BusinessMirror November 01, 2018

PHL’S EASE OF DOING BUSINESS RANK SLIPS FOR SECOND YEAR

BROADER LOOK B4-B5

PHL BEGINS LONG JOURNEY ON ANALOG T ROAD TO BIG DATA

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

HE Philippines’s rank ing plunged 11 notches to 124th among 190 economies in the 2019 edition of the World Bank’s ease of doing business survey, largely due to Manila’s restrictive trade measures.

This was the second consecutive year the Philippines’s ranking fell in the annual survey that assessed economies according to their ease of doing business (EODB). The country

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PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

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placed 113th in the 2018 cycle, which was also a decline from its 99th-place finish in the 2017 edition.

The Philippines improved its score by 1.36 to 57.68 but was unable to keep up with the large number of reforms on doing business implemented by its Asian counterparts. Malaysia, for one, rolled out six reforms, including streamlining the process of obtaining a building permit and introducing an online registration system for the goods and service tax.

Indonesia and Vietnam enforced

See “PHL,” A2

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Thursday, November 1, 2018 Vol. 14 No. 22

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New RFINL eases curbs on aliens in public works

By Cai U. Ordinario & Bernadette D. Nicolas

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@cuo_bm @BNicolasBM

N a bid to scale up foreign participation in the government’s massive infrastructure program, the President signed on Wednesday an executive order (EO) amending the country’s 11th Regular Foreign Investment Negative List (RFINL).

Under the new RFINL, or EO 65, contracts for the construction and repair of locally funded public works have a limit of up to 40percent foreign ownership, higher than the 25 percent stated in the 10th RFINL. These projects include all pub-

lic works, except projects covered by the amended build-operatetransfer (BOT) law and foreignfunded or assisted projects that undergo international competitive bidding (ICB).

In a statement, Malacañang said the liberalization of the foreign

restrictions involving contracts for locally funded public works is still “subject to applicable regulatory frameworks” and does not cover infrastructure or development projects under Republic Act 7718, as well as projects which are foreign-funded or assisted and re-

“The latest Foreign Investment Negative List is meant to liberalize as many sectors as possible to keep up with domestic and global demands, and designed to be consistent with the policy of easing restrictions on foreign participation in certain industries or activities.”—Panelo

quired to undergo international competitive bidding.

“While the cited area of liberalization is not exclusively intended for the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program of the government, we accorded due consideration to the reality that construction is one of the most important sectors today in view of the demand arising from the said program and the support given by

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

HE Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) is expected to implement certain policies and regulations to improve the tourist experience on the island, in response to feedback from visitors since the dry run on October 15.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Environment Undersecretary for Attached Agencies Sherwin S. Rigor said his agency will be forwarding a proposal to the task force to approve a preregistration system that will fast-track the entry of tourists into Boracay.

“Right now, when you arrive at the port, you have to line up to register your name and details where you will be staying. Because some flights arrive at the same time, the queuing system slows down because of the sheer volume of arrivals. If you are preregistered, this will definitely speed up things; you can just go through a VIP or fast pass lane,” he said.

He also suggested that land transport associations or cooperatives put up their own access lane, and deploy their own x-ray machines “in coordination with the local

Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS

H

UMANITY faces a singular challenge: how to share the planet with all peoples of the world and meet the basic needs of everyone. Is this doable?

Mahatma Gandhi has long ago given a forthright answer: “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” In brief, what he was saying is that humanity possesses all the means to create and reproduce the necessities to sustain a decent life for everyone as long as these means and the resources of planet Earth are equitably shared.

Continued on A7

See “RFINL,” A2

Inflation may still hit 7% in October

By Bianca Cuaresma

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 53.6060

@BcuaresmaBM

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a 50-percent tariff.

Traders and importers could import a maximum volume of 20,000 MT of rice based on their total net importing capacity declared in 2017.

Interested parties should apply and submit all documents to the DTI’s Consumer Policy and Advocacy Bureau (CPAB), which will

HE possibility of inflation reaching 7 percent is still on the table, as food and oil prices remain elevated during the month.

In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Department of Economic Research (DER) said it projects October 2018 inflation to settle anywhere within the 6.2 to 7 percent range.

Inflation in September hit 6.7 percent, rising from the 6.4 percent in the previous month and the 3 percent in the previous year.

Despite the elevated forecast, the BSP still believes inflation is on its way downward in the fourth quarter of the year.

“The BSP Department of Economic Research projects October 2018 inflation to settle within the 6.2 to 7.0 percent range. This corresponds to a month-on-month inflation forecast range of -0.2 to 0.6 percent, which is in line with the BSP’s assessment that inflation is likely to have peaked in the third quarter of 2018 in the absence of further price shocks,” the BSP said.

“Upward price pressures from domestic petroleum prices and water rates in Manila Water- and

Continued on A8

See “Inflation,” A8

Daily tourist arrivals from October 26 to 30, much lower than the pegged carrying capacity of 6,045 tourist arrivals per day

See “Task force,” A2

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

The struggle for the ‘commons’ in Asia

3,441 government unit, to speed up the access to the island. There should be five to six x-ray machines there.”

At present, local tourists are being asked to register at the Caticlan port, and the foreign tourists at the Cagban port. “We’re doing this as an experiment just to decrease the volume of people in Caticlan by unloading others in Cagban,” he explained.

Rigor also said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) met recently with the officers of the Compliant Association of Boracay, which includes hotels, shops and other establishments compliant with the agency’s requirements, and “it was agreed that hotels along the beachfront will be allowed to put up lights,

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Task force eyes better Boracay experience with enhanced system

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“doing business” measures centered on easing the procedures for starting an enterprise, registering property and improving access to credit.

Vietnam improved its laws on contract enforcement, tax payment and starting a business.

The report counted three reforms from the Philippines: on starting a business, dealing with construction permits and protecting minority investors. However, its import regulations, according to the survey,

ART OF REMEMBERING The colorfully rendered tombstones, piled vertically at the Palanyag Public Cemetery in Parañaque City, look from afar like installation art. A man is seen doing last-minute sprucing up of the graves of departed loved ones on Wednesday, the eve of the two-day national observance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, when people from different walks of life flock to cemeteries to honor their dead. NONIE REYES

NFA issues guidelines on rice importation

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HE National Food Authority (NFA) has released various sets of guidelines covering the importation of rice by the private sector, including the extension of shipment arrival and the guidelines for the 350,000-metric tons (MT) out-quota importation.

The NFA issued the general guidelines covering the 350,000MT rice importation program of the

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for the private sector.

The importation would be outside the country’s minimum access volume (MAV) or out-quota and could be sourced from any country, according to the guidelines.

Rice imports from Asean countries would be levied with a 35-percent tariff while those sourced from other countries would have

n JAPAN 0.4740 n UK 68.1279 n HK 6.8346 n CHINA 7.6937 n SINGAPORE 38.7131 n AUSTRALIA 38.0871 n EU 60.8160 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.2919

Source: BSP (31 October 2018 )

The Nation BusinessMirror

A4 Thursday, November 1, 2018 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug A2

Pagasa beaching ramp 40% complete, DND chief says

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HE construction of a beaching ramp on Pagasa Island in the West Philippine Sea is on schedule, and it may be finished possibly by December, Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said on Wednesday.

Interviewed at the sidelines of the 79th anniversary of the Department of National Defense (DND), Lorenzana said the construction of the port project is already more than 40 percent complete.

The construction of the beaching ramp was the first project of the government in years on Pagasa, the seat of the local government of the Kalayaan municipality in the Kalayaan Group of Islands.

The project, once completed, should spawn the repair and rehabilitation of facilities in the island like the Rancudo Airfield, whose works cannot be started due to the absence of a ramp that would support the landing of equipment and materials.

Meanwhile, Lorenzana said that the military’s increased air and maritime patrols, especially in the areas that are being contested by some of its neighbors, has recorded at least 46,694 cases of intrusions, wherein 40, 135 were challenged at sea.

“The AFP intercepted intrusions to Philippine-claimed features. Littoral monitoring

detachments and littoral observatory stations provided common air and maritime operating picture in the West Philippine Sea, Philippine Rise and other parts of Philippine territory,” he said.

“For the period in review, AFP detected 46, 694 incidents and challenged 40,135 vessels passing through the Philippine territory,” he added.

The defense chief said that most of the vessels that have intruded or poached into the country’s maritime waters were Vietnamese fishing boats.

Lorenzana said the military is continuing to beef up the country’s territorial waters, with the Navy conducting at least 3,836 surface missions that covered 143,445 nautical miles of maritime waters.

On the other hand, the Air Force also flew operations along the country’s boundaries, covering 12,157.5 nautical miles.

“These operations greatly enhanced the defense efforts of the government by showing our presence in the areas within the exclusive economic zone,” Lorenzana said.

As part of its strategy to establish maritime presence and maintain effective occupation of Philippine claimed island and features, the military has deployed 288 personnel in these areas. Rene Acosta

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Rosita leaves 18 dead with casualty count expected to rise after Mt. Province slide

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By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

ISASTER officials continue to assess the damage brought by Typhoon Rosita in Northern Luzon on Wednesday as authorities reported at least a total of 18 persons dead, most of them due to landslides.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Spokesman Edgar Posadas said local civil defense officials were still collating reports on Rosita’s destruction in typhoon-affected provinces.

Posadas said that, based on their initial but official report, at least nine people died from the typhoon, although at least 29 more remain trapped inside the three buildings

of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Mountain Province that were buried by mud and debris as a result of a landslide.

A separate report sent by the Mountain Province Provincial Police Office to Camp Crame said that at least eight bodies have been recovered from the site and six others were rescued alive.

The landslide buried the buildings

of the DPWH-Mountain Province Second District Engineering Office (MPSDEO) at Barangay Banawel in the municipality of Natonin at around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, trapping at least 31 people.

“Around 31 people were trapped in the buildings [20 laborers, one project engineer, two to three security guards and six to seven evacuees from neighboring houses]. The laborers are workers under two contractors [RAF and Moment Diagram construction firms] working on the buildings,” said Chief Supt.

Rolando Nana, director of the Cordillera regional police.

“Moreover, it was reported that personnel of the MPSDEO are all accounted for. All employees have their respective boarding houses within the Poblacion, thus, no staff was at the MPSDEO compound when the tragic incident happened,” he said.

Nana said that the landslide area

is “inaccessible even by foot due to the numerous landslides and severe mudflow within the 2-kilometer stretch from Poblacion, Natonin, to Barangay Banawel.”

“The fastest and most practical route to reach Banawel will be via Paracelis. The MPSDEO has already asked for equipment augmentation from private contractors to ensure the opening of the Bontoc-Kalinga road at the earliest time possible tomorrow [November 1] to allow passage of search and rescue teams from Bontoc,” he said.

Based on the consolidated report of Nana and other police officials, 11 died in Mountain Province, four in Ifugao, one in Abra, one in Tarlac and one in Batangas.

The Philippine National Police said that at least 64,275 persons were evacuated in Region 2, which included Cagayan and Isabela, where Rosita made a landfall.

‘GOOD FAITH DOCTRINE NOT AN ABSOLUTE DEFENSE AGAINST CRIMINAL PROSECUTION’ Candle prices

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HE Supreme Court (SC) has reminded government officers that the “good faith” doctrine that it laid down in its previous ruling cannot be used as an absolute defense to escape criminal prosecution for graft.

In a 34-page decision penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the SC’s Third Division made the clarification in a recent decision that affirmed the 2011 ruling issued by the anti-graft court, the Sandiganbayan, finding three officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) guilty of several counts of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, involving anomalous transactions for the implementation of the P615-million regional and provincial infrastructure projects for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The DPWH officials were identified as Farouk B. Abubakar, director

III for Administrative, Finance Management Service; Ulama S. Baraguir, director of the Bureau of Construction, Materials and Equipment, and a member of the Pre-Qualification Bids and Awards Committee; and Dtukan Guiani, DPWH-ARMM regional secretary.

Abubakar was found guilty of 10 counts of graft, while Baraguir and Guiani were found guilty of 17 counts of graft and the Sandiganbayan imposed upon them a penalty of imprisonment from a minimum of six years to a maximum of 10 years.

The charges stemmed from a report submitted by the Commission on Audit to the Office of the Ombudsman recommending their criminal prosecution for awarding projects to contractors without the required public bidding, awarding excessive mobilization fees and entering into an unnecessary contract with Arce Engineering Services for the conduct of detailed engineering survey; and causing overpayment on several projects due to bloated accomplishment reports.

RFINL. . . continued from a1

the Filipinos to it,” Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo explained in a statement.

Panelo also assured the public that the list is a product of extensive discussions and is in accordance with the 1987 Constitution.

“The latest Foreign Investment Negative List is meant to liberalize as many sectors as possible to keep up with domestic and global demands, and designed to be consistent with the policy of easing restrictions on foreign participation in certain industries or activities,” he added.

Analysts’ view

“THIS is for BBB [Build, Build, Build] and construction in general. Foreign contractors can bring capital and technology into the construction industry. This will enable medium-sized contractors to tie up with foreign contractors to bid for public projects against the local construction giants,” economist Calixto V. Chikiamco told the BusinessMirror.

University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) School of Economics Dean Cid Terosa said allowing greater foreign participation in construction would lead to greater transfers of technologies and processes in the construction sector.

Terosa added this can “embolden and empower local firms to participate in project bidding here and abroad,” as well as speed up the completion and efficiency of project implementation.

The UA&P economist suspected foreign restrictions were also one of the reasons the country’s infrastructure growth and development has suffered.

“It [restrictions] pulled back the progress of creative destruction in the construction sector due to the slower pace of inventive and innovative activities,” Terosa said.

Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development Director Alvin P. Ang said this was good for the country’s construction sector, particularly amid the government’s massive infrastructure push.

However, Ang said there was no assurance that the country could easily meet its BBB targets because this will depend on how many foreign investors will flock to the country to invest.

Action for Economic Reform Coordinator Filomeno Sta. Ana III said the problems of the construction sector do not stop with the restrictions in foreign investments but problems relating to the government’s implementation of its projects. “[It] seems, though, foreign participation by itself is not the

On June 9, 2012, the Sandiganbayan denied the motions for new trial and reconsideration of its decision filed by the three DPWH executives, prompting them to elevate the case before the SC. In their consolidated petitions, the petitioners sought the reversal of the Sandiganbayan’s decision saying that the court’s ruling in Arias v. Sandiganbayan warrants the dismissal of their cases.

Arias laid down the doctrine that heads of offices may, in good faith, rely to a certain extent on the acts of their subordinates “who prepare bids, purchase supplies or enter into negotiations.”

The doctrine was based upon the recognition that heads of offices cannot be expected to examine every single document relative to government transactions.

The Court pointed out that, in a number of cases, it refused to apply the Arias doctrine, considering that there were circumstances that should have prompted the government official to inquire further.

big constraint to slow implementation. It’s the changing of the rules and procurement problems,” Sta. Ana said.

100% alien role in 5 areas

MEANWHILE, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said that with the issuance of EO 65, five investment areas/ activities will now allow up to 100-percent foreign participation.

These include Internet businesses, which have been excluded from mass media. While this may seem as welcome news to Internet-based sites, Neda Undersecretary for Planning and Programming Rosemarie G. Edillon told the BusinessMirror this does not include these kinds of businesses.

Edillon explained that the idea behind the liberalization of Internet businesses is to distinguish it from mass media. The liberalization of mass media cannot be done except through a constitutional amendment.

The Neda official said EO 65 defines Internet businesses such as Internet providers in the provinces which bring these services to households through the use of satellite disks.

She said, however, that Filipinos can look forward to greater liberalization, particularly in the telecommunication sector once amendments to the Public Service Act of 1930 are passed.

The Neda said House Bill 5828, which seeks to amend the Public Service Act, was approved on third reading by the House of Representatives in September 2017, then transmitted to, and accepted by, the Senate on the same month. Senate Bills 695, 1261, 1291, 1441 and 1594 also seek to amend the Public Service Act. However, Chikiamco pointed out that this was not specified in the language of the RFINL and therefore made the liberalization of Internet businesses “very confusing.”

According to the EO, no foreign equity is allowed in mass media except recording and Internet businesses. This follows Department of Justice Opinion 40 series of 1998, which stated that these businesses are only carriers of information.

“DOJ Opinion 40 [s. 1998] used the term ‘Internet Businesses’ to refer to internet access providers that merely serve as carriers for transmitting messages, rather than being the creator of messages/information,” EO 65 stated.

Teaching

APART from Internet businesses, 100-percent foreign ownership was allowed for teaching at higher-education levels provided the subject being taught is not a professional subject (i.e., included

“The rules on competitive public bidding and those concerning the disbursement of public funds are imbued with public interest. Government officials whose work relates to these matters are expected to exercise greater responsibility in ensuring compliance with the pertinent rules and regulations,” the Court pointed out.

“The doctrine allowing heads offices to rely in good faith on the acts of their subordinates is inapplicable in a situation where there are circumstances that should have prompted the government officials to make further inquiries,” it added.

The Court stressed that the application of the doctrine is subject to the qualification that the public official has no prior knowledge of any facts or circumstances that would prompt him or her to investigate or exercise a greater degree of care.

In the present case, the SC said the petitioners cannot use the doctrine to seek their exoneration since,

in a government board or bar examination); training centers that are engaged in short-term high-level skills development that do not form part of the formal education system; adjustment companies, lending companies, financing companies and investment houses; and wellness centers, which have been excluded in Item 4 of List B. EO 65 allows up to 40-percent foreign participation in private radio communications network. The 10th RFINL allowed only up to 20-percent foreign participation in this area.

Meanwhile, legislative actions to lift restrictions on foreign participation in other investment areas/activities identified in the President’s Memorandum Order 16, series of 2017 are already being undertaken.

The 11th RFINL also reflects amendments in existing laws (e.g., reciprocity provisions in certain laws on professions, such as pharmacy and forestry), limitations on foreign participation in investment areas/activities provided in new laws (e.g., RA 10635 for marine deck/engine officers), and exclusions from limitations on foreign participation in some investment areas/activities identified that do not need legislative action.

“All told, these are still marginal improvements in our effort to attract FDI. If we really want to be sufficiently competitive with our Asean neighbors, more drastic amendments in our restrictive laws are called for,” said Pernia.

The Neda is tasked to review and revise the country’s Regular Foreign Investment Negative List (RFINL), which contains restrictions on foreign investments and the practice of professions based on the constitution and Philippine laws.

The RFINL contains investment areas/activities where foreign equity participation is limited by mandate of the Constitution and specific laws. It also consists of investment areas/activities where foreign equity participation is limited for reasons of defense, security, risk to public health and morals, and protection of small- and medium-sized domestic market enterprises.

The amendment of the list is headed by the Neda Secretariat, as provided for under Section 8 of RA 7042, or the Foreign Investments Act of 1991, which states that amendments may be made upon the recommendation of the secretary of national defense or the secretary of health, or the secretary of education, endorsed by the Neda, approved by the President, and promulgated by a presidential proclamation.

even on the early mobilization of contractors, the irregularity was already obvious on the face of the certificates of mobilization, which bore dates earlier than the scheduled public bidding.

“This should have already roused suspicion from petitioners Baraguir and Guiani, who were the last signatories and final approving authorities,” the Court said.

Likewise, the Court said the petitioners cannot claim good faith in allowing Arce Engineering Services to claim 30 percent as advance payment for mobilization fee considering that they knew of the 15-percent limitation.

“The rules on public bidding and on public funds disbursement are imbued with public interest.

The positions and functions of petitioners Abubakar, Baraguir and Guiani impose upon them a greater responsibility in ensuring that rules on these matters are complied with. They are expected to exercise a greater degree of diligence,” the Court stated.

PHL. . . continued from a1

overshadowed the gains it made on EODB. “The Philippines made starting a business easier by simplifying tax registration and business licensing processes. At the same time, the Philippines increased tax registration costs,” the report read.

“The Philippines improved risk management practices in the construction sector, with latent defect liability insurance now commonly obtained by industry players,” it added.

The World Bank report noted that the Philippines also strengthened minority investor protections by increasing shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate decisions and clarifying ownership and control structures.

However, the Philippines made trading across borders more difficult by increasing the number of inspections for importing, thereby, increasing the average time for border compliance, according to the report.

The Philippines ranked 166th in starting a business; 94th in dealing with construction permits; 29th in getting electricity; 116th in registering property; and 184th in getting credit. It landed 132nd in protecting minority investors; 94th in paying taxes; 104th in trading across borders; 151st in enforcing contracts; and 63rd in resolving insolvency.

The country placed seventh among the 10 Southeast Asian economies, as Singapore (second), Malaysia (15th), Thailand (27th), Brunei Darussalam (55th), Vietnam (69th) and Indonesia (73rd) took the lead once again for the region.

The government is banking on the recently passed EODB law to improve its placing in competitiveness reports. The law seeks to cut red tape in the bureaucracy to simplify business transactions with state agencies.

remain stable for All Saints’, All Souls’ Day

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

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ANDLE manufacturers appear to have weathered the impact of surging inflation, as prices of the commodity remained stable in time for All Saints’ and Souls’ Day. ComparisonsmadebytheBusinessMirrorshowed onlyfiveofthe33candlebrandsunderthesuggested retail price (SRP) list increased prices. The other 28 brands maintained their prices from last year.

Prices of Liwanag Esperma candles ballooned from P2 to as much as P9.25. Average hike of this brand was at P4.70.

On the other hand, Manila Wax Sperma, Manila Wax Votive, 5-Star Esperma, Export Candles and Export Vigil Candles all retained their prices from last year. This was somewhat out of the ordinary consideringthatpricesofbasicnecessitiesandprime commodities, of which candles are part of, swelled over the past months largely due to rising inflation.

Seasonal items, such as Noche Buena products, also went up, as the holidays come to a near.

However, candles, in spite of its seasonality for All Souls’ Day, kept its prices stable.

Trade Undersecretary Ruth B. Castelo argued it is acceptable for the manufacturer of Liwanag Esperma to raise the prices of its brand, as it has been years since candle producers last increased the prices of the commodity.

Task force continued from a1 while the government will fund street lamps to light the dark areas in between.”

Recent visitors to the island have complained of the unusually dark beachfront, which made them scared of venturing out at night to walk on the beach or go to nearby restaurants and bars.

“We hope to have the beachfront adequately lighted by the end of November,” he said.

Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed 17,205 tourists arrived from October 26 to 30, with daily arrivals averaging 3,441, much lower than the pegged carrying capacity of 6,045 tourist arrivals per day.

Rigor also said there will be about 20 lifeguards deployed along the main beachfront to monitor the swimmers. Prior to the closure, a few private resorts paid for one to two lifeguards, but they were mostly assigned along Station 1, known for its posh resorts. “The Philippine Coast Guard already trained 300 lifeguards who are expected to graduate in two weeks. The Coast Guard will deploy them on the beachfront soon,” he said.

The BIATF will also be coordinating with the local government to come up with a local ordinance that will improve the route taken by water sports operators that will be safer for them and their clients. “Under the old local ordinance, water sports operators are supposed to follow a certain route along the water, which however, is already outmoded and no longer followed in current practice,” Rigor explained.

He said the DENR will be completing its marine biodiversity study by next week, after which the new water sports ordinance will be discussed so a more “orderly route” will be prescribed.

Economy BusinessMirror

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Philea urges govt to maintain tax perks in ecozones

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

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NTIL public infrastructures are improved and power cost is reduced, the government should retain the current tax and incentives regime for economic zone locators, a group of developers said.

In a recent interview with reporters, Francisco S. Zaldarriaga of the Philippine Ecozones Association (Philea) argued that this is not the right time for the government to rationalize tax incentives.

He cited the country’s poor infrastructure and expensive power rates make it difficult to attract investments, and overhauling incentives will only make the situation worse.

“In general, in the absence of basic infrastructure, low power rates, [among others], the only thing that is keeping us afloat are these incentives. Now if the government tweaks those, it will scare off investors,” the Philea president said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“The compromise is do not touch Peza [Philippine Economic Zone Authority] today. If you want to introduce new laws, then introduce it properly,” he added.

Proof to Zaldarriaga’s warning, investments registered with the Peza after three quarters fell 55.28 percent to P87.84 billion from P196.45 billion during the same period last year.

Commitments to economic zone development, where Philea memberdevelopers are engaged, declined 65.31 percent to P42.91 billion from the previous year’s P123.71 billion.

Under the proposed Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (Trabaho) law, incentives provided to economic zone firms will be rationalized.

It will also gradually bring down corporate income tax (CIT) to 20 percent in 2029 from 30 percent. This, however, is still too much for Peza-registered companies, who floated job losses if tax perks are rationalized.

As a compromise, Peza Director General Charito B. Plaza said she is open to tweaking the gross income earned (GIE) rate if it is the only way to keep the incentive. The 5-percent GIE is paid by locators in economic zones in lieu of local and national taxes.

In a previous interview, Plaza said she can give in to a 2-percent increase in the GIE rate if this compromise is enough to allow economic zone firms to keep their incentives.

She argued this rate hike will improve the collection of local governments and could benefit provincial governments, too.

“We can increase [the GIE rate].

I’d like to increase it to 7 percent to expand the share of LGUs. Provincial governments do not have a share [in the GIE]. They complain because the GIE benefits only the local municipality or city where the economic zone is located,” Plaza said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Labor groups slam ‘paltry’ wage hike, but Bello insists no official figures yet

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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OT yet final.

This was the statement of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Wednesday over the P25 wage hike reportedly issued by the regional wage board in Metro Manila on Tuesday.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity BoardNational Capital Region (RTWPBNCR) is yet to submit its official recommendation to him.

“I was informed by them [RTWPB] they would come out with recommendation yesterday [October 30]. But I probably have yet to receive it,” Bello told reporters in an interview.

Under wage fixing rules, the RTWPBs are required to submit its approved wage order to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), which is chaired by the labor secretary, for affirmation.

Bello is scheduled to hold a news conference on Monday to announce the approved amount of the new wage order of the RTWPB-NCR.

Official sources

EMPLOYERS and labor groups, however, insist the P25 is already final since their respective representatives from RTWPBs were already informed of the amount.

The RTWPBs are comprised by three representatives from the government; two from the employers groups; and another two for the labor sector.

In fact, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said the RTWPB asked them not to publicly disclose the amount so it could be officially announced by Bello.

The amount, however, was prematurely revealed by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) Acting President Sergio OrtizLuis Jr. in a television interview on Tuesday evening.

In his defense, Ortiz-Luis told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview he was not informed about any restrictions in the disclosure of the amount of the wage hike.

“I merely told what our representatives at the board reported to me,” Luis said.

While Ecop still has concerns on the potential impact of the wage hike to their members, particularly mi-

₧25 The amount of minimumwage increase reportedly approved by the RTWPB-NCR

cro, small and medium enterprises, he said they would still respect the new wage order.

“We will comply and live with it,” Luis said.

Deceptive hike

THE TUCP slammed the government and employer members of the RTWPB-NCR for approving the “deceptive” wage hike.

TUCP Vice President Louie Corral said the figures actually represent only a P15 pay hike since the other P10 will come from the integration of a preexisting cost-of-living allowance (Cola) from the prevailing minimum-wage rate in NCR. “This is a clear deception to our workers that there was an appropri-

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ate response to their daily needs,” Corral said.

“We challenge the government to present their projection of cost of good and services for at least one year,” he added.

Associated Labor Unions-TUCP Spokesman Alan Tanjusay, for his part, said they were dismayed how RTWPB-NCR refused to negotiate for an increase close to their position.

TUCP initially petitioned for a P334 wage hike but it later reduced it to P100 in consideration to the plight of employers.

“We are pushing for a P60 to P80 [increase] to offset the lost purchasing power [of workers]. But they did not haggle. They remain firm to P25,” Tanjusay said.

TUCP Assistant Secretary General Vince Camilon said the new wage hike is insufficient to restore the eroded purchasing power of minimum-wage earners in NCR. Citing data from the NWPC, he noted workers in Metro Manila lost P72 in purchasing power due to inflation.

Supervening conditions

WITH the recent developments, Tanjusay said they are now determined

to file another wage hike petition.

“We will monitor the inflation rate in November or December and

by January [2019], we will likely file the wage increase petition even if it is still within the one-year period,” Tanjusay said.

He said the amount would likely be roughly be similar to their P334 wage petition.

To justify the wage petition next year, TUCP said it will cite the expected increase in the price of petroleum products and food items.

Republic Act 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act, states a RTWPB has a one-year ban from issuing a new wage order unless it declares a supervening event.

A supervening event is any unusual economic condition in regions like a spike in the prices of basic goods and services for certain period.

Despite the growing national inflation, no RTWPB has declared a supervening condition.

TUCP said it is also considering of appealing the P25 wage hike at the NWPC after it is officially announced by Bello.

But it noted the commission has yet to issue a ruling changing a wage hike approved by the RTWPBs.

Senator cites ADB study in proposal DBM allots P57.85-billion for ROW acquisition, for creation of urban poor commission potable water projects, in ’19 national budget

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

S

EN. Joseph Victor G. Ejercito, citing an Asian Development Bank (ADB) study, prodded Congress to front-load the passage of a law creating a National Commission for the Urban Poor, with marching orders to address socialized housing problems, among other major concerns.

In filing Senate Bill (SB) 2074, Ejercito, chairman of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, stressed the need to pursue “participatory governance” in formulating policies for the urban poor and fulfill the commission’s role in poverty reduction.

“Alleviating poverty is one of the primary thrust of the government,” he said on Wednesday, noting that while there are many factors attributable to the state of poverty, an ADB study in 2009 said “the poor remain poor because they cannot borrow against future earnings to invest in education, skills, new crops and entrepreneurial activities.”

Ejercito added: “It is stated that they are cut off from economic activity because many property rights, public safety and infrastructure are said to be ‘underprovided’ and these people lack information about market opportunities.”

The senator asserted in a news statement that “clearly, these factors are manifestations of disproportionate and inaccessible opportunities in the society.”

He strongly suggested that the government “ bridge these gaps in the form of sound policies,” citing, for instance, pending remedial legislations to expand

local housing projects.

While Ejercito’s SB 2074 would create a National Commission for the Urban Poor as the “focal facilitator” in addressing socialized housing problems, the senator acknowledged the continued existence of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor serving as a direct link of urban poor to the government in policy formulation and program implementation.

As envisioned in the bill, the proposed National Commission for the Urban Poor Act shall be composed of a chairman, with a rank and privileges of a departmental undersecretary. The chairman shall act as chief executive officer with four commissioners representing the National Capital Region (NCR), Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao to be given the rank and privileges of assistant secretaries of a department.

Ejercito said that his bill further provides “they shall be appointed by the President from among the list of nominees submitted by a duly-organized and accredited urban poor organization or institutions with national and regional constituencies and will serve a three-year term.”

The senator added an executive director shall be included in the composition of the commission with a term of one year, subject to yearly reappointment.

Apart from shelter-related projects, the commission is also tasked to coordinate with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in taking measures that will plan and regulate urban activities for the conservation and protection of vital, unique and sensitive ecosystem.

Group questions ‘priority’ tag on two coal-fired power generation projects

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, November 1, 2018 A3

@jonlmayuga

S the Department of Energy-led Energy Investment Coordinating Council (EICC) hasten the approval process for big energy projects by virtue of President Duterte’s Executive Order 30, civil-society organizations have raised their concern over the priority status accorded to a number of coal projects.

In a news statement released through the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED), civil-society organizations expressed alarm over the grant of certificates of energy projects of national significance (CEPNS) by the EICC to two coal operating contracts (COCs) of the Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC).

“The successive declarations granting energy projects of national significance

[EPNS] status to various coal projects in the country confirms our suspicion that the Executive Order 30 issued by the President is a mere ploy to railroad heavily-contested dirty-energy projects despite scrutiny and opposition from consumers and host communities,” Gerry Arances, convener of the Power for People (P4P) Coalition, and executive director of CEED said in a news statement.

“Since the issuance of EO 30, we have warned against the possibility of the EPNS to sweep various issues surrounding energy projects under the rug,” he added.

According to Arances, the two COCs recently granted EPNS status will contribute to Mindanao’s worsening coalpollution problem.

He cited the recent Institute for Energy Economic and Financial Analysis

(IEEFA) report on stranded coal assets in the Philippines.

Arances said stranding is already taking place in the Philippines due to an oversupply of approximately 700 megawatts of coal and hydro.

“The entrance of more coal is ridiculously dangerous since power producers, but more important power consumers, have been paying almost P3 billion from 2014 to 2016 alone because of underutilization,” he said.

“This will push electricity rates further up, to the detriment of power consumers in Mindanao,” Arances warned.

In a policy brief regarding the President’s Executive Order 30, CEED pointed out that the order appears to be unconstitutional and “grants unbridled discretion and abuse of discretion,” and, in effect, “expedites coal expansion.”

By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

T

HE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has increased the budget allocation for some 384 potable water projects and road right-of-way (ROW) acquisitions in the 2019 national budget.

Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said some P1.55 billion was set aside in the 2019 budget for the water-supply projects under the Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig para sa Lahat (Salintubig) program, which aims to bring potable water supply to some 157 municipalities nationwide,” even as some P56.3 billion funding has been allocationed for ROW acquisitions, up from P36.7 billion this year.

The DBM said the water-supply projects would be administered and monitored by the Department of the Interior and Local Government to address the lack of proximate sources of safe drinking water for communities in the hinterlands or in cramped urban communities.

He said the amount was 12 percent higher than the 2018 level, with Eastern Visayas getting the largest share with P163.5 million for 43 projects, followed by Central Visayas and Cagayan Valley with P160.4 million and P135.7 million, respectively.

The DBM said more than 500,000 households from 297 municipalities have already benefited from the Salintubig project since its implementation in 2012.

“Clean water and sanitation is one of the Sustainable Development Goals identified by the United Nations. The government fully supports this by ensuring that more funds are invested in this endeavor,” Diokno added.

For road ROW acquisition, Diokno said the DBM has set aside a “significantly larger” allocation in the proposed 2019 national budget, with P29.4 billion allocated to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and P26.9 billion to the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

In 2017 the ROW budget was slightly lower at P34 billion, with P19.6 billion and P14.7 billion allocated to the DPWH and the DOTr, respectively.

In addition, the National Irrigation Administration was allotted P30 million to settle ROW issues in 2017 and 2018. The amount would increase to P200 million in 2019, the DBM said.

The proposed total ROW allocation has included the National Housing Authority with P577 million for its resettlement program, “part of the amount would cover the cost incurred from ROW acquisitions.”

The DBM said the resettlement costs were already part of the ROW budgets for both DPWH and DOTr. The DBM said Republic Act 10572, also known as “The Right-of-Way Act,” was ratified in 2016 to make it easier for the national government to expropriate private land for infrastructure proj-

ects and public service facilities.

The DBM on Wednesday, likewise, bared the release of some P662.5 million to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the aftermath of Typhoon Rosita’s onslaught in Northern Luzon and for forthcoming typhoons that may possibly affect the country.

In a news statement released on Wednesday, the DBM said disbursement would cover the replenishment of the quick response fund (QRF) being tapped for relief and rehabilitation in case of disasters and calamities.

This was the third time that the DSWD QRF was replenished this year. Prior to the replenishment, the balance of DSWD QRF amounted to around P637 million.

According to the DSWD request, the allotment will be used for the purchase of family food packs, the conduct of the Disaster Risk Reduction Management programs, such as purchase of relief supplies, cash or food-for-work programs, shelter assistance and as a standby fund.

Meanwhile, Malacañang reported that the DSWD has provided a total of P834,304.90 worth of assistance together with the local government units.

Citing the Situation Report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) as of 6 a.m., a total of 11,878 families, or 38,398 persons, were affected in 478 barangays in Regions 1, 2, 3 and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR); and a total of 8,864 families, or 32,519 persons, were preemptively evacuated in the said regions.

Moreover, the NDRRMC report said there are already a total of 10 incidents, which include landslide and flooding in Regions 2 and the CAR. As of this writing, five bodies have been recovered and dozens are feared dead after a landslide occurred in the Mountain Province.

“The Palace wishes to express its deep condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims who perished in Natonin, Mountain Province, when the Department of Public Works and Highways [DPWH] building was covered by a landslide, along with others who died due to the typhoon. Efforts to look for survivors are currently ongoing and we pray for the rescue of those still trapped or missing,” Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a news statement.

The President has also directed all government agencies to immediately respond and undertake measures to help the victim and families and to rehabilitate the typhoon-ravaged areas, including the clearing and repairing of roads that have become inaccessible or impassable.

“PRRD [President Duterte] is on top of the situation, and he, together with the rest of the members of Cabinet, will visit the affected areas to assess the situation. The public can count on the government that it will undertake all necessary actions and not take a load off, if need be, during this time of adversity,” Panelo added. With Bernadette D. Nicolas

A6 Thursday, November 1, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Treating the BOC like Marawi City

P

RESIDENT Duterte’s expressed wish to let the military take over the embattled Bureau of Customs, which collects import duties and taxes for the Department of Finance, has farreaching legal consequences that may have been knowingly overlooked. For starters, it is unfair to smear virtually the entire BOC work force—mostly civilians who had trained hard for their jobs— as a cabal of irredeemably corrupt people, when, in fact, they had proven under former BOC chief Isidro S. Lapeña’s leadership that they can exceed the bureau’s revenue targets.

In validation of Senator Richard Gordon’s earlier praise of Lapeña, the Bureau of Customs under the latter had collected, as of October 29, P481.72 billion, which is 31.3 percent higher compared to last year’s end-October collection of P366.74 billion.

Everybody knows that taking over highly technical work in an agency like the BOC means a certain learning curve, and we simply can’t afford that time or slack. And there’s no guarantee that the military contingent sourced from the Philippine Army, Philippine Air Force, Philippine Navy and the Philippine Marine Corps will be able to acquire the needed skills to effectively function as Customs officers.

We understand the President’s disgust over the controversial incident involving P11 billion (PDEA’s estimate) worth of shabu that slipped past Customs. However, as Sen. Francis G. Escudero tweeted, that does not constitute lawless violence, invasion and rebellion, which are required by the Constitution for the President to be able to call out the military.

Painting a state of “lawless violence” in the country’s second-largest revenue agency needlessly disparages it, and damns it as no different from a city like Marawi overwhelmed by terrorists, which can only be saved by leveling it to the ground, as the once proud Islamic city ended up after a five-month siege by the Islamic State-inspired Maute Group.

The BOC has, in fact, been placed in the supposedly more efficient and incorruptible hand of military officers—before General Lapeña, there was Cpt. Nicanor Faeldon who hired 20 Magdalo soldiers, including former Army captains Alvin Ebreo, Gerardo Gambala, and Milo Maestrecampo, as well as former Navy Lt. Senior Grade James Layug.

What happened? Under their watch, P6 billion worth of shabu was sneaked into the country in May 2017, passing through the BOC’s Green Lane no less.

How on earth did that happen? Someone in the highly centralized setup introduced by Faeldon’s men simply shifted the shipment’s tag to “green” to evade inspection.

Faeldon’s hiring of brilliant and idealistic military men was not the first failed experiment at the bureau. Here’s what Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr. tweeted: “In the early-1960s, some young, idealistic AFP officers were put in charge of the BOC operations. They learned fast, they couldn’t be bribed or intimidated.

The smugglers used equally young, beautiful women to influence them. The rest is history. We don’t want to remember.” Indeed, “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”

Unsurprisingly, many were alarmed by the announcement. They said allowing the Constitution’s “call out” provision for lawless violence to be used in this manner could set a bad precedent. One must contemplate the chilling possibilities of where such lawless violence could be projected next.

New Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero, who assumed office on Wednesday after a successful Marina stint, defended the President’s directive to replace BOC personnel with uniformed armed personnel in an effort to rid the agency of corruption. Guerrero said there is no militarization, as the majority of the BOC employees will still run the bureau. He emphasized the necessity of teamwork to be able to rid the agency of its corrupt image, asking the 3,000 men and women of the BOC to trust his leadership as they work together to achieve their goals.

If incompetence is not a handicap in Philippine politics, the recent development at the BOC, on the other hand, shows that competence in public service—like beauty and contact lenses—is in the eye of the beholder.

Since 2005

Stock Market 014: How to buy and sell John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

I

N practical terms, unless you build or repair something, we are all involved in the buy and sell business. There are exceptions like dentists, attorneys and newspaper columnists who sell a service. Often, value is added to a product like a restaurant that takes raw meat and turns it into a burger meal.

The buy/sell business basically operates exactly the same no matter the product. A product is purchased with the expectation that at some point in the future it can be sold for a profit to another individual. That is simple enough.

Yet the statistics for small business start-ups show that more than 80 percent of them fail and of the ones that do not fail, less than 50 percent only manage to “breakeven.” Of course, not all are in the buy/sell game and chocolate covered insects are unlikely to ever be a winner.

But studies have shown that the

major reason that small businesses fail is that although people have the technical skills to run the business, they do not have the business skills to be successful. Just because your fried chicken is the best in the world does not guarantee success. You have to know how to run a restaurant, and that is much more than cooking chicken.

There are four general rules to the buy/sell business.

You must buy quality products that other people want to buy.

Those products should be in constant high or at least consistent demand. The selling price should

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take a profit. This is done by looking at the resistance level when, in the past, a price was reached when buyers stopped buying.

Last, you must identify when the price is not going higher but going down, and then cut the position.

There are various ways to determine this but here again, the trend is the key. Investors talk about “falling in love” with a stock and they cannot seem to sell. But sometimes, falling out of love is critical.

Has the reason why you first bought the stock changed? You bought that company because they own a property that a major developer wanted to buy. If the developer backed out of the deal, your reason for buying has changed. If you bought during an uptrend and now the price is trending lower, why are you still in? Stock-market investing is a buy/sell business. You need to use the same business model that has made every other business a success, otherwise, you will fail.

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

Martial law, human rights and other stark issues

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be as high as possible but not too high as to decrease demand. Items not selling should be put on sale to free cash to buy other products even if there is no profit at that price.

Stock-market investing is a buy/ sell business. You buy shares with the expectation that at some point in the future you can sell for a profit to another individual. And the rules are the same.

Buy financially sound companies that have good earnings and good earnings growth. On the Philippine Stock Exchange, about 60 percent of all companies are to some degree “good.” Thirty percent are reasonably “acceptable” and about 10 percent are financially basura. Look at three to five years of net profit with consistent growth regardless of changes in the core business. In the current economic climate, a company should show about a 10-percent annual net profit increase.

Then buy companies whose stock price is trending higher, particularly in the short to medium term.

That shows that there is buying interest that may increase depending on market conditions. Once a stock is bought, you must identify when the price is high enough to

Part 12

Comparing the human-rights records

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TATISTICAL facts about the human-rights violations in the Philippines as noted by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) belied the accusation that Marcos is a human-rights violator compared to those recorded during the time of Presidents Aquino, Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo.

Even if none of those violations could be directly attributed to Marcos, the statistical figures presented by the CHR, on its face value, was more than enough to refute his detractors who tagged him a dictator. As per record, less than 50 alleged violations were noted during the period before the declaration of martial law (from January 1965 to September 21, 1972) and roughly 1,500 for the remaining 14 years (up to February 1986) he was in office.

In the case of Mrs. Aquino, who had been hailed as the defender of human rights, the 16 months that she ruled as a revolutionary dictator by virtue of her scrapping of the 1973 Constitution (from 1986 to 1987), close to 800 alleged human-rights violation were recorded.

From 1987 to 1992, she logged more than 9,000 alleged human-rights

violations, including the bloody carnage of protesting farmers and students in 1987 after the police indiscriminately fired on them, killing 12 and wounding several others.

Another carnage also occurred in Hacienda Luisita after the Mendiola incident and many innocent civilians were also killed and wounded.

Those days of infamy, under the supposed era of newly regained freedom and democracy, shattered the myth of Mrs. Aquino as the people’s restorer of their rights.

Ramos, for the six years he stayed in office (from 1993 to 1998), recorded more than 7,000 alleged humanrights violations, while in the threeyear rule of Estrada (1998 to 2000) just over 100 incidents of alleged human-rights violations were recorded.

In the case of the Arroyo administration, it turned worse because of

extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances, where more than 900 were recorded. More worrisome was the fact that the CHR, the Karapatan Foundation and IBON Foundation have listed an aggregate of more than 10,000 alleged human-rights violations, a figure that caught the attention of the United Nations representative on human rights.

Aquino’s human-rights violations: Facts and figures

TO the current generation of Filipinos who had to rely on textbook accounts and biased media reports of the martial law years up to the Edsa revolt, Ferdinand Marcos was a tyrant and oppressor and the Aquino couple, Ninoy and Cory, icons of democracy.

However, unknown to the general public, Mrs. Aquino’s regime, compared with Marcos, was tainted with a more gruesome record of human-rights violations during the period from March 1, 1986, to December 1991 with the number of warrantless arrests and detentions reaching an alarming level of 15,999 and extrajudicial executions of 1,733 cases, including 189 that occurred in 1990 alone.

Records in Congress, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) for the same period showed 335 cases of disappearances and 146 cases of massacres, which happened between March 1, 1986 and 1989, including the infamous Mendiola carnage that claimed the lives of 12 farmers who joined a protest against the takeover of Hacienda Luisita and

Aquino’s defective agrarian-reform policy at the Mendiola Bridge. A subsequent massacre also occurred inside Hacienda Luisita were many farmers died of bullet wounds.

Mrs. Aquino’s dismal humanrights record was also mirrored in figures during her term, showing a total of 71,111 families, 23,424 individuals, 229 barangays and 207 sitios affected by 464 cases of forced evacuations; 20 cases of segregation which affected 2,306 individuals and 1,675 families; and 23 cases of economic and food blockades, affecting 8,925 families and 427 individuals in 36 barangays in the countryside. Of the 8,925 families affected, 4,024 were victimized in 1990.

Former Supreme Court Justice Abraham Sarmiento, one of four Philippine-based oppositionists who Ninoy said he admired the most, also drew attention to the massive humanrights violations under Cory Aquino.

He noted that from 1988 onward, an average of 200 persons have been arrested daily, with 94 percent of the arrests done illegally. He reported 4,408 political detentions in the 21 months from January 1989 to September 1990.

Of those arrested, 535 showed signs of torture, 109 disappeared following their arrest, 218 people died from massacres while 157 were wounded in 54 cases of frustrated massacres. It was estimated that from 1988 until April 1991, over 1 million people suffered injuries in the course of the government’s counterinsurgency drive.

The Philippine Alliance of Human

See “Arillo,” A7

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Democracy teeters on populist assault

Principal inner attitude Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

ALÁLAONG BAGÁ

Val A. Villanueva

BUSINESSWISE

T

RAVELING on the road to the land of milk and honey is an arduous and challenging trek.

When Moses led the Jewish people to escape the clutches of their oppressive Egyptian masters, he had to contend with their impatience, incredulity and insatiability.

Despite miracle after miracle—the parting of the Red Sea that allowed them to flee the wrath of pursuing Egyptian soldiers; the evening quail that covered their desert camp so they could eat meat; the manna or bread from heaven that God showered on them for their sustenance—the Israelites still doubted if Moses could really get them to the Promised Land.

Didn’t they construct from melted jewelry and ornaments a golden calf to idolize and worship, out of fear, impatience and intransigence? This was when Moses left them on their own for 40 days and 40 nights to go up into the Biblical Mount Sinai to commune with God Who gave him the Ten Commandments etched in two stone tablets.

Perhaps, this is where democracy is at, at this very moment in this fastchanging world of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, where falsehood is the new norm. The perception that democracy has failed to deliver a better quality of life has resulted in some people carving out demagogues in the false belief that these golden icons can save them from hunger and depredation.

We now have to contend with the populist agenda of the alternative right—the alt-right politics—which threatens the world’s liberal economic and political order, and to a large extent the spirit and machinery of liberal democracy.

Dambisa Moyo, a global economist and author who analyzes macroeconomy and international affairs, believes that, across the world, democracy is under siege.

While political discourse tends to zero in on the failings of blatantly non-democratic countries, such as China and Russia, critics of liberal democracy have become conventional, as leading democratic nations become sources of unprecedented political unpredictability.

Who would have thought that Donald J. Trump—he who foments fear, anger and hate—would become the president of the United States, which for the longest time has been considered the bastion of the free world? Just recently, celebrations and protests rocked the streets of Rio de Janeiro after far-right Congressman Jair Bolsonaro, known as Brazil’s Donald Trump, became president-elect, having defeated by a wide margin leftist ex-Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad. Bolsonaro’s triumph capped one of the most polarizing and violent political campaigns in that country’s history, The ascension to power of alt-right politicians and the Brexit vote come at a time when leading evolving establishments, such as China, Russia, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are swiveling away from liberal democratic systems.

Their populist agenda stokes people’s primordial response to unfounded danger. They mouth rhetoric that fan the flames of pride, hostility and hate.

They’re not shy about disparaging women and people of color. They publicly spew curses, zealously mow down dissent, and run after politicians on the other side of the fence and the press. Their words often incite their rabid followers to commit violence against their targets.

Just recently, the world expressed horror and rage when a gunman, later identified as Robert Bowers, shot to death 11 people in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. The shooting during a Shabbat service was said to be the deadliest assault on Jews in US history, according to the Anti-Defamation League which monitors antisemitism. The shooting immediately came after an earlier act by Trump supporter Cesar Sayoc in southern Florida of sending pipe bombs to critics of Trump, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Jewish billionaire and philanthropist George Soros. Thirteen of the devices were declared on a federal criminal complaint. A 14th contraption was reported by billionaire Tom Steyer who has called for Trump’s impeachment. Trump’s inflammatory

rhetoric was said to have inspired these people to go after his critics.

Here at home, President Duterte employs the same populist approach. Palace Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo explains that Duterte’s boorish style of governance was what made him president in the first place. People laugh and clap at his misogynist remarks, unrestrained cursing and incessant derogatory comments directed at his detractors. He has jailed Sen. Leila de Lima on trumped up drug charges, and kicked out Maria Lourdes A. Sereno as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court through a “quo warranto petition” (void from the very beginning).

He is now bent on putting Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV behind bars on an executive order that nullifies his amnesty.

While more and more Filipinos go hungry, the body count on Duterte’s war on drugs increases by the day.

Human-rights advocates believe that his administration is the cruelest to the poor. “Suspected” drug addicts are killed mercilessly, while drug lords remain scot-free. Corrupt people in his government are “recycled,” with some even being promoted. What really cuts deep and deals the harshest blow to freedom-loving Filipinos is that his net approval ratings remain at a very-good level, according to the recent survey done by the Social Weather Station (SWS).

Ironically, it is the same democratic space which Duterte abhors that has put him in Malacañang. This is the same freedom accorded to the Marcoses which they are now using to deodorize the late dictator’s image. It has parallelism in the US where the views of neo-Nazi groups are protected by the courts and the nation’s First Amendment. In one well-known case, the Supreme Court cited the First Amendment in defending the right of a neo-Nazi group to march through the predominantly Jewish town of Skokie, Illinois, and display swastika signs.

The major columns of liberal democracy in our country are being severely eroded. The health of the three pillars of government—the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary—is what makes democracy vibrant. Under Duterte, the clout of each is being battered. In the Executive, Duterte made sure that his political weapon is always loaded, as he enacts sweeping executive orders to dodge the legislative process and even instigate conflicts.

The power concentrated on him swells as both houses of Congress meekly relinquish their powers in partisan politics. What has come to the fore is that Congress is being manipulated by the same party, even as the system passes laws that benefit Malacañang’s present occupant. The Judiciary has not been spared either. Our Supreme Court now wrongly draws its powers from an appointing authority, and has not been level and fair. We now painfully suffer from a generally corrupt Judiciary where the rights of dissenters are being trampled upon. On the Judiciary’s lower level, the poor has always been at a disadvantage.

The social media have enabled the explosion of “fake news.” The proliferation of poisoned sources of information has made most people incapable of making intelligent decisions because they are culling from biased, unverified or false information. The only option left for democratic warriors is relentless vigilance at the ballot box. In the coming election, they must campaign to the death and vote for those who will raise the country from the quagmire of indecency, corruption and disinformation that it has sunk into, and lead it back to where integrity, propriety and healthy political discourse are sacrosanct. The road leading to the land of milk and honey is a slow, difficult voyage. It’s never been easy, but democracy is our only hope.

For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com.

T

O be included in the reign of God is every religious person’s wish. Obedience to God’s commandments is clearly necessary, if one is to be part of the people in covenant with God. Jesus is queried as to which commandment is most important and first of all (Mark 12:28-34).

Love of God and of neighbor IN the face of the more than 600 prescriptions in the Mosaic Law, questions about priority was inevitable. Which is first of all? How should they be ordered? Even a scribe, an interpreter of the law who must have recognized something in Jesus and wanted to hear more of his thoughts, was prompted to ask him this significant question. The answer of Jesus is true to his Jewish faith. Without singling out any particular statute, Jesus echoes the summons of their most important prayer (Deuteronomy 6:5—“Shema Israel”): The first is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. Jesus adds “with all your mind,” to underline the total engagement of

the person; the love of God is to occupy one’s whole being. And the second (Leviticus 19:18) is to love your neighbor as yourself.

No other commandment is greater than these two, and they are interrelated and inseparable. The first commandment, from which all others flow, concerns God “who is one.” Divine oneness is absolute, which creatures should imitate by being united with God in loving communion, in complete coordination of heart, soul, mind and strength. From this arises the second commandment: the One God makes all people one, each one loving the other as oneself.

These two form one commandment, “the first,” rooted in an interior act of love, an absolute commitment to God. From this inner consciousness

Thursday, November 1, 2018 A7

must flow the external obedient behavior. Otherwise the law is kept with a hard heart, and a dark mind, and a sick soul, and only a minimum of effort, as we hear of God’s lament: “These people draw near with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).

On the threshold of God’s reign

THE scribe appreciates the accuracy and profundity of Jesus’ reply.

He calls Jesus “teacher,” a title that carries a special significance coming from an expert of the law. And he shows his skill as interpreter of the law by his own development of Jesus’ pronouncement. Making his application and showing they are on the same page, the scribe states that the cultic practices that relate people to God are clearly less important than the inner principal attitude of loving God and one’s neighbor.

Jesus returns the compliment, recognizing the wisdom in the scribe’s words repeating His answer and emphasizing the priority of love of God and of neighbor over ritual obligations. But Jesus indicates further development: the scribe must move beyond questions of the law and toward the experience of the reign of God. He is not far from the kingdom, but not yet there. Jesus takes the conversation to the next

The struggle for the ‘commons’ in Asia

coming from US southern neighbors and the crisis countries in Africa and the Middle East. Somehow he has forgotten that America is a migrant nation, built by the collective labor of migrants coming from virtually all corners of the globe.

In the Asia Pacific a number of CSOs and trade unions have focused their efforts to promote the interests of the 99 percent by intensifying the campaign for a stronger and comprehensive system of social protection (SP), which is woefully underdeveloped in the region despite the endless pro-SP rhetorics being spouted by Asia’s strongmen, such as Duterte, Modi, Hun Sen and so on. In the developed countries, the budgetary spending on SP is equal to 20 percent or more of the GDP; in contrast, in Asia, with the notable exception of Japan, SP spending is less than 6 percent.

In the Philippines SP spending has increased, from 2-3 percent to 4-5 percent of the GDP, obviously due to the expansion of the CCT program and the new social proteccases of illegal arrest, 705 summary executions, 88 frustrated summary executions, six deaths associated with cruel treatment of prison conditions, 125 massacres with 480 fatalities and 138 wounded, 136 counts of frustrated massacre, 1,676 torture victims, 224 involuntary disappearances, 25 civilian deaths in counterinsurgencyrelated hostilities, 37,133 dislocated families in 64 refugee camps and 500 families in 37 barangays were subjected to food and economic blockade.

The disturbing figures came about despite Aquino’s creation of the Commission on Human Rights on May 5, 1987, through Executive Order 163.

The book Lost in Time noted: “Aquino experienced how difficult it actually was to defend democracy. It

was a lot easier to condemn her predecessor, Marcos, and to keep on ascribing to him problems that plagued her reign. To her dismay, the human-rights class suit against the Marcos Estate in America did little to spare her regime from intense criticism for its own human-rights record.”

The late nationalist Renato Constantino, whose house was raided by government agents in August 1988, added: “The success of Mrs. Aquino’s advisers in institutionalizing vigilantism, food blockades and other counterinsurgency measures shows us that... the Aquino administration cannot keep up with its own rhetoric of upholding human rights even in its narrow sense.”

So, while the illusion created was that the Aquino government is markedly different from that of Marcos since it was not as politically repressive as its predecessor, this perception was accepted in a shrinking group of Cory believers.

Granting that Mrs. Aquino was sincere in her human-rights pronouncements, this was contradicted by factual record. The figures on human-rights violations could be more as other incidents committed by the military, the communists and the secessionists were not documented at all.

Continued from A1

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S we all know, this is not happening. As per study by Oxfam, eight persons have wealth equal to the wealth of the 50 percent of the world’s population. The value of the top 50 global corporations is equal to the GDP of 100 nations. And in almost every country, in the Philippines and in the Asia Pacific in particular, the top 1 percent of society controls 99 percent of the national wealth.

continued from A6

Rights Advocates (PAHRA), in a report covering January 1987 to September 1991 stated that the rights of over 20,700 persons were violated as a result of 18,281 arbitrary arrests, 701 involuntary disappearances, 1,000 extrajudicial executions and 727 summary killings.

The Children’s Rehabilitation Center also reported that from 1988 to 1989, the rights of 346,789 children were violated.

The TFDP documented humanrights violations during the first 1,000 days of the Aquino regime (March 1986 to November 1988) as follows: 11,911

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

of classes in June, the secretary of the Department of Education was quoted as saying that the Department was prepared to help the LGUs of Metro Manila to build more schools but the problem was the lack of public lands in the metropolis to build such schools. And why are there no such lands? Well, the answer is obvious to watchers of the real-estate industry: all high-value urban and agricultural lands are now in the hands of the big land developers, which are competing with one another not only in building new malls and condominiums but also in accumulating lands for “land banking” purposes. Such a process is aided by the government’s unchecked privatization program, absence of a just land-use policy and a taxation system that tends to support the land accumulation by the rich. The outcomes: no land for the schools and no land that can be transformed into public parks.

Thus, in the AMRC-Oxfam seminar on SP, representatives of the trade unions and CSOs embraced the idea that one cannot push for a stronger net of social protection for all without asserting the need for just and equitable policies on how to protect the commons for the benefit of society’s majority. As Francine Maestrum explained, social protection is not a question of charity. It is a social justice imperative. And, thus, it is inextricably linked to the struggle to build a just, inclusive and humane society.

Along this line, a proposed “Global Charter for Social Protection Rights” declares that “States should organize their social protection mechanisms in such a way that they lead to social and economic transformation, leading to just, fair and sustainable societies, preserving human and natural life.”

LABOREM EXERCENS

Arillo . . .

Alálaong bagá, as the law was previously written on tablets of stone and people had to look outside themselves to know what to do, Jesus has started to fulfill what God said: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). The inner attitude of love of God and of neighbor is the foundation of the people’s covenant with God. Where no other commandments can cover all human situations and predict proper behavior, the inner consciousness of love in communion with God and neighbor will find ways and means to embody that love in the unforeseeable turns and twists of life. This inner attitude of love is first of all.

tion programs such as pension for the elderly and subsidy for transport workers. Such expansion is obviously not enough given the magnitude of poverty and unemployment/underemployment in the country, not to mention the extreme level of inequality in our society. Worse, the new tax law or TRAIN, which has fueled an inflationary situation, has eroded the purchasing power of the masses and has rendered the government promises of greater SP under TRAIN truly contradictory and illusory.

In a recent seminar organized by the Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC) of Hong Kong and Oxfam in Cambodia, the trade unions and CSOs across the Asia Pacific not only lamented the weaknesses of the SP programs in place in their respective countries but also denounced the failure of most governments to secure the “commons” in the service and enjoyment of the populace. As explained by Francine Maestrum, a sociologist, the commons consists of the following: a) “natural commons” such as the planet, oceans, forests, land and seeds; b) “cultural commons” such as cultural heritage, Internet and human knowledge; and “social commons” such as the human rights, public services and social security. In short, the commons such as fresh air, clean water, public spaces and scientific advancements of all kinds belong to all of humanity and should be treated as such. They should be used for the enjoyment of all for they are a common inheritance of humanity.

And yet, tragically, this is not happening. In the name of economic growth and efficiency, neoliberal economists are trying to promote the all-out commercialization and even privatization of these commons. Example: during the opening

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

This is why the social movement called “We are the 99 percent” ceases to wane and keeps proliferating in new forms in various countries across the globe. The movement started in America in the aftermath of the 2007-2010 global financial crisis (GFC), which displaced millions from their jobs and which revealed the financial and other abuses committed by the big banks and corporations in a deregulated free market environment.

However, the post-GFC period has also witnessed the rise of political demagogues and right-wing “national saviors,” who try to seize on the economic grievances of the 99 percent by making empty promises on job creation and welfare advancement without altering unjust social and economic structures which are at the roots of social and economic inequality. In the United States Donald J. Trump has even transformed his “America First” campaign into a hateful and white-race-based movement that tries to pin America’s economic problems on the migrants

level. With the gradation of the Jewish cultic practices, things are now not just to be evaluated in terms of legal knowledge, but in terms of the Kingdom of God. In God’s Kingdom, beyond the boundaries of Judaism, a new community will emerge and, as Jesus Himself has voiced: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Mark 11:17). What else was there to ask Jesus; He was beyond them.

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

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Thursday, November 1, 2018

‘No militarization’ at BOC, as 10-month take hits ₧482B

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By Rea Cu @ReaCuBM & Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

MID a verbal presidential order to let the military take over its operations to stop corruption and the repeated smuggling of illegal drugs, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) reported on Wednesday that its collections as of October 29 this year have reached P481.72 billion, higher by 31.3 percent than last year’s end-October collection of P366.74 billion.

At turnover rites at the BOC headquarters, outgoing Customs Commissioner Isidro S. Lapeña reported that, “Based on the latest preliminary record of the BOC financial service, from January to October 29, 2018, the bureau has already exceeded its collection target for the period ” by P15.03 billion.

The preliminary figure was also pointed out to have breached the bureau’s target collection for the 10-month period of P466.69 billion.

T he BOC ’s collection from January 1 to October 29 this year a lready represents 82.9 percent of the collection target for 2018, according to Lapeña, whom the President “promoted” to a Cabinet rank position as director general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) following his admission, that, indeed, the magnetic lifters discovered in a Cavite warehouse had been used to smuggle in shabu, with a worth variously estimated from P6.8 billion to P11 billion.

Lapeña turned over the helm of

the BOC on Wednesday to another retired military general, Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero, who had a successful stint as chief regulator at the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), after he stepped down as chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“I am sure the incoming Customs leadership will be able to achieve the remaining collection in order to hit the 2018 target,” Lapeña said of his successor, who in turn assured the mainly civilian work force at the country’s secondbiggest revenue agency that they will keep their jobs but that he hoped they could all work together with him to prove that corruption is not the norm at the bureau.

Business assured

IN a related development, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said President Duterte’s plan to militarize the BOC will not hamper the flow of goods in ports, and could even lead to smoother trade procedures.

In a statement, Lopez told businesses not to worry about any delays in the shipment of their goods if the

TROPICAL STORM “YUTU” (FORMERLY ROSITA) 325 KM WEST OF LAOAG, ILOCOS NORTE as of 4:00 pm - October 31, 2018

“As I take the helm of the BOC, expect that the efforts against corruption will be both decisive and unrelenting as I focus on addressing systemic weaknesses, implementing stronger internal safeguards, enhancing integrity systems, and building capabilities and capacities of our law enforcement.”—Guerrero

administration of the BOC is handed over to the military. The President has been flirting with the idea of turning over customs regulation to the country’s armed forces.

He was disgusted with how things are going in the BOC, following a dispute between the regulator and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency over the entry of up to P11 billion of crystal meth in the Port of Manila.

Lopez, for his part, said militarizing the BOC could prove to be necessary to address corruption in the agency. “I believe in the wisdom of the President, applying new laws to solve perennial problems,” he argued.

“If you try applying [the] same solutions to [the] same old problems, something must be wrong.

It’s the President’s unique approach to old problems [corruption in the BOC],” Lopez added.

The trade chief also believes the armed forces might make customs procedures more seamless, as they are expected to cut red tape and eliminate corruption in the agency.

Lopez argued, “I believe [the] military will be there to help in the enforcement and adding better controls, lessening or eliminating corruption without affecting the smoother workflow and process-

ing of documents in the BOC. According to DOF [Department of Finance], the efficient and honest work force familiar in the operations will continue to be there.”

Worries over the arrival and delivery of shipments piled up over the past days, as the BOC was placed in hot water due to the smuggling of crystal meth, which resulted in Duterte reorganizing the agency.

However, his plan to place the BOC under military control caused fears that shipments might be delayed during the holiday season.

Collection target

ACCORDING to the BOC its collection target for 2018 was set at P581.291 billion. The BOC will have to collect around P99.57 billion for the remaining two months of the year to hit its annual collection target or at least P49.78 billion each month.

For October alone, collections of the bureau was reported to be around P47.10 billion as of October 29, which is 9.7 percent higher than the recorded P42.91 billion recorded in October 2017. But compared to its collection target for the month of P49.06 billion, the preliminary collection is still lower by 4.2 percent.

In his farewell speech, Lapeña said, “I will request the incoming commissioner, Rey Guerrero to work out the rewards that the bureau employees lawfully deserve if the BOC exceeds its target for this year.”

In accepting the role, Guerrero said, “Today, as I accept responsibility of leading the BOC, I commit to serve with purpose and effectively. For this designation I thank the President for his continued trust and confidence in my abilities to lead the team, guided by his directive to initiate reforms and cleanse the agency of corruption.”

Guerrero added, “As I take the helm of the BOC, expect that the efforts against corruption will be both decisive and unrelenting as I focus on addressing systemic weaknesses, implementing stronger internal safeguards, enhancing integrity systems, and building capabilities and capacities of our law enforcement.”

On the President’s directive to replace BOC personnel with uniformed armed personnel to rid the agency of corruption, Guerrero said there is no militarization as the majority of the employees of the BOC will still run the bureau.

“The directive of the President to have military people...clearly the officers of the BOC will still be in control of the operations. We will have to assess the situation and decide appropriately,” he said.

“We must regain the trust of those whom we serve, and we start by building trust between and among us. I need to be able to trust every single member in the BOC, to be honest and upright, and each of you needs to trust me in my commitment and capacity to lead with integrity. Trust works both ways and by believing our mutual goals and singular dedication to serve our country and our people, we will have enough visions and motivation to change old ways and make way for better service,” he added.

Inflation. . .

Continued from A1

Maynilad-serviced areas could be offset by the lower prices of rice and other food items as well as the downward adjustment in Meralco power rates,” it added. In their September meeting, the BSP said infla-

www.businessmirror.com.ph

RED CROSS GIVES ‘UNDAS’ SAFETY TIPS, FIELDS 1,600 STAFF, VOLUNTEERS

T least 1,686 staff and volunteers of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) are all set to provide safety and welfare assistance as Filipinos troop to the provinces and cemeteries during the observance of All Saints’ Day or Undas.

As of October 29, the PRC is on track to set up 192 first-aid stations in more than 188 cemeteries and memorial parks, as well as major highways nationwide, including the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex), South Luzon Expressway (Slex) and Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expres-way (TPLEx).

PRC Chairman Sen. Richard J. Gordon said the organization will deploy more volunteers and ambulances during the busy weekend.

“Our volunteers and thousands of life-saving equipment are devoted to keep Filipinos safe as they pay respect to their departed loved ones. We are also urging the public to remain vigilant and be alert to prevent accidents, such as road crashes and fire incidents,” Gordon said.

Staff and volunteers will also be on the ground to ensure safety in bus terminals, sea and airports.

Aside from the first aid stations, PRC’s 149 ambulances are mobilized and on standby, while 41 roving medical units are ready to assist patients who will be needing medical assistance. Moreover, PRC has set up 126 welfare desks where the public can report missing relatives.

In last year’s Oplan Kaluluwa, PRC catered to the needs of 5,993 individuals, including 223 patients who sustained major and minor injuries, such as abrasions, lacerations, dizziness, loss of consciousness, seizure and hypertension.

PRC reminded the public to ensure their families’ safety by securing their houses and following safety tips on the road and in the cemetery.

Thousands of motorists who

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will be traveling during the holiday season were urged to remember the following PRC road-safety tips to prevent road accidents: 1. Use a seat belt.

2. Wear a helmet on a motorcycle.

3. Drive at a safe speed and distance suitable for the conditions.

4. Do not drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

5. Do not use a mobile phone while driving.

6. Know and respect the highway code.

7. Maintain vehicle in good condition.

8. Be visible as a pedestrian or a cyclist.

9. Know how to react in case of a crash.

10. Remember “BLOW BAGETS” (breaks, lights, oil, water, batteries, air, gas, engine, tires, self).

Fire incidents, a common untoward event when families leave their houses to visit their departed relatives, can be avoided by unplugging electrical equipment, extinguishing lighted candles, checking water faucets, and turning off electric and gas stove.

Families must also make sure that backdoors and windows are locked.

The PRC further advised the public to wear light-colored clothing, bring water, avoid consuming alcoholic drinks and avoid bringing unnecessary sharp objects. Parents with small children were, likewise, advised not to bring them to crowded places. Parents must also provide identification cards to their children.

“While PRC’s volunteers and life-saving assets will be mobilized to ensure order, we are urging the public to carry their load by securing their selves and their families,” Gordon said. “For any untoward incident, you may report to our hot line 143 or approach our volunteers on duty.”

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

NFA issues guidelines on rice importation Continued from A1

then submit the list of compliant importers to the NFA so they can be issued a certificate of eligibility to import rice (COEIR).

The rice imports must arrive in the country not later than 90 calendar days from the date of COEIR issuance, according to the guidelines.

“All interested NFA-licensed importers may apply to import under this program 15 calendar days after the publication [of] these guidelines,” it said.

Furthermore, the NFA allowed the earlier entry of rice imports under the second phase of the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme 2017-2018 from December 20, 2018

to October 15. All rice imports under the second phase must arrive not later than February 28, 2019.

The NFA also extended, to not later than November 30, the arrival of 133,500 MT of rice earlier intended for the Zambasulta (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, TawiTawi) area.

The grains agency also allowed the discharge of the said volume to any port in the country but subject to NFA management’s approval.

Importers that will be allowed to discharge their allocation to other ports must sign a deed of undertaking “that in case Zambasulta provinces shall be in need of rice,” they would bring their allocated stocks to the area, according to the NFA. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

tion is now expected to average at 5.2 percent, from the 4.9-percent projection in the previous meeting on August 9. For 2019, inflation is now also expected to breach target to hit 4.3 percent from the earlier forecast of 3.7 percent.

The BSP vowed to continue monitoring developments in inflation for policy-making considerations.

“Moving forward, the BSP will continue to closely monitor evolving trends in prices and inflation expectations, and will undertake necessary measures toward its commitment to price stability,” the BSP said.

T h e B S P w i l l h o l d it s next monetary-policy meeting on November 15.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 1, 2018

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Coca-Cola taps First Gen to supply renewable energy to bottling plants

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

OCA-COLA Femsa Philippines Inc. (KOFPH), the current licensed bottler of Coca-Cola products in the country, has tapped First Gen Corp. to provide renewable energy (RE) to its bottling facilities.

KOFPH has signed on the Lopez-led First Gen’s retail electricity arms—First Gen Energy Solutions Inc. (FGES) and Bac-Man Geothermal Inc. (BGI)—for the supply of electricity from RE sources, to power Coca-Cola’s bottling facilities in La Union, Pangasinan, Pampanga and Cebu.

The agreement was implemented on October 26.

To date, approximately 40 percent of the electricity needs of Coca-Cola’s bottling operations is already being sourced from RE, which is being consumed by six of its manufacturing facilities.

In February Coca-Cola’s Santa Rosa and Canlubang plants started integrating RE into their operations. The bottling arm of Coca-Cola is committed to further

strengthening its sustainable operational systems, as it enhances capabilities across its value chain.

There are 19 Coca-Cola bottling facilities all over the country.

Coca-Cola Femsa has been striving to make clean energy a more prominent part of its global manufacturing processes, in keeping with its long-standing commitment to reduce its carbon footprint and to achieve sustainable operations, through the use of RE sources and the adoption of new technologies to further enhance operational efficiency.

This partnership between KOFPH and FGES will help the local bottling company work toward its Global 2020 Sustainability Goals on Energy: reduce the carbon footprint of Coca-Cola Femsa’s value chain by 20 percent against its 2010 global baseline; and integrate clean

and renewable sources in its operations.

Coca-Cola Femsa has been working to responsibly manage its environmental footprint in all of its operations across the globe, and toward sustainable development and operational systems that champion environmental welfare. As such, the company has been continuously looking for ways to harness strategic, responsible and efficient measures for its environmental policies to take effect across its value chain.

First Gen’s portfolio of power plants runs on geothermal, hydro, wind and solar, which are renewable energy; as well as natural gas, the cleanest form of fossil fuel. With 3,490 megawatts of installed capacity, the First Gen plants account for a fourth of the country’s gross-power generation.

DOE names 3 firms ‘serious’ in plan to build LNG terminal

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NERGY Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi cited three firms “serious” in their plans to build and operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in the country.

Cusi identified the three firms as Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and Tokyo Gas. The three firms are among the 18 local and foreign firms that have so far expressed interest to pursue LNG projects since the Department of Energy (DOE) issued last year a circular on the Philippines Downstream Natural Gas Regulation (PDNGR), which spells out the rules governing the downstream

natural gas industry.

Since this is a race, the first to submit a complete LNG proposal to the DOE will be awarded with a notice to proceed.

The DOE has so far received one application, submitted by Tanglawan Philippines LNG Inc., the partnership between state-owned CNOOC and Philippine fuel retailer Phoenix Petroleum.

However, the application was returned because it lacked a certificate of registration from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“CNOOC and Phoenix submitted both technical and financial applications. But we wrote them a letter

informing them about certain observation about their application,” DOE Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido said. “They have not yet been issued a certificate of registration by the SEC.” In June CNOOC and Phoenix signed a memorandum of understanding to study, plan and develop an LNG receiving terminal project in the Philippines.

Cusi is hopeful his office can decide which proposal to accept by November.

Pulido earlier said it would take 30 days for the DOE to evaluate the proposals upon submission of complete documents.

The other firms that expressed interest were Cleanway Energy Development,

First Gen Corp., CGN New Energy Holdings Co. Ltd., VIRES Energy Corp., DeEnergy International Corp., SK E&S Co. Ltd., Carmine Energy Pte. Ltd., Transformation Llc., Limay LNG Power Corp., Kepco E&C, Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Co., Osaka Gas Co. Ltd., Llyods Energy, PhiLNG Ltd. Pte. and BKB Consortium.

The PNOC, meanwhile, has formally started scouting for a partner for the proposed LNG hub in Batangas Bay. In a published bid invite, the PNOC had called on bidders to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the LNG hub, which it wants to be classified as an “energy project of national significance” under Executive Order 30. Lenie Lectura

House committee seeks penalty for telcos hoarding frequencies

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

T

HE vice chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means has urged his colleagues to pass a measure that would penalize telecommunication companies allegedly hoarding frequencies.

Rep. Dakila Carlo E. Cua of the Lone District of Quirino said the passage of House Bill (HB) 8134, or “An Act Systematizing Spectrum User Fees Imposed Against Radio Frequency Bands,” would pave the way for the entry of new telecommunication industry players in the country.

Under HB 8134, which Cua filed last August, the government would impose hefty fees on users and holders of frequency bands nationwide.

Cua said the duopoly of the telecommunication industry has discouraged new players to enter the local market.

“In the US, which has the same limited amount of spectrum, frequencies are assigned to many players. They have four major telco companies and many other smaller telco companies,” Cua said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Here in the Philippines, the majority of the frequencies are assigned to two players and the companies under their control. They have been granted more than enough frequencies, but have failed to provide satisfactory service to Filipinos,” he said.

Under HB 8134, a telco company will be charged a premium on the spectrum user fees when the band is found to be underutilized, Cua said.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) would be empowered “to initiate call back or recall proceedings on unused, unutilized, and/or underutilized frequencies.” To exercise this power, Cua said the NTC would be “given appropriate funding to upgrade its capabilities to measure usage of frequencies.”

“By breaking the control of the two players over the country’s frequencies, we increase competition and welcome new players. We expect this will result in improved service quality, faster Internet speeds and lower prices,” Cua said.

Under the bill, telecommunication companies are charged 20 times the prescribed rate of imposed Spectrum User Fees (SUF) on their second and succeeding licensed frequencies.

Telecommunication firms would be charged twice the imposed SUF on all their assigned frequencies that remains unused, unutilized and/or underutilized.

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Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 1, 2018

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

October 31, 2018

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

ASIA UNITED 59 59.5 59 59.5 58.75 59.5 51360 3042857.5 BDO UNIBANK 122.1 122.4 122 123 120.3 122.4 3091460 378275249 BANK PH ISLANDS 81 82.15 79.8 82.15 79.8 82.15 1723280 140026294 CHINABANK 28 28.15 28.3 28.3 28 28 54700 1538035 CITYSTATE BANK 4.27 7 7.89 7.89 7 7 1800 13579 EAST WEST BANK 11.32 11.4 11.52 11.52 11.28 11.32 883900 10028326 METROBANK 65 65.55 64.55 65.55 64.15 65.55 4669860 301667010 PHIL NATL BANK 39.55 39.6 40.5 40.5 39.6 39.6 204700 8159200 PSBANK 73.05 77.95 78.25 78.25 73.05 77.95 100 7605 PHILTRUST 101.9 122.9 108.9 122.9 108.9 122.9 2860 338132 RCBC 28.5 29 29.4 29.4 28.5 29 8200 236785 SECURITY BANK 141 144.4 143.6 145.2 138.8 144.4 688820 97038111 UNION BANK 66 66.9 65.9 66.9 65.9 66.85 530 34951 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.34 1.39 1.34 1.4 1.34 1.34 71000 95600 BDO LEASING 2.33 2.44 2.45 2.45 2.45 2.45 15000 36750 COL FINANCIAL 15.28 15.68 15.7 15.7 15.7 15.7 500 7850 FERRONOUX HLDG 3.98 4 3.97 4 3.9 4 254000 1008740 IREMIT 1.52 1.57 1.5 1.53 1.5 1.53 124000 189600 MEDCO HLDG 0.435 0.475 0.475 0.48 0.475 0.48 270000 128350 MANULIFE 810 825 810 810 810 810 150 121500 PHIL STOCK EXCH 184 188.5 190 190 185 185 550 102990 SUN LIFE 1830 1889 1830 1830 1830 1830 5 9150

INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS 1.27 1.29 1.26 1.3 1.25 1.29 429000 536400 ABOITIZ POWER 32.9 33.7 32.6 33.7 32.3 33.7 3371800 111865770 BASIC ENERGY 0.212 0.218 0.21 0.22 0.21 0.219 90000 19180 ENERGY DEVT 6.75 6.87 6.88 6.88 6.87 6.87 36600 251692 FIRST GEN 15.6 15.62 15.8 15.8 15.58 15.62 628000 9813760 FIRST PHIL HLDG 63.7 64.05 63.65 64.1 63.65 63.7 99220 6349765 PHIL H2O 4.33 4.55 4.42 4.55 4.32 4.55 57000 250680 MERALCO 360.6 367.8 356 367.8 355 367.8 363350 132501312 MANILA WATER 25 25.4 25 25.45 24.85 25 1041700 26080365 PETRON 8.1 8.13 8.2 8.27 8.1 8.1 554900 4,516,714( PETROENERGY 4.05 4.14 4.06 4.15 4.05 4.05 53000 215280 PHINMA ENERGY 0.95 0.96 0.96 0.96 0.96 0.96 375000 360000 PHX PETROLEUM 10.8 11 11 11 11 11 16900 185900 PILIPINAS SHELL 48.55 49.5 48.5 49 48.5 48.55 154700 7543440 SPC POWER 5.19 5.2 5.2 5.2 5.19 5.2 75800 393908 AGRINURTURE 17.74 17.8 17.9 17.9 17.7 17.8 173800 3102244 CNTRL AZUCARERA 16.1 16.98 16.1 16.1 16.1 16.1 1800 28980 CENTURY FOOD 13.36 13.44 13.48 13.54 13.36 13.36 69200 930842 DEL MONTE 6.85 7 7 7 6.8 6.8 3100 21100 DNL INDUS 11 11.4 11 11.4 10.94 11.4 4446100 49838696 EMPERADOR 6.95 6.96 6.95 6.96 6.91 6.96 364500 2527112 SMC FOODANDBEV 84.95 85 85.45 85.45 84.95 85 413050 35119155 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.95 0.96 0.93 0.96 0.92 0.95 2475000 2349890 GINEBRA 24.3 24.9 24.5 25.5 24.5 25 3400 84350 JOLLIBEE 271.6 276 267.8 277 265.4 276 1466050 400244638 MAXS GROUP 10.74 10.76 11.14 11.42 10.76 10.76 267400 2893832 PEPSI COLA 1.63 1.65 1.7 1.7 1.65 1.65 345000 569800 SHAKEYS PIZZA 10.36 10.38 10.4 10.5 10.38 10.38 105700 1099494 ROXAS AND CO 2.19 2.24 2.19 2.27 2.17 2.19 143000 312020 RFM CORP 4.79 4.8 4.79 4.79 4.79 4.79 13000 62270 SWIFT FOODS 0.122 0.126 0.126 0.126 0.126 0.126 10000 1260 UNIV ROBINA 129.9 130 131 131 129 130 1228610 159660059 VITARICH 1.61 1.62 1.54 1.62 1.54 1.61 7322000 11638440 CONCRETE A 61.35 66.55 62.05 62.05 61.1 61.1 30 1852 CEMEX HLDG 2.11 2.12 2.09 2.12 2.07 2.12 2900000 6070560 DAVINCI CAPITAL 4.71 5.3 5.34 5.34 5.34 5.34 500 2670 EAGLE CEMENT 14.76 15.2 14.98 15.2 14.98 15.2 440800 6662694 EEI CORP 8.8 8.88 9 9 8.8 8.88 2031300 17877102 HOLCIM 6.16 6.44 6.44 6.44 6.44 6.44 5100 32844 MEGAWIDE 17.9 17.94 17.9 18.38 17.8 17.94 5675000 102,708,852( PHINMA 8.95 9.06 9.02 9.06 9.02 9.06 20000 180800 TKC METALS 0.95 0.99 0.94 1 0.94 0.99 352000 337550 CROWN ASIA 1.56 1.57 1.56 1.56 1.56 1.56 15000 23400 LMG CHEMICALS 4.81 4.85 4.81 4.81 4.81 4.81 68000 327080 CONCEPCION 37.8 38 38 38 38 38 100 3800 INTEGRATED MICR 10.72 10.76 11 11.3 10.7 10.76 2852700 30800250 IONICS 1.62 1.64 1.66 1.66 1.61 1.63 224000 362630 PANASONIC 5.95 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 6.15 5000 30750 SFA SEMICON 1.56 1.58 1.49 1.6 1.49 1.58 55000 84950 CIRTEK HLDG 38.75 39 37.35 39 37 39 661500 25394810

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.455 0.46 0.47 0.475 0.455 0.455 25630000 11878250 ASIABEST GROUP 25.05 25.35 25.45 26 25 25.35 24500 629105 AYALA CORP 918.5 920 900.5 945 899 920 461150 423446635 ABOITIZ EQUITY 46 47 45.95 47 44.1 47 2428900 111432560 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 11.32 11.36 11.54 11.56 11.34 11.36 6127200 69961516 ANSCOR 6.2 6.22 6.2 6.21 6.2 6.21 103900 644290 ATN HLDG A 1.25 1.27 1.25 1.31 1.24 1.25 17856000 22814070 ATN HLDG B 1.27 1.28 1.27 1.34 1.27 1.28 3185000 4113800 COSCO CAPITAL 6.77 6.9 6.97 6.98 6.77 6.77 1029100 7041290 DMCI HLDG 12.36 12.84 12 12.9 12 12.84 9680900 123059132 FILINVEST DEV 7.08 7.23 7.08 7.23 7.08 7.23 15800 113384 FORUM PACIFIC 0.19 0.22 0.224 0.224 0.224 0.224 10000 2240 GT CAPITAL 759 760 765 770 759.5 760 167960 127674960 HOUSE OF INV 5.82 6.01 5.83 5.83 5.83 5.83 3500 20405 JG SUMMIT 47.25 47.3 47.5 48.7 47.3 47.3 1707300 81427325 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 4.32 5.11 4.31 4.31 4.29 4.29 20000 85940 LODESTAR 0.5 0.53 0.54 0.54 0.5 0.53 41000 20610 LOPEZ HLDG 4.22 4.23 4.28 4.28 4.23 4.23 2757000 11,672,960( LT GROUP 14.24 14.5 14.6 14.6 14.2 14.5 844800 12240868 MABUHAY HLDG 0.53 0.54 0.55 0.56 0.52 0.54 1206000 641570 METRO PAC INV 4.78 4.8 4.8 4.84 4.74 4.8 48220000 231132870 PACIFICA 0.036 0.038 0.037 0.037 0.037 0.037 2100000 77700 PRIME ORION 2.28 2.31 2.28 2.32 2.28 2.28 112000 258220 PRIME MEDIA 1.19 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1000 1200 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.69 2.7 407000 1098830 SM INVESTMENTS 898 900 883.5 908 883.5 900 380410 342495695 SAN MIGUEL CORP 169 171 169.9 171 168.9 171 621260 105694623 SOC RESOURCES 0.77 0.8 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77 15000 11550 TOP FRONTIER 279.4 280 280 280 267.4 280 2330 651964 WELLEX INDUS 0.231 0.235 0.228 0.235 0.227 0.235 2600000 605030 ZEUS HLDG 0.193 0.217 0.217 0.217 0.217 0.217 300000 65100

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.57 0.58 0.61 0.61 0.57 0.58 3557000 2050230 ANCHOR LAND 11.26 11.48 11.28 11.28 11.26 11.26 14100 158780 AYALA LAND 39.45 39.65 38.25 39.65 38.25 39.65 14799300 580613845 ARANETA PROP 1.95 2.06 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 20000 39000 BELLE CORP 2.36 2.38 2.42 2.45 2.36 2.36 369000 878200 A BROWN 0.75 0.76 0.77 0.77 0.75 0.76 1072000 807420 CROWN EQUITIES 0.212 0.218 0.21 0.219 0.21 0.218 1130000 239860 CEBU HLDG 5.14 5.35 5.35 5.35 5.35 5.35 500 2675 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.3 4.34 4.34 4.34 4.3 4.3 45000 194360 CENTURY PROP 0.41 0.415 0.41 0.42 0.405 0.415 1530000 631500 CYBER BAY 0.375 0.385 0.375 0.385 0.375 0.385 150000 56450 DOUBLEDRAGON 19.16 19.2 19.3 19.3 18.52 19.2 420900 8046626 DM WENCESLAO 7.89 7.9 7.9 7.9 7.88 7.9 102800 812068 EMPIRE EAST 0.51 0.52 0.54 0.54 0.51 0.52 693000 354540 EVER GOTESCO 0.103 0.105 0.105 0.105 0.103 0.103 400000 41560 FILINVEST LAND 1.4 1.42 1.41 1.44 1.4 1.4 3351000 4722040 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.04 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 7000 7350 8990 HLDG 7 7.07 7.09 7.09 7 7.07 303600 2135979 IRC PROP 2.51 2.52 2.64 2.66 2.51 2.51 28009000 71833400 CITY AND LAND 0.91 0.94 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.91 2000 1820 MEGAWORLD 4.39 4.41 4.35 4.45 4.35 4.41 11617000 51194980 MRC ALLIED 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.6 0.57 0.57 14038000 8129680 PHIL ESTATES 0.4 0.41 0.395 0.395 0.395 0.395 290000 114550 PRIMEX CORP 3.43 3.45 3.36 3.46 3.35 3.45 1064000 3638760 ROBINSONS LAND 20.7 20.95 19.7 20.95 19.7 20.95 3356000 68481835 PHIL REALTY 0.4 0.43 0.42 0.435 0.42 0.43 150000 64350 ROCKWELL 1.92 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.92 1.92 13000 25260 SHANG PROP 3.15 3.17 3.15 3.17 3.15 3.17 147000 463070 STA LUCIA LAND 1.09 1.14 1.13 1.14 1.12 1.14 221000 248740 SM PRIME HLDG 33.75 33.8 33.85 34.15 33.7 33.8 27095100 918050650 STARMALLS 6.35 6.38 6.35 6.6 6.21 6.35 456400 2863592 SUNTRUST HOME 0.7 0.75 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 11000 7700 PTFC REDEV CORP 29.05 36.95 29.1 29.1 29.1 29.1 500 14550 VISTA LAND 5.23 5.28 5.28 5.28 5.2 5.28 5826000 30640541

SERVICES ABS CBN 21.4 21.5 21.5 21.5 21.4 21.5 10300 221235 GMA NETWORK 5.1 5.14 5.15 5.15 5.1 5.1 24000 122992 MANILA BULLETIN 0.4 0.42 0.4 0.41 0.4 0.4 120000 48600 GLOBE TELECOM 2032 2090 2058 2090 2002 2090 63350 131554620 PLDT 1382 1390 1355 1398 1340 1390 131710 181344080 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.039 0.041 0.039 0.041 0.039 0.041 6500000 265000 DFNN INC 7.42 8.45 7.39 7.42 7.39 7.42 1100 8159 IMPERIAL 1.81 2.05 2.02 2.02 2.02 2.02 2000 4040 ISLAND INFO 0.105 0.106 0.105 0.105 0.105 0.105 420000 44100 ISM COMM 3.19 3.2 3.3 3.3 3.16 3.2 7268000 23270000 JACKSTONES 3.09 3.24 3.1 3.24 3.07 3.24 31000 96110 NOW CORP 4.34 4.35 4.48 4.54 4.3 4.35 2014000 8796740 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.51 0.52 0.51 0.52 0.5 0.51 14264000 7340910 PHILWEB 3.5 3.56 3.51 3.56 3.47 3.5 658000 2307710 2GO GROUP 10.94 11 10.78 10.94 10.7 10.94 10000 107964 CEBU AIR 64 67.45 67.5 67.5 64 64 166900 10998179 CHELSEA 6.26 6.27 6.2 6.3 6.2 6.26 1349700 8449058 INTL CONTAINER 90.3 91 89.9 91 89.45 90.5 7582670 679673415.5 LBC EXPRESS 13.78 14.4 14.4 14.4 14.4 14.4 200 2880 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.79 0.8 0.8 0.81 0.77 0.8 187000 149390 MACROASIA 17.2 17.22 17.4 17.4 17.04 17.2 169200 2907518 METROALLIANCE A 1.23 1.27 1.23 1.27 1.23 1.23 60000 74560 HARBOR STAR 2.83 2.84 2.79 2.9 2.79 2.84 1644000 4704690 WATERFRONT 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.59 0.56 0.58 3405000 1921170 FAR EASTERN U 890 900 890 900 890 890 250 222700 IPEOPLE 11.24 11.96 11.2 11.24 11.1 11.24 8600 96268 STI HLDG 0.68 0.69 0.7 0.71 0.67 0.68 11589000 7914560 BERJAYA 1.68 1.69 1.68 1.72 1.66 1.69 1399000 2367400 BLOOMBERRY 8.32 8.4 8.12 8.5 8.12 8.4 11218900 93313301 PACIFIC ONLINE 10.64 10.9 10.94 10.94 10.62 10.9 13300 144910 LEISURE AND RES 3.36 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.35 3.4 322000 1086670 MANILA JOCKEY 5.3 5.4 5.3 5.4 5.3 5.4 50300 266750 MELCO RESORTS 7.1 7.15 7.09 7.15 7.09 7.15 2919900 20803445 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.73 0.74 0.75 0.76 0.73 0.74 4411000 3262300 TRAVELLERS 5.19 5.2 5.16 5.2 5.15 5.2 5124700 26506220 METRO RETAIL 2.21 2.22 2.21 2.22 2.21 2.22 491000 1088930 PUREGOLD 40.55 41.05 41 41.5 40.3 40.55 789700 32010685 ROBINSONS RTL 75.8 77 77.5 78 75.15 75.8 828550 63360204.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 102.1 105 104 105 104 105 80 8390 SSI GROUP 2.7 2.72 2.65 2.76 2.65 2.7 35631000 96569510 WILCON DEPOT 11.2 11.3 11.3 11.4 11.3 11.3 2019100 22899670 APC GROUP 0.435 0.445 0.455 0.455 0.435 0.435 450000 197850 EASYCALL 9.42 9.43 9.9 10.3 9.43 9.43 185000 1793531 GOLDEN BRIA 310 319.4 310 319.8 307.2 319.4 4360 1370064 IPM HLDG 7.6 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 12500 97500 PAXYS 2.95 3.24 3.1 3.25 3.1 3.25 18000 56310 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.345 0.35 0.34 0.35 0.34 0.345 200000 68600 SBS PHIL CORP 6.8 7 7 7 7 7 7300 51100

MINING & OIL ATOK 13.4 14 14 14 12.52 14 24900 343220 APEX MINING 1.82 1.83 1.73 1.83 1.73 1.82 7111000 12747980 ATLAS MINING 2.9 2.97 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 2000 5800 CENTURY PEAK 1.9 1.92 1.89 1.92 1.89 1.92 309000 584040 DIZON MINES 7.18 7.27 7.18 7.21 7.13 7.19 1600 11457 FERRONICKEL 1.81 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.8 1.82 463000 837520 GEOGRACE 0.205 0.208 0.206 0.211 0.203 0.211 160000 32690 LEPANTO A 0.107 0.109 0.109 0.109 0.107 0.109 340000 36600 MANILA MINING A 0.0068 0.0074 0.0069 0.007 0.0066 0.007 31000000 208600 MARCVENTURES 1.17 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.17 1.2 121000 143330 NIHAO 0.99 1.03 1.05 1.05 1.03 1.03 2000 2080 NICKEL ASIA 2.54 2.56 2.57 2.6 2.54 2.54 802000 2052650 OMICO CORP 0.59 0.6 0.62 0.62 0.59 0.6 23000 14100 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.94 0.96 0.97 0.97 0.93 0.96 702000 666520 PX MINING 3.48 3.51 3.54 3.54 3.48 3.48 1364000 4786190 SEMIRARA MINING 27.95 28 28.1 28.1 27.2 27.95 653100 18143645 UNITED PARAGON 0.006 0.0063 0.0061 0.0061 0.0061 0.0061 2000000 12200 ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 45200000 587600 PHILODRILL 0.011 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 50700000 608400 PHINMA PETRO 4.03 4.1 4.14 4.21 4.1 4.1 141000 589290 PXP ENERGY 17.82 17.84 17.66 17.98 17.66 17.84 1498000 26730410

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 DD PREF SMC FB PREF 2 GLO PREF P LR PREF MWIDE PREF PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

96 461 490 95.1 977 462 1.01 100 100 103 75.05 75.85 72.6 72.6 74.1 73.5 73.5 74.6

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

21.2 4.91

2.27

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 4.45 MAKATI FINANCE 2.66 XURPAS 1.54

106.9

-28700 -104930 -70550010 31412395 6527628 575980 1519180 -188913 74387266 -12730785 35652685 1,976,869.9997) -9678152 -131892390 125708520 92575675 -62130 -38284 50025875 -39000 -307210 -179290 -2675 17400 -120550 -406560.0003 -2833030 -4831340 32825330 569999.9998 -90850 -653620 -11053922 15600 453600 -187121195 122930 -17761943 15619530 21678035 -7217030 21850 18800 -1729600 -3234 6491401 -230085 -57063621.5 1440 -28800 134120 -404150 22799.9999 -5705280 111790 14213346 -27010 5111809 -59360 -17049163 202070 1476274.9997 -17342831 11284900 17011140 -50400 3444470 -16260 -2080 -43460 136730 -664100 3500322

98 465 492 96 1000 470 1.01 101.9 100 104.9 75.05 76.05 74.35 74.9 75 74.5 74 73.55

98 465 492 96 1000 470 1.02 101.9 100 105 75.05 76.05 74.4 74.9 75 75 74.9 74.9

98 465 492 95 1000 460 1.01 101.9 100 104.9 75.05 76.05 74 74.9 75 74.5 73.95 73.5

98 465 492 96 1000 460 1.02 101.9 100 105 75.05 76.05 74.35 74.9 75 75 74.9 74.9

300 20 50 39830 2100 1020 13000 110 500 1550 10 5010 3430 15040 605200 7800 105510 49800

29400 9300 24600 3818236 2100000 469400 13230 11209 50000 162717 750.5 381010.5 254581.5 1126496 45390000 584600 7810182 3708056

-4650 -3030 228150 740 -

21.4 5.17

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

--

2.28

2.31

2.37

2.28

2.28

114000

263410

6899.9999

4.49 3 1.58

4.53 - 1.63

4.59 - 1.72

4.45 - 1.52

4.45 - 1.54

228000 - 31597000

1024600 - 51005700

178000 -6434480

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

-6775895 -180931 -5112184 717863.5 48350256 23046090 2,561,885.9999) 12150 -5523555 31200 -185638 917382 19294350 -1635800 1089672 -5640 158042836 -391832 -531250 -1047004 -9291119 -1298360 2271690 6502276 5,163,409.9997) -3800 16419700 8918275

98 465 492 96 1000 489 1.03 101.9 102.7 105 75.9 76.05 74.4 74.9 75 75 74.9 74.9

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

2165370 20315965 5145672.5 -400885 -5078324 -61044851 -3712485 -2920 11768695 -1982.5 430 -

107.5

106.2

107.5

106.2

107.5

4100

436749

1075

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

EDC concludes tender offer as company hopes to become private

L

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

OPEZ-LED Energy Development Corp. (EDC) on Wednesday said it concluded the tender offer period for all its shares being held by the public as it intends to take the company private.

In its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the EDC said most of its 2.04 billion common shares being held by the public were accepted and purchased back by the company during its offer period that ended on October 22. The tender offer started on September 25.

The shares were bought at P7.25 apiece.

“After the crossing of the shares, the remaining public shares shall account for approximately 0.16 percent of the company’s total outstanding common shares,” it said.

The crossing date for the tendered shares will be done on Monday.

Shares of EDC were suspended for trading on Wednesday. Its last traded price was at P6.87 per share.

EDC, the renewable-energy generation arm of the Lopez family, was incorporated and registered on March 5, 1976, to primarily engage in the business of exploring, developing, operating, and utilizing geothermal energy and other indigenous renewable-energy sources for electricity generation.

EDC’s geothermal power projects engage in two principal activities: the production of geothermal steam for use at EDC and its subsidiaries’ geothermal power plants; and the generation and sale of electricity through those geothermal power plants pursuant to take-orpay and take-and-pay power offtake arrangements.

The company conducts commercial operations in four of its geothermal contract areas, namely, Ton-

gonan, Kananga, Leyte; Southern Negros, Valencia, Negros Oriental; Bacon-Manito, Albay and Sorsogon; and Mount Apo, Kidapawan, Cotabato. It currently holds 10 wind-energy service contracts covering areas in Ilocos Norte, Sorsogon, Iloilo and Negros Occidental; and six solarenergy SCs covering areas in Ilocos Norte, Negros Occidental, North Cotabato and Cebu.

EDC also operates a hydroelectric power plant through its 60-percent owned subsidiary, First Gen Hydro Power Corp.

Its current direct subsidiaries include EDC Drillco Corp., EDC Geothermal Corp., EDC Chile Ltd., EDC Holdings International Ltd., EDC Wind Energy Holdings Inc., EDC Wind Energy Holdings 2 Inc. and EDC Bright Solar Energy Holdings Inc.

Meralco needs to shell out P7M to replace facilities damaged by Ompong

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

T

HE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) needs to spend over P7 million to replace facilities damaged by Typhoon Ompong that struck the island of Luzon in September.

A total of 351 distribution assets were damaged. These included poles, wires, distribution transformers, overhead line materials and hardware. The replacement cost for all the damaged facilities is estimated to reach P7,132,965.46.

The bulk of the replacement cost was earmarked for the 83 damaged poles costing P3,176,827.32.

Eleven distribution transformers will cost P2,030,806.63 to be replaced.

There were 101 damaged wires, as well. Meralco said P1,246,250.74 is needed to replace these.

Also, there were 156 overhead line materials and hardware damaged. The replacement cost for these is P679,080.77.

“This was the strongest typhoon to hit our franchise this year. The damage was mostly from poles due to big branches of trees or uprooted trees that landed in our distribution facilities. These were the most common causes of major outages during the time,” Meralco Senior Vice President Ronnie Aperocho said.

The utility firm also reported that 220 circuits, or 31 percent of its 707 operational circuits, were affected.

Moreover, 3.18 million customers,

or 49 percent of Meralco customers, were affected by momentary and sustained interruptions.

The Meralco call center received 10,382 complaints on September 15 and 16, most or 8,458 were not power-related concerns.

Aperocho said Meralco expects more typhoons to hit its franchise area. The company is doubling efforts to make its facilities resilient.

It had asked regulators to approve its 2019 capital expenditures (capex) in the amount of P21.46 billion. Of this amount, it proposed a capex of P8.70 billion for 27 major projects and P12.72 billion for 36 residual projects.

The bulk of the proposed capex is programmed for the expansion of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) which costs P2.37 billion, followed by distribution transformers worth P1.78 billion listed under the residual projects.

“Meralco’s regulatory year 2019 capex program is geared toward providing reliable service to its customers by creating an adequate, safe, efficient and viable distribution network, while providing the needed capacity to address the forecasted load growth within its franchise area,” it said.

The proposed capex program is necessary to meet growth in peak demand and customer connections; to ensure sustained network efficiency; to enhance its distribution network; to comply with regulatory requirements; and to support gov-

PascualLab ties up with ePLDT, PLDT Enterprise to achieve seamless operation, grow business

T

OP pharmaceutical company Pascual Laboratories Inc. (PascualLab) redefines its internal processes to grow its business, as it entered into a strategic engagement with ePLDT and PLDT Enterprise for an office suite of solutions that will help address several work challenges.

One of these is “long-distance work relationship” brought about by the multilocation of the firm affecting the daily flow of work at its corporate office, plant and farm.

PascualLab Director for HROD, Design Services and Corporate Communications Mia Pascual Cenzon said that every day, they experience missing files and attaching huge documents in their e-mails.

“Most days, we are able to overcome them; but looking at it from a long-term perspective, they may

have caused us a significant and unnecessary amount of time, effort and expenses. They also affect our efficiency and productivity at work, which lead to delays in our deliverables,” she said.

Through their partnership that provides the organization and its teams with a solution called the Office 365, PascualLab closes the gap on distance and conflicting schedules.

“We are transforming the way we collaborate and the way we manage and share data and files,” Cenzon said.

This suite of productivity tools allows users to work anytime, anywhere and on any device. It boasts of communication solutions built for effective team collaboration— from e-mail and IM (Instant Messaging) to social networking and video conferencing. Roderick L. Abad

ernment’s public-private partnership programs.

Meralco forecasts a 4.5-percent growth in peak demand and a 3.6-percent growth in customer base.

It also pointed out that capex is required to maintain existing assets, improve network perfor-

MUTUAL FUNDS

mance and enhance customer service performance. Technology projects will allow it to enhance its distribution network, enabling it to respond effectively to line and network outages, which will reduce service interruptions of customers.

October 31, 2018

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

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 239.6 -16.12% -2.13% -0.33% -18.28% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.3715 -13.55% 2.13% 1.29% -14.11% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 3.7261 -16.38% -1.61% -1.2% -18.87% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.8495 -15.72% N.A. N.A. -16.47% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. * ********* 0.7901 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 4.9447 -14.83% -3.79% -0.97% -17.77% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * ****** 109.37 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.7914 -18.34% N.A. N.A. -20.28% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 46.3957 -15.27% -1.42% N.A. -17.73% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 484.19 -15.77% -2.66% -1.33% -17.72% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.1977 -12.7% -0.44% N.A. -14.71% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 34.8764 -12.56% -0.12% 1.63% -15.13% PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 4.6642 -15.28% -0.74% 1.44% -17.8% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 778.84 -15.19% -0.99% 1.17% -17.65% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.8125 -14.08% -3.05% N.A. -15.99% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 3.8566 -13.43% -0.98% -0.01% -15.8% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 0.8981 -15.42% -0.9% N.A. -17.85% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.3236 -11.45% 0.35% -0.05% -14.65% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* ***104.1484 -14.74% 0.16% N.A. -17.31% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $0.8991 -16.34% -0.68% -1.71% -18.88% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.1739 -3.6% N.A. N.A. -7.22% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.5997 -12.54% -3.77% -2.61% -14.16% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.1398 -11.45% -1.5% -0.5% -12.91% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.435 -10.35% -4.5% -3.22% -12.09% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* **** 1.2676 -11.98% N.A. N.A. -12.87% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.784 -8.72% -0.8% -0.53% -10.46% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.3673 -12.97% -2.89% -1.7% -14.06% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 15.1963 -12.53% -2.68% -1.68% -13.45% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* ******** 1.9967 -10.01% -0.83% 0.99% -10.95% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.525 -10.17% -1.58% -0.76% -11.79% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.8956 -10.16% -1.9% N.A. -12.22% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.0346 -3.97% -0.75% 1.31% -4.16% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9137 -10.95% -0.15% -2.38% -12.73% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.4525 -2.68% 2.98% 1.83% -5.48% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0336 -5.59% N.A. N.A. -7.07% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 341.48 1.44% 1.77% 1.63% 1.3% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ******* 1.8529 -1.89% -1.31% -0.68% -2.08% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.9479 5.51% 5.33% 5.24% 4.46% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1199 0.03% 0.99% 1.04% 0.84% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.2125 -0.23% -0.13% 0.35% -0.17% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP.* P 1.5653 -3.01% -1.67% -1.58% -2.75% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.8014 -7.06% -2.18% -1.31% -6.14% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.4598 -1.1% -0.66% -0.41% -1.28% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.8745 -6.05% -2.37% N.A. -5.28% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.749 -1.08% -0.24% 0.01% -1.01% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.5278 -1.55% -0.67% -0.32% -1.41% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $446.08 0.41% 2.14% 2.87% 0.03% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є213.09 0.12% 1.19% 1.61% -0.29% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.1209 -1.16% 0.66% 1.47% -1.16% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $0.0248 - 0.8% 0.54% N.A. -0.8% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP.* $1.689 -4.46% -0.7% 0.88% -4.66% 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* $1.0244 -5.01% -1.52% -2.96% -4.57% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.1255 -4.87% -0.16% 1.94% -5.58% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.0568591 -1.07% 0.79% 1.71% -0.6% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.8762 -4.17% 0.31% 1.39% -4.53% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 120.08 2.38% 1.71% 1.46% 2.1% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1737 1.67% 0.34% 0.36% 1.41% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.2118 2.49% 2.17% 1.44% 2.22% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC.* ***** $1.0128 N.A. N.A. N.A. 1.41%

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

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

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

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Thursday, November 1, 2018

B3

‘SRP eased pressure on govt to sell cheap rice’

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

T

sold by the NFA in the market resulted in a spike in the prices of commercial rice, both local and imported,” he added.

@jearcalas

HE National Food Authority (NFA) will soon reduce the volume of state-subsidized rice it sells in local markets as prices have started to decline, according to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol.

From the current 20 percent, Piñol said the NFA’s market-participation rate would revert to 10 percent. He said the suggested retail price (SRP) imposed on rice has effectively reduced the price of the staple to P43 per kilogram, from as high as P70 per kg.

Because of this, the agriculture chief said the pressure on the NFA to sell more affordable rice has eased.

“Unlike before, where so much pressure was placed on the NFA rice stocks because of the huge difference in prices between commercial rice and NFA rice, right now the NFA could just limit market participation to 10 percent because of the

availability of cheap rice,” he said in a recent interview with reporters.

Piñol also said there are “early indications” pointing to the possibility that the SRP on rice would soon be revised. “There are already indications that, after the first month maybe, we may have to review the SRP, and we may even bring the prices down.”

Last month, the NFA Council ordered the state-run grains agency to hike its market participation to 20 percent, from 10 percent, to make rice more affordable and ease high inflation.

The agriculture chief assured that traders and retailers will not be able to take undue advantage

Phytosanitary certificate needed for plant products exported to EU

L

OCAL companies need to secure phytosanitary certificate for export of their plant and plant products to the European Union to meet the requirements of their foreign buyers, once the United Kingdom leaves the EU on March 30 next year.

A notice issued by the European Commission (EC) said the introduction of these products and other objects from the UK into the EU-27 will be governed by Council Directive 2000/29/EC. “This is in particular relevant for the introduction into the EU of wood packaging material: Such wood packaging, whether or not actually in use for the transport of objects of all kinds, has to be compliant with a treatment and mark as specified in the FAO [Food and Agricultural Organization] International Standard for Phytosanitary measures 15 [ISPM 15],” it read.

The EC cited an article of the directive stipulating that each of those commodities shall be sub-

ject to a meticulous documentary, identity and physical check.

It also lays down that for certain plant categories, reduced frequencies of identity and physical checks can be applied as set out in Commission Regulation (EC) 1756/2004.

“After 14 December 2019, those products shall be subject to the import controls of Articles 44 to 64 of Regulation [EU] 2017/625 on official controls, which will replace the respective rules of Directive 2000/29/EC,” it read.

Such regulation specifies that official controls and other official activities are performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products.

The EC advised private parties that the specific conditions regarding the movement and importation of plants, plant products and other objects, subject to the plant health provisions of Union law, are regularly updated. Philexport News & Features

Rice imports

FILE PHOTO

of the reduction in NFA rice sold in local markets due to the SRP. Piñol said commercial rice retailers cannot price the staple beyond the SRP, as they would face hefty fines, which include revoca-

tion of their licenses and monetary sanctions.

“Traders and even big-time retailers adjusted the selling prices of rice when they felt that the supplies were limited, especially dur-

ing the lean months of June, July and August,” he said in a separate Facebook post.

“This was precisely what happened this year, when the absence of the government-subsidized rice

THE NFA has released the terms of reference (TOR) for its purchase of 203,000 metric tons (MT) of rice via government-to-government (G2G) mode.

Under the TOR, the bidding for the volume would be on November 6, and only countries with existing memoranda of agreement with the Philippines can participate.

At present, only Thailand and Vietnam could supply rice to the Philippines via G2G mode.

Udner the TOR, the rice imports should be 25-percent brokens and must be harvested from June 2018 onward.

The rice imports must arrive to their designated ports not later than December 15, according to the TOR. The NFA has divided the 203,000 MT into 10 discharge ports with corresponding volume: Manila (65,000 MT), Subic (55,000 MT), La Union (30,000 MT), General Santos (14,000 MT), Tacloban (10,000 MT), Davao (8,000 MT), Zamboanga (8,000 MT), and 5,000 MT each in Cebu, Surigao and Cagayan de Oro.

Rice self-sufficiency ratio slid to 93.44 percent in 2017–PSA D

ESPITE a record-high palay harvest last year, the country’s rice self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) in 2017 dropped to 93.44 percent, from 95.01 percent in 2016, according to a report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In its annual report titled, “Food Sufficiency and Security,” the PSA said the decline in the country’s rice SSR was due to the increase in the volume of imports.

“The decline in the SSR of rice was attributed to the reduced share of domestic production to the country’s supply while the share of rice imports increased,” it said in the report published recently.

SSR is the extent to which a country’s local production of commodities is adequate enough to meet the demand of the whole population, the PSA added.

An SSR lower than 100 percent means that the local production couldn’t meet the country’s requirement for a specific commodity, while an SSR greater than 100 percent indicates that domestic production is more than enough to support the domestic requirements, the PSA said.

“ The higher the ratio, the greater the self-sufficiency,” it added.

In the same report, the PSA said the country’s rice import dependency ratio, or the amount of supply being sourced abroad to meet local demand, grew to 6.56 percent last year, from 4.99 percent in 2016.

“This means that 6.56 percent of the available domestic supply of rice came from imports,” it said.

The country’s rice imports in 2017 grew by 44.42 percent to 880,085.9 metric tons, from 609,363.6 MT recorded in 2016, PSA data showed.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol criticized the PSA’s estimates, arguing that the agency’s formula for deriving the SSR is “flawed.”

Piñol explained that the PSA includes rice import in computing the SSR, which would always yield results indicating that local production is insufficient.

He said the country’s rice SSR should have been higher than the 2016 level due to higher palay production in 2017.

The country’s palay output last year rose by

9.54 percent to 19.28 million metric tons, from 17.6 MMT in 2016. At a 65.4-percent average milling recovery rate, the country produced 12.609 MMT of milled rice in 2017.

Piñol said the 1.092-MMT increase in local palay production last year should have been sufficient to offset the increase in demand for the staple caused by population growth.

“At a per-capita consumption of 114 kilos, that would mean we produced enough rice to feed an additional 9.5 million Filipinos between 2016 and 2017. Our population growth is 1.4 percent, meaning only about 1.4 million Filipinos were born between 2016 and 2017,” he told the BusinessMirror in an interview on Wednesday.

“The PSA computation is flawed and inconsistent. It should be higher, based on the production numbers,” he added.

Piñol said he has ordered the Philippine Rice Research Institute to come up with its own formula in determining the country’s rice SSR “to come up with a more reliable” figure. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Skyscraper farms are about to go global

H

IGH-RISE indoor farms for vegetables are spreading across the world.

In a suburb of Kyoto in Japan, surrounded by technology companies and start-ups, Spread Co. is preparing to open the world’s largest automated leaf-vegetable factory. It’s the company’s second vertical farm and could mark a turning point for vertical farming— bringing the cost low enough to compete with traditional farms on a large scale.

For decades, vertical farms that grow produce indoors without soil in stacked racks have been touted as a solution to rising food demand in the world’s expanding cities. The problem has always been reproducing the effect of natural rain, soil and sunshine at a cost that makes the crop competitive with traditional agriculture.

Spread is among a handful of commercial firms that claim to have cracked the problem with a mix of robotics, technology and scale.

Its new facility in Keihanna Science City, known as Japan’s Silicon Valley, will grow 30,000 heads of lettuce a day on racks under custom-designed LED lights. A sealed room protects the vegetables from pests, diseases and dirt.

Temperature and humidity are opti-

mized to speed growth of the greens, which are fed, tended and harvested by robots.

about 20 to 30 percent more than the normal price for conventionally grown varieties, according to Inada.

Fixed price

Pesticide free

“OUR system can produce a stable amount of vegetables of a good quality for sale at a fixed price throughout the year, without using pesticides and with no influence from weather,” Spread President Shinji Inada, 58, said in an interview at the company’s existing facility in Kameoka.

Inada won the Edison Award in 2016 for his vertical-farming system. He expects the new factory, called Techno Farm, to more than double the company’s output, generating ¥1 billion in sales a year from growing almost 11 million lettuces.

Unprofitable

ABOUT 60 percent of indoor-farm operators in Japan are unprofitable because of the cost of electricity to run their facilities, according to the Japan Greenhouse Horticulture Association.

Most others only turn a profit because of government subsidies or by charging a premium to consumers for vegetables that are chemical-free. Spread sells lettuces for ¥198 a head to consumers,

CONSUMERS pay the premium because the pesticide-free vegetables are increasingly seen as an alternative to often more expensive organic foods, which must be grown outdoors in soil. Japan’s hot summers and high humidity also make organic plants more vulnerable to insects and diseases, said Yasufumi Miwa, an expert at the Japan Research Institute.

“Producing organic vegetables requires farmers’ extra-hard work and that should be reflected in the prices,” said Takumu Okuma, spokesman for online food supplier Oisix ra daichi Inc. “Pesticide-free vegetables are seen as safe by consumers and accepted by them as a substitute for more expensive organic ones.”

Small-scale vertical farms have been operating in Japan since the 1970s, niche players that took advantage of high prices for fresh food in cities in a nation that imports about 60 percent of its food. But it wasn’t until 2010 that the sector began to expand rapidly with the adoption of energy-saving LED lights and a government program to support

SPREAD’S first vertical farm operating since 2007. TOMOHIRO OHSUMI/BLOOMBERG

innovative farming with subsidies, according to the association.

Spread’s Inada, a former vegetable trader, founded his company in 2006 and opened his first facility the following year in Kameoka city in Kyoto prefecture. The company spent years refining systems for lighting, water supply, nutrients and other costs and the plant finally turned its first profit in 2013.

Techno farm

ITS new Techno Farm, expected to open as early as November, will push efficiency further, yielding 648 heads of

lettuce a square meter annually, compared with 300 heads at its Kameoka farm and only five in an outdoor farm.

It will use only 110 milliliters (4 ounces) of water a lettuce, 1 percent of the volume needed outdoors, as moisture emitted by the vegetable is condensed and reused.

Power consumption per head will also decrease, with the new factory using custom-designed LEDs that require about 30 percent less energy. A collaboration with telecoms company NTT West on an artificial-intelligence program to analyze production data could boost yields even more. Bloomberg News

TheBroa

Business

B4 Thursday, November 1, 2018 | www.businessmirror.com.ph

PHL begins long j on analog road to T

Story & photos by Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

HE road to Big Data is paved by analog intentions—at least for now. This could not be truer than here in the Philippines as it struggles to keep up with high-volume and high-velocity data available online.

Hence, data collection in the country remains tedious: Anything within the archipelago’s borders becomes a statistic after a long process involving continuously variable physical quantity.

T h e Ph i l i p p i n e St at i s t i c s Author it y (PSA), the of f icia l statistics agency of the government, has been thrust to lead the journey involv ing this data revolution. However, it is only now that the PSA is transitioning to digital systems.

Nonetheless, the government’s statisticians have already shifted to digital data collection method in the conduct of major surveys, e.g. the National Demographic Household Survey (NDHS), and portions of regular surveys, e.g. the Labor Force Survey (LFS).

Still, some surveys such as the Family Income and Expenditure Survey are very much conducted with pen and paper.

“One of the important discussions we’ve been having in the PSA and in the Philippine Statistical System and in the professional society of statisticians, the Philippine Statistical Association Inc., is innovations and the need for us to be more ef f icient, bot h cost- ef f icient and energy-efficient, human resource efficient, we need to go digital,” National Statistician Lisa Grace Bersales said during the data dissemination forum of

the NDHS results.

“I would like to [emphasize] the importance of qualit y of data, not just of timely release.

And we believe that the use of moder n technolog y w i l l a lso help us achieve such.”

This digital journey currently relies on two legs and true grit, thanks to people called enumerators, or persons employed in taking a census of the population.

Road works

TWO enumerators battled the effects of a shifting weather one Tuesday morning.

The ground was damp and slippery that Tuesday morning. A full night of rain can still do that even to a highly urbanized city like Quezon City.

Beside Agham Road is a shanty town where informal settlers live in makeshift homes and walk on dirt road that easily become muddy once the rainy season sets in.

Despite the obstacles that lay before them, the two enumerators—A lona and Gera ldine— pushed on. It was the “lesser evil” given that their first option was to wade through murky and poten-

AN unnamed enumerator undertakes a census of a household.

The Philippines’s attempt to address data collection inefficiency is seen to impact the future of enumerators.

tially lethal flood waters.

Field work is only for the brave, Alona, who has been an enumerator of the PSA for nearly a decade now, said in Tagalog.

A pa r t f rom t he e lement s, there are also dogs and other hou se hold p et s who m ay be friendly and domesticated to families but bare fangs to strangers like enumerators.

Geraldine also has more than 10 years of experience in collecting data for the government. She has heard countless stories about dogs attacking enumerators before experiencing it firsthand: A dog came out of an open gate and bit her leg.

She was rushed to Jose Reyes Medical Center to get anti-rabies shots and pay for it using her own money. This was the protocol of the PSA since enumerators only get reimbursed for their medical needs in the field.

Going upscale

W HILE four-leg ged creatures pose dangers to enumerators in poverty-laden areas, feral twolegged beings bark at enumerators pounding the streets of upscale and exclusive villages.

Geraldine and Alona have had the misfortune of being shouted at and driven away from residential premises just like stray cats and dogs.

Geraldine said even if they explain carefully that answering surveys from the government are part of a Filipino’s civic duty, they still get turned away by respondents. Some would slam the door on their faces and tell them to ask other people instead.

Geraldine said she got cursed by an owner of a town house.

“Before, these insults can really make you cry but as time goes by, you get used to it,” Geraldine said in Tagalog. “You become thickskinned.”

Raquel Ronario, a trainer from PSA Region 4, said the challenges do not stop there. Explaining the surveys to respondents is sometimes, in itself, a challenge.

PSA Region 4A Regional Director Charito C. Armonia said it is common for respondents to ask for something in return for answering surveys. This isn’t practiced by the PSA.

‘Oplan Tokhang’

ANOTHER important challenge is convincing respondents that the enumerators do not mean any harm, according to Armonia.

A lon a a nd G era ld i ne, t he t wo e nu me r ator s, s a id t he y sometimes struggle to convince respondents that they are not “spies” connected w ith Oplan Tokhang, the police anti-illegal drug operation. T his is especially the case when they conduct sur veys in shanty tow ns where t here have been anticriminal activ ities.

Ronario also said enumerators still need to find out direct from manufacturers how much certain products are worth. These are crucial in coming up with accurate data for the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES).

During the conduct of the FIES in Cavite, the BusinessMirror observed that a local manufacturer was giving away for free bottles of liquid cleaning soap to members of a local community. Based on the FIES manual, donated items such as food and nonfood goods are included and given a price.

Recipients of these products, however, don’t have an idea of its price. Ronario said this task of finding out prices will fall on the enumerator’s shoulders.

“Enumerators need to go to several stores to find out how much a product costs,” Armonia told the BusinessMirror.

Technological hurdles

AS if these challenges are not enough, enumerators now have to contend w ith adapting to technological advancements.

For the current round of the FIES, for example, the PSA’s enumerators were already using electronic tablets as they go to the field. These tablets are being used for geotagging purposes.

The data will include either the houses or the nearest landmarks to respondent’s houses.

Easier said than done as there are thousands of informal settlers; people displaced almost regularly from one residence to another. This was the case in Cavite when enumerators attempted to tag relocation sites, where thousands of informal settler families from nearby Las Piñas and elsewhere in the National Capital Region (NCR) were being brought. Many of these places do not have nearby landmarks, much less proper roads. “ T he geotag g ing is actua l ly for t he census of popu lation a nd hou s i n g i n 2020 a s we planned to have t his process computer -a ssisted ,” Bersa les sa id. “So we have to do t he geotag g ing now so t hat ne x t year, we a lready acquired t he tablets t hat wou ld conta in t he geotag ged [d ata].”

With their gadgets, enumerators strug gle w ith the absence of telecommunication signals

THIS July 19 photo shows two enumerators walking toward residents to be polled

to use the global positioning s y stem , or GPS, fe at u re re quired in geotag ging.

Enumerators also need to guard against theft: tablets are considered “hot” not only because of their value but also they can be easily sold.

Job loss

THESE gadgets are a lso seen as a sig na l t hat t he job of an enumerator may be fad ing as t he gover nment emba rk s on “ high-tech ” sur veys to ma ke d ata col lection more ef f icient f inancia l ly and statistica l ly.

A lona and Geraldine, both housewives when they are not

roaming the streets of Quezon City to conduct surveys, already received word they may not be tapped by the PSA starting next year. They are hoping, though, that for large surveys such as the Census of Population in 2020 and the next FIES, the PSA will still obtain their services.

However, Bersales said the PSA is still discussing the matter and may resolve the hiring issues before December. She said there could be a chance that enumerators could be rehired since they are considered “statistical researchers” who are seasonal employees of the PSA and are therefore not covered

aderLook

sMirror

journey o Big Data measures that statistical systems are implementing to adapt to the changing times. Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Senior Research Fellow Jose R amon G. A lbert told the BusinessMirror this is an important aspect, especially in the “wake of V UC A— vol at i l it y, u ncer t a i nt y, complexit y and ambiguit y” when it comes to data.

A long with this, A lbert said efforts to address the infrastructure of data systems means investing in data solutions such as upgrading to remote sensing data that is now being used for Maize production.

He added that work is already undergoing at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the PSA and the National Statistics Office of Thailand to use nighttime luminosity data to improve accuracy of poverty statistics.

Illumination process

by job orders.

“Our enumerators—who we refer to as statistical researchers—they’re actua l ly ex perts in the collection [of data] and they are seasonal only when we do surveys. So we will still continue to hire,” Bersales said. “We may have to tap an agency that will look for them so we don’t need to draft contracts for each one. These are discussions that we will finalize before the year ends because we have an upcoming national planning workshop [where this would be discussed].”

Climate change

THE climate of changes sweep-

ing the PSA and other statistics offices worldwide is being managed gradually in the countr y.

Other enumerators elsewhere are strug gling to keep abreast w ith the times by receiv ing additional training in processing data, which is already prov ing to be a challenge to applicants.

This is one of the adjustments the PSA has done to improve data collection. Having the enumerators themselves encode the responses they elicited from respondents, Ronario said, reduces mistakes and ensures that responses are not misinterpreted.

Investing in human capital is one of the most important

ADB Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department Statistician A r turo Mar tinez earlier explained that nighttime lights from satellite images are now being used as proxy measures for official statistics.

He said the assumption is that social and economic activities at night require lights and these can correlate with socioeconomic indicators, as well as economic development.

In the Philippines, the ongoing study found that the nighttime lights across the archipelago have expanded between 2000 and 2013, which is consistent with economic growth in the country during the period.

Based on data from the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), the average growth between 2000 and 2009 was at 4.5 percent, while growth between 2010 to 2015 averaged higher at 6.2 percent.

Martinez said there was also a correlation between certain socioeconomic indicators and the average luminosity in illuminated areas, particularly at the regional and provincial levels. He added that nighttime lights can be used to determine the number of households in a locale in the absence of a proper census.

“NSOs should start to harness technolog y to improve the timeliness of statistics, especially in the wake of V UC A,” A lbert said. “ T hey should examine whether they are futureready just like society itself in the wake of emerging technologies and take steps in improving their architecture and infrastr ucture, their institutions, and the skill sets of their staff.”

The push to adapt to Big Data and the changes in technology is not something that is optional for countries like the Philippines. These are already in the “here and now.” Countries failing to adapt to the changes would fail to take advantage of what technology can offer.

The Philippines’s journey on the road to full management of Big Data could take a thousand steps but it remains within statistical probability.

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Thursday, November 1, 2018

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PHL meets ‘Big Data’ challenges through PSDP 2018 to 2023

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HE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in accordance with Republic Act 10625 or the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, is mandated to make the Philippine Statistical System (PSS) responsive to the requirements of development planning and policy formulation in the country.

This mandate is catapulting the PSA and, consequently, the PSS into the age of the Internet not only by migrating its assets to the worldwide web but also in producing statistical information for millions of Filipinos.

A proof of this is the Philippine Statistical Development Program (PSDP) 2018-2023, which aims to strengthen the PSS through the use of administrative data and the exploration of “Big Data,” or large data sets.

According to a research by McKinsey & Co., analyzing big data “will become a key basis of competition, underpinning new waves of productivity growth, innovation and consumer surplus.” “[In the next five years, the PSDP aims to] strengthen data ecosystems through local and national statistical capacity development toward enhancement of administrative data and exploration of big data and citizen-generated data as possible sources of official statistics,” the PSDP stated.

In response, the PSDP has included efforts to improve its statistical capacity development in order to respond to prevailing and emerging challenges, such as the SDGs, Big Data, citizengenerated data and even Association of Southeast Asian Nations integration.

This means providing training for its staff on the use of open-source statistical software for statistical computing and graphics.

Other training programs will also be introduced to train personnel involved in statistical computing to derive indicators from big data, citizen-generated data and high-volume data.

Big data, the PSDP stated, will also be used to support the implementation, monitoring and review of the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which presents a daunting data challenge not only for the PSA but for other National Statistics Offices worldwide.

These efforts will help address 162 of the 232 data requirements for the SDGs and 394 of the 503 data needed to ensure the country meets its Philippine Development Plan (PDP) targets.

Challenges

THE PSDP contains 900 statistical development programs.

Over a third, or 30.3 percent, will be used for population and housing statistics, while some 20 percent will be used for agriculture and agrarianreform statistics. About 14.5 percent of the programs will focus on data for environment and natural resource statistics, 11.7 percent for other data and 10.4 percent for industry, trade and investment statistics.

The majority of the data, or 63.7 percent, or 596 statistical development programs, are considered high priority while 20.1 percent, or 188 statistical development programs, have no prioritization.

Around 14.6 percent, or 137 statistical development programs, have a medium priority while 1.6 percent, or 15 statistical development programs, have low priority.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia has said that the PSDP will also address data requirements internationally, such as the “Core Regional Indicators,” Big Data, the SDGs and various statistical commitments. These commitments include the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data and the Asian and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade.

Pernia said the biggest challenge for the government is satisfying the data requirements to monitor the PDP. This has mandated the PSA to release an annual report in keeping with the results matrixes of the PDP. With this, Pernia and Bersales said that the PSDP’s release is accompanied by a draft executive order that will mandate all agencies to implement the plans and programs in the PSDP. “With the challenges faced by the Philippine Statistical System brought about by rapid change in technology, emerging demands for various indicators, compliance to the country’s international commitments and the dynamics in the international statistics community, it is crucial that each sector understands its roles in the production, dissemination and use of statistics,” Pernia said.

SDGs

NIEVA T. NATURAL of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) has said that when it comes to the SDGs, only 103 indicators can be monitored since these will be drawn from regularly conducted surveys.

The PSA also said the remaining data needs will be sourced from PSA surveys, censuses and administrative data and 1 percent will be sourced from the data from International Agencies.

The UN Statistics Division (UNSD) has set a Tier classification for global SDG indicators. The 103 indicators for the Philippines are considered Tier 1 indicators, which are conceptually clear and have internationally established methodology and standards.

These data, the UN said, are also regularly produced by countries for at least 50 percent of countries and of the population in every region where the indicator is relevant.

However, Natural said around 130 more indicators are considered Tier 2 and Tier 3 for the Philippines. Monitoring these indicators can be difficult since not all the data are produced regularly, if they are available at all.

Gaps

THERE are 59 indicators that are considered Tier 2 for the Philippines. These can be monitored using existing data but the frequency of the data collection is not regular.

Natural, who is Neda’s Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment staff director, said the Philippines classifies 71 indicators as Tier 3. These indicators, according to the UNSD, have “no internationally

established methodology or standards are yet available for the indicator, but methodology or standards are being [or will be] developed or tested.”

Natural said among the most important SDG indicators that need to be prioritized are the environment and natural resources (ENR) statistics.

She said four goals in the 17 SDGs are related to the environment and natural resources. Most of the indicators in these goals are not generated by the Philippine Statistical System (PSS).

Based on the preliminary baseline data submitted by the Philippines, data gaps exist in Goal 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patters, particularly the indicator on hazardous waste generated per capita and proportion of hazardous waste treated.

Data gaps also exist in Goal 15, particularly on the progress toward sustainable forest management, the Forest Cover Change (from close to open forest) and the Red List Index. Data gaps in Goal 15 also include, in particular, the proportion of traded wildlife that was poached or illicitly trafficked and progress toward national targets established in accordance with the Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, among others.

Opportunities

BIG data is characterized by the 3Vs: volume, velocity and variety. It is now creating business opportunities in rich countries and it will only take a matter of time before countries like the Philippines will be able to catch up.

Philippine Institute for Development Studies Senior Fellow Jose Ramon G. Albert said big data sources include social-media data like videos, documents, blogs, forums and social-media streams.

Albert also said big data can also be mined from radio feeds, news media content, online searches, postal data, and GPS data and other digital sensors such as smart meters in homes to record electricity consumption or satellite imagery.

As early as 2014, Albert said, private-sector players such as Amazon, Visa and Mastercard are able to watch people’s shopping preferences; Google, browsing habits; Twitter, what’s on people’s minds; Facebook, all kinds of information including the status of personal relationships; and mobile providers are able to listen in on people’s conversations.

Albert earlier said that since big data comes in big volumes and produced at high “velocity” through databases is still wrought with privacy issues.

Nonetheless, he said this does not mean that PSS should not use big data. He said the PSS could be more forward-looking and open to using big data.

Albert said to use big data, efforts must be exerted to “identify legal protocols” and make “institutional arrangements” that will allow the PSS to use big data. He added that privacy issues of big data should also be addressed to prevent its misuse.

The potential for big data is enormous. Albert said “the world’s capacity to collect data is reported to double every 40 months since the 1980s.”

Cai U. Ordinario

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Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Naia eyes hike in passenger fees to meet maintenance, opex needs

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By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

HE country’s premier gateway has proposed to increase the passenger terminal fee for local and international flights to raise money for the airports’ maintenance and operating expenses.

Airport general manager Ed V. Monreal made the announcement on Wednesday during an airport media forum attended by top Department of Transportation (DOTr) officials.

“Historically, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport [Naia] has the lowest terminal fee within the Philippines,” he said, noting that Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) and Clark have higher terminal fees.

The last time the Naia increased the officially named International Passenger Service Charge (IPSC) was in 1999.

“We have [made] many improvements, we need funding, although the proposal is not final but has been approved by the board,” he said, adding the proposed fees would still have to be published in

a newspaper of national circulation.

According to Monreal, international passengers at the MCIA are charged P850, and domestic passengers, P300.

At Subic Bay International Airport, the rate is P650 for international and P150 for domestic, while Clark International Airport’s terminal fee is P600 for international and P150 for domestic.

At the Naia, however, the fee for international flights is only P550; and for domestic, P200. The Naia’s proposed new terminal fee for international flights is P750, and for domestic, P300.

Monreal said the average fee in the region is the equivalent of about P2,000.

If approved, the terminal fee adjustment would be implemented in the second quarter of next year,

Monreal said.

The proposal has already been discussed in public hearings and was approved by the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) Board, with the management agreeing to impose it in April 2019.

The terminal fee hike, Monreal stressed, is also to cover the airport’s operational expenses such as on infrastructure and service improvements, including security expenses.

The new terminal fees will be included in the plane tickets and paid by the airlines— which, expectedly—would tack it eventually as an additional airplane fee.

The airport chief pointed out that the proposed adjustment is also part of the airport’s rehabilitation plan.

The Naia has in the past raised international terminal fees thrice— from April 1, 1993, the IPSC was P250 and it was increased to P300; then to P500 on April 1, 1994, and then to P550 on April 1, 1999.

For domestic flights, the Miaa hiked the charge it levied on passengers from P100 to P200 in September 2005.

Monreal said terminal fee exemptions are still in effect, and cover overseas Filipino workers, athletes, children below two years old, and government officials on official travel.

Night-rated airports

MEANWHILE, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said

he aims to increase the number of night-rated airports to 36, out of the 44 commercial airports managed by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap).

At the moment, there are about 20 airports that are night-rated, up from 15 since the start of the Duterte administration, according to Caap Director General Jim Sydiongco.

He said the Caap manages a total of 86 airports but half of these are community airports or provincial airstrips.

These far-flung airports were constructed either to accommodate small, private airplanes or those belonging to general aviation, or as emergency landing sites for commercial planes.

Sydiongco listed several requirements before an airport could be night-rated, meaning it could be open to operations even at night time.

“You have to extend the length of the runway and expand the width, you have to put up a control tower and you must have airtraffic controllers to man them,” Sydiongco said.

Some airports that are proposed to be night-rated are Kalibo, San Vicente Airport, Palawan; Panglao Airport, Bohol; Naga, Cotabato and Tuguegarao.

“These are priority airports which we hope would be nightrated before the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term,” Tugade said.

Cash supply growth at steady single-digit expansion–BSP data

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

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ASH supply growth in the country remained at a singledigit pace in September, putting less worries on domestic liquidity as a further inflation driver in the country.

Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed domestic liquidity—broadly measured as M3—grew by 9.7 percent from its previous year’s level to hit P11.2 trillion in September this year.

This is a slowdown from the 10.4-percent expansion in the previous month.

A growing cash supply is often beneficial for an expanding economy such as the Philippines, as it provides fuel to the productive sectors of the country.

However, an excessively strong growth in M3 could further stoke inflationary pressures and pull prices upward for the economy. An imbalanced growth of M3 is also an indicator that the economy is potentially overheating.

At this level, the BSP said cash supply growth remains ample to fuel local economic activity.

“The BSP is of the view that overall liquidity conditions remain supportive of the country’s growth requirements,” the BSP said.

“The BSP will continue to closely monitor domestic liquidity dynamics to ensure that monetary conditions remain conducive to price and financial stability,” it added.

This was paralleled by a deceleration in overall bank lending during

GSIS prods borrowers to avail themselves of housing condonation scheme ’til Dec. 31

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

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HE Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is continuing to encourage Filipinos to avail themselves of its newest housing account condonation program before the end of the offer period on December 31.

According to the GSIS, the housing account condonation program aims to enable availees to secure their homes through the settlement of their respective accounts in full without having to pay penalty charges.

The GSIS said in a statement on Wednesday that it had launched on October 15 its newest housing account condonation program which will run until December 31.

Under the condonation program, the GSIS is offering full or 100 percent waiver of penalties and surcharges

to interested applicants who will pay their housing account obligations in full.

“We are calling on our borrowers to seize this chance to completely secure your homes. This condonation program will also lighten your burden as it will allow you to settle your accounts without having to pay penalty charges from your unpaid amortizations,” GSIS President and General Manager Jesus Clint O. Aranas said.

The GSIS said that the majority of its existing housing clients stand to benefit from the housing condonation program as more than half of its remaining 29,000 housing accounts are for cancellation, foreclosure or have incurred several months of arrears.

The agency pointed out that qualified applicants for the penalty

condonation program are active or inactive members, as well as nonmembers, with deeds of conditional sale or real-estate loan accounts that are in arrears or in default.

“Accounts that have been canceled but not yet uploaded as investment property, as well as those which have been foreclosed but the titles [of which] have not yet been consolidated in the name of GSIS, may still avail themselves of the condonation program,” the GSIS said.

It added that buyers of rights and legal heirs of deceased borrowers may also apply for condonation upon submission of the required documents.

Prospective applicants who will settle their accounts in full are advised to request an appointment and condonation statement of account from the nearest GSIS office.

Manulife PHL opens new BGC branch to strengthen presence in Metro Manila

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ANULIFE Philippines Inc. recently announced in a statement the opening of a new branch in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig. This expands the company’s local footprint to over 50 branches nationwide.

Located at the heart of one of Metro Manila’s emerging business districts, this new branch will give busy professionals and the surrounding community easier access to Manulife’s products and services, according to the company.

“As we further expand our presence in various cities nationwide, we wanted to strengthen our commitment to our customers in Metro Manila,” Manulife Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Ryan Charland was quoted in the statement as saying. “The opening of our branch in BGC will enable us to bring busy professionals and residents from that community closer to solutions that can help them make easier financial decisions.”

www.businessmirror.com.ph

THE ribbon-cutting ceremony at Manulife Philippines’s newest branch at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig was participated by (second from right) Taguig City Councilor Hon. Edwin T. Eron and the firm’s (from left) Vice President and Senior Territory Head Phillip Gochingco, Senior VicePresident (SVP) and Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Henson, President and CEO Ryan Charland and SVP, and Chief Distribution Officer Stephen Ong.

the period, showing that loans grew at a slower rate of 17.4 percent in September, from the 18.9 percent in August.

Loans for production activities continue to drive bank lending during the year, as it increased at a slower pace at 17.2 percent in September, from 19.1 percent in the previous month.

This type of loans comprises 88.7 percent of the banks’ aggregate loan portfolio.

The growth in production loans was driven primarily by increased lending to the following sectors: wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles at 22.5 percent; real-estate activities at 15.8 percent; manufacturing at 20.6 percent; financial and insurance activities at 31.4 percent; electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply at 10.6 percent; and, construction at 36.4 percent.

Bank lending to other sectors also increased during the month except in professional, scientific and technical activities which declined by 11 percent; other community, social and personal activities by 12 percent; and administrative and support services activities by 54.6 percent.

Household loans, meanwhile, grew by 17.9 percent in September, faster than the 15.8 percent in the previous month.

The BSP attributed the expansion to motor vehicle loans, as well as the growth in credit-card loans and salary-based general purpose consumption loans, offset the decline in other types of household loans during the month.

Peso drop a bane to firms as record dollar debts due

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HE Philippines’s biggest companies face another year of significant repayments of US dollar debt after record amounts came due in 2018, even as a slumping peso makes it costlier to pay back.

A total of $4.9 billion in dollar bonds and loans have matured or will still come due in 2018, more than four times the amount last year and the highest since at least 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Obligations that groups such as San Miguel Corp., SM Investments Corp. and Ayala Corp. need to refinance or repay in the next five years will remain sizable.

The Philippine credit market is seeing reminders of the late-1990s Asian financial crisis, as big companies, including banks, brewers and builders, must pay back dollar debt at a time when the home currency is depreciating.

The peso, among Asia’s worst performers this year, will likely weaken by 2.4 percent in 2019 to 54.90 per dollar and to 55 the year after, according to a Bloomberg survey. It closed at 53.590 a dollar on October 30.

As currency volatility lingers, the Philippine Central Bank is closely monitoring corporate credit for risks it could pose to the financial system.

Huge exposure to foreign-currency debt, at a time when the peso has touched 12-year lows, could erode corporate profitability and add to banks’ overall credit risks, the Central Bank said in an e-mailed reply to questions. This is especially true for companies that haven’t sufficiently hedged their dollar obligations, it said.

Probably only 20 percent to 30 percent of private dollar debt is hedged, excluding any natural cover from dollar earnings, according to Eduardo Francisco, president of BDO Capital and Investment Corp., which is engaged in securities underwriting, loan syndication and the financial advisory business. No official numbers are reported to the Central Bank.

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

The World BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 1, 2018

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Oil set for biggest monthly decline since 2016 on global growth fears

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IL’S on track for its worst month since 2016 as the specter of a slowing global economy haunts the market that’s grappling with growing US inventories and mixed signals from producers.

Fut u re s i n Ne w Yor k a re poised for a 9.4-percent drop this month, ending two months of gains. Prices had surged to a fouryear high earlier this month on concerns over a worldwide supply squeeze as impending American sanctions started to curb Iran’s exports. But the rally fizzled out as a rout in global equities and an escalating trade dispute between the US and China dampened the outlook for global growth and energy demand.

Oil has lost more than 10 percent after breaching $76 a barrel earlier this month. With US sanctions against the Persian Gulf state taking effect later this week, investors are assessing different output signals from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies. Saudi Arabia, which is under scrutiny over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has said the group is in “produce as much as you can mode,” while an Opec committee said it could cut supplies next year.

“In the oil market, concerns continue to exist over the ongoing US-China trade spat as well as the risk aversion sentiment that’s caused by a plunge in global shares,” K im Kwangrae, a commodities analyst at Samsung Futures Inc., said by phone. “Prices couldn’t remain above $75 a barrel this month on

rising US inventories and strong indication from Saudi Arabia to ramp up production.”

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery traded at $66.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 17 cents, at 1:45 p.m. in Seoul. The contract had declined more than 2 percent in the past two sessions. Total volume traded was about 22 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for December settlement, which expires on Wednesday, added 47 cents to $76.38 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices are on course for a 7.7-percent drop this month, the biggest monthly loss since July 2016. The global benchmark crude traded at a $10.03 premium to WTI. The more-active January contract is up 0.6 percent.

In the United States the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute was said to report crude inventories expanded by 5.69 million barrels last week. If it’s confirmed by the Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday, it will be a sixth consecutive week of gains, the longest streak of increases since March 2017.

Meanwhile, both Russia and Saudi Arabia have been raising production to ease supply shortages and to meet demand from US President Donald J. Trump to lower prices. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said he sees no grounds for reducing output and that there’s the risk of a deficit in crude markets, while the Saudis have already boosted production to 10.7 million barrels a day, near an all-time high. Bloomberg News

POSSIBLE SEABED POSITION OF CRASHED LION AIR JET LOCATED

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AKARTA, Indonesia—A massive search effort has identified the possible seabed location of the crashed Lion Air jet, Indonesia’s military chief said on Wednesday, as experts carried out the grim task of identifying dozens of body parts recovered from a 15-nautical-mile-wide search area and chilling video of passengers boarding the fatal flight emerged.

The two-month-old Boeing plane plunged into the Java Sea on Monday just minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.

“This morning I’ve been briefed by the head of Search and Rescue Agency about the strong possibility of the location coordinates” of Flight 610, said armed forces chief Hadi Tjahjanto. “We’re going to see it ourselves on location. And hopefully that is the main body of the plane that we’ve been looking for.”

Separately, the head of the National Transportation Safety Committee, Soerjanto Tjahjono, said that search teams had detected pings believed to be from the aircraft’s flight recorders, whose data is crucial to the accident investigation.

The disaster has reignited concerns about safety in Indonesia’s fast-growing aviation industry, which was recently removed from European Union and US blacklists, and also raised doubts about the safety of Boeing’s new generation 737 MAX 8 plane.

Boeing Co. experts are expected to arrive

in Indonesia on Wednesday and Lion Air has said an “intense” internal investigation is under way in addition to the probe by safety regulators.

Navy officer Haris Djoko Nugroho said the 22-meter (72-foot) long object that could be part of the fuselage is at a depth of 32 meters (105 feet). He said divers will be deployed after side-scan sonar has produced more detailed images. He said it was first located on Tuesday evening.

“There are some small objects that we found, but last night, thank God, we found a large enough object,” he said.

Data from flight-tracking sites show the plane had erratic speed and altitude in the early minutes of a flight on Sunday and on its fatal flight on Monday. Safety experts caution, however, that the data must be checked for accuracy against the plane’s black boxes, which officials are confident will be recovered.

Several passengers on the Sunday flight from Bali to Jakarta have recounted problems that included a long-delayed takeoff for an engine check and terrifying descents in the first 10 minutes in the air.

Two interviewed on Indonesian TV recalled details such as a strange engine sound, a smell of burnt cables and panicked passengers crying out for God to save them as the plane rapidly lost altitude. Later in the flight, a man who was either the captain or first officer walked through the plane and returned to the cockpit with what looked like a large manual. AP

IN this March 8, 2018, file photo (from left), Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang, New Zealand Trade Minister David Parker, General Secretary Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia Y.bhg. Datuk J. Jayasiri, Canada’s Minister of International Trade Francois-Philippe Champagne, Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Steven Ciobo, Chile’s Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz, Brunei Darussalam’s Foreign Minister Haji Erawan bin Pehin Yusof, Japan’s Trans-Pacific Partnership Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Secretary of Economy of Mexico Idelfonso Guajardo, Peru’s Trade Minister Eduardo Ferreyros and Vietnamese Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh, pose for a photo after the signing ceremony of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in Santiago, Chile. The Pacific rim trade pact abandoned by President Donald J. Trump will take effect at the year’s end after Australia became the sixth nation to ratify it. The New Zealand government said on Wednesday, that Australia had notified it that it had completed procedures needed for the trade arrangement, the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership. It will take effect December 30. AP/ESTEBAN FELIX

Pacific rim trade pact goes ahead after Australia ratifies

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ANGKOK—The Pacific rim trade pact abandoned by President Donald J. Trump will take effect at the year’s end after Australia became the sixth nation to ratify it.

Austra lia announced on Wednesday that it had completed procedures needed for the trade arrangement, the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, to progress. It will take effect December 30.

The deal is aimed at streamlining trade and slashing tariffs to facilitate more business activities between member-nations with a combined population of nearly 500 million people and GDP of $13.5 trillion.

“Our ratification means we are guaranteeing maximum benefits for our farmers and businesses,” Simon Birmingham, minister for Trade, Tourism and Development, said in a statement. He said the deal would bring annual benefits of up to $15.6 billion to the Australian economy by 2030.

The 11 nations remaining after the US withdrawal in early-2017 amended the pact to enable it to take effect even without its participation. Japan, Canada, Mexico and Singapore also have ratified it.

“The signal that it sends to the rest of the world that there’s a new rules-based order out there in the world that people can buy into if they want as an incredibly powerful signal at this particular time,” David Parker, New Zealand’s minister of Trade and Export Growth, told reporters.

“It has benefits that will spread throughout the economy to every person in New Zealand from the factory floor to the farm owner, to all of the other service industries that rely upon our export industries,” he said.

The US departure was a huge loss given the size of the American market. However, other countries are said to be interested in

joining the trade deal, which is seen as a first step toward a panPacific free trade zone.

Trump said he was putting “America First” in seeking bilateral deals rather than broader ones like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier this year that the US would consider rejoining the pact after it deals with other priorities.

Other TPP member-countries have said they hope the US will rejoin, while emphasizing their commitment to the global trading system that has enabled many of them to build thriving modern economies.

Nearly t wo - dozen st ipu l ations sought by the US in the or ig ina l TPP dea l repor ted ly were shelved af ter Washington w ithdrew, watering dow n somewhat the plan proclaimed by the Obama administration of being the “gold standard ” for 21st-centur y trade rules.

Birmingham, the Australian trade minister, said the deal would help farmers gain better access to Canada’s market for grains, sugar and beef, and to Mexico’s market for pork, wheat, sugar and other farm products.

It will also help iron and steel, leather, paper products and medical equipment manufacturers who export $19 billion annually to other markets within the trade pact, he said.

For New Zealand, the trade arrangement will bring duty-free access for its exporters of wine, meats, wool, timber and fisheries products, the government said in a statement.

T he cou nt r ies t hat have not yet rat i f ied t he ag reement a re

UK faces prospect of recession and downgrade, S&P warns

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ONDON—Britain faces the prospect of an immediate and prolonged recession, spiking unemployment and inflation if it crashes out of the European Union in March with no deal on future relations, a leading credit ratings agency warned on Tuesday.

In a wide-ranging report, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said a “no-deal Brexit could push the UK economy into a moderate recession and lower the economy’s long-term growth potential.” In 2019, for example, it predicts the British economy will shrink 1.2 percent if no deal is agreed, against the growth of 1.3

percent that it expects if a deal is reached. The report says failure to work out a deal would result in a 5.5-percent decline in Britain’s economy over three years relative to current expectations, and adds that most of the loss would “likely be permanent.”

Though S&P said its base case remains that Britain and the EU will come to some sort of agreement over their future economic relationship, it said it sees an “increasing risk that the UK will secede from the EU and, important, the EU single market, without any deal at the end of March.”

When Britain triggered the two-year timetable to leave the European Union in the wake of June 2016 referendum on Brexit, this October’s summit of EU leaders was supposed to be the moment a deal would be reached to give parliaments time to pass it into law ahead of the March departure. But the summit yielded little amid disagreements on how to make sure a physical border is not reimposed between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

S&P is clearly worried that in a no-deal scenario, tariffs would be

placed on British exports, border checks would be reinstalled and restrictions could hit travelers and workers. Though the same would apply for European products crossing the English Channel, most economists agree that Britain would face a bigger hit proportionately.

“Contingency plans are unlikely to insulate companies fully from market volatility, legal and regulatory uncertainty, border delays, rising input costs and tariffs, and weakening competitiveness and operating performance in many sectors,” the report said. AP

Vietnam, Ma laysia, Br unei Da r u ssa l a m, Per u a nd C h i le.

Separate efforts are under way to forge a free-trade arrangement within Asia called the Regional Comprehensive Economic

Partnership, which encompasses the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India and China, but not the United States. AP

B8 Thursday, November 1, 2018

SECURITY BANK FOUNDATION PROVIDES FUNDING FOR PHILIPPINE RED CROSS AMBULANCE UNITS NEWLY REVAMPED TAG HEUER PHILIPPINE STORE OPENS TO PUBLIC

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VANT-GARDE Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer officially showcased the newly renovated boutique to the public with an afternoon of food and drinks and a surprise unveiling.

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ECURITY Bank Foundation Inc. (SBFI) recently donated funding for two ambulance units to the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) during a ceremony at the Security Bank Center in Makati City. The check was awarded by Security Bank (SBC) through SBFI chairman Rafael Simpao, SBC President and Chief Executive Officer and SBFI Trustee Alfonso Salcedo Jr., SBC Executive Vice President Takahiro Onishi and SBFI Corporate Secretary Melissa Aquino. The donation was formally accepted by PRC chairman Sen. Richard Gordon, PRC secretary general lawyer Oscar Palabyab and PRC assistant secretary general Ramon Murillo.

The two ambulance units will be stationed at PRC’s M/V Amazing Grace, the country’s first and only humanitarian vessel. The ambulance units will be used as a rapid transport

and landing vessel for emergency units, relief-supply transport ship, hospital ship, medical-facility deployment ship, searescue vessel, mass-evacuation vessel, humanitarian logistics ship, mobile operations-command post, and humanitarian education and training ship.

SBFI began supporting PRC in 2015 as a testament to its commitment help save, protect and improve the quality of lives of Filipinos through the provision of life-saving services in times of medical emergencies and disasters. To date SBFI has donated three ambulance units that have served a total of 731 patients.

In photo are (from left) SBFI corporate secretary Melissa Aquino, Onishi, Salcedo, Simpao, Gordon, Palabyab and Murillo.

CALTEX KA-ROADTRIP READY TO ASSIST MOTORISTS DURING ‘UNDAS’

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TARTING yesterday, October 31, millions of motorists rushed out of Metro Manila to be with their families and remember lost loved ones. Caltex, marketed by Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI), will help ensure driver and passenger safety with Caltex Ka-Roadtrip motorists assistance program at select Caltex stations along major highways in northern and southern Luzon.

Besides road assistance, motorists can also look forward to exciting goodies and surprises, such as product samples when they fuel up at Caltex South Luzon Expressway (Slex) Mamplasan, Caltex Slex San Pedro and Caltex North Luzon Expressway San Fernando.

Families and barkadas taking road trips during the long weekend can also try their luck at the Liter Lottery promo,

which runs on October 31, November 1 and November 4, to get a P10/liter fuel discount in all three retail sites. Toyota vehicle owners can also avail themselves of additional car care and assistance at the abovementioned sites from October 30 to November 4. Motorists dropping by today, November 1, at Caltex Slex Mamplasan; and on November 4 at Caltex Slex San Pedro will get special treats and freebies from GMA’s Bantay Byahe program.

Since its launch in March 2013, the Caltex Ka-Roadtrip motorists assistance program has been helping motorists during major holidays in the country.

Motorists can find the nearest Caltex station using the Caltex Locator app, available on both Google Play and App Store. Find out more about Caltex at http://caltex.com/ph.

ON SMART PARENTING ACCORDING TO ISABELLE DAZA

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HERE’S so much more to parenting than what we usually see on social media. Beyond the cute photos and videos, there is always the struggles and triumphs that parents go through to ensure they are able to give their children the best care possible.

But what about if you’re a first-time parent? The challenges are, of course, the same, but the newness of it all can also be very daunting. This is why millennial parents, like Isabelle Daza-Semblat, rely on help and advice from family members and friends. She has also become very proactive in finding the best products and services for her child. These make “parenting on the move” much more bearable.

Parenting on the move refers to enabling parents to still pursue their own goals and passions even when they already have a family. In fact, if you are happy and fulfilled on your own, it’ll lead you to become a better parent to your child, and a better partner to your better half.

To better discuss the ups and downs of being a parent, Daza-Semblat, together with Maye Yao Co Say of Richwell, Yuta Hagiwara of Pigeon, and athlete couple and Maxi-Cosi and Quinny users Janice and Japoy Lizardo all took part in an engaging discussion over high tea for the parenting on the move event held on October 18 at McKinley Road, Forbes Park.

Say, chief operating officer of Richwell Philippines Inc., has years of expertise in infant- and toddler-care products.

She is a mother of two, as well as a parenting columnist. This makes her a valuable resource person for practical parenting.

Meanwhile, Hagiwara, executive overseas manager of Pigeon, extensively talked about how the company has invested in research to come up with products that will help their customers become champions in their parenting journey. He also shared the technical tests, proofs and product development that goes in every Pigeon product. Janice and Japoy then shared how Maxi-Cosi and Quinny products enable them to become better at being parents on the move.

Being a mom, wife, businesswoman, digital influencer, host and actress, Daza-Semblat has become more conscious of the products that she uses. “For the past few months, Pigeon and Quinny have made our family life easier because they have done the research. They did tests way beyond global standards. I believe I worried a lot less than I thought I would because I have complete trust [on the product]. It only makes me look forward to the journey ahead.”

To ensure that it doesn’t just deliver and make parenting on the move more doable, but also safe for her young son, she and her supportive

husband Adrien prefer research-backed products, like Pigeon and Quinny.

Being the No. 1 baby-care brand in Japan, Pigeon has over 60 years experience in the industry and been at the forefront of newborn skin-care technology. The brand has developed the Natulayer technology, which is a layer of ingredients that mimic the natural coat of protection found on the baby’s skin in the womb.

Included in Pigeon’s Newborn Pure collection is the body wash, shampoo, lotion, oil and protective cream. Making use of natural ingredients, these products contain 0-percent paraben, formaldehyde and alcohol. It is also pH-balanced to ensure that it is safe and gentle for baby’s skin with the added dual moisturization of Natulayer.

Developed in Europe, Quinny is a premier lifestyle juvenile brand with a proud tradition of over 25 years in stroller mobility.

The brand is dedicated to creating beautiful, seamless mobility solutions that adapt as a child develops and grows, offering the ideal solution for the present while keeping an eye on the future. Quinny products appeal to the urban environment. Their product range is designed with this lifestyle in mind, adding true value to support functional solutions and services that help parents overcome urban obstacles. Quinny creates clever mobility solutions for parents on the go.

Quinny products that she also enjoys using are the Quinny Moodd and Zapp Flex. An iconic stroller that offers a comfortable and stylish ride from birth until three-and-a-half years old, the Quinny Moodd also offers intelligent features, like quick automatic unfolding and easy folding. Meanwhile, designed to make parents’ lives easier, the Zapp Flex is a highly maneuverable, lightweight, and comfortable solution.

It is one stroller with endless possibilities—with its versatile reversible seat, you can let your younger child face you for enhanced bonding moments, or turn the seat forward to give an older child a view of the streets ahead.

Pigeon products are available at Ogalala Stores, Baby Co., Rustan’s, Mothercare, My Baby Planet, Mercury Drug and other leading department stores nationwide.

Valued media partners, Ayala Malls management, as well as guests from the Philippine Basketball Association graced the event.

This is the first boutique in the Philippines to premiere the new global concept, a new look and feel for the iconic luxury brand. The new look portrays Tag Heuer’s aim to not only to keep the research and developments of the products but also expand the brand’s influence of the #DontCrackUnderPressure and avant-garde spirit to the younger generation.

Another highlight of the

event was the unveiling of the firstever local Friends of the Brand (FOB) and their official campaign. Two years in the making and it was ready to be showcased to the public. Tag Heuer, being the Official Timekeeper of the Philippine Basketball Association for three years now, is proud to announce the extension of the partnership, as well as the collaboration with the local FOB. The players’ achievements in their respective PBA careers greatly reflects the #DontCrackUnderPressure attitude and is one of the reasons why they fit perfectly with the Tag Heuer brand. They are June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, Chris Newsome, Jio Jalalon, Asi Taulava and Sean Anthony

PAG-IBIG FUND RELEASES MORE THAN P37 BILLION IN CASH LOAN BY THIRD QUARTER

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HE Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) has released a total of P37.43 billion in shortterm loans (STL) by the third quarter of 2018, benefiting a total of 1,824,012 borrowers, a 7-percent increase in the number of members served from same period in 2017. Under the Pag-IBIG Fund STL program, members may avail themselves of a multipurpose loan (MPL) or a calamity loan.

“These Pag-IBIG short-term loans are a big help in augmenting the financial needs of our Filipino workers, especially those that were affected by calamities. The interest rate for the Pag-IBIG calamity loan is the lowest in the market at 5.95percent per annum. From July to September alone, calamity-loan disbursements reached P1.03 billion, which benefited 80,698 families affected by the onslaught of typhoons and heavy rains caused by habagat, or the southwest monsoon. On the other hand, P12.18 billion was disbursed for MPL to assist the financial needs of 597,238 borrowers,” Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and Pag-IBIG Fund board chairman Eduardo

del Rosario said.

To address theincreasing number of PagIBIG loan borrowers, the fund established service desks in various municipalities and malls to receive loan applications under the File Anywhere campaign, allowing convenience and accessibility to its members who may want to avail themselves of PagIBIG Fund’s services.

“Consistent with our Lingkod PagIBIG service, we want our members to be able to transact their business with PagIBIG Fund at any of our 133 branches and service desks nationwide to relieve them of having to travel to a particular branch or city just to file their loan application.

We upgraded our system primarily, so that we remain responsive to our members’ needs,” Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said.

Pag-IBIG Fund implemented an upgrade of its system in 2017. Member profiles and data were migrated and consolidated into a master database to allow easy access of the member’s info from any Pag-IBIG Fund branch. The migration process, however, affected the processing time of the loan applications,

which prompted complaints from PagIBIG members. “[The year] 2017 and the first half of 2018 was a very challenging time for us.

On one hand, we know that our members depend on their Pag-IBIG loan proceeds for their financial needs and they need it immediately. On the other hand, we also know that this little sacrifice will result in better returns in the future.

Our Pag-IBIG staff worked double time to fine-tune the system. Now that it is stabilized, we are ready to accommodate future loan applications faster. In fact, the number of transactions being processed in just over a day has been increasing. It is possible that this will become our standard in processing STL applications in the future. By the end of 2017 we disbursed about P46.75 billion in STL. At the rate that we are processing our loan applications now, Pag-IBIG Fund could easily process and disburse about P48 billion to P49 billion by the end of the year. We are ready to serve our members and help them fully benefit from their Pag-IBIG Fund contributions,” Moti added.

REX BOOK STORE PARTNERS WITH J.A. PHILIPPINES, OPENS BUSINESS SKILLS PASS PROGRAM FOR FILIPINO LEARNERS

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N today´s highly competitive global economy, equipping young learners not just with the core skills for their academic excellence, but also with the entrepreneurial edge when it comes to facing real-life challenges head-on is an essential component for a successful future.

Announced to a rapt audience of both concerned educators and interested students during the recently concluded Manila International Book Fair held at SMX Convention Center, the partnership between REX Book Store Inc. and JA Philippines introduces their codeveloped Business Skills Pass (BSP) program.

The country´s leading provider of high-quality learning solutions for young learners further ignites its commitment to providing 21st-century education through its meaningful collaboration with Junior Achievement Philippines (Japi), an international organization committed to provide skills and training for young learners with lessons in work-force readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on modules, such as the BSP program.

For over 49 years Japi has sought to develop future business leaders in the country by tapping potentials and dreams of young people; inspiring and equipping them to understand what it takes to become successful entrepreneurs and business leaders; and nurturing a new generation of achievers with the help of educational institutions.

Through the official launch of its BSP program, JAPI aligns with REX Book Store’s initiative of creating and sustaining a future-ready learning environment for

young Filipino learners, one that moves forward with the latest advancements in educational methods and learner-enabling technology in mind.

The program is aimed at providing a degree of qualification for students, which would certify them as having sufficient entrepreneurial skills to start their own business ventures; or be employed with businesses that require certain skills with an entrepreneurial orientation. The program designates results-oriented lessons integrated to a learner’s current curriculum aligned with the K-12 system.

With its full-year duration and m i n i compa ny e x p e r ie nce, B SP creates a cohesive learning track for students who wish to enhance their business, economic, and financial k nowledge. A f ter ac h iev ing BSP certification, students are introduced to opportunities offered by both small and large businesses, as well as some of the top higher-learning institutions of the country.

With the effects of the fourth Industrial Revolution continuously changing the ways with which we live in the 21st century, educational paradigms and learning methodologies must also evolve and adapt to these changes, and engage current challenges with a critically informed and holistic approach.

This is what REX Book Store strives to

develop and implement with its suite of learning solutions and materials specifically designed to support the learner as a “Whole Child”, ensuring that each and every learner is healthy, safe, engaged, supported and challenged throughout the learning process. With the help of schools, industries, educators, parents and communities, REX Book Store aims to foster a holistic learning environment to ensure the success of each child, and shape and guide them toward a better, brighter future.

Through its partnership with Japi, REX Book Store widens the reach of the BSP program, opening more opportunities for young Filipino learners to engage the challenges of the future.

In photo are Krishna Alejandrino (left), Japi executive director; and Jeanne Marie Tordesillas, REX Book Store marketing director receiving the symbolic key to seal this meaningful alliance.

For more information, visit www.bsp. rexbookstore.ph.

CAVS WIN, FINALLY! Sports NBA RESULTS

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Charlotte 125, Miami 113

Cleveland 136, Atlanta 114

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Sacramento 107, Orlando 99

| Thursday, November 1, 2018

Boston 108, Detroit 105

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Toronto 129, Philadelphia 112 Memphis 107, Washington 95

Oklahoma City 128, LA Clippers 110 Portland 104, Houston 85

RODNEY HOOD scores a season-high 26 points for Cleveland.

THE Boston Red Sox’s (from left) David Price, Christian Vazquez and Chris Sale celebrate after Game Five of the World Series. AP

WORLD SERIES RATINGS DROP SHARPLY

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EW YORK—Boston’s five-game World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers averaged 14,125,000 viewers on Fox, down 25 percent from last year and the fourth-lowest ever.

The Series featuring a pair of large-market teams averaged an 8.3 rating and 17 share, Nielsen said on Tuesday. That was down from a 10.7 rating, 20 share and 18,926,000 average viewers for the Houston Astros’ seven-game win over the Dodgers last year and 40 percent from 23,386,000 average viewers for the Cubs’ seven-game win over Cleveland two years ago— Chicago’s first title since 1908.

The only Series with fewer average viewers were Philadelphia’s five-game win over Tampa Bay in 2008 (13,062,000), San Francisco’s four-game sweep of Detroit in 2012 (12.7 million) and the Giants’ sevengame win over Kansas City in 2014 (13,825,000). The rating was the third-lowest, ahead of only a 7.6 in 2012 and an 8.2 in 2014.

Boston’s 5-1 win in Game Five on Sunday was the most-watched of the Series, averaging 17,634,000 viewers. The opener averaged 18,314,000, followed by 13,507,000 in Game Two, 13,250,000 in Game Three and 13,563,000 in Game Four.

Ratings represent the percentage of US television households tuned into a program and shares represent the percentage watching a broadcast among homes with TVs in use at the time.

The ratings drop likely had more to do with the length of the series than the matchup. World Series games tend to draw in more viewers as the series goes longer, and the broadcasting network usually hits the jackpot if it goes a full seven games—like last year’s series.

Between the series and on Thursday night football, Fox was the week’s most popular network with a prime-time average of 13.1 million viewers. NBC had 6.53 million viewers, CBS had 6.49 million, ABC had 4.2 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million, Univision had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.2 million and the CW had 1.1 million.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.56 million viewers in prime time.

ESPN had 2.18 million, MSNBC had 1.5 million, Hallmark had 1.35 million and USA had 1.26 million.

ABC’s World News Now topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.4 million viewers.

NBC’s Nightly News had 8.2 million and the CBS Evening News had 5.8 million.

For the week of October 22 to 28, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: World Series Game Five: Boston at Los Angeles, Fox, 17.63 million; The OT, Fox, 15.74 million; World Series Game Five Pregame, Fox, 14.9 million; NFL Football: New Orleans at Minnesota, NBC, 14.09 million; World Series Game 1: Los Angeles at Boston, Fox, 13.81 million; World Series Game 4: Boston at Los Angeles, Fox, 13.56 million; World Series Game 2: Los Angeles at Boston, Fox, 13.51 million; World Series Game 3: Boston at Los Angeles, Fox, 13.25 million; The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 13 million; NFL Football: Miami at Houston, Fox, 12.09 million. AP

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By Tom Withers The Associated Press

LEVELAND—The Cavaliers played unselfishly, aggressively and together for the first time this season.

They almost always do for Larry Drew.

Rodney Hood scored a season-high 26 points, Cedi Osman added 20 and Cleveland ended its six-game losing streak to start the season, beating the Atlanta Hawks, 136-114, on Tuesday night in the Cavs’ first game since Coach Tyronn Lue was fired.

Cleveland came in as the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) only winless team, and Lue paid the price for club’s slow start in its first season since LeBron James left the Cavs for the second time.

But with Drew serving as their “acting” coach while he tries to get the team to restructure his contract, the Cavs played a complete game—Cleveland had seven players in double figures—and avoided their first 0-7 start since 1995-1996.

“I really didn’t know what was going to happen tonight,” Drew said. “I just wanted these guys to try and put the first six games behind them as quickly as they could and be ready to turn the chapter with a new season. They came out and took the challenge.”

The Cavs improved to 10-1 in the past two years under Drew, who filled in last season while Lue battled health issues.

Before the game, Drew said he was “very disappointed” the Cavs had not yet agreed to his request to redo his deal if he’s going to lead them through what promised to be a challenging season. If Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert or GM Koby Altman needed further proof that Drew has his players’ attention, they got it.

“LD always has had a voice,” Hood said. “Not as big a voice, but he’s a guy who’s been through the wars and he knows how to put guys in position to be successful. I think it was more about us forgetting the first six games and coming out, just playing well. Regardless of the results, let’s just play well. Tonight was a good step in that.”

George Hill and rookie Collin Sexton scored 17 apiece, and Tristan Thompson had 13 rebounds for Cleveland.

Rookie Trae Young scored 24 and Alex Len 22 for the Hawks. Young scored a season-high 35 against the Cavs on October 21, wrecking their home opener.

But Atlanta made 22 turnovers and the Hawks’ defense was poor in the second half when the Cavs scored 78 points.

“Tale of two halves,” Young said. “Started out the game,

DREW ‘VERY DISAPPOINTED’ C

THE Cavaliers want Larry Drew to be their “voice.” AP

LEVELAND—The Cavaliers want Larry Drew to be their “voice.” They aren’t listening to him.

Drew said on Tuesday night he’s “very disappointed” the Cavs have not yet restructured his contract. The team’s top assistant, Drew has been asked to fill in as head coach on an interim basis after Tyronn Lue was fired on Sunday amid a 0-6 start.

Drew asked for guarantees if he’s going to take over the rebuilding team. So far, the Cavaliers haven’t given him any.

“There are no updates, which I’m very disappointed about,” he said. “But as I told them, I’m going to be professional and I’m going to do my job. It’s been close to 72 hours. My focus right now is to get this team ready for tonight’s game and I think our guys are ready.”

On Monday General Manager Koby Altman said he fired Lue because the team needed a new voice. He referred to Drew as the club’s interim coach. But Drew made it clear he doesn’t want that title without some assurances going forward.

matched their effort, matched their intensity. We had a really good first half and then they made adjustments. We weren’t ready to play and couldn’t finish it out.”

The Cavs played their third straight game without forward Kevin Love, who could miss several weeks with a painful left toe injury that has bothered him since the preseason opener. The five-time All-Star said doctors are still trying to decide the best course of treatment, and to this point he has not been told he’ll need surgery.

Until Love’s back, the Cavs will have to replace his 19 points and 13.5 rebounds per game. Someone needs to pick up the scoring slack, and Hood could be the guy.

He struggled after coming over to Cleveland at the trading deadline from Utah and never found his groove. But he had his best game for Cleveland against the Hawks, attacking the basket and knocking down all four three-pointers.

“That’s the Rodney Hood that I know,” Drew said. “Rodney is a passive guy by nature. That’s who he is, but he is a very talented and very skilled guy and when he’s aggressive like that, he’s hard to defend. He can make the three, turn the corner and get to the basket. When he gets his midrange game, he really elevates. But I thought he really started with an aggression that carried all the way throughout the game.”

Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley, meanwhile, aren’t done yet with their long-running feud.

Westbrook scored 32 points and had another run-in with Beverley during the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 128-110 Drew’s agent has been negotiating with the Cavs since Sunday. Drew said they’ve been told the team could hire a full-time replacement, and if that’s what happens, the 60-year-old will remain as an assistant.

“We’re actually kind of just weighing our options on that,” Drew said. “I really hope that we can get something resolved, but moving forward, I know there is a possibility that it may not be resolved. I would never quit. I won’t do that. As I said, I remain professional and will continue to do my job.

“I was told that there could be a possibility of them just brining in somebody else to finish out the year and then I can move back into my original position as an associate head coach.”

victory over the Los Angeles Clippers also on Tuesday night.

The Thunder outscored the Clippers 39-10 in the third quarter, and Westbrook and Beverley provided the only drama in the fourth. Beverley dove at a dribbling Westbrook and made contact just above Westbrook’s left knee, and both were issued technicals after jawing in front of the benches. Police officers stepped onto the court to help keep the teams separated. Upon review, Beverley’s foul was ruled a flagrant 1.

There’s plenty of history between the two. Westbrook tore the lateral meniscus in his right knee during the playoffs in 2013 when Beverley, then playing for the Houston Rockets, lunged for the ball as Westbrook prepared to call timeout. Westbrook missed the rest of the playoffs and part of the next season. In March 2014 the first time the two played again, Beverley swiped the ball away from Westbrook after a timeout and drew a technical, and Beverley and Westbrook had to be separated.

Westbrook has had a history of knee problems. He had a procedure on his right knee that cost him the preseason and the first two games of the regular season.

He didn’t directly address Beverley’s action on Tuesday.

“I have no comment on it,” Westbrook said. “I just know that we won.”

Beverley felt like he did nothing wrong, and said his reputation plays a role in the calls he gets.

“I feel like I went for a loose ball,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I went for a loose ball and the ref looked at it on tape and felt like it was a flagrant, and I’ve got to accept it.”

Drew filled in last season when Lue stepped away to deal with health issues. The Cavs went 8-1 under Drew, a former NBA player who also coached in Atlanta and Milwaukee.

Kevin Love, who could miss several weeks with a toe injury, gave Drew a strong endorsement.

“You saw it last year, we had a great thing going,” Love said. “I think he’s able to get that contract locked down and step right in, he’s going to do a great job for us, and LD is a guy that I believe in. He was, especially when Ty wasn’t there, he was the voice for us. He was the eyes and ears, so I love what LD does. I love the energy he brings, how specific he is in what he does, and he’s been around this league, what, 37, 38 years, so I’m excited for that.” AP

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Tams, Bulldogs reign supreme

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AR Eastern University (FEU) ended National University’s (NU) three-year reign in the men’s division, while De La Salle ruled the women’s trophy for the second straight year in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 81 chess tournament over the weekend at the University of Santo Tomas Quadricentennial Pavilion.

The Tamaraws collected a 14-round total of 40 points to claim their 14th men’s crown, while the Lady Woodpushers from Taft snared their ninth tiara after finishing with 43 points.

FEU actually secured the men’s championship in the 13th round following a 2-2 draw with De La Salle on

Saturday. The Morayta-based bets then put the icing on the cake with a 2.5-1.5 win over eventual third placer Adamson University in the final round on Sunday.

Rookie of the Year Jeth Morado led the Tamaraws by winning the Board 2 gold medal, while Romy Fagon was the team’s other gold medalist in Board 4.

The Bulldogs saw their dynasty end after a 2-2 draw with University of the East on Saturday.

As a consolation for NU, International Master Paulo Bersamina, who topped Board 1, was named the season Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the fourth straight year.

Arnel Ilagan was the other gold medalist for NU in Board 6.

FEU-Diliman won the boys title for the fourth

Sunrise Sprint spices up Subic race

straight year with Dale Bernardo, a veteran of the 19th Asean Chess Age Group Championship, winning the season MVP honors, while NU annexed its first-ever girls crown behind tournament MVP Fide Master Allanney Jia Doroy.

The Lady Woodpushers drew the best from woman candidate master Mira Mirano, who was named the tournament MVP and Board 1 gold medalist, while her teammate Samantha Revita bagged the Rookie of the Year honors, as well as the Board 4 gold.

De La Salle blanked FEU, 4-0, to seal the title in the 13th round on Saturday before ending the season with a 3.5-0.5 win over University of the Philippines on Sunday.

Ella Moulic was the Lady Woodpushers’ other gold medalist in Board 3.

The Lady Maroons and the Lady Falcons finished second and third, respectively.

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JUNE MAR-GREG DUO F

OUR-TIME Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo couldn’t wait to suit up for the national team with fellow giant Greg Slaughter in the fifth window of the Fiba World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers.

The 6-foot-10 Fajardo of San Miguel Beer— arguably the most dominant local in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA)—has recovered from his right-shin injury, while his Cebuano pal—7-foot center Slaughter—has finally played for Barangay Ginebra after nursing a right-ankle injury.

The big men have seen limited action in the ongoing Governors’ Cup because of the injuries.

With nearly a month to fully recover and get back in shape before the national team’s two home games at the Mall of Asia Arena against Kazakhstan on November 30 and Iran on December 3, both giants expressed their desire to represent the country.

“I missed playing for the national team. I can’t wait to suit up again,” Fajardo said. “I’m excited especially retuning in time for the two home games.”

Teaming up with Slaughter means a lot for the six-time champion Fajardo.

“I’ve always wanted to play with Greg. We have teamed up already in All Star Games for Team Visayas, but the national

team is a whole different level,” he said.

National team Head Coach Yeng Guiao welcomed the scenario of Fajardo and Slaughter playing with the returning Andray Blatche.

“For the first time in a long while, you will have June Mar, Greg and Japeth [Aguilar] playing together in a team with [Andray] Blatche,” Guiao said. “This will be a tall lineup.”

The 6-foot-11 Blatche however, would only be available against Iran. He has to serve a three-game suspension by the Fiba along with Jayson Castro, Terrence Romeo and Troy Rosario for their involvement in the brawl with Australia.

Still, Guiao is thrilled at the prospect of handling perhaps the tallest national team frontcourt ever in history.

Injuries prevented both Fajardo and Slaughter from joining Team Pilipinas under Guiao the last time, when it lost to Iran at Tehran, 81-73, on September 13, but beat Kazakhstan 92-81, in a closed-door match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Guiao allayed Team Pilipinas will have to sacrifice speed for height.

“It won’t be a slow team. June Mar could run,” he said.

Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle, who served as Team Pilipinas’ naturalized player in Blatche’s absence during the last window against Iran and Kazakhstan, are again being

considered in the November 30 clash with the Kazkahs.

Pringle and Standardinger are included in the 20-man pool Guiao and his coaching staff will present to the PBA Board in a special meeting on Tuesday.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Al Panlilio, who is also Meralco governor to the PBA Board, is expected to accompany Guiao in the meeting.

Also in the pool are Paul Lee, Gabe Norwood, Alex Cabagnot, Poy Erram, Scottie Thompson, Marcio Lassiter, Raymond Almazan, Ian Sangalang, Allei Maliksi, Beau Belga, Matthew Wright, Kai Sotto and Asi Taulava.

The playoffs of the season-ending Governors Cup will take a break in the middle of November to give way to the practice schedule of Team Pilipinas.

The elimination phase is now down to its last four games in the race for the remaining playoffs berth and seeding in the quarterfinals.

Guiao’s NLEX team battles Rain or Shine in the curtain raiser of a Petron Saturday Special, with San Miguel Beer taking on Meralco in the main game at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

On Sunday also at the Big Dome, Phoenix faces Blackwater, while Barangay Ginebra tests the mettle of TNT Katropa.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

BIG men June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter head a tall Team Pilipinas roster.

UNRISE Sprint, a short swim-bike-run event for beginners seeking to immerse themselves into the sport of triathlon, will spice up the action in the inaugural Black Arrow Express 5150 on Sunday in Subic Bay. A big-hit in its inaugural season, the Sunrise Sprint, dubbed as S2, is back with a promise of a more exciting, thrilling edition among 273 participants in the 750-meter open-water swim, 20-km bike ride and 5-km run race.

The organizing Sunrise Events Inc. (SEI) has put up the event for triathlon wannabes who want to race without having to worry about long periods of training. It is also aimed at providing a venue for triwarriors out to make a comeback in the ever-growing sport and at the same time deliver quality triathlon festival experience.

IronKids stalwart Wacky Baniqued banners the cast in the side event of the Black Arrow Express 5150, which has recently inked a three-year contract with SEI to stage the 5150 races.

Eight elite pros, meanwhile, head the 627 participants in the main event, which also features competitions in the Asian Elite and various age categories. Also on tap are the relay events for male, female and mixed, also designed to prepare triathletes to go full-time in the multisport.

SEI Founder/President Wilfred Uytengsu and Black Arrow’s Allan Brizuela are also competing in the 5150 race, while August Benedicto, Rambo Chicano, Raymond Torii, Jorry Ycong, Paul Jumamil and Leonard Rondina lead the chase for top honors in Asian Elite.

Sam Betten, meanwhile, gears up for a record fourth straight 5150 crown in Subic, while fellow Aussie Dimity Lee Duke aims for back-to-back title after breaking a three-year spell with a big victory in the country’s triathlon capital last year.

For details, visit regent.5150philippines.com.

orts

sMirror

Thursday, November 1, 2018

3 SHARE LEAD IN LIPA D DINO VILLANUEVA survives harsh conditions late in the afternoon to card a 67.

Kazakh vs Uzbek in Aiba elections

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ENEVA—The presidential election to lead the International Amateur Boxing Association (Aiba), with its recognition by the Olympic movement potentially at stake, will now have two candidates.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) delivered an urgent ruling on Tuesday clearing Serik Konakbayev of Kazakhstan with valid nominations to stand for president of Aiba in Saturday’s vote against an alleged heroin trafficker.

While Konakbayev is an Olympic silver medalist, Aiba interim president Gafur Rakhimov has been described as “one of Uzbekistan’s leading criminals” by the US Treasury Department.

Rakhimov’s assets in American jurisdiction were frozen by the federal treasury for “providing material support” to the Thieves-In-Law criminal organization.

He has denied wrongdoing.

“I am pleased to welcome another candidate and, as I have said before on numerous occasions, for Aiba it is good when we have competition, especially at the highest levels,” Rakhimov said in a statement on Aiba’s web site.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has warned Aiba that it risks being barred from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics if Rakhimov wins the election.

The sport of boxing, however, is not at risk of being dropped from the Olympic program.

The IOC did not let Dubai-based Rakhimov attend the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires this month, and British authorities previously blocked his accreditation request for the 2012 London Olympics.

Rakhimov also could not attend the 2000 Sydney Olympics when Australia’s government denied him a visa despite being accredited for the games.

However, he continued to have influence in Olympic circles. He was a vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia and lobbied on behalf of Sochi’s successful bid to host the 2014 Winter Games, when Pyeongchang was the only Asian candidate.

Weeks after the vote in 2007, Russian Olympic official Leonid Tyagachev said “Sochi would have found it hard to count on victory” without votes from Asia gained “thanks to the focused work done by [Rakhimov].”

CAS said its panel upheld Konakbayev’s appeal after a hearing on Monday to challenge his exclusion

by Aiba to compete against Rakhimov.

An Aiba election committee had ruled his candidacy invalid for missing a deadline last month to gather enough nominations by national boxing federations.

On Tuesday, the highest court in sports said its judging panel found Aiba’s election committee “unduly refused the nominations returned on a wrong form by several federations in support of [Konakbayev].”

“Therefore, the panel acknowledged that Serik Konakbayev reached the threshold of 20 nominations supporting his candidature for the Aiba presidency within the relevant time limit,” CAS said.

The election is scheduled for Saturday in Moscow, where Konakbayev took silver while representing the Soviet Union in the lightwelterweight class at the 1980 Olympics.

“I have always fought to have an open and transparent election process and, thanks to CAS, our electorate will now have the opportunity to select the right man for the job,” Konakbayev said in a statement.

The IOC has previously frozen funding to Aiba over concerns about Rakhimov, its governance standards and claims of suspect results in bouts at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The Olympic body has said it wants boxers to compete in Tokyo, though said in Buenos Aires that the 2020 competition could be organized outside of Aiba’s control.

Before the presidential vote, Aiba members will be asked on Friday to approve changes to its statutes proposed under Rakhimov’s interim leadership.

They include letting the president appoint two “corporate partners with investments in excess of $10 million” to be nonvoting vice presidents, and setting out ways for the president to take a leave of absence yet still attend and vote at executive committee meetings. AP

INO VILLANUEVA bucked harsh conditions in late afternoon play and carded a 67, forcing a three-way tie for the lead with Thai Sutijet Kooratanapisan and Erwin Arcillas in windy opener of the Summit Point World 18 Challenge in Lipa City on Wednesday.

Villanueva, flashing the form that also netted him the lead in the first round of the The Players Championship here last year before finishing tied for seventh, charged back with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 then preserved a 33-34 card with two scrambling pars in the last four to catch Kooratanapisan and Arcillas at the helm, one stroke ahead of

Elmer Salvador.

Out to atone for his final-round meltdown in the CAT Open at Luisita won by James Ryan Lam, Salvador sizzled with a frontside birdie-birdie finish for a 68. The veteran Davaoeño campaigner anchored his 33-35 card on solid iron play, hitting all but one green on No. 6, which he bogeyed.

This year’s Philippine Golf Tour Order of Merit winner Jobim Carlos also rebounded from an opening hole bogey with four birdies, including three at the back, to shoot a 69 for a share of fifth with American Brett Munson and Richard Sinfuego, while Micah Shin failed to join the group with a bogey on No. 17, dropping to joint eighth instead with American Lexus Keoninh,

Japanese Yuta Sudo and former PGT Asia (PGTA) leg winner Justin Quiban.

Jhonnel Ababa, chasing a fourth win in two seasons of the region’s newest circuit put up by the International Container Terminal Services Inc. and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc., rallied with two birdies at the front to save a 71, the same output put in by Ira Alido, Ferdie Aunzo, Anthony Fernando, Keanu Jahns, Nilo Salahog, Finland’s Janne Kaske, Peter Stojanovski of Macedonia, Englishman George Twyman, Taiwanese Wang Tsung Chieh, American Jeremy Wendelken and Arnold Villacencio, who upended Miguel Tabuena in sudden death to snare the PGT ICTSI Summit

MANDAL RETAINS CROWN IN SANDA WUSHU WORLDS

I

LOILO City pride Arnel Mandal nipped reigning world champion Vu Minh Duc of Vietnam to defend his title in the 52-kg class of the biennial Wushu Sanda World Cup held recently in Hangzhou, China.

Vu was the 22-year-old Mandal’s tormentor in last year’s World Wushu Championships finals.

Reigning 48-kg women’s champion Divine Wally, 24, from La Trinidad in Benguet, had to settle for the bronze medal this time as she bowed to world champion Dai Shimeng of China.

Wally, gold medalist in the 2016 Asian Wushu Championships, bowed to Dai in the semifinals of the 2017 World Wushu Championships.

Iloilo City’s Francisco Solis, the third bet in the lean Philippine team bankrolled by

the Philippine Sports Commission, bowed to Li Kang of China in the 56-kg finals to settle for the silver medal.

Solis, 28, was a 56-kg bronze medalist in the 2017 and 2015 World Wushu Championships and 60-kg bronze medalist in the 2016 World Cup, while Li pocketed the gold medals in the 2016 World Cup and 2017 World Championships.

The Sanda World Cup is the apex of wushu, with only the medalists in the most recent world championships qualified to see action.

Wushu Federation Philippines President Tan She Ling commended Mandal, Solis and Wally for their feats and expressed confidence that the trio will win gold medals in next year’s Southeast Asian Games the country is hosting.

Philracom charity races net P1.7M

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HE Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) is donating P1,722,173.86 to the Senate Spouses Foundation, Dalampasigang Manila Bay Foundation, Press Photographers of the Philippines (PPP), Buhay Isang Awit Foundation and the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation from 11 charity races held on Sunday at the Manila Jockey Club’s San Lazaro Park in Carmona, Cavite.

For having four charity races each, the Senate Spouses Foundation—represented

by Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III’s daughter, actress Ciara Sotto—and the Dalampasigang Manila Bay Rotary Foundation will be getting the bulk of the funds with each receiving P626,245.04.

The Senate Spouses Foundation got an additional P1 million from host Manila Jockey Club, with MJC Deputy Chief Operating Officer Atty. Peter Zagala making the symbolic turnover of the check donation.

The PPP, headed by President Jonathan Jalbuna, Buhay Isang Awit Foundation and Mowelfund will each receive P156,561.26.

“This is Philracom’s humble contribution to the noble projects of these five foundations.

We at the commission are delighted, knowing that our combined efforts to raise funds for their worthwhile programs will go a long way,” Philracom Chairman Andrew Sanchez said.

Sotto, Jalbuna, Dalampasigang Manila Rotary Foundation’s Ramon Ilustre Jr., Rotary Club of Manila Bay’s Adrian Abrogena and Christine Pasia led the simple awards rites also attended by Sanchez, commissioners Bienvenido Niles Jr. and Victor Tantoco, Executive Director Andrew Rovie Buencamino, MJC Racing Manager Jose Ramon Magboo and his deputy J-Fel Cuevas.

The 11 charity races were all conducted in accordance with the Philracom’s Rating-Based Handicapping System, which is a result of the commission’s affiliation with the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.

The winners list included Electric Dreams (Fourth PPP Trophy Race), Hidden Light (Dalampasigang Manila Bay Trophy Race), Lucky Saver (Buhay Isang Awit Foundation Charity Race), Silver Glow (Senate Spouses Foundation Trophy Race) and Watermania (Dalampasigang Manila Bay Charity Race).

The other triumphant horses were Ifyourhonorplease (Senate Spouses Foundation Charity Race), Garantisado (Dalampasigang Manila Bay Charity Race), Chinita ( Senate Spouses Foundation Charity Race), Tango Eco Kieth (Dalampasigang Manila Bay Charity Race), Extravagant Woman ( Senate Spouses Foundation Charity Race) and OASIS (Mowelfund Charity Race).

PROPONENTS, winners, hosts and recipients of the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) charity races are shown during a simple awards ceremony at the San Lazaro Park in Carmona, Cavite. They are (from left) Manila Jockey Club (MJC) Racing Manager Ding Magboo, Press Photographers of the Philippines’s Roy Domingo and Jonathan Jalbuna, Rotary Club of Manila Bay’s Christine Pasia and Adrian Abrogena, trainer Peter Aguila representing Electric Dreams’ owner Karen Ivy Sangco, Dalampasigang Manila Rotary Foundation’s Ramon Ilustre Jr., Ciara Sotto representing the Senate Spouses Foundation, MJC assistant racing manager J-Fel Cuevas, Raymundo Mongaya representing Silver Glow owner Henedino Gianan Jr., Hidden Light owner Carlos Aquino, Philracom Commissioner Victor Tantoco and MJC Deputy COO Atty. Peter Zagala.

Point Classic crown in 2014.

But some of the big guns lurked just behind, ready to pounce on the unfancied leaders, who found themselves on top with superb display of power and control at the wind-raked Summit Point Golf Club.

Villanueva, 34, who had two missed cuts in this year’s PGTA with best finish of tied for 31st at Aboitiz Invitational, said he could’ve surged ahead if not for his flubbed birdie putts.

“I missed birdie chances in the last three holes, failed to read my line of putts right,” said Villanueva, whose best finish in the PGT was sixth in Negros in August.

Kooratanapisan earlier birdied the final hole from eight feet for a 35-32 round, then watched

C3

Arcillas bogey the 18th in a flight behind to share the scoring honors in the day that also saw some of the favorites fumble and stumble at the Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed course, which features 18 of the best golf holes in the world.

After scoring his maiden win with a near-solid final round charge, Lam turned in a disastrous round of five-over 77 marred by two double bogeys and three bogeys against two birdies on a course that yielded 22 under-par cards. At joint 82nd with four others, the 30-year-old CAT Open champion would need to shoot low today to make the top 50 plus ties cut.

Other pretournament favorites who struggled were PGT Asia Southwoods champion Jay Bayron, PGT Pueblo de Oro leg winner Kim Joo Hyung and last week’s runner-up Josh Salah of the United States, who all hobbled with 74s.

Arcilla, Anasta lead netfest cast

M

ILOILO City pride Arnel Mandal topples a big fish.

ULTI-TITLED Johnny Arcilla and Vicente Anasta kick off their respective campaigns on Thursday along with the other veteran campaigners and rising stars in the Pintaflores Festival Open Tennis Championships at San Carlos Sports Center in San Carlos, Negros Occidental.

Arcilla, a Davis Cup veteran who ruled this event in 2016 to cap his sweep of the four Open titles on the annual Palawan Pawnshop calendar, hopes to bank on his experience as he guns for another plum against the likes of John Altiche, Rodolfo Barquin, Dheo Talatayod, Fritz Verdad, Joseph Enriquez, Ricardo Lagac Jr. and Mark Alcoseba in the upper half of the 32-player draw in men’s singles.

The second-ranked Anasta, on the other hand,

will have his hands full in the lower bracket that includes defending champion and third seed Bryan Otico, who upended PJ Tierro in come-from-behind fashion in last year’s finals of the annual event held as part of the host city’s Pintaflores Festival celebrations and organized by Criston Carmona.

“This is going to be another exciting week with odds just even among the seeded bets, although we expect the young guns to step up and pull some surprises,” Palawan Pawnshop President/CEO Bobby Castro said.

Aside from Anasta and Otico, others tipped to contend for the top P40,000 purse in the weeklong event presented by Dunlop and TJ’s Clear Art are Noel Damian Jr., Rolando Ruel Jr., Jimmy Tangalin Jr., Leander Lazaro and Marc Enriquez.

Novak on course at Paris Masters

P

ARIS—Novak Djokovic began his bid for a record-extending fifth Paris Masters title with a 7-5, 6-1 win against Joao Sousa in the second round on Tuesday, and lent a helping hand to a spectator in the process.

Serving for the match at 5-1, Djokovic handed a towel to a man in the crowd who seemed unwell and who wiped his forehead with it.

“It seemed he was sweating, and he seemed dizzy, so he just needed help,” Djokovic said. “I just gave him the towel.”

Djokovic revealed he also was not feeling very well out on court.

“I wasn’t,” he said. “I don’t want to get into details, but I think it’s a minor thing.”

The second-ranked Serb set up match point with an ace and sealed victory on his third match point when Sousa returned a second serve long.

The US Open champion won four of the last five tournaments he has entered, including Wimbledon, the US Open and most recently the Shanghai Masters.

Djokovic is seeking to reclaim the top ranking from Rafael Nadal at a tournament Nadal has never won.

Djokovic next faces Damir Dzumhur.

Fifth-seeded Marin Cilic, the Australian Open runnerup, won his second-round match, 6-3, 6-4, against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

Dzumhur upset 14th-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-3, 6-3, while big-hitting Russian Karen Khachanov also advanced to the third round. He led 6-2, 2-0 against Matthew Ebden when the Australian retired.

Returning from a right-knee injury, Nadal faces Spanish countryman Fernando Verdasco on Wednesday, with 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer also in second-round action against Milos Raonic. Federer leads the big-serving Canadian 11-3 overall.

Federer’s last appearance at the Paris indoor event was a third-round loss to big-serving John Isner in 2015.

There were doubts Federer would play after a grueling past week, which saw him clinch his ninth victory at the Swiss Indoors and 99th overall.

“I feel good,” Federer told a news conference. “I feel like I recovered well from last week.”

The 37-year-old Federer is selective of when he plays in order to keep his body as fresh as possible, and he skipped the entire clay-court season for the second straight year.

With the season-ending Association of Tennis Professionals Finals in London starting on November 11, he is playing three straight tournaments. But the thirdranked Federer feels comfortable with it.

“I feel like it’s better for me to play matches rather than practice,” Federer said. “As long as I don’t feel like I’m taking a chance on my health prior to London, that’s the key, as well.”

Federer showed fighting qualities last week in Basel, where he was twice taken to three sets and went an early break down in three of his last four matches.

“I was a bit bumpy. But I was happy how I was fighting, how I was trying to figure it out in a different manner,” he said. “Last week was special to win the way I did it, in a different manner.”

Federer moved within 10 titles of Jimmy Connors all-time singles record. He is cautious about his chances of success in Paris, where his only tournament victory came in 2011.

The Australian Open champion is drawn in the same half as Djokovic; Cilic and big-serving Kevin Anderson, who upset Federer in the Wimbledon quarterfinals this year.

“I rarely play two or three tournaments in a row now. So starting on Wednesday and winning five matches in a row with this caliber [of players] is very difficult,” Federer said. “If I get close to the last four, that would also be great.”

In first-round play on Tuesday, there were wins for Mikhail Kukushkin, Gilles Simon, Daniil Medvedev, Marton Fucsovics, Raonic and Verdasco. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Thursday, November 1, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

GOLDEN ROUTINE D MEMBERS of Team USA (from left) Simone Biles, Kara Eaker, Morgan Hurd, Ragan Smith, Grace McCallum and Riley McCusker strike a championship pose. AP

OHA, Qatar—Relaxed, relieved and with the gold medal the United States women’s gymnastics team flew halfway across the globe for secured, Morgan Hurd needed a break. So the 17-year-old hopped on the back of Simone Biles and went for a brief ride, the two teammates laughing all the way.

While the scene lent itself to an easy metaphor, that’s not the reality.

Sure, having the best gymnast on the planet tends to help while putting together a dynasty. Except the United States’s dominance in the sport—one that shows

no signs of ending after the Americans won the world championship by a record 8.766 points on Tuesday— goes far deeper than its 21-year-old superstar.

It’s 15-year-old Kara Eaker gracefully drilling her balance-beam routine in her first major international meet. It’s 17-year-old Riley McCusker proving highperformance coordinator Tom Forster’s hunch correct by being rock steady on beam after a shaking performance in qualifying. It’s Grace McCallum celebrating her 16th birthday by coming through on floor and vault. It’s Hurd posting top-5 scores on vault and uneven bars on a day the US put up the top overall scores by at least a full point

WOMAN F1 DRIVER Colombian Formula

One driver Tatiana Calderon poses with her crew as she becomes the first Latin American woman Formula One driver at the Hermanos Rodriguez track in Mexico City on Tuesday. AP

FEDERER TURNS DOWN P SAUDI ARABIA INVITE

ROGER FEDERER: For me, it was a very quick decision. AP

ARIS—Roger Federer turned down an invitation to play in a planned exhibition match in Saudi Arabia in December, which his rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have committed to play in.

Saudi Arabia is under growing pressure from the international community following the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi after he entered Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2. He was a Washington Post columnist who had written critically of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince.

Tennis stars Djokovic and Nadal have expressed doubt as to whether they will play an exhibition match at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on December 22, but they have not withdrawn. Both players have said the invitations were made at least one year ago.

Asked in Paris on Tuesday if he was also previously invited, Federer said “they contacted me too, yeah.”

The Swiss star was then asked why he turned it down.

in each of the four events.

The faces Biles shared the podium with at the 2016 Olympics are gone. And yet the machine rolls on.

“It shows how strong the group of girls are and how strong Team USA is,” Biles said after collecting the 15th world championship medal of her career despite dealing with pain from a kidney stone. “I feel like anything you guys throw at us, we’ll try and work even harder to improve ourselves and our scores for the team.”

The US put up a total of 171.629 to win its fourth straight world title and secure a spot at the 2020 Olympics. Silver medalist Russia and bronze medalist China also locked up Olympic berths by reaching the podium during a taut but occasionally sloppy final that showcased increased parity in the sport, at least for the teams that don’t have the stars-and-stripes on their leotards.

The gap between Russia and eighthplace Germany was all of 3.43 points, less than half of the margin between first and second. The Russians didn’t lock up silver until the final routine on the final rotation. By then, gold was already well in hand for the Americans, just as it has been since their winning streak began seven years ago.

Not bad for a group that Biles said had a terrible warmup session before making its way into the half-filled Aspire Dome.

Then the lights came on and the US did what it has done in all four hemispheres of the planet—from Tokyo to London to China to Brazil—for the better part of a decade: It made the impossibly difficult look remarkably easy.

Well, almost.

The Americans weren’t perfect, even Biles. She looked downright angry after a beam routine in which she briefly lost her balance while trying to land a front pike,

“I didn’t want to play there at that time,” the 20-time Grand Slam champion said. “So, for me, it was a very quick decision.”

Amnesty International has urged Nadal and Djokovic not to play.

“Of course I’m aware of the situation. But I had a commitment since one year ago to play there.

And my team is talking to them, to analyze the things. That’s it,” Nadal said when asked his position on Sunday. “It’s terrible that one journalist lost [his] life. I know something happened very bad inside there. So we are looking about how evolves the situation, and I hope the things will clarify as soon as possible.”

Djokovic also made it clear that the decision to play was made a long time ago.

“We have the commitment with them for over a year, actually last year when we were discussing this potential matchup,” he said. “It was my professional tennis decision to do that. Of course I know, I’m aware

forcing her to reach down and hold on. She later stepped out of bounds during her first tumbling pass on floor exercise, a by-product of her explosive power.

Yet they’re mistakes Biles and the rest of the US can absorb without fear of getting caught. It’s simple math.

The Americans put together the toughest routines and then do them cleaner than everyone else.

It’s why Forster can afford to put McCusker on beam over Hurd in the final even though Hurd scored higher during qualifying. Even if McCusker had imploded, the team still would have been fine. Only she didn’t. Her score of 13.7 on Tuesday was markedly better, and the boost to her confidence immeasurable.

“It meant a lot to me because I knew my first-day performance was not my best,” McCusker said. “I was definitely very nervous going in. I feel like I got all those nerves out on the competition stage. I was ready to come in today and kill it.”

So she did. And that’s kind of what Forster was going for. Tasked with helping create a more positive culture within the organization, Forster wanted to send a message to the rest of the elite program by giving McCusker another opportunity.

“We don’t write you off if you have a mistake,” Forster said. “Mistakes happen, we’re just human.”

Forster, hired in June, joked he’s finally going to get a chance to sleep through the night. The same goes for the team, though the Americans will be plenty busy over the next few days. Three of the five women will be in at least one event final. Biles, nearly a year removed since she returned to training, will have the heaviest workload of all. She’ll be in the all-around final and all four event finals.

Medals in each—Biles finished first in qualifying in everything but bars, where she was second—would give her 20 in her career at world championships, tying the record for most ever. After that she might take a breath, though she has no plans to coast until the 2020 Tokyo Games. Neither do her teammates.

“Definitely not slack off,” she said. “But it’ll definitely put our minds at ease.”

While the rest of the world remains on notice. AP

of what’s happening, and it’s sad, of course.”

The top-ranked Serb also stopped short of confirming his presence.

“My team right now is in touch with the people in Saudi Arabia, as well as Rafa’s, and of course we are all talking to understand the situation better,” the 14-time Grand Slam champion said on Sunday.

“Because right now, we just don’t have obviously enough information, and we have to look into that a bit more and then we’ll make our decision soon.”

He added: “We have to get more information on what’s happening so we can make a rational decision whether it’s good to go or not.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the investigation needs to be completed swiftly and wants an extradition request for 18 suspects detained in Saudi Arabia to be put on trial in Istanbul. The country is also asking Saudi Arabia to help locate Khashoggi’s body, which still has not been found. AP

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Almighty and ever-living God

LMIGHTY and ever-living God, in You we live and move and have our being. Mindful that all we have is from You, we pray: Gracious God, hear us. Open the way for all the baptized to use their gifts for the building up of the Body of Christ. Unite nations in efforts to feed the hungry, care for the refugees and stop terrorism. Welcome into the light of Your face all who have gone before us in faith. May the peace and joy of Christ rule in our hearts, now and always. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY, SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life

REELING: THE VIOLENCE OF LONELINESS AND ‘MANTA RAY’ D4

BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 1, 2018

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❶

Venice hit by high tide as Italy buffeted by winds; 6 killed

By CollEEN Barry The Associated Press

❷ ❶

DELUXE Double Room

❷ CAFÉ

Tartanilla

❸ THE roof

deck infinity pool and jacuzzi

❸

An oasis in downtown Cebu

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By BENJamiN layUG

HE downtown area of Cebu, including Colon Street (the oldest street in the country), has a lot of cultural and historical significance.

However, as the uptown area of Cebu was being developed, it has been forgotten. However, efforts are being made to revive its “long lost glory.”

One of its prime movers is Cebuano trading and distribution firm Alain Asia Group of Cos., under Chairman Steven A. Yu, who decided to enter into the robust retail leasing and hospitality business by establishing the Akropolis Stars Realty Development Corp., thus joining the rising number of local investors cashing in on Cebu’s vibrant retail and hospitality industries.

The 16-story One Central Tower, a mixed-use development that also houses the three-star One Central Hotel & Suites and One Central Mall, is the company’s contribution to revitalize and modernize the landscape of the Colon downtown area.

The hotel is managed by the wholly Filipinoowned Bluewater Hospitality brand (under its president Julie Alegrado-Vergara) which offers a distinctive brand of Filipino service centered on providing the “best of Filipino culture.” Bluewater also manages the Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort on Mactan Island and Bluewater Sumilon Beach Resort in Oslob, both in Cebu; Bluewater Panglao Beach Resort on Bohol; Almont Inland Resort in Butuan City (Agusan del Sur); and Almont Beach Resort in Surigao City (Surigao del Norte).

The tower, located on a 1,200-square-meter (sq-m) property once occupied by the 70-year-old Luzon Lumber store (which was near the vicinity of the pre-World War II Cebu Central Train Station), was designed in the Art Deco style by Arch. James

OEE Central Tower CEO and Chairman Steven A. Yu

G. Jao, a pioneer of eco-architecture and sustainable development in the Philippines. Now Downtown Cebu’s premier business hotel destination, One Central Hotel had its soft opening on April 6 after a two-year construction period, but had its grand opening on October 4 which was attended by distinguished members of the business community and the print and online media.

The hotel has 157 elegantly furnished and fully air-conditioned nonsmoking rooms arranged over seven floors: 24 De Luxe Single, 24 De Luxe Double, 101 De Luxe Twin, six Junior Suites and two Executive Suites. All rooms have antibacterial inverter airconditioners; magnetic door locks; a large full-HD

cable TV, IDD phone, a minibar, work desk with vanity mirror and studio lights; a private ensuite bathroom (with rainshower head, hair dryer and free toiletries); tea/coffee-making facility; free bottled water and slippers; in-room safe; black-out drapes and fulllength mirror. The Junior Suites come with bathtubs and a living and dining area. For security, only the guest’s magnetic key cards can access the elevators.

There’s also free Wi-Fi in the room as well as in public areas. From the grand lobby, at the ninth floor, you will find the huge, elegant and cozy Cafe Tartanilla which offers an international and à la carte menu. From the viewing balcony next to the bar/restaurant, we had great views of the city. While dining at night, they opened the curtains so that we could enjoy the night view of the city. We capped off the evening with their longest Happy Hour (4 to 11 pm), with Buy One, Get One Free promos on local beer and certain cocktails.

Beside Café Tartanilla is the large, 186.41-sq-m Molave Grand Ballroom where the grand opening was held. The hotel also has five function rooms. On the 19th floor is the air-conditioned fitness gym, while at its roof deck is the infinity swimming pool and jacuzzi, which has a breathtaking, 360-degree view of beautiful Cebu City landscape. There’s also a poolside bar and sun loungers. The hotel also has a 24-hour Front Desk, on-site car park (self-parking), business center and two elevators.

The hotel is highly accessible by public transportation, being just a quick distance from the South Bus Terminal while the Cebu North Bus Terminal is 4 kilometers away. Numerous taxis and public-utility jeepneys ply the streets in front of the hotel. The hotel is also just a stone’s throw away from Abellana Sports Complex, a perfect location to be during the annual Sinulog Festival. n

MILAN—Venice was inundated by an exceptional high tide on Monday, putting three-quarters of the famed Italian lagoon city under water as large swathes of the rest of Italy experienced flooding and heavy winds that toppled trees and other objects, killing six people.

Tourists and residents alike donned high boots to navigate the streets of Venice after strong winds raised the water level 156 centimeters (over 5 feet) before receding. The water exceeded the raised walkways normally put out in flooded areas in Venice, forcing their removal. Transport officials closed the water bus system except to outlying islands because of the emergency.

Venice frequently floods when high winds push in water from the lagoon, but Monday’s levels were exceptional. The peak level was the highest reached since December 2008, according to Venice statistics.

Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said a series of underwater barriers that are being erected in the lagoon would have prevented the inundation. The project, nicknamed Moses, is long overdue, beset by cost overruns and corruption scandals.

Brugnaro said he had asked to talk with Premier Giuseppe Conte to underline the urgency of the project, which would raise barriers when the tide reaches 109 centimeters (43 inches). That happens, on average, four times a year in Venice.

Residents and businesses typically reinforce their doors with metal or wooden panels to prevent water from entering the bottom floors, but photos on social media showed shop owners using water pumps this time to try to protect their wares.

Much of Italy is under alert for flooding from heavy rains, a problem exacerbated by a lack of maintenance of the country’s many river beds. High winds toppled trees that killed passers-by in four incidents in Naples, Lazio and Liguria.

Officials closed major tourist attractions in Rome, including the Colosseum and Roman Forum, early because of heavy rains.

Veneto regional governor Luca Zaia says flooding this week could reach the levels of the 1966 flood that struck both Venice and Florence. The Interior Ministry urged officials in storm-struck regions, about half of the country, to consider closing schools and offices for a second day Tuesday.

Cruise into hassle-free holiday vacation HOLIDAYS are the most exciting time of the year as families get together and make wonderful memories. While some choose to stay at home and organize parties, there are those who plan out-of-town trips and travel to new places to celebrate the joyous season. As Christmas and New Year celebrations draw near, there is a different experience that awaits individuals and families in the open sea.

There’s no better way to delight in the holiday spirit without the hassles of planning and preparing than going on a luxurious cruise.

Taking a cruise offers the best travel experience where one embarks on a fancy trip to new destinations aboard a luxury ship. It is also the perfect alternative to enjoying the holidays with family as you can simply indulge in good times and experience a vacation to remember.

This year, start a new tradition and bring the family on a hassle-free holiday cruise across Asia’s top destinations. Star Cruises’s SuperStar Virgo (www.starcruises.com) brings its

extravagant concept cruises to let you make the most out of your family vacation. In December holidaymakers can choose from a spectacular lineup of theme cruises and enjoy five-night journeys to the beaches in Southern China and explore idyllic destinations in Vietnam.

If you want to watch the moonlight over the sea with accompanying classical music, you can book the much-anticipated concert cruise and be serenaded by the talented vocal harmony group, The Company. The quintet will perform their signature love songs and Christmas carols for SuperStar Virgo guests to welcome the Yuletide celebration starting December 4. The world-famous Manila Philharmonic Orchestra will also board the ship on December 9 to showcase their masterpieces and bring unforgettable performances.

Celebrity chef Sandy Daza will also take part in the festivities on SuperStar Virgo during the merry season. He will lead the festive cooking cruise sailing on December 14 through Vietnam

with cooking demonstrations on how to make his well-loved dishes in time for Christmas feasts and merriments. Chef Sandy will also share tips on how to create holiday memories

with children over the love of food and cooking.

A Filipino Christmas tradition is not the same without reflecting on the birth of Jesus Christ. SuperStar Virgo partners with Executive

Resources Inc. to board preacher Bo Sanchez, who will render inspirational talks on the cruise while en route to Vietnam starting on December 19. Special daily Masses will also be held throughout the trip to mirror the traditional Simbang Gabi, capped by the Christmas Eve Mass. Treat your family with the best gift of a magical and memorable Christmas and New Year celebration with SuperStar Virgo. The ship will be ready and decked out in the most festive decorations and will also offer the best onboard activities and gourmet delights fit for the holiday party at sea.

On tap are the special sales promotions of Seniors Cruise Free and Kids Cruise Free offers until November 15. The concept cruises are set to sail starting December 4, and will make its way to Vietnam and China. Vacationers can also toast to the New Year at the tropical islands of Coron, Puerto Princesa, or Kota Kinabalu with a grand finale cruise departing on January 3, 2019.

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Thursday, November 1, 2018

Entertaining BusinessMirror

A brightly colored veggie coleslaw that can stand up to ribs CONFETTI Coleslaw

By Elizabeth Karmel The Associated Press

CONFETTI COLESLAW Servings: 10-12 Start to finish: 4 hours (20 minutes active) 4 ounces diced pancetta or bacon 1 red cabbage (about 3 pounds) cored and shredded into 1/8-inch wide strips 4 medium-large carrots, peeled and shredded 1 small yellow bell pepper, diced 1 small red bell pepper, diced 1 small-to-medium Vidalia onion, diced 2/3 cup golden raisins

ABRA Organic Chicken

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Toni Collette, 46; Jenny McCarthy, 46; Anthony Kiedis, 56; Lyle Lovett, 61.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t look for trouble. Spend time getting things done, not complaining about what others are doing. A passionate approach to whoever you help or whatever you pursue will be what impresses others the most.

Address your feelings before you make a personal change. HHHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Instead of making a fuss, make a change. If you don’t like something, it’s up to you to act. Anger solves little, but making a decision and putting an end to what isn’t working will make a difference. HH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Make some adjustments at home that will add to your convenience. Do something that will change the way others view you. Update your qualifications, image or attitude to reflect greater professionalism, as well as compassion and cooperation. HHHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Stick close to home, and don’t take a risk that could lead to the loss of a friend, money or a deal that could leave you in jeopardy. Playing it safe will ease stress and ensure better days ahead. HHH

1/2 cup good quality mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 2 generous teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon paprika 1/3 cup minced fresh cilantro 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper Cook pancetta in a heavy skillet until crisp. Drain and reserve cooked bacon. Reserve a few tablespoons of the pancetta drippings.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cabbage, carrots, peppers, onions and raisins; toss well.

In a small bowl, mix reserved pancetta drippings together with mayonnaise and sour cream until

Eastwood Café+Bar’s Chef’s Specials PRESENTING not only great value but also satisfying, innovative and delicious food, the Chef’s Specials of Eastwood Richmonde Hotel’s Eastwood Café+Bar are back. The theme is “Mundial Cuisine” which, according to Executive Chef Vic Barangan, combines local and international cooking styles and ingredients to create original gourmet masterpieces.

The Chef’s Specials is a collection of delectable entrées that are served with free bread, salad, soup and dessert for a complete and filling meal you can enjoy any time of the day. For now until November, the main dishes consist of US short ribs braised in Mr. Apo coffee (P995), Abra organic chicken a la kiev with salted egg butter (P995), parrotfish fillet with tamarind, cilantro, jicama and Zambales mangoes (P895), and Australian lamb shank cooked adobar-style with garlic and hollandaise (P985 net). Completing the mouth-watering meal are the complimentary tasty preludes of artisan bread with flavored butter and tomato jam; compressed watermelon salad with basil, olives, goat’s cheese, rocket leaves and radish; and Tortellini Royale soup made of consommé with adlai, tortellini of chicken,

z

Today’s Horoscope

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Stay centered. A steady pace and a nonchalant attitude will help you channel your energy in a constructive manner that will help you build an environment that suits you. Let go of the past, and don’t labor over what others do. The ability to walk away from controversy will be what leads to your success and happiness. Choose wisely and win. Your lucky numbers are 8, 19, 24, 26, 34, 37, 44.

W

HEN hosting a backyard barbecue, it is easy to decide to make ribs because everyone loves them. They are one of those universal foods. If you eat meat, chances are you love pork ribs.

But it is a little harder to decide on the sides.

Coleslaw and potato salad are the two most common barbecue sides with coleslaw being more prevalent.

But how many of us leave that coleslaw untouched?

I know I have. Even though I am firmly entrenched in the coleslaw camp, so many versions are lackluster. I love a classic coleslaw with fried chicken or a vinegar-dressed slaw with my pulled pork, but ribs beg for something a little more complex, colorful and assertive.

Last week, I smoked ribs for some of my very good “food” friends and I wanted to make a side dish that they hadn’t had this summer. I asked my sister, Mary Pat, what she thought would go well with my menu of saucy barbecue ribs, cheddar-jalapeño cornbread, and my apple-cider dressed cucumber salad. She reminded me of this brightly colored veggie coleslaw. I used to make it all the time, but somehow it fell out of rotation. I am so glad to be reacquainted with this old friend.

I originally created this Confetti Coleslaw to go with a meaty chili, but it is the perfect side dish for ribs. It is vibrant and pleasing to the eye, it is chockfull of veggies, and the dressing is spiced with cumin, paprika and cilantro which are perfect companions to rib spice-rub that almost always includes cumin and paprika.

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smooth. Whisk in mustard, cumin, paprika and cilantro. Season dressing with salt and pepper. Add more to taste.

Pour dressing over slaw mixture, tossing well to coat evenly. Reserve the cooked pancetta to mix in just before serving. Transfer to a serving bowl. Refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight to let the flavors marry. Before serving, remix coleslaw and sprinkle with the pancetta. Serve chilled or slightly above room temperature.

Chef’s Note: If your slaw seems dry, you may need more dressing. This will happen as the size of vegetables vary. You can double the dressing ingredients to make more, but let the slaw sit before adding more dressing because you don’t want to over-dress it. n

New lunch deals and old favorites

and mushroom dexelles. The “Dessert Mélange,” which also comes free with each entrée order, offers an assortment of treats that include pistachio bark, spiced walnuts, cured egg yolk, basil oil, coral sponge cake, cream cheese and vanilla ice cream.

Eastwood Café+Bar is at the ground floor of Eastwood Richmonde Hotel (eastwoodrichmondehotel. com.ph) in Eastwood City, Bagumbayan, Quezon City.

POPULAR dining hub TGIFridays is cooking up a storm with new, value-for-your-money offerings that are sure to redefine the lunch experience, including Crispy Salted Egg Chicken (P295), Ponzu Glazed Bone-in Pork Loin (P325), Tempura Crusted Fish (P325), Country Chicken Cutlet and Grilled Blackened Porkchop.

Also new and available all day are Tostada Nachos, Blackened Chicken Alfredo, Scallops and Crab Stick Flatbread and Chicken BBQ and Jalapeño. End the meal with the Espresso Jelly Panna Cotta and complement it with two new hand-pressed juices: Mango Delight Chee and Mango Tango.

Meanwhile, Italianni’s is bringing back classic, oldtime favorites, such as Chicken Picatta, Frutti Di Mare, Eggplant Parmigiana, Tomato and Truffle Gorgozonla Mushroom Bruschetta, Shrimp Pomelo Salad, Seafood Stew and Truffle Mushroom Risotto.

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): An emotional incident will bring about change. Try not to overreact or you may not be thrilled with the outcome. Look for a better way to solve an issue that is likely to pass as tempers wane. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Look at all the aspects of a situation before you react.

The changes you make should be thought out and executed with precision and detail. Acting in haste or due to emotional duress will lead to a bigger problem. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): How you help others will make a difference. If you let someone bully you into doing something, it won’t turn out well. However, if you offer what you know you can accomplish without jeopardizing your name or position, you’ll succeed. HHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Take pride in what you do, or someone will point out your shortfall. A little extra attention to detail will spark a creative idea that will give you a competitive edge. HH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Live within your means. Keep your personal matters to yourself, and don’t brag about what you have. If you are too friendly or open, someone will take advantage of you. HHHHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Offering a donation in order to impress someone will be costly. Only give what you can to organizations you care about. Don’t let what others think rule your life.

Be who you are, not who someone else wants you to be. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Treat relationships with care. Don’t expect too much or give too much. Strive for equality and understanding first and see what happens. Use your intelligence and you’ll come up with innovative ways to move forward personally and professionally.

HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Put in the time and reap the rewards. Don’t wait for someone else to surpass you. Trust and believe in what you can do, and you will achieve what you set out to do. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are aggressive, outgoing and innovative.

You are enthusiastic and playful.

‘couples with?’ BY TIMOTHY E. PARKER The Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker

ACROSS 1 Wonderland VIP 6 Abound 10 Spain’s El ___ 13 Mr., in Tijuana 14 “Come ___ the light” 15 River of Ireland 16 Mr., Mr. and Mrs.?

19 Common English assignment 20 Emulates Rory McIlroy 21 Hockey legend Bobby 23 Knitting term 26 Quavering effect in music 27 Adjust one’s shoelace 30 TV’s Zahn 32 On the ___ (sneakily) 33 Scarab 35 Tow truck’s target 37 Whose Lucy’s building was 41 Date night option 42 Embark, as on a journey 44 Org. with many specialists 47 Kidney-related 49 Seals the fate of

0 Marshmallowy drink 5 52 Skin-cream additive 54 Offering of appeasement 55 All gunked up 57 Faux pas 60 Whose Shakespeare tale was tragic?

65 Product box listings 66 Poet Angelou 67 Christie and Karenina 68 Hallow part?

69 Flower supporter 70 Pie part DOWN 1 Silvery-gray shade 2 Romanian coin 3 Newspaper employee 4 Some picnic leftovers 5 Timeline divisions 6 Get ready for company 7 Nine penny’s four 8 Traveling guesstimate 9 ___ Blanc 10 Dire situation 11 How some pay balances

2 Profoundly 1 15 Large pitcher 17 20 winks 18 Set apart 21 Sun or globe, e.g.

22 Coral ___ 24 Injustice inducer 25 Fly on a hook 28 Part of a checklist 29 Bygone Cadillac 31 Restricts? No, U-turn 34 Thing on the house 36 2018 diet type 38 Jazz legend Simone 39 Unresolved thing 40 Super large wrestler 43 Fl. oz.’s 6 44 Earn, as interest 45 Oozing gloom 46 Astuteness 48 Backup 51 Poems of tribute 53 Mer fill 56 Thanksgiving sides

8 Diamond problem 5 59 Like a tough-to-see line 61 “King” Cole 62 Color changer 63 Kids game cry 64 NNW turnabout

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Parentlife BusinessMirror

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Thursday, November 1, 2018

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ONE of Kristin Stecher’s daughters, who she said have no screen time “budget,” plays in their backyard in Menlo Park, California. PETER

PRATO/THE NEW YORK TIMES

A dark consensus about screens and kids begins to emerge in Silicon Valley

S Disney’s 60 tees for SM’s 60 years RELIVE your childhood memories and believe in the power of dreams with SM and Disney’s 60 Mickeyinspired shirts from the “Share-A-Smile” campaign.

This 60-piece tee collection celebrates two iconic brands’ milestones this year—SM’s 60 years and Disney’s Mickey 90th anniversary.

“Mickey Mouse is an icon,” said Yara Macalindog, director of Disney Consumer Products, The Walt Disney Co. Philippines. “He has become an international personality upon which Walt Disney built his creative organization. Besides being the personification of everything Disney, Mickey is one of the most enduring personalities of our culture and times. Both SM and Disney have given and continue to give their customers happy memories that last a lifetime, across all generations.”

“Both brands offer a legacy, a tradition, a way of life a world that customers identify with and find attachment, too. Through this partnership, SM will continue to create these experiences and bring the Disney magic closer to Filipinos,” she added.

Now available at SM Youth and SM Accessories Kids Character Shop Departments, the tee collection comes in the Mickey Mouse trademark colors of black, red, white, muted yellow and maroon. The collection also includes various Mickey retro designs that tell the story of Mickey through the years and reveal Mickey as a timeless fashion icon.

These casual pieces with your favorite jeans, trousers, shorts or skirts instantly elevate your style, pulling off that fun and youthful glow.

By Nellie Bowles New York Times News Service

AN FRANCISCO—The people who are closest to a thing are often the most wary of it.

Technologists know how phones really work, and many have decided they don’t want their own children anywhere near them.

A wariness that has been slowly brewing is turning into a regionwide consensus: The benefits of screens as a learning tool are overblown, and the risks for addiction and stunting development seem high.

The debate in Silicon Valley now is about how much exposure to phones is OK. “Doing no screen time is almost easier than doing a little,” said Kristin Stecher, a former social computing researcher married to a Facebook engineer. “If my kids do get it at all, they just want it more.”

Stecher, 37, and her husband, Rushabh Doshi, researched screen time and came to a simple conclusion: they wanted almost none of it in their house. Their daughters, ages five and three, have no screen time “budget,” no regular hours they are allowed to be on screens. The only time a screen can be used is during the travel portion of a long car ride (the four-hour drive to Tahoe counts) or during a plane trip. Recently she has softened this approach. Every Friday evening the family watches one movie.

There is a looming issue Stecher sees in the future: Her husband, who is 39, loves video games and thinks they can be educational and entertaining. She does not. “We’ll cross that when we come to it,” said Stecher, who is due soon with a boy.

Some of the people who built video programs are now horrified by how many places a child can now watch a video. Asked about limiting screen time for children, Hunter Walk, a venture capitalist who for years directed product for YouTube at Google, sent a photo of a potty training toilet with an iPad attached and wrote: “Hashtag ‘products we didn’t buy.’”

Athena Chavarria, who worked as an executive assistant at Facebook and is now at Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropic arm, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, said: “I am convinced the devil lives in our phones and is wreaking havoc on our children.”

Chavarria did not let her children have cell phones until high school, and even now bans phone use in the

car and severely limits it at home.

She said she lives by the mantra that the last child in the class to get a phone wins. Her daughter did not get a phone until she started ninth grade. “Other parents are like, ‘Aren’t you worried you don’t know where your kids are when you can’t find them?’”

Chavarria said. “And I’m like, ‘No, I do not need to know where my kids are every second of the day.’”

For longtime tech leaders, watching how the tools they built affect their children has felt like a reckoning on their life and work.

Among those is Chris Anderson, the former editor of Wired and now the chief executive of a robotics and drone company. He is also the founder of GeekDad.com.

“On the scale between candy and crack cocaine, it’s closer to crack cocaine,” Anderson said of screens.

Technologists building these products and writers observing the tech revolution were naive, he said.

“We thought we could control it,” Anderson said.

“And this is beyond our power to control. This is going straight to the pleasure centers of the developing brain. This is beyond our capacity as regular parents to understand.”

He has five children and 12 tech rules. They include: no phones until the summer before high school, no screens in bedrooms, network-level content blocking, no social media until age 13, no iPads at all and screen time schedules enforced by Google Wifi that he controls from his phone. Bad behavior? The child goes offline for 24 hours.

“I didn’t know what we were doing to their brains until I started to observe the symptoms and the consequences,” Anderson said.

“This is scar tissue talking. We’ve made every mistake in the book, and I think we got it wrong with some of my kids,” Anderson said. “We glimpsed into the chasm of addiction, and there were some lost years, which we feel bad about.”

His children attended private elementary school, where he saw the administration introduce iPads and smart whiteboards, only to “descend into chaos and then pull back from it all.”

This idea that Silicon Valley parents are wary about tech is not new. The godfathers of tech expressed these concerns years ago, and concern has been loudest from the top.

MAPUA HIGH SCHOOL BATCH ’68: THIS YEAR’S GOLDEN JUBILARIANS BATCH 1968 graduates of the High School of the Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT) (now the Mapua University) are the Golden Jubilarians during the 42nd Annual Grand Alumni Homecoming of the MIT High School Alumni Association Inc. (MITHSAAI) on November 10, 6 pm, at the Centennial Hall, The Manila Hotel.

Batch ‘68 President Agustin Ocampo announced that aside from the gala dinner on November 10, the activities lined up to celebrate this milestone are: Outing at Villa Escudero on November 5, Charity Project on November 6, Golf and Bowling Tournaments at Tagaytay Highlands on November 7, and Batch ‘68 Reunion at Club Filipino (3 pm onward) on November 8.

Almost 80 golden jubilarians from Batch 1968, based here and abroad, have registered for the events, and there is an expected attendance of almost 400 alumni at the November 10 Grand Alumni Homecoming, a historic first for

the alumni association’s annual event which will be held at the iconic Manila Hotel.

This year’s homecoming theme is “Mapua High School Alumni: Reunited.” Cocelebrators are the Ruby 1978 (40 years) and Silver 1993 (25 years) Jubilarians.

Grand Alumni Homecoming Chairman Roy Tuazon and MITHSAAI President Jhun Paculan also said that one of the event’s highlights is the induction into alumni association membership of the new batch of senior high-school graduates of the Mapua University.

To mark this new milestone, they said that the association will be unveiling its new affiliate color. The event’s guest of honor and speaker is Dr. Reynaldo Vea, Mapua University president.

The Batch 1968 Golden Jubilee Executive Organizing Committee composed of Gus Ocampo, Noel Go, Ed Trinidad and Lino Santiago, as well as local and overseas

batchmates all contributing their time, effort and resources to make the golden jubilee event a grand and memorable one.

For inquiries, e-mail miths68golden@gmail.com.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said this year that he would not let his nephew join social networks. Bill Gates banned cell phones until his children were teenagers, and Melinda Gates wrote that she wished they had waited even longer. Steve Jobs would not let his young children near iPads.

But in the past year, a fleet of high-profile Silicon Valley defectors have been sounding alarms in increasingly dire terms about what these gadgets do to the human brain. Suddenly rank-and-file Silicon Valley workers are obsessed. No-tech homes are cropping up across the region. Nannies are being asked to sign no-phone contracts.

Those who have exposed their children to screens try to talk them out of addiction by explaining how the tech works.

John Lilly, a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist with Greylock Partners and the former CEO of Mozilla, said he tries to help his 13-year-old son understand that he is being manipulated by those who built the technology.

“I try to tell him somebody wrote code to make you feel this way—I’m trying to help him understand how things are made, the values that are going into things and what people are doing to create that feeling,” Lilly said. “And he’s like, ‘I just want to spend my 20 bucks to get my Fortnite skins.’”

And there are those in tech who disagree that screens are dangerous. Jason Toff, 32, who ran the video platform Vine and now works for Google, lets his three-year-old play on an iPad, which he believes is no better or worse than a book. This opinion is unpopular enough with his fellow tech workers that he feels there is now “a stigma.”

“One reaction I got just yesterday was, ‘Doesn’t it worry you that all the major tech execs are limiting screen time?’” Toff said. “And I was like, ‘Maybe it should, but I guess I’ve always been skeptical of norms.’ People are just scared of the unknown.”

“It’s contrarian,” Toff said. “But I feel like I’m speaking for a lot of parents that are afraid of speaking out loud for fear of judgment.”

He said he thinks back to his own childhood growing up watching a lot of TV. “I think I turned out OK,” Toff said.

Other Silicon Valley parents say there are ways to make some limited screen time slightly less toxic.

Renee DiResta, a security researcher on the board of the Center for Humane Tech, won’t allow passive screen time, but will allow short amounts of time on challenging games. She wants her two- and four-year-old children to learn how to code young, so she embraces their awareness of gadgets. But she distinguishes between these types of screen use.

Playing a building game is allowed, but watching a YouTube video is not, unless it is as a family.

And Frank Barbieri, a San Francisco-based executive at the start-up PebblePost that tracks online activity to send direct mail advertising, tries to limit his five-year-old daughter’s screen time to Italian language content.

“We have friends who are screen abolitionists, and we have friends who are screen liberalists,” Barbieri said. He had read studies on how learning a second language at a young age is good for the developing mind, so his daughter watches Italian-language movies and TV shows.

“For us, honestly, me and my wife were like, ‘Where would we like to visit?’” Barbieri said. n

Show BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 1, 2018

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BLIND SPOT BRUCE C.

BEST REVENGE

The violence of loneliness and ‘Manta Ray’ REELING

TITO GENOVA VALIENTE

titovaliente@yahoo.com

I

F this sounds like an article for Halloween, be consoled: it’s not. Besides, there is really nothing horrifying in manta rays. We marvel at the sight of these creatures, although the film that carries that title has nothing to do with marine life and its abundance.

What Manta Ray has an abundance of is an air of mystery rarely seen unintellectualized in any film.

Silence pervades this Thai film in a manner that doesn’t call to the poetry of those pauses and gaps.

The story’s simple: A fisherman rescues a man from the swamp near the sea and brings him to his shack. The fisherman is naturally selfless as he nurtures back the wounded man to health. The man doesn’t have a name, which prompts the fisherman to give him the name of a popular Thai singer, Thongchai. It’s the conceit and strategy of this film that Thongchai would turn out to be mute, a condition that would not allow us to get to know more about him. As the story unfolds and untangles, however, we get this sense that we will have more chances to get to know more about Thongchai than the fisherman. The filmic condition sets this stage at that point when the mute guy has a name while the fisherman will not have one.

An exciting ploy happens also when, as the fisherman begins to ask Thongchai even after the discovery that the man indeed is mute, we start to listen to the fisherman talking more about himself.

It seems the presence of a man who can’t talk and understand many things encourages the fisherman to tell the little world around them about himself.

A strange bond forms between the two men.

The fisherman had a wife before who left him for another man. He tells Thongchai how the other man, a military, came to fetch his wife while he hid in his room. Thongchai looks intently at the fisherman. Without the capacity to talk, he has no ability to tell the fisherman anything, much less to judge him. The mute man assures us as he assures the

fisherman in stillness.

Everyday, Thongchai waits for the fisherman to come home from the sea. They are almost like lovers.

It’s not only the fisherman that shows the power of tenderness to the other man; Thongchai also returns that caring. Do we call that love? The film is darkly timid about any of that possibility. Even when the two are seen sleeping beside each other, we can only guess where this brotherhood, this togetherness and warmth will lead to.

One day, the fisherman disappears and Thongchai in his quiet way is seen distraught as he waits each day, hoping that his friend will be back once more.

The fisherman doesn’t come home. Another person does come home: it is Saijai, the wife of the fisherman.

Saijai has no place to go.

The former wife of the fisherman and Thongchai live together in that home. Set in the southern part of Thailand, close to the boundaries that the country maintains with other territories, Manta Ray is a political film that adeptly hides its politics with the bounty of its poetry.

Unspoken greatly is the crisis of the Rohingya Muslims, save for their mention at the dedicatory space at the beginning of the film.

What becomes critical in the narrative is the loss—not even the search—of identities. From the perspective of the stranger, a foreigner (a Thai fisherman) gives him a name. That name comes with the song of the real Thongchai “Bird” McIntyre. The fisherman sings this as the naming takes place, this song about “the beach, the sea, the wind and the two of us.”

Indeed, there’s “the two of us” located in the film.

The fisherman brings home multicolored lights and wraps the line around the ceiling of the small hut.

He plugs it and a reflection of shimmering rainbows fills the abode, lighting up the dreariness framing them. Then the fisherman and Thongchai start to dance close to each other without touching, their eyes closed. We wait for that embrace, for lust and physicality to take over the loneliness of these two men but they never come. We get no relief and no romance in this sad space.

Those lights will come back again, to haunt perhaps and to hunt men without names. In the forest near the swamp, the fisherman brings Thongchai to show the latter what he searches for in the shadow.

Gems of different colors and worth are in that marshy and tepid area. Legendary, in fact, are the gems of Burma, what is now Myanmar. Legendary is the corruption that comes with the search for those

stones. The film doesn’t talk about these political facts. What the film does is to make us feel about how territories can be contested and how swamps can be deathly glorious amid the resources and treasures they hide.

In the swamp, a man with gun is ready to shoot and kill. In that swamp run the refugees who have nowhere to go. The gems they violate are the reasons they are killed.

Back in their home, the two men shine on each other the same lights that the gems in the swamp radiate. Isolation and namelessness happen at home and out there where people are killed and gems are discovered.

As Saijai, Rasmee Wayrana has a brief appearance as the wife who runs away. But from the moment her face is shown up-close, with one eye smaller than the other, we know we have a presence. She is like an interlocutor to the answers proposed quietly by the two men in her life.

I always say this: Woe to us that we are never familiar with the Asian actors around us. This film, Manta Ray, vets that lament once more. As Thongchai, Aphisit Hama has a very arresting muteness: it is never forced or dramatized. Being a man with strong features, this inability to create speech makes his person compelling in poignancy.

For those who have watched the film (I tried to watch this in Busan but I was luckier in the recently concluded QC International Film Festival), they will vouch for the character and grit of this actor named Wanlop Rungkamjad. His hair is dyed blonde. We ignore that until the wife comes back and, after showing her love for Thongchai, dyes the hair of the mute man—her other man—blond. We cannot ignore still this fisherman who is lonely as he sits by the beach and whistles to call the manta rays. He throws the gems he collects into the waves because he believes the manta rays are attracted to their color. We believe his stories as we believe how the days can turn his sadness into sensualities, and the elegy of this film into a violent protest.

Manta Ray is the first feature film from Phuttiphong Aroonpheng but it already won for him the Orizzonti (Horizon) Prize from the 2018 Venice Film Festival. It is the same award won by Lav Diaz for Melancholia in 2008 and Pepe Diokno for Engkwentro in 2009.

The film is a Thailand-France-China coproduction venture. This is another lesson learned in Busan: Asian countries are actively engaging in coproduction ventures with European film productions. n

THIS young star is a Blind Spot favorite. We went from bashing her for her snootiness and admiring her, albeit grudgingly, for the way she handled her breakup with her longtime boyfriend. The ex gave the young star a pair of tickets to a foreign country for her birthday. Well, guess what? The young star used the said tickets to bring her new boyfriend to that destination. We can’t blame her. She has moved on after being extremely hurt by what happened.

This is probably her way of getting back at her ex in her own way.

DOES MOM KNOW BEST?

YOU could say this mom has just about given up when it comes to her daughter’s affairs. The mom has always been very vocal about the people her daughter’s involved with but now, she’s realized that her daughter is an adult who’s capable of making her own decisions. She’s still concerned about her daughter but she is taking a few steps back this time.

JUST FRIENDS

THE male starlet has been bashed repeatedly because of his friendship with a very popular star. Yes, the starlet has feelings for the popular star and she, in turn, likes him but only as a friend. The popular star’s preference really is mestizos, guys who are fairskinned. The starlet, however, is good-looking but dusky. So to the fans of the popular star: Don’t worry; the male starlet is just a friend.

SHE’S BEING WOOED

AS for the friendship between the popular star mentioned in the previous blind item and the popular actor, the truth is that the latter is just an ardent suitor right now. The star likes him but she’s taking her time before she makes a decision. Meanwhile, the actor is spending his waiting time wisely by wooing the girl’s family members and friends. The girl, for her part, is thankful that she has found such a nice guy. All this time, she’s been wondering why her former onscreen partner never liked her, even as a friend. At least, she now knows that she isn’t unloveable as she believed she was. The new guy in her life has really gone out of her way to make her feel loved and special.

Alden, Kyline give back to worthy causes AWARD-WINNING GMA actor, TV host and singer Alden Richards never fails to pay it forward to the community.

Alden, together with GMA Records General Manager Rene Salta, personally turned over a portion of his Adrenaline Rush concert proceeds to GMA Kapuso Foundation through GMA Kapuso Foundation (GMAKF) Founder and Ambassador Mel C. Tiangco and GMAKF EVP and COO Rikki Escudero-Catibog.

The actor’s donation will help fund the rehabilitation of Camp Bagong Amai Pakpak Elementary School in Marawi City which is under GMAKF’s Rebuild Marawi Project.

Thankful for his blessings, Alden stays committed to help the less fortunate. “All of the

things I’m doing, nagkakaroon siya ng purpose kapag nakakatulong ako sa iba through the work that I do for the network, for myself, and for the audiences of GMA. Natutuwa ako ngayon dahil nakita ko ’yung mga plano ng schools na tutulungan natin sa Marawi, and I’m assured the funds we are donating are going to the ones in need.”

“Isa rin sa mga sinisigurado namin na hindi lang kami nagko-concert para mag-perform and to entertain people, but we also do this para makapag-raise ng funds to help charity, especially the GMA Kapuso Foundation,” he added.

Tiangco commended Alden’s kindheartedness. “Kaya patuloy din siyang binibless ng Panginoon kasi hindi niya nakakalimutang

mag-share at hindi niya nakakalimutan yung mga nangangailangan. Nakikita rin niyang the foundation is working very hard to help our countrymen in Marawi.”

Meanwhile, talented GMA actress Kyline Alcantara also shared a part of her Kyline Takes Flight concert proceeds to one of the beneficiaries of GMAKF. She chose to contribute to the rehabilitation of classrooms in different parts of Bicol, her home province. Kyline hails originally from Camarines Sur in Bicolandia.

Kyline also encouraged the youth to extend their help to those in need. “Sana maging inspirasyon po ito para sa mga kabataan na tumulong pa,” she said.

FROM left: GMAKF EVP and COO Rikki EscuderoCatibog, Alden Richards, GMAKF Founder and Ambassador Mel C. Tiangco, and GMA Records General Manager Rene Salta

Envoys&Expats

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Thursday, November 1, 2018 E1

BusinessMirror

Meaning and purpose of life, according to a missionary Italian priest relates his three decades of service to God, and to the Filipinos

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By Rei Salud

RYING to find one’s place in life is not always an easy thing; some people might meander about, quite uncertain about what they want to do, or where they want to go.

Others, however, are called to their purpose, and their place in life can mean staying where they have dug their roots deep, or journeying to the other side of the world to fulfill what they are truly meant to do.

For Rev. Fr. Paolo O. Pirlo, SHMI, of the Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate Seminary, the path his life took meant crossing more than 6,500 miles from his hometown of Genova, Italy, and into Philippine shores, where he has been—and still is— serving as a missionary for nearly 30 years.

With such an oceanic gap between Europe and Asia, being appointed to the other side of the world to preach God’s good news seems like the sort of thing that others might attribute to chance, or an occurrence that’s difficult to believe.

But for the Italian priest, staying in the Philippines was nothing short of “divine intervention” pointing him toward his destination. What was supposed to be a yearlong stay at the behest of his superior in Rome in 1989 eventually spanned three decades—and he

is more than happy to continue on.

“We believe that the will of God passes through our superiors. I was sent here, so this is where I must stay.

Anytime, I can receive a text or a call to be transferred to another country in the world. I won’t mind. But so far, I’m happy here, and I haven’t received any order to transfer. I like the Philippines: [its] friendly people, [and its] young people.”

‘Spaghetti’ English, commuting

ONE might imagine that 30 years is no small feat, and acclimatizing into local life has enabled Father Pirlo to pick up some Filipino mannerisms himself, which to his fellow Italians are something quite novel—and surprising.

“Well, first of all, in Italy, we talk with the hands. In the Philippines, people talk with the expression of the face. So [whenever] I go back to Italy, sometimes I retain these mannerisms; and my kababayan, they really get shocked,” he revealed.

Like any expatriate faced with

life in a new country, there are, of course, the attendant “cultural challenges,” as the prelate termed such. While one could easily conclude that differences in language and communication would be at the top of the list, the prelate—who jokingly described his English as “spaghetti-accent English”—actually cites transportation as being one of the first hurdles that he had faced when he arrived in the Philippines.

In relating his experience as a commuter, Father Pirlo encountered firsthand the everyday Filipino’s cramped and rickety tricycle ride, and the trip from Parañaque City to the University of Santo Tomas in España, Manila, via a jeepney—a vehicle that he has never even seen before, until that time.

It was during this commute that he first came across someone yelling “Sabit!” as male passengers would literally hang on to the backside of the jeep when the vehicle was filled with passengers, as women,

children, and the elderly were given priority. He himself had to cling on to dear life via the back rails on numerous occasions—quite a risk that not even a majority of daily commuters are willing to take.

Cultural challenges, 3 ‘Fs’

THE second cultural challenge he had to face was the food, and while he likes Filipino dishes and thinks of them as delicious, it was still quite different from what he was accustomed to in Italy, a place known for its gastronomic delights.

Inevitable, too, were the challenges Father Pirlo had to face regarding the language, as he had to learn to speak both English and Filipino apart from his native Italian.

It’s a skill that he admittedly took years of practice, especially when used not only for casual conversations, but for preaching and teaching, as well.

In traveling through Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao for his missions, he was able to pick up native

words from different dialects, such as Ilocano, Bisaya, Hiligaynon and Chavacano, to name a few.

But despite all these, he believes that “we Italians and Filipinos have many things in common, especially the three Fs: faith, family and friends. And these make it easy for us to adjust to one another.”

A runner-up to the three Fs is food, as both Italians and Filipinos evidently share a love for pasta, which, for the latter, has been a staple in every birthday party, office celebration or any other occasion where there is also the ubiquitous pancit (the precursor of the Italian spaghetti, brought by Marco Polo from his travels in the Orient).

Facebook, another F-word, also made its way into our conversation, and like anyone living in our technologically-charged society, Father Pirlo also uses social media or “apps” like Messenger and WhatsApp as a means of communication.

Continued on E3

Envoys& BusinessMirror

E2 Thursday, November 1, 2018

PROVINCIAL MONITOR

Davao meet boosts PHL, China ties FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. and Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi at the inauguration of China’s consulate in Davao City DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

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AVAO CITY—The governments of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China underscored the improving relations between the two countries during bilateral meetings of toplevel officials on Monday.

One of the highlights was the signing of three bilateral documents during the official visit here of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi. The three bilateral documents pertain to the grant of RMB 50 million ($7.1 million, or about P380 million) for the supply of law enforcement-related materials and equipment to the Philippines signed by Defense Undersecretary Ricardo B. Jalad and Ambassador of China to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua, the grant assistance of $1 million for the victims of Typhoon Vinta in 2017 inked by both officials and the exchange of letter for the feasibility study of the Davao River Bridge (Bucana) project formalized

by Philippine envoy to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana and Zhao.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. and Wang witnessed the signing of the documents.

Wang was in the city to meet with the Philippines’s economic and the ”Build, Build, Build” team led by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III. The Chinese official

also joined Locsin in an expanded bilateral meeting.

On Sunday Wang graced the opening of China’s consular office in the locale.

His separate bilateral meetings with Dominguez and Locsin focused on the status of the cooperation agreements and documents that will be executed during the visit of China’s President Xi Jinping next month.

The Department of Finance said the Philippines is expected to sign at least five agreements with China during Xi’s visit.

These cover loan and guarantee accords, economic and technical cooperation, support for the feasibility studies on local infrastructure projects and promotion of the cooperation on key Build, Build, Build projects in Mindanao.

State visit ‘on track’

DOMINGUEZ said the agreements slated to be signed during President Xi’s visit are all “on track.”

Following the signing of the documents,

Locsin, during his remarks, said the Philippines and China continuously have good and supportive relations.

He said Wang’s visit laid the groundwork for Xi’s state visit, which is seen to chart the direction of further cooperation.

During the meetings, Dominguez said both countries took stock of what they have accomplished so far.

“We are pleased with the results of our meeting, and we look forward to the continued development of our bilateral relations to the mutual benefit of our two great peoples,” the finance chief said.

Dominguez recalled that the high-level bilateral meetings in Beijing, China in August were successful after both governments expressed full commitment to the shared goals of implementing the important consensus reached between President Duterte and President Xi. Dominguez appreciated the Chinese government’s assistance in translating into concrete actions the Philippines-China cooperation in the areas of infrastructure, trade and investment, as well as people-topeople exchanges.

Wang also underscored the importance of economic cooperation in strengthening bilateral relations between both countries, which he said has continued to improve in the first two years of the Duterte administration.

Wang pointed out that Chinese investments in the Philippines went up by “more than 500 percent in the first six months of the year.” Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA

Marawi gets additional aid from Australia

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ARAWI CITY—Australia has increased its total support for the recovery and long-term peace and stability in southern Philippines, particularly in Marawi City, with the amount of P975 million (AUD 25 million).

“As the tragedy of the siege of Marawi unfolded last year, we wanted to do more.

Once the scale of the devastation became apparent, the Australian government quickly announced [its] humanitarian assistance for those displaced and support for the city’s recovery,” Ambassador of Australia to the Philippines Amanda Gorely said.

Gorely made the statement during her visit to the Lanao del Sur capital on October 26 to discuss ongoing recovery efforts with government and community leaders.

She met with Task Force Bangon Marawi Assistant Secretary Felix J. Castro Jr. and Chairman of the Marawi Reconstruction and Conflict Watch Sultan Nasser D. Sampaco.

According to its embassy, Australia has been a strong supporter of development, as well as peace and stability in the southern Philippines for more than 20 years.

Together with its longstanding efforts for education, Australia is supporting development projects in conflict-affected communities in Muslim Mindanao.

In addition to its ongoing development programs in education, Australia is funding the following: (1) school feeding for 50,000 children and food assistance for families displaced from Marawi; (2) education and child-protection activities to support children affected by the conflict; (3) psychosocial services and livelihoods assistance under the Marawi Recovery Project; and (4) technical assistance to Task Force Bangon Marawi for recovery and reconstruction efforts.

Through civil-society partners, Australia is also supporting religious and traditional leaders to build community resil-

AMBASSADOR Amanda Gorely (right) with beneficiaries from Marawi City.

ience to the influence of terrorist groups.

While in Marawi, the Gorely also visited the Sarimanok Evacuation Center in Barangay Poblacion. She met with some of the 134 families at the center benefiting from Australia’s livelihood support.

“As a good friend and neighbor, Australia is committed to [provide] humanitarian assistance when necessary,” the ambassador said. “Through our partnership with the Task Force Bangon Marawi and our work with civil-society organizations, we are supporting people affected by the Marawi crisis.”

Australia is providing P97.5 million (AUD 2.5 million) for over two years for protection activities, psychosocial support and provision of a range of livelihood opportunities for displaced families most affected by the crisis.

Said support will reach 4,000 families, or 20,000 beneficiaries in total, and is implemented by Community and Family Services International (CSFI), as well as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on behalf of the Australian government.

Livelihood projects

MEANWHILE, the Australian govern-

ment, through its embassy in Manila, has partnered with international humanitarian organizations to distribute livelihood projects for internally displaced persons (IDPs) here, more than a year since the siege took place.

Gorley led the turnover to the 86 recipients still living in two evacuation sites of the Sarimanok Evacuation in Barangay Poblacion on the same day.

Together with her were representatives of the CFSI and the FAO, who called the livelihood initiative the “Marawi Recovery Project.” They distributed motorcycles equipped with sidecars, sewing machines, refrigerators and coconut grinders.

Gorley said she was delighted with the opportunity to see the said project, and lauded the spirits of the IDPs for their resiliency.

CFSI E xec ut ive Director Steven Muncy said, “Even during the crisis in Marawi, the Australian government was thinking about the recovery of the people [there], wherein they came with this projects that basically address the IDPs’ voices, especially the need to expand livelihood to other families,” he said. With a report from Irma Boza/PNA

&Expats

envoys.expats.bm@gmail.com | Thursday, November 1, 2018 E3

Swiss nationals enjoy ‘positive’ living in Iloilo I

LOILO CITY—The ambassador of Switzerland to the Philippines gathered in the past week 500 of her countrymen residing in different parts of Iloilo during her two-day visit here.

After meeting with the local Swiss community, Ambassador Andrea Reichlin reported that her fellow citizens are on a “positive mood” living in Iloilo.

Most of the Swiss nationals have been staying here for more than 20 years already, as a number of them are married to Filipinos.

Others came back after living sometime in Switzerland to retire here.

“They like it here because, obviously, the

AMBASSADOR Andrea Reichlin CINDY FERRER

air is clean, the transportation is easy, [the] city offers a lot of possibilities in terms of services, and also recreation,” she said in an interview after her courtesy call at the provincial capitol.

Nature is the first attraction as “it is possible to go up the mountains, and there are also seas here,” she added.

“It is quite a fantastic place, nature- [and] infrastructure-wise. We are positive and surprised about the state of [public works]—from the airports to the roads,” the envoy said about her first-time visit to the city. “[Iloilo City] also looks vibrant, modern, and there are a lot of developments, so we are

New Israeli envoy meets Cebu biz leaders

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EBU CITY—Newly installed Ambassador of Israel to the Philippines Rafael Harpaz recently met with Cebuano business leaders and discussed ways to boost the economic cooperation between the two countries.

After his meeting with some members of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Harpaz told the local media that he was in Cebu “to further strengthen our economic relations with the Philippines.”

He said Cebu has also become a favorite tourist destination among Israelis, and that more tour operators in his country are promoting packaged holiday trips to the province.

“The Philippines is easy to sell in Israel.

This is why we encouraged Philippine Airlines to open direct flights to Tel Aviv from Manila, and vice versa,” the diplomat said.

The direct flights, Harpaz said, translate to economic growth for both countries through tourism, as these would bring more Filipino pilgrims to the Holy Land and, conversely, Israeli tourists to the “beautiful islands of

AMBASSADOR Rafael Harpaz (center) and his wife Shulamit (second from right) pose with Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry officials. LUEL GALARPE/PNA

the Philippines.”

More joint business ventures between Israel and the Philippines could also be forged with the opening of the direct Manila-Tel Aviv flights, he added.

The ambassador said the Israelis owe the Filipinos a great deal as the Philippines did not only open its doors for the more than a

thousand Jews during the Holocaust, but was also the only Asian country to “vote ‘Yes’ for the independence of Israel” during the United Nations General Assembly in 1947.

The new Israeli envoy also met and forged ties with some local government officials.

His wife Shulamit and honorary consul Emily Chioson accompanied him. Luel Galarpe/PNA

Japan firms up support for rice terraces conservation

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AGAWE, Ifugao—The Japanese government has affirmed its support for the preservation of the Ifugao Rice Terraces as one of the world’s globally important agriculture heritage sites.

Financial-aid provider Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and Japanese government-run K anazawa University gave the assurance during the visit of Ifugao State University (IFSU) officials to Japan.

“We are here to state our gratefulness for the partnership, reiterate our utmost desire to continue to strengthen our collaboration, [as well as] bring to the next level our memorandum of understanding in April 2018,” IFSU President Eva Marie Codamon-Dugyon said in a statement.

She stated, “We are truly grateful for our partnership with the Kanazawa University and Jica in the conservation and

IFSU President Dr. Eva Marie Codamon-Dugyon (center) and Vice President for Research, Extension and Development Dr. Nancy Ann Gonzales receive a token of appreciation from Kanazawa University President Dr. Yamazaki Koetsu following their meeting on October 22. Kanazawa University and Japan International Cooperation Agency have affirmed their support to save the Ifugao Rice Terraces. IFSU

protection efforts [for] the Ifugao Rice Terraces as the only ‘Globally Important

Agricultural Heritage Site’ recognized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture in 2007.”

In her meetings with Kanazawa University President Yamazaki Koetsu and Jica-Hokuriku Center Director Tomoki Nitta, Dugyon recognized the “invaluable contributions” of the two institutions for the welfare of the Ifugao people.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Japanese government jointly put up the Ifugao Satoyama Meister Training Program in the Philippines to train young people in the preservation of the Ifugao Rice Terraces.

The training program is a joint program of the University of the Philippines’s Open University, the provincial government of Ifugao, Jica, Kanazawa University and the IFSU. PNA

Meaning and purpose of life, according to a missionary Continued from E1

“I think it’s almost impossible to live in our society [without] social media. Especially in dealing with young people, definitely, you need to have accounts and be visible,” he opined.

Though Father Pirlo recognizes the importance of social media in interacting with the faithful and people in general, he maintained that he only posts occasionally a few pictures and short videos, each one intended to have a message that would inspire people.

Reflections of home

THROUGH his missionary work, the Italian missionary was privileged to have visited numerous places in the north, including Pagudpud, Tuguegarao, the Callao Caves, Baguio City, Sagada and Benguet—all of which serve as reminders of the beautiful landscapes of his home country.

“There are so many beautiful spots here. Sometimes, I laugh because several Filipinos have been to Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, [or] wherever; but they’ve never been to the Hundred Islands, Sagada, Baler or Caramoan [Islands, in Camarines Sur].”

He continued: “I see to it that, once in a while, I visit [various places] with the seminarians. That’s why we have two field trips

FR. Paolo Pirlo, SHMI

that last for a couple of days to be able to see the beautiful spots of the Philippines, and know its history, geography and culture. My favorite destination: Caramoan. I like it very much because it’s secluded from civilization, and then you can really be you, yourself, and the Pacific Ocean.”

Man on a mission

DESPITE the distance and the challenges he has faced thus far, the oblate remains very happy and fulfilled in his vocation as

a missionary priest.

When asked if he would be given a chance to be something else other than a priest, he proffered instead an Italian saying: “‘Questions such as if I were, if I could, if I would…

Put together, there were three fools.’”

“History,” he explained, “is not made with ‘ifs,’ but is made with concrete action.

But I used to say, if ever we were reincarnated—[and] I don’t believe in reincarnation—but just for the sake of discussion, in my next life, still, I wish to be a missionary priest again. Because I really see there is a great need on the side of the people to listen to the word of God, to listen to the beauty of having faith that will help in family life, in social life, and it will help in building a better world.”

He went on to say, “Think about the Philippines without faith, without God, without religion: It will really be a hell on Earth. So faith, in order to exist and to prosper, needs missionaries, needs priests, so that [they] will give us meaning and purpose in life, that we give ourselves to God for the good of the people. So I don’t have any regrets. I’m happy to be a priest [in] the service of God, and the service of the Filipino people.”

Father Pirlo welcomes everyone to the SHMI Seminary in Multinational Village, Parañaque City, which supports 30 college students and performs charitable activities, according to their missionary work.

pleased and positively impressed,” she added.

Reichlin and Iloilo Gov. Arthur D. Defensor discussed the priorities of the provincial government. She said the next step would probably be providing investment opportunities for the province.

“For the time being, [it’s] only a courtesy call, but we are certainly looking at possibilities or know if Swiss companies are already here present, what they are doing and if they want to expand their activities here in the province,” she said. Cindy Ferrer/PNA

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E4 Thursday, November 1, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

EMBASSIES, EVENTS, ETC.

BETTER ECONOMIC TIES

President Duterte and Ambassador of Israel to the Philippines Rafael Harpaz exchange pleasantries after the signing ceremony of the Petroleum Service Contract for East Palawan Area at the Malacañan Palace on October 17, with Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi (second from left), Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. (third from left) and officials from the State of Israel. ROLANDO MAILO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

WITH JAPANESE ADVISER

President Duterte skims through a document from Special Adviser for Foreign Affairs to the President of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan Katsuyuki Kawai (center), who paid a courtesy call on the President at the Malacañan Palace on October 17. SIMEON CELI JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

DIALOGUE WITH U.A.E. OFFICIAL President Duterte discusses matters with United Arab Emirates Chief of Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship Ali Mohammad Al Shamsi (second from left), who also called on the Chief Executive on the said date. ROLANDO MAILO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

PHL, UN ‘strong partnership’ marks 73 years

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HE Philippines and the United Nations jointly celebrated the 73rd UN Day on October 24 by highlighting the robust ties between the government and the world body in the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the contribution of “change makers” in achieving such.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Enrique A. Manalo and UN Philippines Resident Coordinator Ola Almgren led top government officials, UN agency heads, members of the diplomatic corps at a cultural program and reception in Taguig City.

On October 11, 1945, the Philippines deposited its instrument of ratification of the UN Charter, which came into force on October 24, 1945.

“The story of our country joining the UN may appear to be a simple [one]; but for the Filipino nation, it speaks of a defining moment in our national consciousness when we stood up alongside other countries to share its great faith in nations working together, united in purpose and principles, to shape and secure a better future for the peoples of the world,” Manalo said

FOREIGN Affairs Undersecretary Enrique A. Manalo delivers the keynote for the UN Day 2018 celebration. DFA OSCR

in his keynote message.

“Today, the Philippines stands proud as one of the founding members of the UN,” he added.

Manalo highlighted the Philippines’s major contributions in the work of the UN in the areas of migration, SDGs, climate change, human rights and peacekeeping.

For his part, Almgren paid tribute to the contributions of the country to the organization, and looks forward to future partnerships.

“The UN is a partner in development, humanitarian action and peace-building efforts in the Philippines. We very much appreciate the contributions [the country has]

made since the founding of the UN across its core pillars, and we enjoy the opportunity to work with [it to achieve] its national development objectives as part of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development,” Almgren said.

“Today’s celebration of UN Day is a manifestation of that partnership and the joint commitment to leaving no one behind, as the Philippines continues to advance in its development and prosperity,” he added.

The Philippines is a strong advocate for the achievement of the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda, together with all other UN member-states, and has embedded it in its national plans and programs through the Philippine Development Plan.

The SDGs are a set of 17 aspirational goals that seek to end poverty, protect the planet, as well as ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. They build on the Millennium Development Goals as they seek to address economic, social and environmental aspects of development.

India applauds appointment of DFA chief

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NDIA’S Minister of External Affairs Smt. Sushma Swaraj has conveyed her warm congratulations to the Philippines’s newly appointed Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. In her message, Swaraj pointed out that India and the Philippines, as two democracies with large populations and rapidly growing economies, have much in common.

The Indian minister also mentioned that both nations have begun to realize the full potential of their bilateral relations after the visit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to Manila in November last year, and the visit of President Duterte to India in January.

She also expressed of looking forward to cochairing the Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation with Locsin to take the Philippine-Indian bilateral ties forward, as both nations enter the 70th year of their diplomatic relations.

PCOO chief lauds SoKor investors’ CSR works

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RESIDENTIAL Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin M. Andanar thanked businessmen from South Korea for their corporate social responsibility (CSR) works in the Philippines.

“We are privileged to honor the CSR [efforts] of Korean companies that do business in our country,” Andanar said at the 2018 CSR Awards for Korean Companies in the Philippines.

In his speech, the PCOO chief also lauded the South Korean investors’ role in bridging and strengthening cooperation between Manila and Seoul.

“They exemplify the broad spectrum of the present and potential Korean investors and companies. They address the very essence of CSR, and they strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two countries,” he noted.

The official said President Duterte himself appreciated the contribution Korean firms have given toward the growth of the country’s economy.

PRESIDENTIAL Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin M. Andanar and Ambassador Han Dong-man.

Andanar said the Chief Executive has established an economic base to further attract investments to the Philippines.

“The recognition of the awards today is an expressed confidence in the CSR [work that] you have performed,” he added.

Among the guests at the awarding are Ambassador of South Korea to the

Philippines Han Dong-man, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Maria A. Concepcion III, Philippine Economic Zone Authority Director General Charito B. Plaza, Korean Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines President Ho Ik-lee and President of the Asian Institute of Management Dean Dr. Jikyeong Kang.

Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA

Science researchers urged to apply for innovation training in UK

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HE Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is urging researchers to apply for the Leadership in Innovation Fellowship (LIF) program, which sends Filipino researchers to undergo intensive training on innovation in the United Kingdom.

The LIF is part of the Newton Agham Program and aims to help grantees boost their potentials for entrepreneurship and commercialization.

According to the web site of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, a DOST-attached agency, qualified researchers with previously received assistance or funding from the DOST have until November 5 to send an online application.

Successful grantees will undergo training

supported by the DOST and the UK Royal Academy of Engineering. The two have partnered for this initiative to help researchers develop solutions that would address challenges in the country.

Established in 2014 and now opening for its fifth batch, the LIF encourages fellowships and research collaborations. Upon finishing their training in the UK, grantees undergo further training in the Philippines.

Based on the announcement, researchers, technology transfer officers and those who plan to develop a business based on their innovation may apply for the LIF program.

Those who have already tested their innovations in the market and those who are seeking for commercialization of their innovations are both welcome to apply.

Earlier this year, Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña said the agency looks for technologies developed by Filipinos and would benefit fellow Filipinos. Undergoing training via the LIF program would better enable researchers to deliver their works targeting beneficiaries, he said.

The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development, another DOST-attached agency, will be the primary implementing and monitoring arm for the duration of the fifth LIF program.

The Newton Agham Program, meanwhile, is a collaboration between the UK and Philippine governments that aims to boost science, research and innovation.

Ma. Cristina Arayata/PNA

BusinessMirror

Health&Fitness November 01-07, 2018

RENOVATED STATION HOSPITALS TURNED OVER TO A.F.P. BY

SM FOUNDATION

SM FOUNDATION BUILDS A COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER IN BRGY. SAN VICENTE II, Q.C.

A

NEW community health center arises in Barangay San Vicente II in Quezon City under the sponsorship of SM Foundation. The formal turnover attended

by Hon. Jesus “Bong” Suntay former councilor of the fourth District of Quezon City and Connie Angeles, executive director for Health & Medical Programs of SM Foundation as guests of honor was held at the B.L.I.S.S. Suntay Hall.

Recall that the 25-yearold torn down and dilapidated Blissmart was reconstructed

by Bong Suntay, who was then the Councilor of District 4 of Quezon City in 2015. The rebuilt Blissmart was renamed Suntay Hall where 500 familyresidents use the place for

2 Health&Fitness November 1-7, 2018

Sunday Worship, mortuary, a multipurpose hall for meetings, etc., a day-care center and a place for senior citizens.

The Senior Citizens Association led by Eugene Palaruan together with the President of the Association Manny Roque sought the assistance of SM Foundation to provide a health desk for their use, for children as well as non-seniors. While Barangay San Vicente has a Health Center, the distance is quite far (about 1 ½ kilometers away) for seniors to seek treatment in case of emergency and for a place where they can meet, socialize & learn new crafts.

SM Foundation through Connie Angeles, executive Director for Health and Medical Programs answered the call approving the request for a health desk which will be an extension of the main Barangay San Vicente Health Center.

The request came into fruition with the final construction and turnover of the facility held on October 18.

Now B.L.I.S.S. San Vicente ll has a place for seniors called the

Felicidad T. Sy Wellness Center for the elderly where they can hold activities like lectures, livelihood demonstrations and get-togethers; an activity center for children while awaiting consultation, a mini library,

a medical consultation area including a dental clinic and a mini pharmacy.

The formal deed of donation was signed by Director Connie Angeles and turned over to Hon. Bong Suntay, Messrs.

Eugene Palaruan of the San Vicente Unified Senior Citizens Association and Manny Roque, president of UPBLCA and Brgy.

Capt. Willy Real., Fr. Serge Maniba administrator of the UP Parish of the Holy Sacrifice formally blessed the new center.

Also witnessing the formal turnover was Councilor Marra Suntay, adviser of the Unified Seniors Association of Brgy. San Vicente, Brgy. officials of San Vicente together with residents of UP Bliss.

By Henrylito D. Tacio

D

URING a beauty contest held in a historic hotel in Manila a couple of years back, the host asked one of the contenders: “How do you see yourself 10 years from now?” With confidence, she replied, “I am now 18, plus 10. I will be 28!”

Her answer may be funny but there’s more truth to it. Every day we grow older. Old age consists of ages nearing the average life span of human beings and, thus, the end of the human life cycle.

Euphemisms and terms for older people include advanced adult, elderly, and senior citizen and pensioner.

Older people have limited regenerative abilities and are more prone to disease, syndromes and sickness than other adults.

Life, they say, begins at 40. And at this time, people tend not to discuss age. As someone puts it, “Old age is a mental attitude, as well as a physical problem. People shudder when you discuss old age.” Oliver Wendell Holmes points out: “A person is always startled when he hears himself seriously called an old man for the first time.”

“Many people think old age is a disease, something to be thwarted if possible,” said T.C. Myers. “But someone has said that if any period is a disease, it is youth. Age is recovering from it.”

Individuals deal with aging in different ways. Some adjust to it; they plan for the “golden years,” and accept their decreasing vitality as inevitable. Others, however, deny old

4 Health&Fitness November 1-7, 2018

age. This is particularly true among women. Hollywood comedian Lucille Ball quipped: "The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age."

There are those who look for “the fountain of youth.” They try to alter their appearance with makeup, hair coloring or plastic surgery. This must be the reason beauty salons and clinics are sprouting all over the country.

Until now, the quest for the fountain of youth continues. According to legends, the spring reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters. Florida in the United States is said to be its location, and stories of the fountain are some of the most persistent myths associated with the state.

In fact, there is a long-standing myth that Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon was searching for the fountain of youth when he traveled to present-day Florida in 1513. (He reportedly found it in the mysterious Wakulla Springs, a favorite setting of Hollywood movies including the Tarzan series.)

And who has not heard of Peter Pan, a fictional character created

by Scottish novelist and playwright

PIXABAY.COM

WHY DO WE AGE? J.M. Barrie. This mischievous little boy refuses to grow up and, thus, remains as such on the small island of Neverland.

Senescence—that’s how scientists call the process of aging. According to Marquette University professor Sandra Hunter, aging is rather simple: “Cell death...eventually leads to systems malfunctioning and whole body death.”

Take the case of muscle fibers and nerves connected to them; they gradually die, leading to a loss of strength that starts at age 50 and continues steadily thereafter. “A deeper question for scientists is, why do the cells die?” asked the Popular Science.

Scientists have come up with several theories, and most likely a combination of them explains the aging process.

One theory talks of oxidative damage. “Normal cell processes release harmful molecules called oxygen free radicals. Substances in the body called antioxidants neutralize some of them, but a few free radicals escape unscathed and damage cells. Oxidative damage is linked to such diseases and conditions as heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s,” the science magazine explained.

Another theory focuses on cell death on genes, which limit how often the cells can replicate. Three American researchers won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009. They were cited for their work linking the aging process to telomeres.

“Telomeres are clusters of DNA that cap the chromosomes of complex organisms, protecting the rest of the genetic code during cell division,” the

magazine pointed out. “As cells age, these caps grow smaller, exposing the DNA to breaks and mutations that can lead to cancer or cell death.”

Here’s another fascinating theory: “Certain genes might also control the life span of an entire organism. Research on worms shows that when scientists mutate genes related to the aging process, they can extend a worm’s life to four times its normal life span. If similar genes exist in humans and can be changed the same way, people could live, theoretically, to 300 years old.”

“Age is only a number, a cipher for the records,” said financier and statesman Bernard Baruch. “A man can’t retire his experience. He must use it.

Experience achieves more with less energy and time.”

Author May Lamberton adds: “We grow neither better nor worse as we grow old, but more like ourselves.”

Italian artist Pablo Picasso agrees: “Age only matters when one is aging.

Now that I have reached a great age, I might as well be 20.”

“Age to me means nothing,” said film actor George Burns, the oldest actor to receive an Academy Award for his performance in The Sunshine Boys. “I can’t get old; I'm working. I was old when I was twenty-one and out of work. As long as you’re working, you stay young. When I’m in front of an audience, all that love and vitality sweeps over me and I forget my age.”

Fashion model Linda Evangelista agrees: “I don’t think age is an ugly process. I think age is a beautiful thing. I love wrinkles. I don’t like falling down. If I just wrinkle, I may not touch. If I fall down, I’ll lift up.”

EATING PESTICIDE-FREE CROPS

NOW POSSIBLE? Story & photo by Henrylito D. Tacio

C

HEMICALS that kill pests and unwanted weeds are getting the attention of media these days.

“Ban entire pesticide class to protect children’s health,” The Guardian headlined.

“Exposure to organophosphates increases the risk of reduce IQs, memory and attention deficits, and autism for prenatal children,” wrote Arthur Neslen, quoting a paper that was published in Plos Medicine.

“Popular oat cereals, oatmeal, granola and snack bars come with a hefty dose of the weed-killing poison in Roundup,” another news report said.

For one, those commonly used herbicides can make bacteria develop antibiotic resistance significantly faster, according to a feature published by Newsweek.

“Herbicides are among the most widely used and dispersed manufactured products on Earth,” Jack Heinemann, professor at the University of Canterbury, told Newsweek.

“Some form of exposure for people, pets and livestock can be routinely expected.

On the other hand, “antibiotics are used at high rates, particularly on people, pets and livestock. Therefore, the combination of exposures for bacteria that live on us is all but guaranteed.”

Globally, at least 3 million people are poisoned by pesticides every year, of whom 20,000 people die. That’s according to the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO).

The Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) defines pesticide as “any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any insects, rodents, nematodes, fungi or weeds, or any other form of life declared to be pest.”

Pesticide also refers to “any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.”

Worldwatch Institute, based in Washington, D.C., said that the first records of pesticides come from the ancient Greeks.

Pliny the Elder compiled a list of common compounds like arsenic, sulfur, caustic soda, and olive oil used to protect crops. The Chinese later recorded using similar substances to combat insects and fungi. In the 19th century, European farmers commenced using heavy metals like copper sulfate and iron sulfate to fight weeds.

For a long time, no one seemed to question the safety of pesticides. Not until 1962, when marine biologist Rachel Carlson wrote the now classic, Silent Spring. In her book, she described how pesticides cause long-term hazards to birds, fish, other wildlife and hu-

Long before the age of man, insects inhabited the earth—a group of extraordinarily varied and adaptable beings. Over the course of time since man's advent, a small percentage of more than half a million species of insects have come into conflict with human welfare.”

—RacheL Carson (1962)

mans, but provide only short-term gains to controlling the pests.

“Pesticides are like bombs being dropped in the food web creating enormous destruction,” deplores entomologist Dr. K.L. Heong, who used to work at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Laguna.

Unknowingly, pesticides are killing more than just the pests. “Some pesticides harm the living organisms other than the targeted pest,” the Davao-based Technical Assistance Center for the Development of Rural and Urban Poor (TACDRUP) observes. “Some (pesticides) travel to the food chain to bioaccumulate in higher organisms.”

Gretta Goldenman and Sarojini Rengam explain in their book, Pesticides and You, that pesticides gets concentrated even to toxic levels via the food chain. Thus, an increased feeding on plants sprayed with pesticides might be eaten by another insect which might be eaten by a bird.

“Traces of pesticides too small to kill the targeted pest can accumulate to levels high enough to harm species further on up the food chain,” the two authors warned.

Pesticides are also hazardous to human beings. They can enter the human body through the mouth, lungs, digestive system, or skin, according to health experts. Depending on the pesticide, health effects can be immediate (acute) or they can occur after years of low-level exposure.

Acute poisoning generally occurs after an accident on the skin or drinking a bottle of pesticides. Medical doctors say the symptoms of acute poisoning occur within 24 hours: vomiting, headache, respiratory problems, heart failure, etc.

Long-term effects of pesticides include skin disorders, damage to internal organs (liver, kidneys, lungs), increased sensitivity to

pesticides and effects on the progeny, according to medical experts.

Despite the health and environmental risks, farmers are still hooked on many of the worst offenders. Without pesticides, they claim, their costs would skyrocket, harvests would plummet, and more people would go hungry. It is widely assumed that for big harvests, pesticides are essential.

Filipino farmers, however, need not use pesticides—whether natural or synthetic—to get rid of those pesky pests. One good way to avoid using pesticides is by relying on Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to do the work. Bt is a common soil bacterium so called because it was first isolated in the Thuringia region of Germany. It produces a protein that paralyzes the larvae of some harmful insects.

Scientists, through genetic engineering, have taken the Bt gene responsible for the production of the insecticidal protein from the bacterium and incorporated it into the genome of plants. As such, the plants have a built-in mechanism of protection against targeted pests.

Among the crops where Bt is introduced include corn, cotton, poplar, potato, rice, soybean, tomato and, more recently, eggplant.

“The protein produced by the plants does not get washed away, nor is it destroyed by sunlight,” said a briefing paper published by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology. “The plants are protected from the insects round the clock regardless of the situation.”

Since Bt crops are able to defend themselves against pests, the use of chemical insecticides is significantly reduced.

“Aside from being effective against insect pests, Bt crops have lower incidences of opportunistic microbial pathogens, such as the fungus Fusarium,” the briefing paper said.

“This fungus produces mycotoxins that can

be deadly to livestock and also cause cancer in humans.”

The briefing paper shares this information on how Bt operates: “When ingested by larva of the target insect, the Bt protein is activated in the gut’s alkaline condition and punctures the mid-gut, leaving the insect unable to eat.

The insect dies within a few days.”

But there are some issues against Bt crops.

Critics claim that Bt proteins could target predatory and other beneficial or harmless insects, as well as the targeted pest. The University of California reported that the Bt proteins have been used as organic sprays for insect control in France since 1938 and the USA since 1958 with no ill effects on the environment reported. “The specificity of Bt for its target insects is one of the characteristics that make it an ideal method of biological pest control,” the briefing paper explained. “The specificity rests on the fact that the toxicity of the Bt protein is receptor-mediated. This means that for an insect to be affected by the Bt protein, it must have specific receptor sites in its gut where the proteins can bind. Fortunately, humans and majority of beneficial insects do not have these receptors.”

According to the Extension Toxicology Network (Extonet), a pesticide information project of several universities in the US, “no complaints were made after 18 humans ate 1 gram of commercial Bt preparation daily for five days, on alternate days....Humans also ate 1 gram per day for three consecutive days were not poisoned or infected.”

On tests conducted on dogs, guinea pigs, rats, fish, frogs, salamanders and birds, the Bt protein was found not to have any harmful effects. What was interesting about the study was that no toxic effects were found on beneficial or predator insects, such as honeybees and lady beetles, Extonet reports.

Health&Fitness November 1-7, 2018 5

FITNESS RULES

By Greggy H. Romualdez

THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP IN

MUSCLE GROWTH One important tip to getting quality sleep is to try to stick to a fixed sleep schedule every day. Simply put, try as best as you can to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Even on weekends. Once our bodies get used to a schedule, like clockwork, it is able to anticipate

bedtime, and when it is time to get up. It thus programs itself for a quality, restful sleep.

Train, eat, sleep and grow. The importance of quality sleep in living a healthy lifestyle and in growing muscle should never be underestimated.

WWW.FREEPIK.COM

Health&Fitness

I

T is easy to imagine that as we lift weights in the gym, sweat pouring out, fully focused on coming to terms with those difficult sets, which our muscles are growing with every repetition that we grind out.

Yes, lifting weights with a progressive overload most certainly sets the stage for muscle growth. What is often overlooked is that our muscles grow when they are at rest. Working out results in micro tears to our muscles. It is during periods of rest when they heal and subsequently grow. Muscles can grow even from 48 to 72 hours after a workout has been completed.

Which now brings us to the important subject of getting adequate sleep in order to not only grow muscle, but live a fit and healthy lifestyle. Every night, at the end of the day when all has been said and done, we retire to our beds and recharge our tired and drained bodies.

As for the correct amount of sleep we need, this may vary from person to person. This may fall anywhere between six and nine hours. The key here is to wake up invigorated and

6 Health&Fitness November 1-7, 2018

refreshed, ready to take on the challenges of the day. Yes, your workout included. Waking up groggy, as if we have not gotten enough rest, is a sure sign of suboptimal sleep.

If our smartphones have to recharge to be able to properly function the next day, so do our bodies.

Sleep helps enhance muscle recovery and growth hormone release. If we are to improve our body composition for the better, getting adequate sleep ought to be part of our fitness regimen.

You have the proper diet and exercise program on point. This has to be complemented by restful sleep on a daily basis. The lack of sleep carries several health risks including a weakened immune system. This means we are more likely to get sick.

And getting sick means missing workouts, and our fitness regimen getting side-tracked.

is published and distributed free every Thursday by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing Inc. as a project of the BusinessMirror.

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RENOVATED STATION HOSPITA

SM FOUN C

AGAYAN DE ORO CITY —The partnership between SM Foundation and Makati Medical Center Foundation was further enhanced with the inauguration and turnover of the renovated Camp Evangelista Station Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City.

This is the second project of the partnership, following the Cavite Naval Hospital.

Camp Evangelista Station Hospital is a 100-bed capacity hospital that services the medical needs of about 18,000 individuals composed of uniformed personnel, their dependents and authorized civilians. It is categorized as a level 1 hospital and accredited by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

SM Foundation renovated

8 Health&Fitness November 1-7, 2018

and refurbished its Annex Building, now called the Heroes Recuperation Ward with a hashtag WHERE HEROES HEAL!! The Station Hospital is a 320-square-meter health facility divided into two sections: the first section is the Heroes’ Ward 1 and 2 and the Recovery Room, the second section holds the Heroes’ Infectious Ward 1 & 2, Isolation Room, TB-DOTS clinic and DOTS Microscopy Room. With the renovation, a new reception area and waiting lounge

for soldiers were installed.

Present at the inauguration were Maj. Gen. Ronald C. Villanueva, AFP, commander of the $ID, Philippine Army; Lt. Col. Jonna D. Dalaguit (MC) PA, commanding officer, CESH, $ID, PA; Dr. Victor L. Gisbert of Makati Medical Center Foundation; and SM Foundation Executive Director for Health and Medical Programs Connie Angeles.

Camp Evangelista Station Hospital played a significant role during the government

campaign against terrorists in Marawi City. A total of 2,053 wounded soldiers were treated in the hospital during the Marawi seige. In fact, the renovation was put off for about three months as the station hospital was full of wounded soldiers from Marawi prior to being referred to private hospitals in Cagayan de Oro like the Polymedic Plaza Hospital, Maria Reina Hospital and the Northern Mindanao Medical Hospital or airlifted to the Camp Panacan Station Hospital in Davao.

ALS TURNED OVER TO A.F.P. BY

PHOTOS BY NATHANIEL SALEM

NDATION Camp Ricarte Station Hospital in Puerto Princesa, servicing the entire Western Command, is renovated by SM Foundation

P

UERTO PRINCESA CITY—SM Foundation has renovated and refurbished Camp General Artemio Ricarte Station Hospital (CGARSH), making it capable of providing basic ancillary services, including ECG, x-ray and laboratory services to enlisted men, their dependents and authorized civilians.

CGARSH is the only military treatment facility (MTF) in Palawan servicing the entire Western Command. Wescom is the guardian of Palawan known as the nation’s last frontier; the defenders of the West Philippine Sea. It is considered the most strategic United Command in the Armed Forces.

The rehabilitation and improvement of the station hospital

also included the Nurses’ Station, Treatment Room, Officers Ward, Military Ward, Pediatric Ward, Female/OB Ward, Physical Rehab, Recovery Room, Intensive Care Unit and the OR/DR Complex. It now has an improved pharmacy and central supply room.

To ensure the comfort and convenience of the patients, SM Foundation built a Patients’ Waiting Lounge and a Changing Room which serves as a dressing room for military patients to don their complete military uniform after consultation.

The 20-bed capacity hospital, which can be expanded to 50 is licensed by the Department of Health and accredited by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.,

The level 1 hospital provides services in General Medicine, General Surgery, OB-Gyne, General Pediatrics, Anesthesia and EENT. Other services include Out-Patient Care, Physical Therapy, Physical Examination, Family Planning, Emergency Room Services, NP Screening, conducts Preventive Medicine Activities and renders Aero-medical Services to include Search and Rescue Operations and Mercy Missions.

The hospital dispenses medical services to 6,000 military personnel and their dependents belonging to the Western Command, Task Force Peacock (Marines), I-Care (Air Force) and Joint Task Force West. Around 60 to 80 patients are treated in the hospital daily.

At a simple turnover ceremony held at the station hospital grounds, Connie Angeles, SVP and Executive Director for Health and Medical Programs of SM Foundation said “The makeover is part of the Foundation’s health and wellness advocacy but, more so, it is SM’s small way of honoring and acknowledging the tremendous effort of the military in nation-building.”

For his part, Lt. Gen. Rozzano D. Briguez, AFP, commander, Western Command in accepting the donation, said “With utmost gratitude for the donation, the least that we can do to make this dynamic partnership work is to pay your generosity by delivering the best-quality health-care services to the military in their trying times.”

Health&Fitness November 1-7, 2018 9

PINK CUNNING THOUGHTS

By Eleanor A. Leyco-Chua

OSPITAL NG IMUS OPENS TO PROVIDE QUALITY HEALTH CARE TO COMMUNITIES

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HE province of Cavite is one of the fastest growing and developing districts in Southern Tagalog. With the numbers of municipalities converted into cities, it is evident enough that Cavite has been navigating the road of progress.

Some of the measures we use to know if a locale is indeed growing are the number of schools, the presence of a good wet and dry market, churches, malls, banks and, of course, the kind of health-care facilities it offers to its residents.

For several years now, I have been a resident of Cavite, particularly in the municipality of Imus, which is less than an hour’s drive to my office in Makati. Over the years, I have witnessed the rapid development in

10 Health&Fitness November 1-7, 2018

the region. The several malls built in different parts of the province, the numerous property development projects, face-lifts of several educational institutions and even healthcare establishments.

The city of Imus has experienced rapid development over the years, with the formerly agriculture-focused districts now finding an influx of residents who want to live in affordable convenience near Metro Manila. This development needs a local

CITY Vice-Mayor Arnel “Ony” M.Cantimbuhan, DOH Region IV-A Regional Director Eduardo C. Janairo, MD, 3rd District of Cavite Congressman Alex “AA” L.Advincula and City Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi.

government that is dynamic in answering the needs of its constituents.

One of the latest large-scale legacy projects initiated under the leadership of Cavite Third District Rep. Alex L. Advincula, Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi and Vice Mayor Arnel M. Cantimbuhan—new public hospital, which was inaugurated on October 12, 2018—was a concept that started as a dream of Advincula for the lessfortunate Imuseños and Caviteños.

In 2013 Advincula donated the 30,000-square-meter property for the proposed site of the said public hospital, and that same year he started looking for funds to facilitate the construction of the hospital. In total, Advincula allocated about P300 million for the completion of the said project.

Health care where it is needed

THE Ospital ng Imus has a 4,000-sqm floor area, consisting of 22 wards and 19 private rooms with 130 beds, five doctor rooms, and number of medical service and personnel rooms. It is classified as a Level 1 hospital with major and minor operating capabilities and ancillary services, such as laboratory, x-ray and ultrasound. Hospital chief Dr. Edgardo Figueroa will oversee at least 20 doctors, 25 nurses, and 15 consultants, who will be available for the day-today services for Imuseños, indigents, senior citizens and other residents in need of medical attention. A Medical Arts Building adjacent to the hospital, is now being planned with an additional budget P35 million.

“We are very proud to have this very

FATHER Allan Valerio, City Vice-Mayor Arnel “Ony” M.Cantimbuhan, City Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi, 3rd District of Cavite Congressman Alex “AA” L.Advincula, and City Councilor Reymond Arguelles.

modern, first-class facility that offers quality medical services to Imus.

Prior to the establishment of the Ospital ng Imus, our patients had to be rushed to medical facilities as far as Las Piñas. With the opening of this local hospital, we can better serve our constituents and give them the prompt medical attention that they need,” said Cantimbuhan.

Legacy for progress

ADVINCULA said that he has known the need for this facility even as he was growing up in Imus.

“I grew up in a simple family that

relied on government services. This is why, when I came to this position, I promised myself that I will give more people more access to much-needed services and facilities.”

This is why this administration is focused on infrastructure and also livelihood programs, such as teaching new skills that Imuseños can use for additional income. The congressman added that their concerted vision is that of a progressive Imus, where urban planning can make a difference, and make it competitive with the commercial business districts in Metro Manila.

For his part, Maliksi said the legacy project for infrastructure includes the Ospital ng Imus, alongside the development of the City of Imus Government Center, a P1.4-billion project that will house the Executive and Legislative offices, and a City of Imus Coliseum to host indoor sports activities and performance entertainment.

“The Imus local government aims to have healthy, happy, and productive citizens through our different programs and projects. With the opening of the Ospital ng Imus, we are better prepared for the growth and development of our city toward the future.”

THE PROMISE OF A BETTER YOU

T

HIS year marks Diana Stalder’s 22nd year in the skin-care industry. It has been an amazing journey and everyone at Diana Stalder is grateful to be a part of it. The opportunity to help people to correct their skin conditions through comprehensive and personalized approaches has been very uplifting. Seeing the transformations and hearing the testimonies are truly heart-warming.

To commemorate its growth, it has improved its web site with an online shopping experience, informative content and exciting deals.

You can visit www.dianastalder. com.

Its latest offering is the Face and Body Whitening Kit, designed to effectively lighten the skin tone of the face and body, to achieve a uniform complexion; it nourishes your skin to let its natural beauty shine through. It also removes the

appearance of blemishes and effectively lightens your skin in just one week. This preparation is perfect with Body Whitening Scrub, a combination of body scrub and bleaching to help achieve an even-toned, glowing and healthy-looking skin.

Face and Body Whitening Kit (Content: Papaya Kojic Soap, Skin Light Therapy, Lightening Lotion Plus) Directions for Use: Use PAPAYA KOJIC SOAP on face and body for bathing. Lather well for at least 3 minutes. Rinse well and pat dry with a soft towel. Apply SKIN LIGHT THERAPY to the face and LIGHTENING LOTION PLUS all over the body, focusing on dark areas.

For day and nighttime use. Apply sunscreen 30 minutes before sun exposure and reapply as needed.

Diana Stalder wishes to thank you all for being a part of this successful journey and hopes to see more of you as the year progresses.

Health&Fitness November 1-7, 2018 11

HEALTHY FINDS

n THE MEDICAL CITY GETS JCI GOLD SEAL OF APPROVAL

THE Medical City (TMC), under the leadership of its new CEO Dr. Eugenio Jose F. Ramos, received a Gold Seal of Approval from Joint Commission International (JCI), the world’s premier health-care quality improvement and accreditation body.. This is the fifth straight accreditation of TMC, and the first one obtained under the watch of Ramos. TMC’s Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) Program also retained its status as the only program of its kind with a Gold Seal of Approval in the Philippines, and one of only 16 around the world. (AMI is the medical term for heart attack, and TMC’s program targets a 90 minute door-to-balloon time, which means TMC must have the blocked coronary artery opened within 90-minutes from the time the patient enters the Emergency Department.) Ramos paid tribute to the work put in by all the members of TMC. “I am proud of how everyone at TMC has worked together as a team to achieve our highest ever score for compliance.

The partnership between our doctors and our medical support staff was inspiring to see, and demonstrates the new spirit of open collaboration that is taking hold in our institution,” said Ramos. TMC underwent a rigorous on-site survey between October 8 and October 12, 2018. During the survey, a team of JCI expert surveyors evaluated compliance with hospital standards related to a variety of areas, including the International Patient Safety Goals, patient assessment and care, anesthe-

n RUN AROUND THE WORLD IN ONE DAY AT THE BALESIN ADVENTURE TRAIL RUN 2018

THE luxurious and sustainable Balesin Island Club will once again hold one of its most awaited events. Aegle Wellness Center, in partnership with RUNRIO Inc., brings you the 2018 Balesin Adventure Trail Run happening on November 24. Runners, sports and fitness enthusiasts, and adventurous globe-trotters will get to enjoy the private island paradise that is truly unique in the world.

With less than 10 percent of the 500-hectare island developed, the routes will feature dirt roads and trails throughout the island, mostly enveloped by lush rain forest. The Run will

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sia and surgical care, medication management, patient and family education, quality improvement, infection prevention and control, governance and leadership, facility management, staff qualifications and education, and information management. The health institution received perfect scores in critical standards on Patient and Family Rights (PFR), Patient and Family Education (PFE), Access to

have two race categories: 5K and 21K, carefully mapped to pass through the distinctive villages in Balesin Island, which are inspired by the most alluring vacation destinations around the world: Bali, Phuket, Toscana, Saint Tropez, Costa del Sol, Mykonos and, of course, Balesin Village, representing the Philippines. It once again promises to be a destination run unlike any other.

Aside from the Run, the race weekend will be filled with fun activities, such as the Balesin Island Tour and the Balesin Run’s After-Party. To revitalize after the race, runners may also take advantage of Aegle Wellness Center’s special offers for deep-tissue massage with thalassotherapy, a treatment that utilizes seawater and its components

Care and Continuity of Care (ACC), and Assessment of Patients (AOP).

TMC was first accredited by JCI in 2006 and again in 2009, 2012 and 2015. JCI’s hospital standards are developed in consultation with worldwide health care experts and providers, measurement experts and patients. The standards are informed by scientific literature and expert consensus to help organizations measure, assess and improve performance.

for regeneration, recovery and relaxation, as well as other benefits such as weight loss, anti-aging and anti-inflammation. Runners may also experience the rejuvenating effect of Aegle’sHyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and the IV Sports Boost. Aegle is the Philippines’s first and only wellness facility where body, mind and spirit are nurtured sustainably.

The Balesin Run packages start from P20,000 per person, inclusive of registration, race kit, round-trip airfare to Balesin from Clark, 3-days/2-nights villa accommodation, and after-party access.

For inquiries about the Balesin Run, contact ​ the ​RunRio hotline ​number +63920-4947049, +63995-3982374, +632-7031736 or +632-4634813 from Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5p.m.

ALL FOR THE KING! 4DK BAGS 1ST PLACE IN WORLD SUPREMACY BATTLEGROUNDS

By Bong Cleofe

I

N this day and age when everything is almost available and accessible, more and more young people—students and professionals alike—are trying to somehow make a life in the nearest gym.

In the gym, the usual workout and trainings are a surefire fat-burning, but some gym buffs look for a more enjoyable form of fitness. This is why some try the more interesting workout in the form of dancing, not necessarily in the confines of the gym but with organized groups outside. One of these dance types that’s a craze among the young is the street dance for the strong at heart.

Health Benefits of Street Dance according to realbuzz.com.

n Improving stamina—Street dancing demands a range of energetic body movements. Regular workouts will greatly improve your body’s stamina over time. n More flexible hands, feet and joints—As opposed to many traditional dances, street dancing moves may require the participant’s hands to support their body weight, as well as the feet and leg joints. Regular street dancing exercise will strengthen these areas over time and greatly improve their flexibility.

n Boosting mental self-confidence—Once you master the basics of street dancing, and start to learn some tricks, your mental self-confidence will improve tenfold. Your body will feel healthier and happier and so will your mind. n Developing concentration and spatial awareness—The often complex routines that street dancing requires may be hard to grasp in the early stages of your training. Dancing alone or as part of a group, once these skills build up, you will soon find that concentration and spatial awareness come to you more naturally.

Such were the initial objectives of the team 4DK (short for For “The King”) when the group was first organized in 2014 by founding leaders Edi Jocson and Ogie Castro with the University of the East students as pioneering members. Little did they know that this simple small group will grow and develop and give priority to human values, which are far greater and stronger than the physical benefits that dancing gives.

The leaders made each of the mem-

bers feel that they belong in a family that is 4DK, sharing joys and experiences in their journeys. Little by little, more young people joined 4DK and, slowly, they started joining competitions within the country initially, until they tried competing abroad and tried their luck at the World Supremacy Battlegrounds or WSB. The World Supremacy Battlegrounds is the biggest and most prestigious international street-dance competition in the southern hemisphere annually held in Australia, hosting the best of the best dancers in the world.

4DK first joined the WSB in 2014, representing the Philippine Team where it passed the qualifying round and entered the finals, and landed in fifth place.

Armed with learnings from the first try, the group spent more time and energy practicing and, on its third try in 2017, it bagged the Bronze award. Winning third prize didn’t satisfy the group. They know they could do better, so they prepared even more, determined to bag first place.

This time more sacrifices, patience and more support for each other were exerted. They flew to Australia last month as a Philippine Team with big faith that the Lord, the King, will sustain them and make them succeed.

This time all the efforts and sacrifices paid off, the team bagged the grand prize and, when the team was called, they cried out loud in gratefulness “all 4Da King!”

Health&Fitness November 1-7, 2018 13

BULLETIN BOARD

BLESS OKINIIRI CAVITE GRAND OPENING over. “It was really a blessing to the whole company of Bless Amare Group.” While Maloles said the success of their business could be attributed to the company’s philosophy—putting Christ into the core of their business.

“The company has always carried the word ‘bless’ in our business. When you hear the word bless, you normally associate it with blessings from God of abundance,” Mendoza said about Bless Mare Group of Co. Bless Okiniiri Japanese Resto has branches in BF Homes, Parañaque, Davao and now, Caviteños can finally taste their delectable menus in its third branch in Vista Mall Molino, Bacoor, Cavite.

BLESS Amare Group successfully open its third branch of Bless Okiniiri Japanese Resto on October 26 at Vista Mall Milono, Bacoor, Cavite.

Bless Okiniiri is a family-oriented Japanese restaurant with more than 50 choices of maki, salmon, sushi and sashimi. It also serves kani mango salad, beef yakiniku, chachan fried rice, pork tonkatsu, kana kirai, salmon head misone soup, chiken teppan and many more delectable Japanese cuisine at a very affordable price. It is managed and owned by Bless Amare Group of Co., which started its journey in restaurant and hospitality industry in year 2016 by Jessie Maloles and Nelson Mendoza.

The whole event was an extravagant experience to all who attended the grand opening of Bless Okiniiri. The event started with a simple yet satisfying food party by bringing in the table the Bless Okiniiri’s different delicious cuisines included in their menu. Afterward, the

most awaited ribbon cutting was done, which symbolized that Bless Okiniiri Cavite branch is ready to serve gratifying dishes.

After the ribbon cutting, the most awaited entertainment show, which was attended by a lot of people including media, bloggers, business men, writers, publishers and, of course, food lovers, showcased a heart-warming dance performance by Pilipinas Got Talent firstrunner up Juluis Obrero and Rhea Marquez, a spectacular Japanese dance show, a stunning performance by Malaysian singer Min Yasmin and a gorgeous fashion show that highlighted the collection of Jessie Maloles from the designers Rye Baile and Marlo Javier.

Mendoza described Bless Okiniiri Japanese Resto as being simple. He also proudly shared that they started to open the first branch of Bless Okiniiri last year and now, they are on its third branch given the fact that 2018 is not yet

Kitsho preps up for the holiday season THE corporate world is setting its sight on the next big occasion, the annual Christmas party. This is such a festive occasion that the work force looks forward to this year-end event. Through the years, this affair has included the exchanging of gifts (manito) and even some competitions in chorale renditions and dance.

But the success of these gatherings depends much on the venue where they are celebrated. It must not only be spacious enough for the attendees but also proffer good food to make the occasion much more special.

With all the foregoing considerations, Kitsho Japanese Restaurant fits the bill perfectly. Located on the ground floor of Hotel Jen Manila right across the sprawling CCP Complex along Roxas Boulevard's sunset strip on the historic Manila Bay area, Kitsho is easily accessible from all points in the Metro. Add to that the splendid food, and you're in for a party that will remain in the books for a long time.

Executive chef Mizumoto “Hiro” Masahiro can easily prepare a party menu depending on the budget of its corporate clients. Starting at P900 (inclusive of VAT and service charge), guests will truly enjoy a set of menu filled with all the tasty authentic Japanese fare that

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will satiate all cravings. Plus, to make the deal even sweeter, the 5 + 1 promo will be enjoyed by all corporate bookings, wherein another guest gets to enjoy the party for free for every five dining guests.

And should the urge to try other dishes ever come up, an additional 15-percent discount is given to all à la carte orders.

Kitsho will even make the restaurant exclusive for any company who will make reservations for at least 90 diners. Chef Hiro can even create a 'drink all you can' or beverage buffet depending on the client’s allowed budget.

For a P1,350 package (inclusive of VAT and service charge), Chef Hiro will create for its corporate clients a food and drink smorgasbord. The beverage buffet will include all local beers, soft drinks, hot tea, and iced tea. From the mouthwatering goodness of its Green Salad to the fresh sashimi and sushi selections, to the tempura options, main courses, side dishes and ultimately its homemade desserts, your Kitsho party will be truly memorable.

Kitsho Japanese Restaurant is managed and operated by MCK Millennium Food Inc.. For reservations, simply call the restaurant's direct line through tel. no. (02) 924-36-23 or (02) 795-8888 local 2312.

BULLETIN BOARD

Baked and brewed pairings at Richmonde Hotel Iloilo IF the popular quote that says, “behind every successful person is a substantial amount of coffee,” then pairing your favorite brew with a delectable pastry would bring even greater triumphs! So get ready for the success that will come your way with Richmonde Hotel Iloilo’s latest offering, the Coffee Pairings.

Consisting of four all-time favorite coffee concoctions matched with Richmonde’s signature baked treats, these duos will be your go-to pick-me-up anytime you need a caffeine fix and sugar rush, day or night.

The first pair is a timeless classic—a cup of hot, freshly brewed coffee and the hotel’s famously

soft, cheese and buttery ensaymada priced at only P250 net.

For some chocolately and foamy goodness, there’s the cappuc-

SKY WIZARDS WAVE THEIR MAGIC WANDS TO PAINT THE SKY ALL park-goers, whether young or young at heart, stopped in their tracks to watch the beautiful display of lights and sounds that painted the Enchanted Kingdom (EK) night sky.

The sixth Sky Wizardry Fireworks Competition was hosted by Ms. Angel Aquino and Mr. Joshua Colet, both describing themselves as “batang EK.” To set the mood for the night’s competition, EK’s very own Victoria’s Way and Kingsmen, together with the EK Circle of Artists, serenaded the crowd with their own mash-up of the hits from the 90s. And in an instant, it’s as if the guests time traveled back to the past.

The guests also enjoyed special performances by Cool Kidz Crew Junior, UP Streetdance Club, and a surprise performance by Dulce, who, in her own way, showcased her talents in true 90s style.

This year’s board of judges consisted of seven strongwilled individuals, and three of which were ladies of the 2018 Binibining Pilipinas, namely Binibining Pilipinas Supranational 2018 Ms. Jheza Mae Huelar, Binibining Pilipinas International 2018 Ms. Ma. Ahtisa Manalo and Miss Universe Philippines 2018 Ms. Catriona Gray, joined by the Department of Tourism Officer in Charge Regional Director for Region IVA Ms. Marites Castro, Embassy Manila

Economic Section Head Ms. Lynne Gadkowski, City Mayor of Santa Rosa, Laguna, Mayor Dan Fernandez and, last but not the least, the Chairman of the Board and Rep. of the First District of Laguna Arlene B. Arcillas. These judges considered the variety and intensity of colors, rhythm and momentum of firing, height of explosions, and overall presentation in considering the grand champion for this year’s Sky Wizardry Fireworks Competition.

Sky Wizard Mr. Vince Joseph Lebrilla of St. Vincent Pyrotechnics Services and Trading from Cabuyao, Laguna, was crowned the grand champion with his fireworks show that impressed both the judges and the guests.

This representative from Laguna went home with a certificate of recognition, 30 Agila tickets and a total of P120,000. Sky Wizards Edwin Joaquin of Gramce and Grace Fireworks from Plaridel, Bulacan, Florido T. Baraquil of Rambolet Pyro Corporation from Cebu City and Verwin L. Uy from VLU Fireworks from Cotabato City also gave a spectacular fireworks show. It was exciting to see fireworks display from different parts of the country.

This marked the fairytale-like moment of the night as the bright lights were reflected in the guests’ eyes. Truly, the magic lives forever at Enchanted Kingdom!

A HIDDEN JADE UNCOVERED GOLDEN Phoenix Hotel Manila invites foodies to experience the newest set of Chinese menu offerings at Gold Spices Restaurant.

Start your oriental adventure with select dim sum and light soup, followed by an array of delectable Chinese favorites, such as Salt and Pepper Pork Spare Ribs, Yang Chow Fried Rice, and

steamed Garoupa Fish with herbs and special sauce. Cap it off with a hefty serving of Almond Lychee and a piece of Tau Sao Pao paired with a piping hot cup of house blend Green tea.

Rate starts at P1,050 per head. For more information and reservations email reservations@goldenphoenixhotelmanila.com.

cino and choco moist cake set at P270 net. The café latte and carrot cake duo brings creamy and sweet flavors to perk you up for just P270 net. And last, there’s the affogato, a coffee-dessert espresso with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, combined with a chewy oatmeal cookie at P230 net only.

The Coffee Pairings are available daily at The Granary from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., at Bizbar from 4 p.m. to 12 midnight, except Mondays, and at Zabana Bar from 12 to 9 p.m. except during inclement weather conditions.

For inquiries and table reservations, log on to www.richmondehoteliloilo.com.ph.

A SPARKLING ‘TING HUN’ CELEBRATION

THE wedding celebration leads to the exciting path of new beginnings and happily ever after. But for Chinese couples, the journey starts from a symbolic union of the two families and announcement of their engagement. With Diamond Hotel Philippines’s Chinese Engagement “Ting Hun” Package, create a sparkling and truly memorable engagement ceremony and discover the finer things the hotel has to offer from ideal event venues, authentic Chinese dishes, excellent service and more.

For a grand fête, the Diamond Ballroom with its impressive design, new golden chandeliers and resounding space, grants the perfect avenue to commence the merriment. The pre-function area with a refreshing view of the poolside during the day and a romantic setting by night, provides an area for registration and cocktails.

When an intimate celebration requires an elegant but smaller venue, the Constellation function room provides a cozy spot at the 27th floor. Adding to the ambiance of the place is the breathtaking view of the Manila cityscape and the sunset that guests may enjoy.

When it comes to food, a selection of exquisite Chinese lauriat menu packages are available. Authentic Chinese culinary masterpieces, meticulously prepared by Chinese Sous Chef Yang Yong, are sure to impress the guests’ refined taste. Celebrate in abundance and indulge in some of Chef Yong’s specialties, such as Triple Cooked Crab with Beehon, Steamed Garupa in Hong Kong Style Sauce and Braised Sliced Abalone with Sea Cucumber and Broccoli in Abalone Sauce.

The Chinese Engagement “Ting Hun” Package entails a choice from three Chinese lauriat menus with an array of special inclusions. Symbolizing love and marriage, the couple may share the double happiness cake with their family and friends. As part of the special tradition, misua, sweet soup and sweet tea are included for the engagement rights. Tick off some of the to-do and must-have items like looking for flower suppliers as floral arrangement per table, including the cake and registration table, will be provided.

For inquiries and reservations, e-mail events@diamondhotel.com.

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