 10. Uglydolls, $1.6 million ($3.1 million international). Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the US and Canada), according to comScore: 1. Pokémon Detective Pikachu, $53.8 million 2. Avengers: Endgame, $46.8 million 3. John Wick: Chapter 3-Parabellum, $35.2 million 4. A Dog’s Journey, ($13.9 million international) 5. The Hustle, $9.5 million 6. The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, $9.4 million 7. Capernaum, $3.5 million 8. Miss & Mrs. Cops, $3.1 million 9. Uglydolls, $3.1 million 10. Twin, $2.9 million. n

Top bands, DJs sizzle at SarBay fest THE country’s top rock bands and DJs will rock the famed Gumasa Beach for the Sarangani Bay (SarBay) Festival, the country’s biggest and hippest beach party, set on May 30 to June 1. Opening the three-day event is the San Miguel Night featuring the band Rocksteddy, and DJs Kouta Kutsuma and Cupcakes. The fun continues on the second night with the Bay Bodies 2019 pageant, DJ Battle, and the Talk ’N Text party featuring 6Cyclemind, DJ Marc Marasigan and DJ Kat. The festivity draws to a close on June 1 with the Globe party series featuring the band Ben&Ben, and DJs Tom Taus and Carlo Atendido. Now on its 12th edition, this year’s festivity is themed “Neon Summer,” which will showcase the tourism gems of the Soccsksargen region, where Sarangani has been the top

tourist destination for 2018. The event draws more than 100,000 guests and stresses environmental awareness among partygoers, with activities such as beach cleanups, mangrove tree-planting and scuba cleanups. According to Sarangani Gov. Steve Chiongbian Solon, this year’s edition will celebrate the innovations that the beach event has undergone through the years, most notably its advocacy for sustainable tourism and family-oriented recreation. “The Provincial Government of Sarangani, along with the Department of Tourism [DOT], is committed to inculcate the importance of continuous awareness to protect and preserve the resources of Sarangani Bay,” he said. Located in Glan town, Gumasa Beach is regarded as Mindanao’s beach capital with its long stretch of powdery

sand, crystalline water, scenic coves, and cozy boutique hotels and restaurants. The SarBay fest officially kicks off with the 15-kilometer Swim Across the Bay relay, Asia’s most extreme swimming event, followed by sporting events, such as SarBay Strongman, beach volleyball and football, skim boarding, frisbee, jet ski race, bancathon, mountain bike, skim boarding and frisbee tournaments. Spicing up the fest are Zumba sessions with the Legendz, drum beating competition, fire dancing exhibitions, body painting and family sand sculpture contests. SarBay Fest is organized by the Sarangani Provincial Tourism Council and supported by the Province of Sarangani, DOT Region 12 and the Municipality of Glan. It is a consistent recipient of the Best Tourism Event Award from the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines.

6CYCLEMIND

Art

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

SPILLOVER (the by-products of an activity as a picture) is on view at Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery until June 8.

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FAILED Restoration Project No. 1, JC Jacinto

The artist as an amalgamation DEMON Temple/ Evil Eye, Ana Verayo

CIRCLES JT NISAY

jtnisay@gmail.com

GATEWAY GALLERY CELEBRATES ARANETA AS ‘HERITAGE TOWN’

GATEWAY Gallery in Gateway Tower observes the summer month of May as Heritage Month. To celebrate this theme, Gateway Gallery puts the spotlight on the exhibit Araneta: Heritage Town, which opened on May 15. The ongoing exhibit highlights the rich history of Araneta district and its peripheral areas as center of lifestyle and entertainment with Araneta Coliseum as its centerpiece. The exhibit discusses the roles that the vintage town played in the development and enrichment of the area, and how it shaped the public’s consciousness with regards to leisure, consumption, religion and traditions. It also explores the roles of the iconic structures in the district played in shaping the public’s customs and awareness, and how the public shaped back these structures. The exhibit is divided into sections that give the viewer a clearer perspective of its traditions and history. The exhibit is curated by Gari Apolonio with the assistance of the Araneta Archives Unit. It is on view until June 2. To supplement the exhibit, Gateway Gallery has lined up activities that will complete the viewer’s experience of the heritage district, including the Araneta Heritage Walk on May 25 and Araneta Heritage Talks on June 1. The Araneta Heritage Walk is a guided walking tour along memory lane that will familiarize the participants on the iconic structures in the district through historic and anecdotal accounts. It includes a quick food stop to enjoy classic refreshments popular decades ago. The walk starts at 9 am and ends at 12 noon. The Araneta Heritage Talks on June 1, 3 to 5 pm, is a focused discussion on the key issues related to heritage and Araneta district as a historic town. Three speakers will delve on general heritage information, the characteristics of Araneta as a heritage district and the crucial work of archiving. Noted architect and urban planner Paulo Alcazaren will talk about the second topic. He will be joined by Arch. Reynaldo Lita of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, and Maritess Gonzaga, the director of Araneta Center’s Archives Department. The exhibit and its activities is supported by the J. Amado Araneta Foundation, Araneta Center and its Archives Department. These celebrations become more timely now that Quezon City government has officially declared Araneta Center as one of its tourism districts in its new ordinance. The announcement was made in April, recognizing it as Cubao Growth Center. Gateway Gallery is the art museum of Araneta Center. Located on the 5th floor of Gateway Tower, it is open daily, from 10 am to 7 pm. Entry to the museum is free.

RTISTIC styles should not define artists. For 34-year-old visual artist JC Jacinto, looking at creators of art simply by their subject preference or color choices or brushstroke patterns is discounting the complexity of the artistic mind. “If we ignore the reasons behind why [artists] create, they become brands,” Jacinto said. “That’s why I don’t believe in artistic styles.” He sees it is a limiting and limited measure of artists and their pursuits. For one, Jacinto said artmaking is not just the process of creating art, but a catharsis for the artist, a conversation. Meanwhile, its product, the art created, is more than the result of that process, but an “extension of inumerable things”—a by-product, or “the ash to their flame.” Presenting artists and their art as something far more, something far greater than what is made of them is the idea behind Jacinto’s Spillover (the byproducts of an activity as a picture), the ongoing sevenman group show on view at Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery until June 8. “Spillover highlights the idea that art is not born out of thin air,” said Jacinto, who is listed as the show’s curator but shrugs off the title, saying organizing exhibitions is just a way for him to learn from the artists he admires. In Demon Temple/ Evil Eye, Ana Verayo allowed her mixed media diptych to be in control. Jacinto said the paint, in its abstraction, did not attempt to imitate or convey. Rather, it covered, flowed and mixed. “The paint created and the artist assisted,” he added. Another celebration of randomness is Brisa Amir’s “sustained mania as marks on scraps of paper,” which Jacinto describes as rebellious and meditative, a continuous release of split-second impulses. Meanwhile, Mars Bugaoan’s Become A Universe challenges the viewer to see detritus in a more delicate, almost organic way, Jacinto said. The artist explained on Vinyl on Vinyl’s Instagram post that while traversing neighborhood streets, he would pick up discarded wires from around construction sites within the village.

“Various forms would become apparent and more and more pronounced with each wire that gets added to the collection: they come together in this work to encapsulate an image—a living, breathing vision,” he wrote. That vision in Spillover took the form of, as Jacinto puts it, “almost like a colony of unknown creatures.” Also featured in the exhibit is Mady Santos with Con�lating Echoes 1 and 2, a pair of “intuitive and nonrepresentational paintings,” as well as her Mapping Verges, created with the recomposed masking tapes used to define lines in the two paintings. Koki Lxx also used discarded objects, particularly die-cut wall text stickers, saying these “gallery wastes” still carry the stories and moments of how these objects served specific artworks and artists. In Painting Changes, But Not Very Much (OG), Gino Bueza continues to engage the viewer in how art should be, and how it should be presented. His process turned paint into pieces to be constructed as a whole. As the intended purpose and characteristics of paint evolved, Jacinto said, the piece “almost dares [one] to decide if it is a painting or a sculpture.” Rounding out the seven-man lineup of Spillover is Jacinto himself. As someone who has been transitioning from painting mostly organic subjects to using actual organic materials in his art, Jacinto presents in the show Failed Restoration Project No. 1, a 15-foot assemblage of materials derived from a tree, from woods scraps to wood shavings to saw dust to even paper pulp.

CCP launches encyclopedia of Philippine art in Iloilo THE Cultural Center of the Philippines will hold the regional launch of the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art (second edition) on May 24, 5 pm, at the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art (Ilomoca). CCP Vice President and Artistic Director Chris Millado, who is also the project director of Encyclopedia of the Philippine Arts, will give an introduction, followed by series of talks by Dr. Nicanor G. Tiongson, EPA editor in chief; Dr. Ruth Pison, associate area editor for the EPA’s dance volume; and Elmer Gatchalian, creative director. The event is expected to gather writers, artists, and key representatives of cultural organizations and institutions from Iloilo and other provinces in Western Visayas. Initially launched at the CCP, the CCP EPA is the most comprehensive and authoritative reservoir of

information on Philippine art and culture. Divided into 12 volumes, the encyclopedia covers the different Philippine art forms, such as architecture, visual arts, film, music, dance, theater, broadcast arts, and literature, as well as the study of the peoples of the Philippines. The second edition of the EPA was initially launched at the CCP last November 28, over 20 years after the original nine-volume edition came out. The volume on broadcast arts is the latest addition. Written by more than 500 scholars and experts from the different regions of the Philippines, the CCP EPA seeks to contribute to the enrichment of Filipinooriented scholarship and help shape Filipino identity and nationhood. Ilomoca is at Casa de Emperador Festive Walk Parade, Mandurriao, Iloilo City, Iloilo.

With no visual goal during production, the piece is purposely done as a crude, ineffective attempt to revive a tree using its pieces that were tainted by the hands of man. “Building from all these scraps as art materials, the act of making it is a gesture of apology and commemoration,” he said. “I know that I can’t revive a tree, but as an artist, I can represent them with power and dignity.” Jacinto has always held nature close to his heart. It’s more than just a theme for him, or an outdoor place where children run free among windblown green leaves. He considers nature as the whole to humanity’s pieces. “I believe that us humans aren’t looking enough,” he said. “I imitate the overlooked environment because, in a way, it’s so strange to me that people give so much attention to an imitation of a tree or a stone inside a gallery, but will walk outside without giving a damn about the better, real ones.” He added: “Sometimes I don’t really even see what I do as art. I see it as a purpose—to give a little bit more attention to the beauty of everything organic.” As with the other artists featured in Spillover, Jacinto doesn’t rely on representational images for the purpose of telling a story. He said they all worked based on what they have in their immediate surroundings or dug inward, focusing instead on the process of making art and what it means for them. In the show, Jacinto added, the meanings are not portrayed. They are acted on. n

KOON’S ‘RABBIT’ FETCHES RECORD $91 MILLION AT NY AUCTION NEW YORK—A stainless steel sculpture of a rabbit by Jeff Koons has set an auction record in New York, fetching over $91 million. The sale of Koons’s 1986 Rabbit at Christie’s on Wednesday was the most expensive work by a living artist ever sold at auction. The previous record for a living artist’s work sold at auction was set by British artist David Hockney. His 1972 Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) brought in $90.3 million at Christie’s last year. The New York Times says Robert E. Mnuchin, an art dealer and the father of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, was the winning bidder for Rabbit, which had an estimated sale price of at least $50 million. Christie’s says the sculpture is one of three editions plus one artist’s proof. AP