BusinessMirror November 06, 2018

P25 HIKE ORDER BY METRO MANILA WAGE BOARD BRINGS DAILY MINIMUM TO P537

By Samuel P. Medenilla & Cai U. Ordinario

@sam_medenilla @cuo_bm

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HREE regional wage boards, including the Regional Tripartite Productivity and Wages Board-National Capital Region (RTPWB-NCR), have issued new wage orders ranging from P10 to P25 across different sectors in the regions, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on Monday.

Both labor groups and employers quickly assailed the orders: the first, calling the amount too small, and the second, saying it will crimp business and erode the country’s competitiveness.

As of the end of October, the DOLE said 16 of the 17 Regional Boards have already issued new wage orders, granting increases in the current minimum-wage rates ranging from P9 to P56.

LABOR Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III flanked by Executive Director Maria Criselda Sy of the NCR Wages and Productivity Board and Labor Undersecretary Claro A. Arellano, announces the newly approved Metro Manila wage hike of P25. ROY DOMINGO

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

Only the Regional Board of Caraga (Region 13) has yet to issue but is expected to come out with one once its current wage order reaches its anniversary date on December 8, 2018.

In a press briefing, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said minimum-wage earners in Metro Manila will receive an additional P25, making the minimum salary from P512 to P537 in the nonagriculture sector.

“Last October 30, the NCR Regional Board approved a P25 basic wage increase and integration of its existing P10 cost of living allowance [Cola]. Upon effectivity of Wage Order NCR-22, the new minimum-wage rates in Metro Manila shall be P500 to P537 across different sectors,” he said.

Economists weigh in LOCAL economists believe the P25 wage hike was too small to affect the competitiveness of the country’s labor force against other workers in the Asean but would be enough to increase commodity prices anew.

See “P25 hike,” A2

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

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Tuesday, November 6, 2018 Vol. 14 No. 27

‘Higher pay makes PHL less business-friendly’

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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

HE Philippines is bound to further lose its competitiveness against its Southeast Asian neighbors with the approval of a P25 wage hike for workers based in the country’s capital, employers warned on Monday.

See “Higher pay,” A8

Among our [Southeast Asian] neighbors, the Philippines already has the highest minimum-wage rate, with the exception of Singapore, Thailand and Brunei [Darussalam], whose economies are far better than the Philippines.

[This will] impact on the ease and cost of doing business.”—Ecop

I

P27.56 billion in the same month last year. The BOI is scheduled to release a breakdown of the investment pledges this week, according to the source.

The BOI is targeting to obtain P680 billion in investment pledges this year, which will be the agency’s best figure, if ever, after an alltime high of P617 billion last year.

Investment officials are bullish registrations will grow in the next months, with the expected issuance soon of the implementing rules and regulations of the Ease of Doing Business law.

Meanwhile, the BOI is introducing the Strategic Investment Priorities Plan to different provinces and industries in preparation for the looming reduction of corporate income tax and rationalization of tax incentives.

See “BOI-listed,” A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 53.5270

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

P25.00 nationwide | 4 sections 20 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

Election spending to offset ‘slowdown’ Manny B. Villar

THE ENTREPRENEUR

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ANY fear economic growth in the Philippines will slow down this year and the next because of higher local inflation and the global market volatilities touched off by the brewing US-China trade war and the Middle East geopolitics. Economic analysts are almost one in saying that the gross domestic product (GDP), while still expanding, will grow at a slower pace and certainly miss the government target range of 7 percent to 8 percent.

Continued on A6

BOI-listed investments grew 26% to ₧515B in 10 months–source

NVESTMENTS registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) expanded 26 percent to P515 billion from January to October, the BusinessMirror learned from a highly reliable source.

With this, the BOI is seen to be on track to hit its P680-billion target for this year. Commitments to the agency after 10 months grew 26 percent to P515 billion, from P408 billion during the same period last year.

The source also said the increase was largely brought about by investment pledges in heavy m a nu fact u r i ng. However, he pointed out there was a decrease in the number of fresh projects that entered the country from January to October.

Investments in October most likely amounted to P60 billion, up by nearly 118 percent from

2017 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

PHL is top performing manufacturing nation again

By Bianca Cuaresma

A ROSITA DIDN’T DO THIS Residents of low-lying towns near Magat Dam in Isabela were stunned last week by the sudden wall of water that came rampaging their way after Typhoon Rosita had exited. The waters, it turned out, were released from seven spill gates of the dam on orders of the National Irrigation Administration. However, residents of low-lying towns like San Mateo, Aurora and Roxas, all in Isabela, claimed they were not warned of the man-made catastrophe as roads and bridges were washed out by the devastating flood. The NIA has so far failed to respond to media queries on what really happened. CEASAR M. PERANTE

@BcuaresmaBM

S manufacturing conditions in Southeast Asia deteriorate for the first time in 2018, the Philippine manufacturing sector has bucked the trend with a solid increase in its performance in September.

Sharp rises in output and new orders strengthened the Philippines’s Purchasing Managers’ Index to hit a 10-month high in October at 54, from the 52 PMI in September.

The PMI is a composite index aimed to gauge the health of the country’s manufacturing sector. It is calculated as a weighted average of five individual subcomponents.

See “PHL,” A2

n JAPAN 0.4730 n UK 69.8153 n HK 6.8474 n CHINA 7.7722 n SINGAPORE 39.0338 n AUSTRALIA 38.4538 n EU 61.0315 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.2705

Source: BSP (5 November 2018 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, November 6, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DOH pushes higher tobacco tax to boost UHC funding

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By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco | Correspondent

HE Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday it is pushing for higher tobacco taxes as part of a continuing program to make better health-care services available to more Filipinos through the universal health care (UHC) bill.

Certified as urgent for discussion, the UHC bill passed third reading in the upper and lower houses on October 10. Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” G. Ejercito is the main sponsor of the Senate Bill 1896 or the UHC, certified as urgent by President Duterte.

While this is a cause for celebration for the DOH, there is still a need for increasing taxes on “sin” products such as tobacco.

“A recent Pulse Asia Ulat ng Bayan survey in September this year reveals a 67-percent public approval for increased tobacco

₧25 hike. . .

Continued from A1

Unionbank Chief economist Ruben Carlo Asuncion said despite the P25 increase in wages, the Philippine labor force remains competitive in the Asean, especially now with the ChinaUS trade war.

Asuncion said some China-based firms are already studying the possibility of moving to the Philippines, especially in light of the US-China trade war. These firms, he said would rather not deal with additional tariffs imposed by the US. “I’m sure they are looking at competitive advantages and our labor is definitely more competitive than others in the region. These are some of the probable positive results of the said trade war,” Asuncion said. “[The] P25 [increase] is minimal. This may not be at all inflationary at all. The increase is comparable to other previous increases in the past.”

However, Emilio S. Neri Jr., lead economist of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Cid Terosa, dean of the University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics, agreed that the wage increase will be inflationary.

Nonetheless, Terosa said, that the wage increase will not be enough to raise the purchasing power of minimum-wage workers. This increase in purchasing power will require the government to “create a stable price environment by implementing measures to curb further price increases.”

“It means it will take a bit more time before inflation returns to target. Our latest estimate is it will happen in the middle of 2019,” Neri said.

taxes among its respondents. This means that 2 out of 3 Filipinos agree that cigarette taxes should be increased,” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said.

The survey also highlighted that 64 percent will vote for electoral candidates who will endorse higher taxes for tobacco products, the health chief explained.

In the same Ulat ng Bayan report, the DOH’s approval rating increased to 79 percent from 78 percent in June 2018, which is the secondhighest approval rating among national government agencies.

Terosa and Action for Economic Reform (AER) Coordinator Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III agreed that competitiveness means more than labor costs. Terosa said it was linked to skill level while Sta. Ana said it was linked to productivity.

Terosa said skilled Filipino workers are competitive against their Asean counterparts, while unskilled Filipino workers are not competitive in the region.

Sta. Ana said high productivity is needed to increase competitiveness.

However, while productivity of the local labor force is increasing, wage increases are too small to compensate for this increase.

He said the recent P25 increase in wages was merely an inflation adjustment rather than a real increase. “[The] rise in productivity outstrips rise in wage. So attention should be given to productivity-based wage increases as well,” Sta. Ana said.

Militant labor REACTING to the wage order, militant labor leader Leody de Guzman lashed out at Bello and the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB). De Guzman, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) chairman, called it “contemptibly unreasonable” considering that productivity was at record breaking levels in 2017, as reported by Forbes Magazine. “ The order of the NCR wage board, which was openly supported

by DOLE Secretary Bello, did not lift minimum wages from starvation levels. Hence, it is a death warrant for 4 million working class families, who would have to wait for another year for the next round of wage orders. Their order condemned

PHL. . .

Continued from A1

Readings above the 50 threshold signal a growth in the manufacturing sector, while readings below 50 show deterioration in the industry.

The country’s PMI soared during the month despite reports of lower export demand, the sharp uptick in selling prices, and longer delivery times.

“Survey data from manufacturing firms indicated a boost in client demand in October. Total new orders rose at the fastest rate in five months, although new export orders declined.

As a result, firms raised their output sharply, seeing a marked upturn in the pace of expansion from September,” the report read.

“Firms also increased their purchasing activity substantially in October, after only modest expansions in recent months.

Roughly one-third of businesses raised input purchases, in line with higher or-

₧164.04B

Taking into account the existing budget, the estimated gap that must be filled in order to fund the requirements of the universal health care law “This is a marked improvement from where we were in March 2018 at 73 percent,” Duque said. From the same survey, only 5 percent disapprove of the department’s performance, while 16 percent are undecided.

The positive effects of the sin tax go beyond revenue generation, stressed the DOH. With higher prices of tobacco products, people will be less inclined to smoke, fewer people will get sick from smokingrelated illnesses, and less expenses will be incurred on account of health care.

Estimates show that if tobacco taxes are pegged at P90, around 1 million tobacco-attributable deaths could be averted. us to another year of misery amid forecasts of continuing price hikes and economic slowdown in the coming year,” He argued that Bello and other labor officials deliberately did not consider the capacity to pay of employers as productivity increased. Forbes Magazine recently reported that the per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) reached $2,891.36 in 2017, which he claimed is remarkably exceptional given that our average for the period 1960-2017 is only $1,627.98.

“Such wage order only fortifies our belief that employers and government officials are in cahoots to cheapen the price of labor, as they both squeeze taxes and profits out of the value-added created by the working class,” added de Guzman, who is seeking a Senate seat in the 2019 polls.

The BMP supported the petition of the group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines for a P334 wage hike during the consultations held by the RTWPB, but insisted that wage hikes should be coupled with policy reforms, particularly price control, so that pay hikes would not be used as an excuse for further increasing in the prices of basic commodities, which are expected to spike during the yuletide season.

NCR board order BASED on the NCR wage board order, the P25 salary adjustment also covered those in the retail/service establishments employing 15 workers or less and manufacturing establishments regularly employing less than 10 workers, the new minimum-wage rate would be P500 from the current P475 (+P25).

Records showed that so far, the

der book volumes. Consequently, stocks of purchases rose solidly,” it added.

Among blocks to growth, however, were longer lead times for the third month in a row, as panelists linked this to the ongoing port congestion at Manila. Longer customs checks and recent weather conditions were also noted.

Inflation was also still a burden for manufacturers, as selling prices raised at the sharpest rate seen since the start of the survey in 2016.

“Businesses continued to feel the burden of higher raw material costs, the TRAIN laws and a weakening peso. The recent trend suggests that price pressures are unlikely to relent in the coming months,” IHS Markit economist David Owen said.

“The survey also pointed to an impact from the recent port congestion at Manila, as delivery times worsened considerably in October. Nevertheless, manufacturers continued to stay on top of order volumes, with backlogs of work falling for the 32nd consecutive

Smoking prevalence could also be reduced from 21.6 percent of the population down to a target of 15.7 percent, which, according to Duque, is in line with “our noncommunicable diseases targets for 2025.”

Available funding for UHC implementation is being discussed by concerned stakeholders, identifying several fund sources for pooling and consolidation. Estimates show that in the first year of implementation, around P257 billion will be needed to introduce the reforms.

Taking into account the existing budget, the funding gap is estimated to be around P164.04 billion.

Additional revenues from the proposed increase in tobacco taxes are seen as important means to lessen the funding gaps.

“It gives us great satisfaction that our relentless effort in the DOH to achieve UHC is appreciated and felt. As we labor to pursue UHC and fight for higher tobacco taxes, we are motivated by the trust by our fellow Filipinos, which, in turn, drives us to work harder and achieve more,” the health chief concluded. highest wage hike given to workers in Metro Manila was P30 in 2012.

Meanwhile, wage boards in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) and 4B (Mimaropa) also issued new wage orders raising daily minimum wage from P10 to P20.

In Region 2, the board approved a P10 per basic wage increase and P10 per day Cola on October 22. Upon the effectivity of wage order RTWPB 02-19, the new daily minimum-wage rates will range from P320 to P360, across different sectors.

For workers in Region 4B, a P12 to P20 per day basic wage increase was approved by the board, bringing the new daily minimum wage to P283 to P320 across different sectors upon effectivity of wage order RB-Mimaropa-09.

The wage adjustments will be effective 15 days from its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

Palace backs order MALACAÑANG said it supports the decision by the Metro Manila wage board to hike the minimum wage in the area

by P25 to aid workers to cope with the rising prices.

In a press briefing on Monday, Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said the additional wage for Metro Manila workers could be enough to help them cope with the rising prices.

“Well, there’s been a deliberation on the wage board; and apparently, that’s the decision. So let’s see,” Panelo said.

“Perhaps as of—presently, that is what they found out, that’s enough. But I guess it’s always subject to change, depending on the economic conditions,” Panelo added. With reports by Jasper Em-

manuel Y. Arcalas and PNA

month,” he added.

Top of the pack

THE Philippines’s strong performance during the month earned its manufacturing sector the top spot in the region’s rankings.

The Philippines, in particular, had the highest PMI in October at 54 followed by Vietnam at 53.9. Indonesia was third at 50.5.

Four other countries, however, reported a contraction in manufacturing during the month as their recorded PMIs hit below 50.

Malaysia’s PMI, in particular, hit 49.2, while Thailand’s was at 48.9. Myanmar’s was at 48, while Singapore was the worst performer of the month at 43.3.

This brought the average PMI of the region to 49.8 in October, falling form the 50.5 in September.

The index reading was the lowest recorded in 15 months and marked the first time since December 2017 that the PMI has posted below the 50 threshold.

Neda: ‘Baby steps’ will cause big leap in FDI next year

By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm

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HE approval of the 11th Regular Foreign Investment Negative List (RFINL) is expected to boost the country’s foreign direct investments (FDI) next year, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

In a briefing on Monday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said the issuance of Executive Order 65, or the 11th RFINL, is expected to bring in more FDI as early as the last quarter of the year.

As it is, Pernia said the country is already poised to exceed its FDI target of $9.2 billion this year, as foreign investments attracted by the country in the January-toJuly period have already reached $6.7 billion.

As of September, data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) showed that the government has approved around P37 billion worth of FDI. The figure is 196 percent higher than the P12.5 billion recorded a year ago.

“We expect the total for the year to be greater than that of last year. And this is even without the liberalization yet. Because it will take time for this easing and lifting of restrictions to take hold, to be absorbed by the foreign investor community,” Pernia said.

“I think next year we should see some fruition in terms of foreign investor interest in coming here to invest. So, if there are investors waiting in the wings for this thing, who have been waiting in the wings, November or December is their window [invest],” he added.

The Neda’s legal department said issuances, such as the RFINL, would take less than a month to take effect.

It also said the new rules could take effect 15 days after the contents of the RFINL are published in a newspaper of general circulation.

Since there was still room to adjust foreign participation under the RFINL, Pernia said the government does not want to wait for another two years to start working on opening up other sectors of the country’s economy.

He said there are already a number of laws that are being amended to usher in more FDI into the country. One such bill is the amendment to the Public Service Act of 1930, which seeks to redefine the meaning of public services. Once amended, the new law will allow greater participation in areas such as telecommunication.

“These are really marginal improvements. I call these baby steps to improving our attractiveness to FDI. So we need a lot more work in terms of getting more areas and

Fish stock. . .

activities liberalized. That is the desire of the economic managers and that is what is needed to be competitive in Asean,” Pernia said.

“I want to encourage our legislators. The President also wants to encourage our legislators to liberalize some more. So we don’t have to wait for the next round of revision to this 11th FINL. That can be done in the meantime. When there’s political will to change our investment milieu more attractive,” he added.

Under the 11th RFINL, the government now allows 100-percent foreign ownership in “Internet businesses” which, the Neda earlier said, included Internet service providers in the provinces; professions that foreigners are allowed to practice subject to reciprocity; and teaching at higher education level where passing the board or bar is not required.

Foreigners are also allowed to fully own short-term high-level skills development that does not form part of the hierarchical structure of the formal educational system excluded from educational institutions and wellness centers.

However, no foreign participation is allowed in professions such as marine deck and engine officers. Foreign participation in adjustment, lending and financing companies, as well as investment houses have been deleted following Republic Act (RA) 10881, or the amended Insurance Code.

The government also allowed more foreign ownership in contracts for the construction and repair of locally funded public works and private radio communications network.

The Neda is tasked to review and revise the country’s RFINL, which contains restrictions on foreign investments and the practice of professions based on the Constitution and Philippine laws.

The RFINL contains investme nt a re a s/ac t iv it ies w he re 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.

Continued from A8

Like the past and existing protected areas, fish ban, and closed season, FMA will further deprive municipal fishers of their traditional fishing grounds,” said Fernando Hicap, national chairman of Pamalakaya.

“While the BFAR plans a massive rehabilitation drive of fishing waters through FMA, its director, on the other hand, is encouraging a harmonization between municipal fishers and commercial fishing vessels that incessantly exploit and destroy the resources in

BOI-listed. . .

Continued from A8

“Investor confidence in the country remains high. The Philippines continues to attract more investments because the economy is strong enough to withstand challenges on both the domestic and international fronts,” Trade Secretary and

the municipal waters. This is not revival but furthering the exploitation and monopolization in disguise.

We urge Director Eduardo Gongona not to use the issue of fish importation to justify the declaration of FMAs because it was them who chose the path of this liberalization policy when we can actually strengthen our local production by capacitating and supporting the livelihood of small fisherfolk,” he added.

BOI Chairman Ramon M. Lopez said in a statement in September.

Approved foreign direct investments also accelerated to P37 billion as of September, up by 196 percent from the P12.5 billion during the same period last year. The British Virgin Islands is the top source of FDI at P15.2 billion, followed by Indonesia (P6.4 billion), Malaysia (P2.9 billion), Japan (P2.6 billion) and China (P1 billion). Elijah Felice E. Rosales

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, November 6, 2018 A3

Arroyo: Nograles valuable addition to Duterte Cabinet

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OUSE Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday congratulated Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei B. Nograles on his appointment as the new Cabinet secretary. Arroyo said Nograles, who chaired the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, would be a “valuable” addition to the Duterte Cabinet.

“My congratulations to the new Cabinet secretary, Karlo Nograles.

I am sure he will do very well in his new position, and that he will be a valuable member of the President’s team. I wish him all the best,” Arroyo said in a message sent to House reporters.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo on Monday confirmed Nograles’s appointment as the Cabinet secretary, saying the latter “enjoys the trust and confidence” of the President.

Panelo said President Duterte chose Nograles to replace Leoncio B. Evasco Jr. as early as two weeks ago.

Evasco had resigned to run for governor of Bohol province in the 2019 midterm polls.

Nograles is serving his third and last term as Davao representative.

Nograles dropped his senatorial bid for the upcoming 2019 midterm elections, saying he would instead support other senatorial hopefuls from Mindanao belonging to the administration slate.

In a separate news statement, Nograles thanked Duterte for the opportunity to serve his Cabinet, saying that he hoped to be able to aid efforts to push the administration’s development agenda.

Nograles was serving his third term as the representative of the first district of Davao when he was tapped by the President.

“I thank President Duterte for welcoming me to his Cabinet. As a

Palace assures full cooperation in Senate ‘BBB’ projects probe

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ALACAÑANG has assured it is ready to cooperate with a possible Senate probe into the anticipated mass displacement of residents from two of the administration’s flagship projects in Metro Manila under its “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.

Detained Sen. Leila M. de Lima recently filed Senate Resolution 927 seeking an investigation into the P23-billion North Luzon ExpresswaySouth Luzon Expressway Connector Road Project and the P171-billion North-South Commuter Railway Project.

Both projects, she said, are expected to displace 180,000 families from 38 affected communities in the National Capital Region.

Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said de Lima’s concerns were already addressed during the preliminary planning of the two projects.

Nevertheless, he said, concerned Cabinet officials will still attend any forthcoming Senate hearing.

“We expect our relevant heads [of departments] to attend the hearing, if and when they are called as resource persons, not only as a courtesy to a coequal branch of the government but also to inform the public that these projects are definitely in order,” Panelo said in a news statement issued on Sunday evening.

Panelo questioned the timing and intention of de Lima in raising the issue with only a few months before the 2019 elections.

He said the Palace hopes the Senate probe is not politically motivated and merely aimed to discredit the administration.

“We only hope that this inquiry initiated by the lady senator is truly in aid of legislation and not for political grandstanding purposes only, as she has the habit of doing,” Panelo said.

“Election season has arrived and with the President’s ratings remaining high, the political opposition’s recourse is to score political brownie points by foisting demolition and relocation, both gut issues on the part of the urban poor, to attack the President,” he added. Samuel P. Medenilla

Makati slates mega job fair on Nov. 9

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AKATI City Mayor Abby Binay on Monday announced that the city government will hold its 2nd Mega Job Fair for the year on November 9 from 10 a.m. onward at the Activity Center, second level of Ayala Malls in Circuit Makati.

In a news statement, the mayor encouraged job seekers, both Makati residents and nonresidents, to participate in the event, which will offer a variety of employment opportunities to everyone, including persons with disability (PWDs).

“The job fair is open to Makatizens and all job seekers. There is no age limit, and persons with disability are also welcome to apply, as we have some partner-companies who have expressed their desire to hire PWD applicants, including the deaf-mute,” Mayor Abby said.

The mayor thanked the participating firms and establishments for supporting the efforts of the city government to create more employment opportunities for all, especially Makati residents.

“We gratefully appreciate the staunch support of our partners in the private sector for one of our major thrusts toward promoting inclusive progress in Makati,” Mayor Abby said.

Based on her directive, the Makati Public Employment Service Office (PESO) has also made arrangements to provide free printing and photocopying services to applicants at the job fair.

“Applicants may bring their flash drive and have their resume or biodata printed out and photocopied for free at the activity venue,” PESO chief Vissia Marie Aldon said.

Aldon said companies that have confirmed their participation in the mega job fair include George Optical, Samjin Amook, Mi Department Store, The Burgery Inc., Torch Circuit Lane, Fox Box, China Bank, Regalong Pambahay, Rustans SuperCenter Inc, Uniqlo, Bench, Dunkin Donuts, Andok’s Letchon, Nail-A-Holics and Mirof Resources Inc. Also on the list are More Than Jobs, Group Perspective Inc., CNT, Guill Berns, Rackshack Circuit Makati, BFL Bookstore, Market Place Christian Church Transport & Multi-Purpose Cooperative, Philippine Survey Research Center, Receivers and Liquidators, Serenitea and Mesa Restaurant, among others.

Similar to previous job fairs held by the city, national government agencies involved in providing employment-related services will also participate and extend their services to jobseekers.

These include the Department of Labor and Employment, Government Insurance Service System, Pag-IBIG and PhilHealth.

fellow Mindanaoan, I hope to contribute to government efforts to bring development to the regions through different programs that place an emphasis on providing more economic opportunities outside Metro Manila,” said Nograles, who took his oath on Monday.

As Cabinet secretary, Nograles will head the Cabinet Secretariat, which, under Executive Order (EO) 67, is tasked to assist the President “in the establishment of agenda topics for Cabinet deliberation” and

“facilitate the discussion of Cabinet meetings.”

EO 67 also states that the Cabinet Secretariat “shall serve as the head secretariat of the different Cabinet Cluster secretariats” and shall “participate in the National Economic and Development Authority Board and committee meetings.”

Nograles is a lawyer who obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo School of Law. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in management engineering from the Ateneo de

Manila after attending high school in the main campus of the Philippine Science High School in Quezon City.

Nograles won his first election as congressman in 2010, and was re-elected in 2013 and 2016. Aside from serving as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in the 17th Congress—he also served as chairman of the House Committee on Labor and Employment during the 16th Congress.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz and PNA

A4 Tuesday, November 6, 2018 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

Monsoon rains, typhoons to cut 2018 rice-paddy output by 3.5%

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

W

@jearcalas

EATHER disturbances may cut total ricepaddy output in 2018 by 3.5 percent to 18.6 million metric tons, from a record high of 19.28 MMT in 2017, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said that monsoon rains, or habagat, and typhoons have caused significant damage to the local rice sector, which he likened to a boxing match.

“Like in boxing, it’s a nonstop corner to corner [punches] from four habagat in Central Luzon, then we had [typhoon] Ompong and then [typhoon] Rosita,” he said in a radio interview on Monday morning.

“We are expecting that palay production to decline by 800,000 metric tons. That’s a sizable volume. We will not be able to achieve our target production,” he added.

The DA is eyeing another record-high harvest this year of about 19.4 MMT. However, the agency has been lukewarm in achieving its target after typhoon Ompong damaged P26.77 billion worth of produce in Northern Luzon farms last month.

Typhoon Ompong reportedly destroyed around 600,000 MT of palay, while initial damage assessment by the DA showed that Rosita has damaged nearly 94,000 MT of paddy as of November 4.

“The area of Cagayan Valley, Isabela, Nueva Viz-

caya, Quirino and Nueva Ecija are major rice production areas. These are not ordinary production areas,” Piñol said.

Prior to Ompong’s onslaught, the DA projected a second semester unmilled-rice output of about 10.2 MMT. However, with the recent typhoon damages, production may settle around the 10MMT output level.

Damage

THE DA said total damage to the farm sector by Rosita has already reached P2.34 billion with an estimated volume loss of about 120,500 MT in over 98,413 hectares.

Typhoon Rosita affected 20,290 farmers and fisherfolk in Cordillera Administrative Region, Regions 1, 2 and 3, according to the DA’s initial damage assessment report.

Rice farmers lost 93,895 MT of palay, valued at P1.85 billion, planted on 81,135 hectares. At least 5,348 rice farmers were affected by Rosita, according to the DA. Farmers who planted high-value crops, including coffee, vegetables and fruit trees lost 24,235 MT of production valued at P374.5 million. Initial estimates from the DA showed that 7,851 such farmers had planted these crops on 7,463 hectares. Damage to the corn sector was estimated at P83.18 million, with 2,371 MT of production volume losses in 9,815 hectares.

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Gatchalian says diesel import plan not best option to help PUJ drivers

By Lenie Lectura & Butch Fernandez

@llectura @butchfBM

A

LAWMAKER on Monday urged the Philippine National Oil Co.Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) Board to shelve its plan to import some P2 billion worth of diesel from Singapore, saying this may not be the best solution to alleviate the plight of publicutility jeepney (PUJ) drivers struggling to cope with rising fuel prices.

“I understand that we have a common goal and that is to help ease the burden of our jeepney drivers, who are actually one of the most vulnerable sectors to fluctuations in pump prices,” Senate Energy Committee head Sherwin T. Gatchalian said.

He added: “However, I do not believe that the PNOC-EC plan is the best solution to the problem since there is no guarantee that the cheap fuel will reach the PUJ drivers.”

To illustrate his point, the senator explained that 179,852 legitimate

PUJ franchise holders nationwide need at least 161.1 million liters of diesel a month to fuel their operations. However, PNOC-EC said it plans to import 50,000 MT per month, which is only equivalent to 50 million liters of diesel or just over 31 percent of the monthly demand for diesel.

Gatchalian also contended that there is no assurance that PUJ drivers will be able to get hold of the cheap diesel since not all gasoline stations will participate in the program. According to PNOC-EC, the distribution of the imported fuel shall only be done “through smaller oil companies and other bulk buyers.” Data from the Department of Energy show that independent oil players operate only 3,051 of the total 8,630 gas stations nationwide.

“It appears that a lot more PUJ drivers will be on the losing deal with the implementation of this plan because not everyone could be able avail [themselves] of cheap diesel under the program. Let’s

also consider the limitation of monitoring the so-called leakage or the nonqualified beneficiaries in the gasoline stations. Let’s undertake a deeper study if this program will truly benefit the jeepney drivers,” he said in Filipino.

Instead of engaging in the direct importation of cheap diesel, Gatchalian said the government should step up its efforts to fully implement the Pantawid Pasada Program.

“The Department of Energy and PNOC-EC should abandon the plan to engage in the direct importation of diesel and instead focus their energy and resources on a targeted system, such the Pantawid Pasada, which will truly benefit our PUJ drivers,” Gatchalian said.

He vowed to fight for the P20,000 cash aid for jeepney drivers under the Pantawid Pasada Program for 2019, as gover nment economic managers said they might reduce it to P10,000, amid the looming fuel tax hike suspension.

BCDA chief vows no more delay in Clark airport’s O&M bidding The Copenhagen Declaration–Stand together for peace, security and development

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L A R K , Pampanga—Bases Conversion and Developme nt Aut hor it y ( B C DA ) President Vivencio B. Dizon has assured that there will be no more delays on the auction for the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the Clark International Airport.

This comes after the agency an-

nounced the rescheduling of the bidding for the O&M for the Clark airport to Friday. It was originally scheduled on Monday, November 5.

Bids will be opened on the same day.

“There was the matter of fixing the bid documents, so we moved the submission to Friday. I promise, there will be no more exten-

sions,” Dizon said in Filipino. He did not elaborate, explaining that the details are “with the bids and awards committee.”

Under the P5.61-billion deal, the winning bidder will take over the “operations and maintenance of the existing and the proposed new passenger terminal buildings.” Lorenz S. Marasigan

By Henry J. Schumacher

A

S we in the Integrity Initiative Inc. (III) have focused on fighting corruption for 18 years now (we started the Integrity Initiative as a cooperation between the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Makati Business Club in 2010), it makes sense to look at the results of the 18th International AntiCorruption Conference (IACC) in Copenhagen in October this year.

The IACC, organized by Transparency International, brought together more than 1,800 delegates from civil society, governments, multilateral agencies and the private sector from 144 countries.

As an anti-corruption movement, the participants left this conference stronger, more determined and more motivated to take action.

The participants see themselves as a global force that will not be silenced.

For three days, ideas and experiences were exchanged. Although there has been progress around the world, participants were deeply concerned that the foundations of democracy and the rule of law are under threat in many countries.

Today, the world is witnessing the erosion of good governance and sharp increases in human-rights violations and violence. The role of civil society is also being impeded by repressive governments.

The rise of authoritarianism, in the guise of populist regimes, threatens all those who defend social justice regardless of the country, region or continent. Across the globe, hundreds of activists, investigative journalists and whistleblowers are intimidated, attacked and killed every year simply for doing their jobs: exposing corruption, opposing authoritarianism and speaking truth to power. Recent assassinations of those working to expose corruption and organized crime reminded participants how dangerous investigating corrupt deals has become.

The participants came up with the following declaration: This conference has heard many voices from around the world, and we are unanimous in our com-

mitment to collaborate, build coalitions and unite so we can act together to end impunity for the corrupt.

We recognize that the policies, the laws and conventions to stop corruption exist. Countries and the business community must effectively implement their existing anti-corruption obligations, and must provide the resources needed to enforce anti-corruption laws and allow institutions to operate independently. Now is the time to act.

Citizens must be empowered to play a significant role in exposing and combating corruption when they encounter it. We must collectively engage and empower communities to deter corruption and hold those in power to account. In order for the fight against corruption to be sustainable, young people must be engaged and empowered.

As a movement we must protect the space for civil society, protect civil liberties and defend human rights, all under increased attack globally. We call on governments to protect civil society and its role in exposing and confronting corruption and engaging citizens.

We acknowledge the critical role that activists, investigative journalists and whistle-blowers play in uncovering corruption.

Governments and society must protect activists and investigative journalists from intimidation and violence, simply for doing their job of exposing corruption.

We recognize that gendered corruption, including sextortion, is an aggravated type of corruption that deepens gender inequality, hinders the empowerment of women and constitutes a clear violation of human rights. New and disaggregated data on the impact of corruption on women is urgently needed. Gender perspectives should be mainstreamed in anti-corruption public policy design, implementation and monitoring.

Money laundering and illicit financial flows fuel environmental crimes, trafficking in drugs, arms and people. We recommend additional measures be taken to prevent the laundering of the proceeds of corruption and stem illicit financial flows, including cross-border collaboration. We have to ensure corrupt individuals cannot hide behind anonymous companies to stash their ill-gotten funds abroad.

The private sector is an increasingly important and active part in the fight against corruption. While some companies have improved corporate governance and compliance, we urge all companies to take a zero-tolerance policy toward bribery and corruption. The private sector must operate in a more transparent and accountable manner, including publishing the identity of the real beneficial owners of their companies and subsidiaries.

The Sustainable Development Goals articulate the aspirations of billions of citizens around the planet. Development is inextricably linked to peace. While all 17 Goals are vital, Goal 16, which promotes peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, particularly independent judiciary and courts, is a prerequisite for achieving all the other goals.

Tax evasion robs the treasuries of national governments, undermines sustainable development, penalizes the law abiding and disadvantages the poor. We support the implementation of commitments to prevent tax evasion.

We recognize the growing erosion of trust in institutions, and the growing cynicism and disillusionment in democratic processes.

We shall work harder to ensure that political financing is more accountable, and restore trust in good governance by ending impunity for illicit money in politics. The holding of public office is not a right, it is a privilege. Those that hold public office must hold themselves to a higher standard of conduct, and should be obliged to disclose their financial dealings.”

The government and the people of South Korea will welcome the global anti-corruption movement and will host the 19th IACC in 2020.

Feedback is welcome—please contact me at Schumacher@eitsc.com.

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Tuesday, November 6, 2018 A5

Iran president warns of ‘war situation’

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EHRAN, Iran—Iran greeted the reimposition of US sanctions on Monday with air defense drills and an acknowledgement from President Hassan Rouhani that the nation faces a “war situation,” raising Mideast tensions as America’s maximalist approach to the Islamic Republic takes hold.

The sanctions end all the economic benefits America granted Tehran for its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, though Iran for now continues to abide by the accord that saw it limit its enrichment of uranium. While for now not threatening to resume higher enrichment, Iranian officials in recent months have made a point to threaten that could resume at any time faster than before.

The new American sanctions particularly hurt Iran’s vital oil industry, a crucial source of hard currency for its anemic economy.

Its national currency has plummeted over the last year, sending

prices for everything from mobile phones to medicine skyrocketing.

“Today, Iran is able to sell its oil, and it will sell,” Rouhani vowed on Monday as the sanctions kicked in.

Iranian state television aired footage of air defense systems and anti-aircraft batteries in two-day military maneuvers underway across a vast stretch of the country’s north.

T he d r i l l was to cont inue through Tuesday. Iranian army Gen. Habibillah Sayyari said both the national army and the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard were taking part in the exercise.

Rouhani, meanwhile, pledged to government officials in comments aired on state TV that Iran would overcome the sanctions.

“We are in the war situation,” Rouhani said. “We are in the economic war situation. We are confronting a bullying enemy. We have to stand to win.”

Iran is already in the grip of an economic crisis. Its national currency, the rial, now trades at 145,000 to one US dollar, down from when it traded 40,500 to $1 a year ago. The economic chaos sparked mass anti-government protests at the end of last year, which resulted in nearly 5,000 reported arrests and at least 25 people being killed. Sporadic demonstrations still continue.

The United States says the sanctions are not aimed at toppling the government, but at persuading it to radically change its policies, including its support for regional militant groups and its development of long-range ballistic missiles.

However, President Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton, the president’s national security adviser, both have made public statements supporting overthrowing Iran’s theocratic government.

Israel’s Defense Minister Avig-

DEMONSTRATORS chant slogans during an annual rally in front of the former US Embassy in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday, to mark the 39th anniversary of the seizure of the embassy by militant Iranian students. Thousands of Iranians rallied in Tehran on Sunday to mark the anniversary as Washington restored all sanctions lifted under the nuclear deal. AP PHOTO/VAHID SALEMI

dor Lieberman welcomed the newly restored US sanctions in a tweet on Monday, saying they will deal a “critical blow” to Iran’s military presence around the Middle East.

The Trump administration’s decision to restore sanctions “is the sea change the Middle East has been waiting for,” he said.

Israel has been a fierce op-

ponent of the 2015 nuclear deal from which the US withdrew in May, saying the accord failed to rein in Iran’s regional military threat. AP

Indonesia, Australia China’s Xi promises market opening sign new economic S cooperation accord C ANBERRA, Australia—Indonesian and Australian ministers signed an agreement to strengthen government economic exchanges on Monday as the neighboring countries work toward forging a bilateral freetrade deal.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani signed a memorandum of understanding at the Australian Parliament House that updates a framework for policy and technical exchanges between two governments that have existed for 12 years.

Indonesian and Australian officials have concluded negotiations on a free trade deal. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said last week he was confident after a meeting with Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo the free-trade deal between Australia, a nation of 25 million people, and Indonesia, a near-neighbor with more than 260 million people, would be signed within weeks.

But Turnbull also warned the govern-

ment to expect a negative reaction from Muslim-majority Indonesia if Australia follows the United States by shifting its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said last month that his Cabinet was considering making the move.

Frydenberg said he and Mulyani had discussed the free-trade deal on Monday, and “we are moving towards signing that important agreement.”

“Our ability to share ideas, share perspectives on economic, fiscal and taxation policy is absolutely critical to the close partnership that our countries share,” Frydenberg said.

Mulyani described the meeting as “very productive” and said she was confident the bilateral relationship would continue to be positive and strong.

“In any relationship in any country, we always have ups and downs, but of what we can be very certain is that the relationship between many of the individual policy-makers is always robust,” Mulyani said. AP

Crude extends decline as US defends Iran oil waivers

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IL extended its decline to a sixth day as the United States defended the temporary waivers given to eight nations to keep buying Iranian crude after American sanctions against the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) producer snapped back on Monday.

Crude in New York is set for its longest losing streak in nine months after capping its worst week since February on Friday.

The US campaign to put pressure on Iran via sanctions have “had an enormous impact already,” with the Islamic Republic’s crude exports curbed by more than 1 million barrels a day, according to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.

Oil has slid from a four-year high last month as speculation grew that Washington will grant waivers on Iranian sanctions to lower pump prices ahead of the US midterm elections and as other producers among the Opec pledged to offset any supply gaps. Meanwhile, a trade war between

the world’s two biggest economies stoked concern that fuel demand will suffer even as President Donald J. Trump said he wants to reach a trade pact with China.

“Prices are taking a hit on the news of countries getting American waivers on Iranian crude purchases,” Songchil Will Yun, Seoul-based commodity analyst at Hi Investment & Futures, said by phone. “A bigger-than-expected number of nations were granted temporary waivers ahead of US midterm elections. Following the elections, there’s more downside as a lot of uncertainty remains surrounding the US-China trade war.”

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for December delivery dropped as much as 1 percent to $62.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $62.89 on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:55 p.m. in Singapore. Futures slid 6.6 percent last week. Total volume traded was about 2 percent above the 100-day average. Bloomberg News

HANGHAI—President Xi Jinping promised on Monday to open China wider to imports as he opened a high-profile trade fair meant to rebrand the country as a global customer. But he offered no response to US and European complaints about technology policy and curbs on foreign business.

The China International Import Expo is part of official efforts to defuse trade tension while resisting pressure to roll back industry plans that Washington, Europe, Japan and other governments say violate its market-opening obligations.

“It is our sincere commitment to open the Chinese market,” Xi said in a speech to a VIP audience that included Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Xi promised to “stimulate the potential to increase imports,” including by cutting costs for importers and improving consumer spending power.

Some 3,600 companies from 152 countries selling everything from Egyptian dates to German factory machinery are attending the fiveday event at a Shanghai convention center that bills itself as one of the world’s biggest buildings.

Xi’s government is emphasizing the promise of China’s growing consumer market to help defuse complaints Beijing abuses the global trading system by reneging on promises to open its industries.

Business groups complain that while Beijing is expanding imports to serve its manufacturers and consumers, it blocks access to industries, including finance and logistics. They say regulators are trying to squeeze foreign competitors out of promising fields such as information security.

Prime ministers and other senior officials of governments, including Egypt, Pakistan and Vietnam, also are attending the fair.

The United States — China’s biggest trading partner—had no plans to send a high-level envoy.

The expo is “likely not a huge benefit or attraction for US companies,” said the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, William Zarit, in an e-mail.

“Many may be attending because they think it is politically smart,” said Zarit. “However, unless some of the protectionist trade barriers currently in place are changed, it won’t make much difference either way.”

Xi made no mention of Beijing’s fight with President Donald J. Trump over Chinese plans for state-led development of technology industries. But in an indirect reference to Trump’s “America first” policies and threats of import controls, he appealed to other

governments to “jointly safeguard free trade.”

China has cut tariffs and announced other measures this year to boost imports, which rose 15.9 percent in 2017 to $1.8 trillion. AP

A6 Tuesday, November 6, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Improper land use

I

N his last State of the Nation Address, President Duterte urged senators to pass the National Land Use Act, a measure that had been approved in the House of Representatives but still pending in the Senate.

The President stressed the urgent need to put in place a national land use policy, “to address our competing land requirements for food, housing business and environmental conservation.”

He mentioned the environmental degradation that happened in Boracay, which was recently reopened to tourists, as an indication that the development of our lands should be undertaken in “a more sustainable and holistic manner.”

However, a national land use law will not just provide for proper land tenure and development of our tourism treasures. It can also help protect our flood plains from urban encroachment.

The government should not allow building in flood-prone areas. Thousands of people living in Metro Manila and other low-lying areas are vulnerable to flash floods because of unmindful concretization of drainage channels, lakebeds, streams and other water systems.

Local developers must show conclusive proof that their projects won’t worsen flooding or put people in harm’s way before they are allowed to proceed.

We have also seen what happens when streets, homes, businesses and parking lots are built near rivers that occasionally overflow. We have been warned previously, and now know through tragedies that have befallen our country, that such constructions can destroy floodways and stream channels that dissipate rushing floodwaters.

Local governments had wrongly allowed many buildings and developments to push through without considering the impact on flooding. We are not sure which flood plain rules are being used by various cities and municipalities, but surely there’s a need to change the minimum requirements developers must follow before they are allowed to build in flood plains.

The local governments cannot take a “project-by-project” approach to development. Local ordinances must be changed to reflect stricter standards. A National Land Use Act can make this happen.

Of course, not all types of development need to be banned, but certainly there has to be stricter rules limiting the density of development in sensitive areas. There has to be stricter controls on the management of water and drainage systems, as well as those limiting the removal of trees and other vegetation that help control flooding.

The United Nations has warned that rapid and unplanned urban expansion exposes cities to severe flooding and other disasters. Half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and that figure is estimated to rise 70 percent by 2050, the UN noted. Governments, countries and communities should be alarmed by the increasing flood risk and frequency of massive flooding where measures to address them are ineffective.

The Philippines is no stranger to catastrophic floods. For instance, in 2009 Tropical Storm Ondoy dumped half a month’s rainfall on Metro Manila in 24 hours. Metro Manila’s population includes millions of squatters, who were forced to flee their shantytowns lining rivers and sewers following relentless rains.

Aside from people living in makeshift homes along rivers and creeks, in constant danger of being swept away by floods, there are others living in danger zones, cities and towns that are vulnerable to landslides and flashfloods, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau’s geohazard map.

With a national land use law, the government can focus its efforts on uncontrolled urbanization, which has left many of our canals clogged with trash and our floodways and floodplains constricted by structures that should not have been allowed in the first place.

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THE ENTREPRENEUR Continued from A1

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CONOMIC fundamentals, though, are keeping the economy afloat. I will not argue about the possible lower GDP expansion in 2018, but I believe election spending next year will provide a boost to the economy, as it always does, and offset the feared “slowdown” in the economy.

Many political parties and their respective candidates for the 12 senatorial posts and local positions are expected to spend and, thus, fuel the economy in the run-up to the May 2019 elections. The election spending will come at a time when the inflation rate appears to be tapering off given the normalizing rice supply situation and amid the less volatile state of global markets.

Election spending is one nonmacroeconomic fundamental that has been lifting economic growth in the Philippines. We have seen in the last decade or so that the few years following the elections in the Philippines have resulted in credible

economic growth.

A stable political climate has ensued and complimented the robust economic growth in the past. The credibility of the 2016 presidential elections, which President Duterte handily won, inspired confidence among local and foreign businessmen.

We have witnessed how a tame inflation rate tempered interest rates in the first two-and-a-half years of the Duterte administration. The peaceful elections in 2016 and the introduction of automated counting of votes have convinced local and foreign businessmen to place more bets in the Philippines.

Are Filipinos dumb?

Lourdes M. Fernandez

John Mangun

Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Efleda P. Campos Dennis D. Estopace Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Angel R. Calso

Creative Director Chief Photographer

Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

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Election spending to offset ‘slowdown’

OUTSIDE THE BOX

W

HILE the story is from 10 years ago, it has recently resurrected. It is that Filipinos have the average intelligence of a rock—or maybe tree bark on a good day—in comparison to the rest of the world.

This conclusion is from a 2002 book IQ and the Wealth of Nations followed by IQ and Global Inequality in 2006. The premise, which may be valid, is that the general intelligence of the population is a factor in a nation’s wealth. That seems to make sense, although the authors can only draw a correlation rather than causation.

I had thought that maybe—and wrongly of course—even one highly intelligent pundit or news outlet would actually look at the data. The closest anyone came was a single columnist who wrote “Fake news or not, our supposed low IQ ranking relative to our neighbors is not entirely implausible.”

A look into the data reveals that in 104 of the 185 nations “analyzed,” no studies were available. In those cases, the authors used an estimated value by taking averages of the IQs of neighboring nations. For example, the authors arrived at 84 for El Salvador by averaging 79 for its neighbor Guatemala and 88 for Colombia. Do I need to say that there was not any “IQ” testing done in the Philippines for either book.

The authors also concluded: “In general, a hot climate is considered a disadvantage for the development of intelligence.” Obviously, ancient aliens built the Egyptian pyramids because when I was in Cairo, it was hotter than a pizza oven in hell.

This resulted in strong foreignexchange earnings from exports, increased investments and higher tourism and business-process outsourcing receipts. The economic team of the Duterte administration kept a good fiscal house through a combination of higher revenue collections and increased spending, especially on infrastructure.

US financial group J.P. Morgan, commenting on the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections, said policy changes in the post-election period were remote “given that economic planning is institutionalized, particularly fiscal reforms that were put in place over the last two administrations.”

“The bottom line for this election, in our opinion, is for the electoral process to be completed in a peaceful and credible manner,” J.P. Morgan said.

The Philippines, as proven in the past, has been conducting fair elections, resulting in a stable political climate. It has kept economic fundamentals intact after the election period by continuing the policy reforms of the past administrations and improving on them.

Over and above the peaceful conduct and fair results of the elections, spending by candidates through transportation, meals,

paraphernalia and hiring of personnel is sure to power the economy.

The government, in addition, will keep spending on big infrastructure projects that, in turn, generate employment.

The volatilities in the global market and the US-China trade war will be a dampener, but our economy will expand as long as the government sticks to the economic fundamentals.

I share the optimism of Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia about the country’s growth prospects despite the downward adjustments made by the Asian Development Bank and Fitch Solutions Inc. The ADB reduced its 2018 growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.4 percent, from 6.8 percent, and also revised its 2019 outlook to 6.7 percent. The revision came after Fitch Solutions, a member of the Fitch Group, last month recast its growth outlook for the country down to 6.3 percent from 6.5 percent.

The economy, says Pernia, has been strong, growing by an average of 6.4 percent in the last eight years, the fastest since the mid-1970s, and will continue to expand.

When actual testing was made, it was suspect. A test of 108 nine to 15-year-olds in Barbados, of 50 13 to 16-year-olds in Colombia, and of 48 10 to 14-year-olds in Equatorial Guinea, all were taken as measures of national IQ. Being challenged on the data, the authors said that additional information was used such as the Programme for International Student Assessment and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Except, the Philippines has never participated in those global assessments. Perhaps the authors, being really smart themselves, just know that Filipinos are dumb.

Certainly, the Philippine education system needs great improvement. Maybe a good start is by doubling the salaries of publicschool teachers and making sure the textbooks are not filled with errors. But when human resource people tell me that Filipino job applicants score low on “abstract reasoning,” I wonder.

I want my auto mechanic when my car won’t start and my plumber when my toilet doesn’t work to be able to “quickly identify patterns and apply it to solve problems.” My customer service person at my local

BPI branch really does not need to be able to answer “how many animals of each kind did ‘Moses’ take on the Ark?” The World Bank’s Doing Business Report says it is not easy to do business in the Philippines. In the top 10 are Georgia—invaded by Russia in 2008—and Macedonia—ending a 12-year battle with Greece over the name “Macedonia.” Though from my experience setting up companies on three continents, Thailand is the easiest place in the world to do business.

The gentleman at the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission guaranteed me that my paperwork and permits would go at the speed of light once he received confirmation my corporate bank account was set up at a particular bank branch office where he and the manager had a good business “relationship.”

If you are going to criticize the country in an effort for improvement, that is even an obligation. But at least use facts and not fantasies.

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

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

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Tuesday, November 6, 2018 A7

A party defined by its lies Martial law, human rights and other stark issues

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By Paul Krugman | New York Times News Service

URING my first year as an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, I wasn’t allowed to use the word “lie.”

That first year coincided with the 2000 presidential election, and then-candidate George W. Bush was, in fact, being systematically dishonest about his economic proposals—saying false things about who would benefit from his tax cut and the implications of Social Security privatization. But the notion that a major party’s presidential candidate would go beyond spin to outright lies still seemed outrageous, and saying it was considered beyond the pale.

Obviously that prohibition no longer holds on this opinion page, and major media organizations have become increasingly willing to point out raw falsehoods. But they’ve been chasing a moving target, because the lies just keep getting bigger and more pervasive. In fact, at this point the GOP’s campaign message consists of nothing but lies; it’s hard to think of a single true thing Republicans are running on.

And yes, it’s a Republican problem (and it’s not just Donald J. Trump).

Democrats aren’t saints, but they campaign mostly on real issues, and generally do, in fact, stand for more or less what they claim to stand for.

Republicans don’t. And the total dishonesty of Republican electioneering should itself be a decisive political issue, because at this point it defines the party’s character.

What are Republicans lying about? As I said, almost everything.

But there are two big themes. They lie about their agenda, pretending that their policies would help the middle and working classes when they would, in fact, do the opposite.

And they lie about the problems the United States faces, hyping an imaginary threat from scary darkskinned people and, increasingly, attributing that threat to Jewish conspirators. Both classes of lie are rooted in the real GOP agenda.

What Republicans truly stand for, and have for decades, is cutting taxes on the rich and slashing social programs. Sure enough, last year they succeeded in ramming through a huge tax cut aimed mainly at corporations and the wealthy, and came within one vote of passing a health “reform” that, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would have caused 32 million Americans to lose health coverage.

The GOP’s problem is that this agenda is deeply unpopular. Large majorities of Americans oppose cuts in major social programs, while most voters want to raise, not reduce, taxes on corporations and high-income individuals. But instead of changing their agenda to meet voters’ concerns, Republicans have resorted to a strategy of deception and distraction. On one side, they have gone full black-is-white, up-is-down on policy substance. Most spectacularly, they are posing as defenders of protection for people with preexisting conditions—protection that their failed health bill would have stripped away, and which they are now trying to take away through the courts. And they’re claiming that “Democrats” are the ones threatening Medicare.

On the other side, they’re resorting to their old standby:

The lies have come nonstop since Trump’s inauguration address, which conveyed a false vision of “American carnage.” But they have gotten ever more extreme, culminating in the portrayal of a small caravan of refugees still 1,000 miles from the border as an imminent, menacing invasion— somehow full of diseased Middle Eastern terrorists. race-based fear. But selling racial fear was easier in the 1980s and early-1990s, when the United States really was suffering from high levels of inner-city crime. Since then, violent crime has plunged. What’s a fearmonger to do? The answer is: lie.

The lies have come nonstop since Trump’s inauguration address, which conveyed a false vision of “American carnage.” But they have gotten ever more extreme, culminating in the portrayal of a small caravan of refugees still 1,000 miles from the border as an imminent, menacing invasion—somehow full of diseased Middle Eastern terrorists.

And now there’s the added insinuation that sinister Jewish financiers are the real culprits behind this invasion. Because that’s where people doing this kind of thing always end up.

The crucial thing to realize is that these aren’t just ugly, destructive lies. Beyond that, they shape the GOP’s nature. It is now impossible to have intellectual integrity and a conscience while remaining a Republican in good standing. Some conservatives have these qualities; almost all of them have left the party, or are on the edge of excommunication.

Those who remain are either fanatics willing to do anything in pursuit of power, or cynics willing to go along with anything for a share of the spoils. And it’s foolish to imagine that there are any limits on how far a party of fanatics and cynics will be willing to go. Anyone who might have had a sticking point, some uncrossable red line of bad behavior, has already taken the offramp.

That’s why a Republican campaign built entirely on lies should itself be a political issue—a reason to vote Democratic even if you want tax cuts. For we’re not just talking about a party selling bad ideas on false pretenses. The addiction to lies has also—let’s be blunt—turned it into a party of bad people.

So what will this party do if it retains full control of Congress next week? What we’ve seen over and over again is that, for these people, there are no limits and no bottom. If they pull this midterm election out, expect the worst.

Cecilio T. Arillo

DATABASE Part 13

Aquino and her allies in the oligarchy had a lot more enemies

I

T would not be surprising, thus, if one day victims of humanrights violations will also seek to attach her estate and those of her surviving family, including Hacienda Luisita, for compensatory damages similar to what was done by supposed Marcos victims of human-rights violations.

That there were more humanrights violations during the Aquino regime could perhaps be explained this way: Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino and her allies in the oligarchy had a lot more enemies than the Marcoses had.

With her enemies growing the longer she stayed in power, she accepted as a “gift” a $75,000 bulletproof Mercedes-Benz 560 SEL in November 1986. It probably wasn’t illegal at the time, for she still enjoyed dictatorial powers and could have legitimized the acceptance of the gift, even if it was not necessary at all since the Marcoses left behind bulletproof vehicles in the presidential garage when they were forced into exile.

With social discontent starting to brew as a result of the patent incompetence of a vengeful Cory administration, the street protests started again to grow.

The Mendiola massacre

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

Soon, they were preventing MAR

employees from getting in and out of the compound.

On January 19 KMP leader Jaime Tadeo, a member of the Constitutional Commission who had refused to sign the new Constitution that would be submitted to the people for ratification that February, arrived to seek an audience with then- Agrarian Reform Minister Heherson Alvarez. Tadeo was, however, told that Alvarez would be available the next day yet.

When the dialog pushed through the next day, all Alvarez could promise was that the KMP’s demands would be brought to President Aquino’s attention. The following evening, Alvarez advised Tadeo to just wait for the ratification of the 1987 Constitution and for the government to implement the charter’s provisions on agrarian reform.

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

On January 22, 1987, the KMPled protesting farmers left the MAR compound to march to Malacañan Palace. Along the way, they were joined by other leftist organizations: the proletarian Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the League

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

of Filipino Students (LFS) and the urban poor organization Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod (KPML). By the time they got near the Mendiola Bridge late in the afternoon, they were some 15,000 strong.

Waiting for them were units of the Philippine Constabulary, the police and the Philippine Marines, under the overall command of Major General Ramon E. Montano, chief of the PC/INP’s Capital Command, and Task Force Commander Col. Cesar Nazareno (whom President Aquino would later name director general of the Philippine National Police).

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

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

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

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

The protesters sued the Aquino government and the military officers involved in the dispersal operation before the Branch 9 of the Regional Trial Court in Manila.

On May 31, 1988, Judge Edilberto G. Sandoval held that inasmuch as the impleaded military officers had been charged in their “personal and special capacity,” the government could not be held financially liable by the complainants.

The lawsuit against the government failed to prosper because the State invoked its immunity, which led to the dissolution of the Presidential Commission on Human Rights (PCHR) following the resignation of most of its members, led by former Sen. Jose W. Diokno (one of Ninoy’s most-admired political leaders).

The PCHR commissioners resigned in protest over the referral of the investigation of the Mendiola Massacre to a new body, the Citizens’ Mendiola Commission. They felt that the PCHR was not only stripped of its jurisdiction; the seeming loss of confidence in the PCHR had also irreparably damaged its credibility.

The Mendiola Massacre was a message written in blood that the peasants cannot intimidate the Aquino administration. President Aquino faced a credibility crisis: to many, the sincerity of her agrarian reform program, in the wake of the Mendiola Massacre, depended on the fate of Hacienda Luisita. The nationalist Renato Constantino wrote of President Aquino in June 1987: “She dangled the probability of a sweeping land reform but has not taken concrete steps to show how this would apply to her family’s Hacienda Luisita.”

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

Euro-area finance chiefs table Italy as sanctions threat looms

By Viktoria Dendrinou Bloomberg

E

URO-AREA finance ministers gathering in Brussels on Monday will discuss Italy’s escalating budget standoff with the EU as the bloc waits for the government in Rome to respond to the unprecedented rebuke it received two weeks ago.

The discussion comes as Italy is asked to submit revised spending plans by November 13, after the European Commission essentially rejected the country’s budget for 2019, saying that it constitutes a clear deviation from commonly agreed fiscal rules. Despite repeated warnings, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said there’s no “Plan B” for the fiscal program, indicating the government has no intention to comply with EU demands.

Italy’s deputy prime minister told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday that he be-

lieves Rome’s controversial spending plans will become “a recipe” for reviving European growth and that the continent is ready to abandon austerity and embrace the deficitbusting approach of US President Donald J. Trump.

Given the populist government’s reluctance to revise its budget, the standoff with Brussels is set to escalate further in the coming weeks.

At their meeting on Monday, finance chiefs are likely to back the commission’s stance toward Italy, something already done by their chief aides, who debated the matter last month.

Once Italy responds to the commission, the EU’s executive arm will have three weeks to publish its final assessment—which may include triggering a procedure that could eventually lead to financial sanctions for the government in Rome. The penalty could reach 0.2 percent of the country’s annual economic output.

The commission’s rejection follows months of discord and tension over the spending targets, which Italy itself accepts are in breach of EU rules. Italy has the highest debt ratio in the euro area after Greece, and its plans have unsettled investors, sending its bond yields to multiyear highs last month.

Moody’s Investors Service last month downgraded Italy to just one level above junk, but the country managed to avoid a second rating downgrade as S&P Global Ratings decided only to lower its outlook on the nation’s creditworthiness. Still, a further escalation will likely fan market jitters.

EU rules

FINANCIAL penalties proposed by the commission have to be approved by member-states, which can block the process. But while Brussels has no real powers over national budgets, governments

have in the past sought to avoid an official reprimand because of the stigma and the potential market implications.

Under EU rules, no country should have a budget deficit larger than 3 percent of gross domestic product or debt above 60 percent of output and those that are outside of those limits must set annual targets to show they’re moving in the right direction. While Italy’s deficit is well within the 3-percent limit, the commission has demanded smaller gaps for the country to bring down its debt load.

Crucially, the so-called structural deficit, a key measure for the commission, which strips out effects of the economic cycle and one-time spending items, is also way off the mark. Italy projects this will deteriorate by 0.8 percentage points of GDP while the commission has demanded an improvement of 0.6 percentage points.

Modus operandi: Barefaced robbery in the collection of real property taxes Atty. Fermo B. Avila

TAX LAW FOR BUSINESS

D

O you own real property in the Philippines? Do you have an employee-representative entrusted to remit tax payments to the local government unit? What if I told you that your real property could be auctioned off and sold, without your knowledge, because your trusted employee failed to remit the tax payments to the LGU and appeared to have absconded with the money instead?

That is the factual backdrop of the case decided by the Supreme Court in GR 210894, promulgated

on September 12, 2018.

In the said case, a married couple were registered owners of a condo-

minium unit, which was assessed by a local government unit for nonpayment of real property taxes thereon after their designated employeerepresentative failed to remit the entrusted tax payments to the city and appeared to have absconded with the money instead. The property was eventually auctioned off and sold to a realty corporation.

The spouses wanted the auction sale to be declared void. A point of contention they raised was the fact that the notice of billing statements for real property were mistakenly sent to the wrong address. It was erroneously addressed to Unit 1407 instead of Unit 407.

The Supreme Court nullified the auction sale because of the apparently irregular conduct of proceedings

by the LGU relative to the levy and sale of their property. The Supreme Court held that the spouses were in danger of losing their property without the benefit of due process.

It further stated that there is no presumption of regularity that exists in any administrative action, which results in depriving a taxpayer of his property; due process of law must be followed in tax proceedings, because a sale of land for tax delinquency is in derogation of private property and the registered owner’s constitutional rights.

Interestingly, the Supreme Court did not stop at declaring the auction sale void. What is curious is the fact that it further stressed on the modus operandi lurking in the collection of real property taxes.

The Supreme Court emphasized that the power of the LGU to levy and auction properties for nonpayment of real property tax is prone to great abuse. It did not discount the possibility of irregularities committed by local government units or officials, done intentionally with the collusion of third parties and with the deliberate corrupt intent to appropriate valuable properties for themselves and profit therefrom.

While the act of sending “billing statements” and “notices of delinquency and levy” to the wrong address would seem to be simple and irrelevant technicality, it could be deliberate, under the guise of typographical lapses. And before the owners realize it, their properties have already been confiscated and

sold by the LGUs or officials to socalled “innocent third parties” who are in fact their cohort in that MO. This is the “barefaced robbery” that the Supreme Court warns us about. It goes without saying that not all LGUs or local government officials are involved in this dodgy scheme.

The author is a junior associate of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a memberfirm of WTS Global.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at fermo.avila@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 403-2001 local 150.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Palace creates info task force on federalism, Charter change

T

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

HE administration’s aspiration for Charter change remains alive, as Malacañang announced the formation of a new interagency task force (IATF) for the public information drive on federalism and constitutional reforms.

President Duter te ordered on Wednesday the issuance of Memorandum Circular 52 creating the I ATF chaired by the Department of the Interior and Loca l Gover nment (DILG) and v ice - c h a i red by t he De pa r t -

ment of Justice (DOJ).

The IATF will be composed the following government offices: Office of the Cabinet Secretary; President Management Staff; Presidential Communications Operations Office; Office of the Presidential

Spokesperson; Presidential Legislative Liaison Office; Office of the Political Adviser; Commission on Higher Educations; Development Academy of the Philippines; and University of the Philippines Law Center. “The members may designate their respective permanent representative to the IATF with the rank of Undersecretary or Assistant Secretary,” Duterte said in the two-page circular.

Duterte ordered the IATF to develop the Public Communication Plan for promoting federalism and constitutional reform.

It will also coordinate with the former members of the Consultative Committee (Con-com), which reviewed the 1987 Constitution,

and members of Congress to address “roadblocks” on constitutional reform.

Last month House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo submitted her version of the new Charter to the Senate for consideration, but it was rejected by the leaders of the Upper House.

Other gover nment departments, agencies, bureaus and its offices were tasked by Duterte to support the initiatives of the IATF. The IATF is mandated to submit quarterly reports on its accomplishments and activities to Duterte.

The Department of Budget and Management will fund the operation of the IATF subject to relevant laws and regulations.

‘Higher pay makes PHL less business-friendly’ Continued from A1

30

20 15 10 5

NCR

including 15 children. With the latest arrivals, the total number of OFWs flown home from the United Arab Emirates since the start of the year is now at almost a thousand. NONIE REYES

INTERTROPICAL CONVERGENCE ZONE AFFECTING PALAWAN, VISAYAS AND MINDANAO as of 4:00 pm - November 5, 2018

CAR

II

III

IV-A

IV-B

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

XI

XII

ARMM

WAGE HIKES APPROVED THIS YEAR

T

HOMECOMING The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday welcomed 98 more distressed overseas Filipino workers from Dubai,

BASIC WAGE INCREASE BY REGION, NON-AGRI

25

Navy veteran, systems engineer Vingson new Marina OIC chief

HE Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) on Monday welcomed Vice Admiral Narciso A. Vingson Jr. following his designation as the agency’s officerin-charge (OIC) by Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade.

In his speech at the 117th anniversary of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Manila last week, President Duterte reassigned former Marina Administrator Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero as the new chief of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Vingson, before his designation as the OIC of Marina, was appointed by President Duterte as the new executive director of Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Office (STCWO) on October 15, and took his office of oath at the weekly flag ceremony of the Marina Central office on October 22.

After graduating with the PMA Sandiwa Class of 1985, Vingson started his duty and was subsequently commissioned ensign in the Philippine Navy, where he served in various key positions that gave him a wider and deeper appreciation of staff functions and role.

As a naval warfare officer, Vingson underwent training courses in the United States in Anti-submarine Warfare, Amphibious Warfare, Naval Gunfire Operation and Combat Information Center Operation. He also pursued higher education at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, earning a degree in Master of Science in Systems Engineering.

In his junior years, Vingson served as branch chief at the offices of the naval staff for personnel, operations, weapons, communications, electronics and information system. PNA

www.businessmirror.com.ph

REGION

DATE OF ISSUANCE BASIC WAGE INCREASE

NCR

October 30, 2018

P25

CAR

July 20, 2018

P20-P30

II

October 22, 2018

P10

III

June 28, 2018

P20

IV-A

February 28, 2018

P14-P21.50

IV-B

November

P12-P20

V

August 14, 2018

P20-P30

VI

June 8, 2018

P26.50 for workers in non-agri/industrial/commercial employing more than 10 workers; P18.50 for those employed in firms with less than 10 workers; P8.50 for agri-plantation; P18.50 for workers in agri non-plantation

VII

June 18, 2018

P10-P20 for non agri; P10-P52 for agri

VIII

May 17, 2018

P20 for non-agri; P30 for retail/service establishments employing 11-30 workers and below; P22 for cottage/handicraft; P24 for nonsugar and P30 for sugar farm

IX

June 29, 2018

P20

XI

June 27, 2018

P30 first tranche; P26 second tranche

XII

April 13, 2018

P16 for non-agri; P18 for agri, retail, service

ARMM

April 23, 2018

P15

* Wage order for Region 1 was issued on November 24, 2017, and took effect on January 25, 2018.

Government granted P13-P30 increase in basic pay for non-agriculture sector; P13 for agriculture.

In a document sent to the BusinessMirror, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) said increasing the minimum wage— whatever the amount may be—will distort the country’s profile to investors. This could further imperil the Philippines’s investment reputation following its dismal showing in competitiveness rankings, such as the World Bank’s ease of doing business survey.

“Periodic increase in minimum wage will affect the image of the country as an investment destination. Unreasonably and unpredictably high labor cost is a disincentive to investment, both foreign and local,” the document read.

“Among our [Southeast Asian] neighbors, the Philippines already has the highest minimum wage rate, with the exception of Singapore, Thailand and Brunei [Darussalam], whose economies are far better than the Philippines.

[This will] impact on the ease and cost of doing business,” it added.

The Ecop warned this could result in the Philippines further slipping in competitiveness rankings deemed crucial in maintaining good standing with investors. In the World Bank’s 2019 report on ease of doing business, the country plunged 11 notches to 124th among 190 economies due to its low ratings on getting credit, starting a business and enforcing contracts.

“The impact of the minimum wage increase might cause the Philippines to slip in the competitiveness ranking,” Ecop said.

It added “businesses will have a limited way to expand operations and reach a bigger market.”

As a consequence, the opportunity to generate more employment is put at risk, Ecop added.

The business group also claimed only a small portion of the labor force will gain from an increase

in minimum wage. It said only 2 million, or 5 percent, of the more than 40 million workers in the country are minimum-wage earners.

The Ecop reported the number of minimumwage earners in Metro Manila stands at 952,485.

A wage hike will only make it difficult for firms to absorb the millions of unemployed and underemployed waiting for opportunities to open, it added.

It recommended the government to explore other options and approaches in mitigating the effect on workers of surging prices of basic goods other than raising wages. One of which, it put forward, is the lifting of the excise tax on fuel under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law.

“The government should not pass on the burden of protecting the welfare of workers to employers alone,” Ecop said.

“We must be able to attract more investments and promote enterprise growth and development to create more opportunities for the economy and address the persistent problem of poverty. We must give way for holistic approaches rather than stopgap measures, such as periodic wage adjustments,” it concluded.

Apart from the World Bank’s report, the Philippines also fell nine places to 50th among 63 economies in the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings 2018. However, the survey owed the decline not on the country’s labor cost, but on slowdowns in tourism and employment, worsening of public finances and concerns on education.

In contrast, the Philippines jumped 12 notches to 56th among 140 economies in the Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 of the World Economic Forum. The country performed best in market size (32nd) and labor market (36th) in this survey.

GROUP SAYS ‘FISHERIES MANAGEMENT AREAS’ WON’T BOOST FISH STOCK

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

S

MALL fishermen belonging to the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Monday slammed the plan of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to declare 15 major fishing grounds as fisheries management area (FMA).

BFAR had said the move is part of the plan to “revive the dwindling fish catch and lessen imports,” but Pamalakaya is skeptical about the strategy.

In a statement, Pamalakaya expressed doubt that declaring the fish-

ing ground as FMA will actually help replenish the depleted fish stocks‚ a depletion they blamed on overfishing by large-scale commercial fishing fleets, as well as by government and private sectors’destructive projects such as reclamation and ecotourism zones.

The group said there is no chance that the FMA could revive the deteriorating waters and depleting fish stocks when big-fish firms continue to exploit and monopolize the municipal fishing waters.

Pamalakaya likened the FMA to existing marine -protected areas (MPA) which were supposedly meant to rehabilitate the degraded marine

resources but in reality pave the way for big businesses to massively convert communal fishing grounds into private ecotourism zones that offer recreational tourism activities: diving sites, boat riding and sports fishing.

All these, at the expense of the fishing rights of small municipal fisherfolk, according to Pamalakaya.

“We recognize the depleting fish catch in our waters, we ourselves experience that on a daily fishing basis. But the government’s solution to declare our major fishing grounds as FMA is a no and deserves a nationwide resistance by the municipal fishers.

See “Fish stock,” A2

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

B1

PLDT fires up 5G base station in PHL

C

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

LARK, Pampanga—Claiming to be the “first in the Philippines and one of the first in the region,” PLDT Inc. is firing up its first 5G base station here to cater to the growing demand for connectivity in the enterprise sector.

Slated for sometime this month, the first 5G cell site will be one of the 13 existing towers to be upgraded to be 5G-ready.

Another 12 are set to be constructed and deployed at the premier investment city in Central Luzon.

The telco partnered with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority to make Clark its first “5G City.”

This initiative, which is part of the P58-billion capital expenditures of the company for 2018, will be completed in the next six months.

“We are the first to deploy this technology in the country. The 5G tech ushers in a new era of intelligence services to power smart cities of tomorrow,” said Juan Victor I. Hernandez, the chief of PLDT Enterprise.

Joachim Horn, who advises the telco on tech and innovations, said the company will be deploying the tech for all use cases, but noted initial implementation will be for enterprises.

“They may actually become the first users,” he said, explaining that 5G, aside

from providing faster connections with higher bandwidths, can be used to automate different processes for different companies.

Horn explained his group aims to target different sectors as its first customers, listing them as transport, health care, manufacturing, energy, hotels, residential and other partner locators, thus making Clark a viable choice for its 5G City initiative.

“Toward the mid- and long-term, end users will come in,” Horn said.

Mobile devices today are still not certified for 5G use, given that the International Telecommunications Union has yet to release the full specifications—including spectrum—of the new technology.

The Filipino telco partnered with Ericsson to develop 5G tech in the Philippines.

“Through this pilot deployment, we will be able to test 5G’s capabilities using a live network and develop solutions that will serve the future needs of industries and government, such as autonomous vehicles, connected fleets, and smart buildings and factories,” PLDT Chief Revenue

NTC asks Manila RTC not to block 3rd telco selection process

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

T

HE government has asked the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of the City of Manila not to block the scheduled bidding process for the country’s third telco player, which is aimed at improving the current Internet service being provided by telco giants Globe Telecom and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. Smart.

In its 32-page memorandum submitted to the Manila RTC through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) sought the dismissal of the petition filed by NOW Telecom Co. Inc. owned by businessman Mel Velarde seeking to enjoin the conduct of the bidding process scheduled on November 7.

NOW Telecom is questioning key financial requirements that the NTC has included for aspiring third telco participants in the Terms of Reference for the bidding procedures set by NTC. The telecom company is referring to the imposition of participation security, performance security, the appeal fee, as well as the requirement that the rollout plan be submitted 90 days after the selection of a new major player.

But the OSG said the reasons for the filing of the complaint are “inconsequential,” thus, warranting the dismissal of the complaint.

“As a matter of fact, had plaintiff NOW

Telecom allowed the process to push through, instead of filing the present case, NTC, through the selection committee, could have easily addressed its concern,” the memorandum stated.

The government argued the complaint is just an afterthought designed to derail the selection process for the new major player (NMP) because the issues raised by the complainant were not brought to the attention of NTC even though all stakeholders, including NOW Telecom, were afforded several opportunities to do so during the rulemaking process undertaken by the by the NTC and the Department of Information and Communications Technology prior to the adoption of MC 09-09-2018, which provides for the rules and regulations for the selection process.

The NTC said the complaint should be considered “defective” for the failure of the petitioner to exhaust all administrative remedies before bringing them to the court.

The agency said the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction to restrain the selection process of the NMP is prohibited under Republic Act (RA) 8975.

It explained that Section 3 of RA 8974 prohibits courts, except the Supreme Court, from issuing an injunction enjoining the government from acquiring and developing the right-of-way and/or location of any national government project; bidding or awarding of contract of the national government; and the execution of such contract.

Japanese firm plans to invest ₧40B to expand operations in PHL

J

APANESE electronics firm Murata Manufacturing plans to invest P40 billion to expand its operations in the country, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) Director General Charito Plaza said on Monday.

Plaza said Murata targets to construct new manufacturing buildings to produce new products and were projected to create 6,000 more jobs.

But she noted the Japanese firm is still waiting for the clear rules on tax perks, as the government is rationalizing the fiscal incentives it provided to businesses. “[T]hey’re holding to it until they’ll know the fate of TRAIN 2 [Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Package 2],” the Peza chief said.

“They’re occupying 24 hectares with two manufacturing buildings. They’ll expand to two more once incentives remain the same or an attractive TRAIN 2 incentives package will be passed,” Plaza added.

The Peza said Murata’s operations in the country involve manufacturing of chip monolithic ceramic capacitors with annual sales of P5.65 billion.

It currently employs 2,984 personnel in its facilities in Laguna Technopark in Santa Rosa, Laguna, and in First Philippine Industrial Park in Tanauan, Batangas.

It has 97 subsidiaries across the globe including 31 in Japan and 66 in other parts of the world. PNA

JOACHIM HORN, PLDT Inc.’s chief technology and information adviser, explains the company’s efforts of expanding its 5G capability in the country. LORENZ S. MARASIGAN

Officer Ernesto R. Alberto said.

Hernandez added that, in making Clark the first 5G City in the Philippines, the govern-

ment can expect to see more and more locators coming in, as reliable Internet connectivity is now the name of the game in the digital arena.

“We are making this zone even more attractive to foreign investors,” he said.

Alberto noted that, after Clark, PLDT will be targeting densely populated cities for the next wave of its 5G deployment.

Smart has been testing 5G since 2016, when it achieved speeds of 2.5 Gigabits per second using 100 MHz with latency of just 1 millisecond over a “live” network—the first in the Philippines.

In June Smart launched its 5G Technolab, the company’s flagship facility for the research and development, standardization and testing of 5G, which is designed to be a sustainable environment for innovative services.

Earlier, competitor Globe Telecom Inc. announced it is going to offer 5G services to customers starting the second quarter of 2019.

It intends to deploy the said tech through its fixed wireless network, promising to provide speeds ranging from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

Mobile use of 5G has yet to be developed.

When this happens, the Department of Information and Communications Technology plans to auction off the spectrum for 5G to telecom operators.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Chinese firm to invest $100M to develop resort in NE Luzon

A

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

CHINESE firm has committed to pour in $100 million for the development of a seaside integrated resort in Northern Luzon akin to South Korea’s tourism jewel Jeju Island.

The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) last week entered into a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai Jucheng Supply Chain Management Group on putting up a resort and tourism park in the eastern coast of Northern Luzon. Ceza said that side of the country’s fence remains

untouched, and could be developed into a tourist destination.

Shanghai Jucheng is penciled to invest $100 million over the next years to develop the area into an integrated resort pictured to be Southeast Asia’s Jeju Island. The project will also shelter casino operations, as well

as theme and water parks that will approximate tourism-driven complexes in China and major tourism attractions across the world.

“This is one of the few unspoiled spots in the country that will cater to the sun worshipper, the nature lover and the adventurer,” said Raul L. Lambino, Ceza administrator and CEO. He signed the memorandum with Shanghai Jucheng Founding Chairman Xue Chenbiao.

Lambino is optimistic the project will move forward this month. He said his agency and Shanghai Jucheng are just ironing out the details of this multimillion-dollar investment.

Shanghai Jucheng is engaged in the manufacture of high-performance lithium batteries for electric vehicles, and has portfolios on real-estate de-

velopment, global entertainment, sustainable energy, electronics production and logistics.

The proposed integrated resort will also house a Duty Free mall for branded products and a chain of the Island Pacific supermarket for local and imported merchandise. The firm also plans to build a five-star suite that will cater to local and foreign tourists.

Shanghai Jucheng is also exploring the possibility of putting up a production facility for steel and lithium batteries that will make use of Cagayan’s natural resources and employ locals of the province.

“They want to add more value to our natural resources in a more sustainable way while also protecting the environment,” Lambino added.

Seda Vertis North turns one year S

EDA Vertis North, to date the only five-star hotel among the country’s homegrown brands, marked its first anniversary with a monthlong celebration in October.

One of nine hotels bearing the name Seda (“silk” in Spanish), Seda Vertis North is owned and operated by the Ayala Group of Cos. It is the first Filipino hotel brand given a five-star designation by the country’s Department of Tourism.

“The hotel is Quezon City’s newest hub for meetings, conferences, as well as weddings, debuts and large celebrations,” Group General

Manager Brett Hickey said. “The hotel is in a parcel of Quezon City now being developed by Ayala Land into a business and lifestyle district.

It has seen its business grow 200 percent since it opened in October 2017.”

The hotel had its soft opening in April last year and has since become a popular urban getaway for both local and foreign visitors, including balikbayan.

“We have served 104,000 guests and 430,000 meals in our first year of operation,” Hickey said.

Among the top managers helping Hickey lead the celebration were Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp.’s President and COO Al Legaspi, Seda Hotels Group officers Melissa Carlos, Wilma Estaura, Genny Puno and Seda Vertis North’s Director of Sales and Marketing Cinty Yniquez.

Seda Vertis North has 438 rooms, a roofdeck bar, spa, a swimming pool, a playground for children and other leisure facilities.

“Our success illustrates how Seda has evolved from a boutique chain to a homegrown

brand with large-format hotels in dynamic business locations in just five years,” he said.

The first Seda Hotel opened in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig in 2012. It was followed by Centrio in Cagayan de Oro, Abreeza in Davao and Nuvali in Laguna. Today, Seda Hotels are also present in Ayala Land mixed-use developments in Bacolod (Capitol Central), Cebu (Ayala Center Cebu), Iloilo (Atria) and Quezon City (Vertis North).

Before the year ends, two more hotels will open, including Seda’s first resort hotel in the Lio Tourism Estate in El Nido, Palawan, and its first serviced residences in the Makati business district.

The best available room rates for all the Seda Hotels range from P5,400 in Nuvali; P7,592 in Abreeza; P7,600 in Capitol Central, Centrio, Ayala Center Cebu, Atria, BGC and Vertis North; and Lio, P10,470.

Yniguez said Seda management is looking for other locations for the brand. In 2019 other Seda Hotels will open in the Bay Area in Parañaque, BGC Tower 2 in Taguig, Central Bloc in Cebu and Nuvali Tower 2 in Laguna.

In 2020 another Seda Hotel will rise in Arca South, Taguig.

Hickey also said that Seda Vertis North has become a popular destination for the Christmas holidays, with the hotel’s 24thfloor roofdeck bar called Straight Up offering a spectacular view of Metro Manila’s dazzling fireworks display beginning in the first weeks of December and climaxing on New Year’s Eve. The roofdeck bar offers a vantage view of pyrotechnics in Quezon City, Cubao, Manila Bay, Makati and Bonifacio Global City, like it did last year.

The hotel is also offering its traditional Christmas fare, including its signature banana bread, premium ham, traditional fruit cake, raspberry shortbread cookies and other sweets that make popular holiday gifts.

The hotel will usher in the Yuletide season with its Christmas tree-lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. on November 16.

Also, Smile Train, which assists kids with cleft palates correct their condition, will offer donors ornaments they can hang on the tree.

From December 8 and every Saturday and Sunday thereafter up to December 23, a Santa Meet and Greet has been arranged from 4 to 7 p.m. for young guests. Carolers will further spread Yuletide cheer from December 17 to 21 from 6 to 7 p.m. at the hotel’s impressive contemporary lobby.

All-day international dining outlet Misto will also offer special Christmas and New Year menus.

During the season, the hotel offers local Metro Manila residents a special room package of P7,200 per night for a onenight stay in a deluxe room inclusive of breakfast for two adults and two children under age six; and P6,300 per night for a two-night stay up to January 31. Even more attractive room rates will be offered from December 31, 2018 to Jan. 1, 2019. Guests will also receive Seda’s signature stuffed toy bear, Seddy.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Eyeing Saudi Riches, Wall Street gets back to business as usual

F

OR a moment, Wall Street seemed to be inching away from Saudi Arabia.

Now, it’s already inching back.

A month after the murder of government critic Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, bankers say the rewards of doing business with the oil-rich kingdom far outweigh the risks.

While the Khashoggi affair has dented the image of reformer and modernizer cultivated by 33-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, there is simply too much money at stake.

Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co. said his skipping of a glitzy investment conference chaired by the crown prince two weeks ago in the immediate aftermath of the killing accomplished nothing.

Doing business with Saudi Arabia was “not something I’m ashamed of,” Larry Fink, head of BlackRock Inc., told a conference in New York on Thursday. He spoke a day after Turkey’s top prosecutor said Saudi agents strangled Khashoggi just after he entered the consulate and then dismembered his body.

MUTUAL FUNDS

The financial fallout will probably come in the form of slightly higher borrowing costs, since the crown prince has become something of a wild card to the bankers hired to finance his ambitions.

In Saudi Arabia, politics has rarely figured into the calculus.

Until now, there was “almost no pricing of the political risk in the kingdom,” said Ayham Kamal, head of Middle East and North Africa at Eurasia Group. “The most recent events have shifted investor opinion.”

A few basis points represent mainly an inconvenience. Saudi Aramco, the state oil company, had $33.8 billion in profit in the first half of 2017 and was virtually debt free. The crown prince’s acquisitions in recent years include a $300- million chateau in France, a $500-million yacht and a $450- million Leonardo da Vinci painting, according to the New York Times. Even at the peak of the Khashoggi crisis, the yield on 10-year Saudi debt rose about 50 basis points; it’s now at about 4.44 percent, compared to an average this year of about 4.2 percent. Bloomberg News

November 5, 2018

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

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 243.25 -16.79% -1.68% -0.05% -17.04% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.3739 -14.88% 2.2% 1.35% -13.96% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 3.7804 -17.22% -1.16% -0.87% -17.69% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.8644 -14.45% N.A. N.A. -15% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. * ********* 0.8016 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 5.001 -16.14% -3.58% -0.64% -16.83% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * ****** 109.97 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.7979 -17.66% N.A. N.A. -19.62% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 47.1935 -16.02% -0.84% N.A. -16.31% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 491.79 -16.35% -2.16% -0.88% -16.43% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.2146 -13.65% -0.09% N.A. -13.51% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 35.3776 -13.38% 0.26% 2.06% -13.91% PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 4.7462 -16% -0.2% 1.96% -16.35% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 792.54 -15.9% -0.46% 1.69% -16.2% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.8249 -14.71% -2.6% N.A. -14.7% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 3.9186 -14.1% -0.51% 0.42% -14.44% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 0.9138 -16.11% -0.37% N.A. -16.42% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.3651 -12.66% 0.66% 0.55% -13.59% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* *** ● 105.9539 -15.48% 0.7% N.A. -15.88% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $0.9116 -15.66% 0.12% -1.45% -17.75% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.1705 -5.16% N.A. N.A. -7.48% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.6159 -13.08% -3.39% -2.41% -13.29% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.158 -12.03% -1.19% -0.32% -12.17% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.4519 -11.26% -4.39% -3.01% -11.48% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* **** 1.2776 -12.57% N.A. N.A. -12.19% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.7974 -9.3% -0.56% -0.27% -9.79% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.4087 -13.13% -2.46% -1.34% -13% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 15.348 -12.84% -2.32% -1.37% -12.59% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* ******** 2.0133 -10.45% -0.53% 1.15% -10.2% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.5583 -10.71% -1.22% -0.51% -10.96% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.905 -10.55% -1.55% N.A. -11.3% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.03458 -4.32% -0.77% 1.35% -4.21% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9135 -11.55% 0.13% -2.38% -12.75% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.44 -3.92% 2.76% 1.86% -5.82% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0318 -6.31% N.A. N.A. -7.23% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 341.57 1.53% 1.79% 1.59% 1.32% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ******* 1.8496 -2.69% -1.24% -0.76% -2.26% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.9484 5.44% 5.29% 5.22% 4.48% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1209 0.45% 1.07% 1.03% 0.89% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.2127 -0.22% -0.1% 0.23% -0.16% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP.* P 1.564 -3.1% -1.5% -1.61% -2.83% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.8095 -6.62% -2.01% -1.29% -5.94% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.4614 -1.05% -0.56% -0.42% -1.24% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.8756 -5.62% -2.21% N.A. -5.16% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.7454 -1.24% -0.1% -0.04% -1.14% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.5256 -1.71% -0.56% -0.38% -1.56% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $446.1 0.28% 2.17% 2.91% 0.04% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є212.99 -0.15% 1.16% 1.57% -0.34% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.1209 -1.17% 0.75% 1.5% -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.* $1.6888 -4.79% -0.61% 0.93% -4.67% 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* $1.0233 -5.36% -1.18% -2.9% -4.68% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.1253 -5.28% -0.02% 2.09% -5.58% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.056855 -1.09% 0.79% 1.73% -0.6% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.8762 -4.49% 0.4% 1.47% -4.53% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 120.09 2.37% 1.7% 1.46% 2.11% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1739 1.65% 0.35% 0.36% 1.43% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.2119 2.45% 2.17% 1.45% 2.23% 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 ● - ADJUSTED DUE TO STOCK DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JUNE 5, 2018.

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DOLE mulls over charges vs airport execs for collecting fees from OFWs

By Samuel P. Medenilla

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@sam_medenilla

HE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will file the necessary charges if airport authorities still refuse to stop the illegal collection of terminal fees for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“We are now mulling over legal action against them if they will still not heed to our demand,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III told the BusinessMirror in an interview.

However, the labor chief said they will only consider this as a last resort.

“I will try to speak to [Transport Secretary Arthur P.] Tugade about this during the Cabinet meeting. I

hope he will listen to our requests,” Bello said.

Bello also said in a news briefing on Monday that Labor Undersecretary Claro A. Arellano will send a second letter to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) to emphasize the DOLE’s opinion.

This letter follows the one the DOLE sent to both agencies last year that until now remained unanswered.

Bello reiterated that the collection of terminal fees and travel tax to OFWs is in violation of the provisions of the Republic Act 10022, or the amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995.

“OFWs are exempted from the fees under the law,” Bello said.

The DOLE issued the statement after the Miaa recently said it already amassed P500 million worth of underfunded terminal fees from OFWs. Bello was irked with the Miaa report, since it was supposed to have already started last year the automatic exemption OFWs from the International Passenger Service Charge (IPSC).

Implemented in 2015, the IPSC is the integration of the P550

terminal fee with the fare for international flights.

Advocates were against such fees, since these forced OFWs to pay the terminal fees even if, by law, they are supposed to be exempted from it.

A system was put in place in the airport to allow OFWs to refund the terminal fee. Very few do so, since they are usually rushing to catch their flights or are unaware of it, according to Bello.

Bello said the P500 million collected from the country’s modernday heroes should be transferred to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) as the manager of trust funds of OFWs for safekeeping. He said OFWs then could collect the amount during their free time in the OWWA. “All they have to do is present their OEC [overseas employment certificate] and the OWWA will refund the amount,” Bello said.

Trading activities, higher taxes shave off Security Bank’s end-Sept income

S

ECURITY Bank on Monday reported an 11-percent decline in its net income for the first nine months of the year.

The bank said in a disclosure that its January-to-September net profit hit P6.5 billion, or 11 percent lower than its earnings in the same period last year. It put the blame on decrease in trading gains and higher provisions for income tax.

In particular, the bank’s trading gains was down 57 percent or P627 million from the year-ago level, while the provision for income tax was up by 73 percent or P769 million.

The decline in its net income

could have been larger if not for its higher net interest income which grew 7 percent to P15.3 billion. In particular, interest income from customer loans and deposits alone grew by 30 percent or P2.6 billion to hit P11.3 billion during the period.

Interest income from financial investments, meanwhile, was lower by 13 percent or P1.1 billion.

The bank said this was due to a lower level of securities portfolio which decreased by 18 percent year-on-year.

Operating expense growth was 13 percent, excluding provisions for credit and impairment losses. Costto-income ratio was 54 percent.

The bank said its asset quality remained in shape, with gross nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio at 0.7 percent. Provision for credit losses was P227 million for the nine-month period.

For the third quarter alone, the bank posted a P2.25-billion net income, up 5 percent from its yearago level and 15 percent from its quarter-ago level.

This is despite lower loan growth at 8 percent to hit P401 billion.

“A key driver for the earnings growth was the continued expansion of the bank’s consumer loans and low-cost deposits,” the bank said.

Picking the right stock

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HE stock market gives the opportunity for ordinary investors to own shares of various listed companies. It also provides the possibility of wealth generation by outpacing inflation over time. According to the Philippine Stock Exchange, there are around 868,810 stock-market accounts. The number represents a just a small fraction of the total population in the Philippines. In this light, as more Filipinos become interested in stock-market investing, a discussion of tips on picking the right stocks can be valuable.

In picking the right stock, one must look at the company and its industry. The Boston Consulting Group developed a model called the growth-share matrix that classified companies according to their market growth and market share. A company whose market growth is low and has a low market share is called a dog. This is the most unattractive stock. Investors must avoid investing at all costs. A company whose market growth is low but has a high market share is called a cash cow. It would most likely have good and stable earnings and cash flows. It can be a good choice for investors as they milk benefits like dividends.

A company whose market growth is high but has a low market share is called a question mark.

In this case, the investing decision is tricky since the earnings and cash flows are quite unpredictable. A company whose market growth is high and has a high market share is called a star. This is the most attractive stock. Investors must consider investing since the earnings and cash flows would most likely be high and growing.

In picking the right stock, one must look at the numbers of the company. One of the first things an investor can check is the pattern of sales growth. Historical sales growth can be a good indicator that a company has been able to sustain its loyal clients and has been able to reach out to new clients effectively. However, apart from sales, one should also look at the bottom line. A consistent or growing net income pattern would mean that the company is being managed well and has sustainable business operations.

It would be worthwhile for an investor to also check the profitability, liquidity, leverage and efficiency levels of a company to comprehensively assess its condition. Financial ratios of a company come in handy but they are best analyzed within the context of industry comparisons. Profitabil-

Genesis Kelly S. Lontoc

PERSONAL FINANCE ity is measured by comparing net income with items such as sales and assets. Positive profitability ratios reveal the ability of the company to manage costs and also make the most out of its assets in terms of financial returns.

Liquidity through the current ratio compares a company’s current assets with its current liabilities. A good current ratio means that a company has enough current resources to meet its short-term obligations. Leverage shows the dependence on debt by a company. A highly leveraged company can imply that it might have difficulty expanding in the future as creditors may want to avoid it. Efficiency means how well the company is able to use it resources. One efficiency measure is inventory days where the ability of a company to optimize inventory is tracked. Another measure is average collection period of receivables.

In picking the right stock, one must also look beyond the numbers of the company. The balanced scorecard proposes that aspects related to how the company deals with customers, how internal processes are executed and how organizational capacity is developed must be studied for holistic analysis.

Investing in the stock market can potentially lead to good gains in the future. A good balance of analysis in both quantitative and qualitative factors must be done. Evolving market conditions imply the need for continuous learning so that stock investing skills will improve over time. Hopefully, the right stocks will be chosen so that the returns on these stocks can help every Filipino be one step closer to financial freedom.

Gemmy Lontoc is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about personal financial planning, attend the 73rd RFP program this November 2018.

To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph or text <name><email> <RFP> at 0917-9689774.

Consumer loans grew 48 percent year-on-year, while low-cost deposits increased 18 percent.

Consumer loans now account for 19 percent of the bank’s total loans, up from 14 percent a year ago.

Total deposits improved 9 percent to P468 billion, with high-cost deposits inching up 3 percent.

During the quarter, three new branches were opened in the highgrowth Mindanao area: Davao CityMatina IT Park, Cotabato City and General Santos City.

Security Bank has a total of 302 branches nationwide. Bianca Cuaresma

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

B3

BTr makes full award at T-bills auction on moderate bids

By Rea Cu

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@ReaCuBM

HE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has awarded all tenors in its latest auction for Treasury bills (T-bills) with a total of P15 billion, as rates for the security were seen to be at a moderated level.

National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told reporters, “So full award given that the results of the auction mirrors the one that we had last week. Of course, the bids continue to increase but at least it’s already moderated; we are looking at a range of about 10 basis points unlike before of around 20 to 30 basis points.”

The 91-day tenor was awarded the full P4 billion on offer with bids amounting to P4.670 billion at an average annual rate of 5.077 percent. This showed an increase of 9.8 basis points compared to the previous auction rate for the security of 4.979 percent.

For the 182-day T-bill, the auction committee awarded P5 billion coming from bids amounting to P9.032 billion at an average annual rate of 6.233 percent. This posted a growth of 7.4 basis points compared to the previous rate of 6.159 percent.

The 364-day also received a healthy amount of bids at P9.244 billion with the auction committee awarding the full P6 billion on offer at an average annual rate of 6.506 percent. This also showed a growth of 9.6 basis points compared to the rate set during the last auction of 6.410 percent.

She pointed out that investors may still have a cautious stance given that they are still waiting for announcements on the country’s inflation level for October, as well

as possible rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve System.

“I guess there is still cautiousness coming from the survey of inflation, the median actually already plateaued, on our end I think that inflation will trend a little bit lower than the September print.

Obviously, there should already be a lot of significant impact coming from the measures adopted by the government to be able to moderate inflation and anchor inflationary expectations,” she added.

President Duterte in September issued Administrative Order 13, as well as Memorandum Orders 26 to 28, with measures easing nontariff barriers to help tame inflation and address supply side constraints specifically on agricultural commodities.

“On the other hand, given the results coming out of the data from the US [United States], particularly expectations that the Fed will again make the move in December coming from the payroll numbers recently released by the US, there’s expectation that the Fed will hike in December,” she said.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) had earlier reported that the country’s inflation level reached 6.7 percent in September, breaching the target band of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for the year of 2 to 4 percent.

“So there are those two events that the market continues to watch out for, so they’re provisioning for some buffers in the bids that they submitted today, but definitely not as much as they have been doing in the past,” she added.

Total tenders for the T-bills auction on Monday reached P22.9 billion, from the P15 billion on offer.

B4 Tuesday, November 6, 2018

GLOBE CUSTOMERS DONATE REWARDS POINTS TO OMPONG VICTIMS THE FRENCH TENNIS FEDERATION HAILS ROLEX AS PREMIUM PARTNER

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HE French Tennis Federation (FFT) is proud to welcome Rolex as a premium partner and the of ficial timekeeper of Roland- Garros.

Within the framework of this new long-term partnership, the Swiss watchmaker also becomes an of ficial partner of the FFT. Having been a loyal partner to the tennis world for the last 40 years, Rolex will become a premium partner of Roland-Garros in 2019 and the official timekeeper for the Roland-Garros tournament in Paris.

The bond between Rolex and tennis is built upon a shared passion for excellence, perfection, precision and elegance. Already a partner of The Championships Wimbledon in London since 1978, the Australian Open in Melbourne and the US Open in New York, Rolex now enjoys a close relationship with all four of the major tournaments on the international circuit, which together make up the Grand Slam.

The Geneva-based company is now directly associated with each of

the world’s most prestigious tennis tournaments. It also sponsors some of the world’s top players, many of whom have triumphed on the famous clay court in Paris, such as Chris Evert, Björn Borg, Jim Courier, Justin Henin, Ana Ivanović, Li Na and Roger Federer.

As part of this new partnership, Rolex will enjoy extensive visibility inside the Roland-Garros stadium, which has recently undergone an impressive renovation. The company will also have its own hospitality area in the famous Roland-Garros village.

Said Bernard Giudicelli, president of the French Tennis Federation, “We are delighted to welcome Rolex, an iconic luxury brand, as a partner of the FFT and of Roland-Garros. Our association with this prestigious company, which is already a partner of the Rolex Paris Masters, will take on a whole new dimension in 2019 by putting down roots in the heart of our illustrious competition in the Porte d’Auteuil.“ “This long-term agreement will

not only help develop the RolandGarros brand worldwide, but will also benefit French tennis. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jean-Frédéric Dufour, Rolex chief executive officer; and Arnaud Boetsch, Rolex communication and image director, for their confidence.”

“By becoming the official timekeeper of Roland-Garros, the tennis season’s major clay tournament, Rolex has definitively strengthened its ties with international tennis. It is an honor and a pleasure for the brand to join forces with this prestigious Grand Slam tournament which, every year, writes another page in the history of tennis. This new association provides us with an additional opportunity to promote the discipline and support it with as much commitment and enthusiasm as we have over the last 40 years. As usual, Rolex has committed over the long term and we are delighted to further develop our collaboration with RolandGarros and our shared vision,” Boetsch said.

W

ITH the opening of its rewards services to accept donations for Typhoon Ompong (international code name Mangkhut) victims that started on September 16, Globe customers generously donated a total of P1.1 million of their unused rewards points for a good cause. In turn Globe Telecom matched its customers’ donation 100 percent by donating an equal amount of P1.1 million for the typhoon victims.

“We thank our 17,500 customers who shared their rewards points to benefit the victims of Typhoon Ompong. Together these small acts of kindness will help bring greater joy and hope for our fellow Filipinos in need,” said Ernest Cu, president and chief executive officer of Globe Telecom.

Donations were given to Rise Against Hunger PH (RAHPH), the local affiliate of Rise Against Hunger, an international relief agency globally advocating an end to hunger over the last 20 years.

RAHPH provides high-nutrition meals packaged by volunteers.

Globe employee volunteers packed over 22,000 meals comprised of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and fruits, flavoring mix, plus vitamin and mineral sachets, which will provide 1,500 families with sustenance for at least 14 days. In the aftermath of the typhoon, Globe also set up libreng tawag and charging stations in affected areas to serve those who needed assistance and to get in touch with their loved ones.

The success of the Globe Rewards donation drive shows that even small amounts can go a long way in changing lives. Sending relief can be as simple as a click and swipe.

In photo are (from left) Jomar Fleras, executive director of Rise Against Hunger; Mae Acebedo, thrive manager of International Care Ministries; Arlene de Leon, chief administrative officer of International Care Ministries; Yani Bautista, head of Globe Rewards; and Jaypee Gulay, expert program and partner relations officer of Globe Corporate Communications.

PHILCONSTRUCT MARKS 29TH YEAR WITH AN EVEN BIGGER SHOWCASE

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FEW weeks before the opening of the Philconstruct, the organizers of the country’s leading construction trade event gives us a peek on what visitors can expect to see from November 8 to 11. The show will hold its 29th edition at both the SMX Convention Center and World Trade Center, where it is converting the entire front parking lot into another exhibition hall. Those interested to visit can preregister online at www. philconstructevents.com/manila.

“We are converting the entire front parking lot of the World Trade Center into an exhibition hall, adding as much as 3,000 square meters more of indoor exhibition space for the show,” said Gerardo Pancho, first vice president of the Philippine Constructors Association (PCA) and the overall chairman of this year’s Philconstruct. Since its first expansion in 2013, the Philconstruct has been experiencing steady growth and demand for exhibit space not only from local suppliers, but most special from international brands looking to penetrate the Philippine market.

With this new hall, the event is able to present an even wider showcase of building materials, construction equipment, fixtures and finishing solutions, as well as related services from 23 different countries. Pancho said that the event will be a great venue for stakeholders from both the government and the private sector to see how these products and technologies from other countries can be used to further improve and strengthen the country’s various structures and infrastructures.

“These are very exciting times for the industry,” said Morris Agoncillo, president of PCA. “With the government’s aggressive pursuit of infrastructure development through the Build, Build, Build program, as well as the private sector’s drive to produce globally competitive projects, there are plenty of opportunities for both local and international suppliers to grow their business here. Our goal

in PCA is to provide a venue where they can easily explore these opportunities and, for close to three decades now, the Philconstruct has been that platform.”

Every year more than 70,000 architects, engineers, interior designers, government representatives and other professionals from the industry visit the Philconstruct.

“We expect this synergy between these stakeholders to help bring the practice of construction here in the Philippines to the next level,” Pancho added. “[The] PCA has always believed in the importance of cooperation and collaboration in driving growth for the industry,” he said. “[The] Philconstruct presents the perfect opportunity to do this. We have experts and manufacturers from different countries who are very excited to be here in the Philippines to introduce their innovations and also meet local architects, engineers, interior designers, government representatives and other professionals from the industry to share their knowledge, as well as explore possible areas of partnership. We expect this synergy between these stakeholders to help bring the practice of construction here in the Philippines to the next level.”

Aside from the Philippines, countries who will have the biggest representation at the show are China, the European Union, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Vietnam and the United States. More than 1,500 companies in total are slated to be part of the showcase, headlined by its copresenter Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines Inc.; major sponsors CW Home Depot, Hyundai Philippines and QSJ Motor Philippines; and show sponsors Caltex/ Chevron Philippines, Civic Merchandising Inc., Co Ban Kiat Hardware and Isuzu Philippines.

For more information about the event, visitors can log on to www.philconstructevents.com or check out Philconstruct Expo on Facebook and Instagram.

Cox 1st female to referee top English rugby match L

ONDON—Sara Cox has become the first female to referee a top-level English rugby union match.

The 28-year-old Cox, who became the world’s first female professional rugby referee in 2016, took charge of Northampton’s 15-14 Premiership Cup victory at Wasps on Sunday.

Cox had previously refereed in the second and third tiers of English rugby.

An injury-time try by Mitch Eadie sealed a comeback win for Northampton, which took the club to the top of Pool Three in the competition.

Cocaptain Owen Farrell, meanwhile, escaped a citing on Sunday for his shoulder-led tackle at the end of England’s win over South Africa at Twickenham.

World Rugby said there were no citings arising from the test following reviews, or from the Wales-Scotland and IrelandItaly matches on Saturday.

Farrell is free to play for England against New Zealand next Saturday at Twickenham.

His controversial no-arms tackle stopped Andre Esterhuizen in the last move of the match.

Australian referee Angus Gardner decided after video review that Farrell used enough arm and declined to give the Springboks a kickable penalty to win the match. England won 12-11. AP

SARA COX imposes her decision in a tough game. AP

With National Basketball Association records being set from three-point range this season, the league is well on its way to making more shots from beyond the arc than ever before.

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Sports THREE FOR ALL! BusinessMirror

NBA RESULTS

Milwaukee 144, Sacramento 109 Brooklyn 122, Philadelphia 97 Washington 108, New York 95

Orlando 117, San Antonio 110

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Phoenix 102, Memphis 100

Portland 111, Minnesota 81 Toronto 121, LA Lakers 107

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THE Lakers’ LeBron James collides with fans during the second half of their game against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. AP

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press

HE best three-point shooter who ever lived, at least in terms of volume, is Ray Allen.

Boston used to have him.

Milwaukee used to have him.

And he doesn’t figure into either franchise’s greatest single-game three-point barrage.

With National Basketball Association (NBA) records being set from three-point range this season—Golden State’s Klay Thompson has already busted the mark for threes in a game with 14, one more than the standard his fellow Warriors sharpshooter Stephen Curry established in 2016—the league is well on its way to making more shots from beyond the arc than ever before.

The record, set last season, is 25,807. The NBA is on pace this season to make about 27,300 shots from three-point land.

Now, not even three full weeks into this season, five teams have broken their own franchise record for threes in a game. The most recent entry into that club was Milwaukee, which connected on 22 threes—on 56 tries, as opposed to 39 from inside the arc—in its 144-109 win over Sacramento on Sunday. The Bucks used 13 players, with everyone trying at least one shot from three-point range and 11 connecting on at least one triple.

It was the second time this season the Bucks tried

OKYO—Floyd Mayweather Jr. is planning on fighting Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa on December 31 in Saitama, north of Tokyo.

Mayweather is 50-0 in his boxing career but has never fought professionally under mixed martial arts (MMA) rules. Although he did have a lucrative win over MMA fighter Conor McGregor last year.

Japanese promoter the Rizin Fighting Federation on Monday said rules and the weight class for the bout have not been set.

“We still have some work to do,” said Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the Rizin chairman.

The 20-year-old Nasukawa, speaking at a news conference alongside Mayweather, called it “probably the biggest event of my life so far.”

He also vowed to end Mayweather’s long string of victories.

“Nobody has defeated my opponent in the past, and I would like to be the man who makes history,” Nasukawa said, speaking through an interpreter. “My punch can change history. And I will show that to you. So please stay tuned.”

Mayweather sat calmly and then praised his young opponent.

“I think he’s young, very strong and very fast and he’s undefeated so it’s obvious he’s doing something right.”

Meanwhile, when Rocky Fielding enters Madison Square Garden on December 15, it won’t be his first time in the big arena. It will be his initial visit for a boxing event—his fight against Canelo Alvarez.

The World Boxing Association super-middleweight champion will put his belt on the line and be a hefty underdog against what even Fielding calls “an elite fighter...the face of boxing...a superstar.”

Fielding and his girlfriend took a tour of the Garden a few years ago, then went to a basketball game. He hoped to someday be in the ring at the Manhattan venue that Fielding notes is the world’s mecca of boxing. He even imagined it.

“I was coming off my first defeat and was somewhat down,” said the Brit who is 27-1, the loss to Callum Smith coming just under three years ago. “We came over, took the tour and returned at night for a

OH C’MON, FLOYD! FLOYD MAYWEATHER (right) claps as Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa strikes a pose during a press conference in Tokyo on Monday. AP

more threes than twos.

Number of times in Bucks history that happened before this season? Zero.

“We’ll just hopefully keep pushing that record, whatever it is,” Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer said. “See if we can get more.... Good for us to know that we’re pushing that envelope and we want to be great behind that three-point line.”

The Bucks aren’t alone in their quest for three-point greatness.

Boston, which has had three-point stars like Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker and Allen in its rich history, made a team-record 24 three-pointers last week against the Bucks. The Celtics came into this season with 19 threes in a game being their franchise mark; they’ve made 19 or more twice already this season.

“We took what the defense gave us,” Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said after the barrage of 24 threes.

Fueled by Thompson’s 14 threes in Chicago, the Warriors set a team record that night with 24 makes from deep. Atlanta set a team mark with 22 three-pointers against Cleveland, and Utah connected on its record of 19 in a loss to Golden State.

“This is the NBA right now,” Miami Coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Curry is shooting more threes per game than ever, making more threes per game than ever—and doing it more accurately than ever. He’s already made 59 threes

| Tuesday, November 6, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

through the Warriors’ first 10 games, and is shooting 51 percent from deep.

Curry is fifth all-time in three-pointers made with 2,188. Allen is the record-holder with 2,973, a mark Curry is on pace to get in about two years.

In Los Angeles Serge Ibaka outscored the Lakers by himself in the first quarter, and he didn’t miss a shot until the third. He beat LA inside and outside on the way to the biggest offensive game of his career.

Thanks to Ibaka’s brilliance for the Toronto Raptors, Kawhi Leonard wasn’t missed by anyone except the Lakers fans who might have been hoping to entice him home.

Ibaka made his first 14 shots on the way to a career-high 34 points, and the Raptors didn’t need an injured Leonard in a 121-107 victory over Los Angeles on Sunday night.

Ibaka had 10 rebounds and didn’t miss a shot until 5:16 remained in the third quarter, finishing 15 of 17.

He was overpowering while the Raptors jumped to a stunning 31-point lead in the first quarter, and he returned in the final minutes to close out Toronto’s eighth consecutive win over the Lakers.

“I was just focused,” Ibaka said. “I knew Kawhi was out tonight, so I just wanted to go out there and do my best.”

With the Lakers’ small lineups struggling to contain Ibaka early on, he became the first player to start a game 14 of 14 from the field since Shaquille O’Neal did it in

February 2006, according to the NBA. “That’s pretty cool,” Toronto Coach Nick Nurse said.

“The best thing is he’s doing it with some real good composure. He’s getting in there and taking his time. He’s using his size, his power, and using pretty good footwork, so it’s something we can go to.”

Kyle Lowry added 21 points and 15 assists for the Eastern Conference-leading Raptors, who haven’t lost to the Lakers since 2014.

“We really wanted to put some pressure on them and guard the ball,” Nurse said. “We got off to an unbelievable start. We looked athletic and fast all over the place tonight.”

Toronto didn’t let its huge lead dwindle significantly until the final minutes, when the Lakers’ youngster got the margin down to 117-107 with LeBron James on the bench. Toronto was forced to reinsert its starters in the final minutes to preserve the win.

“They’ve been playing like they’re the best team in the Eastern Conference so far,” said James, who finished with 18 points and six assists. “They just came out and hit us right in the mouth, and it’s going to be very hard to make a game of that when you’re trying to expend so much energy to get back into it.”

Kyle Kuzma scored 24 points and Brandon Ingram added 16 for the Lakers, who are 4-6 after their first 10 games with James after this defeat on the tail-end of a back-to-back set that began with a gritty win in Portland on Saturday night.

basketball game. The history this arena holds struck me. As a fighter, you connect with it. And I said one day I would fight here.

“Three years down the road, I am fighting the biggest name in boxing. In the main event—for my title. Dreams do come true.”

It won’t be much of a dream if Fielding loses, as so many people outside of his camp seem to expect. Alvarez comes off a draw and then a win over Gennady Golovkin as middleweights, and a third bout with Triple G is what the boxing community hankers for.

But Alvarez seeks to join a group of Mexican fighters with three weight crowns. And while the money would be massive for a third Golovkin fight, Alvarez does own a 1-0-1 record against Triple G, though both bouts were very close.

For his part, Fielding envisions himself as the star of the show in mid-December.

“I know what I am up against, a tough, elite fighter who has been on pay-per-view and sold out arenas,” he said. “You have to start somewhere; he did. I’m the world champ and I want to get to that level he is at, and I am confident of getting that win.

“If I beat Canelo at Madison Square Garden, I will be up all night and will be the superstar the next day. To get the win at Madison Square Garden and the win for my own fans, there will be a new face of boxing and that will be me.”

Fielding hasn’t faced anyone close to Alvarez’s level, though.

He stopped Tyron Zeuge in July for the WBA crown in his first fight outside of Britain. A bout in Offenberg, Germany, doesn’t quite have the same, uh, ring, as climbing into the MSG ring with perhaps the best boxer in the world.

For now, Fielding is simply thrilled to have such a terrific chance to establish himself as a top guy in the sport.

“I will enjoy every bit of it that goes now, but taking the background and the noise away on December 15, it’s me and Canelo,” he said. “This is what I am in the game for and this is what I trained for since age 9.” AP

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HILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar D. Albayalde will open the 26th Defense and Sporting Arms Show (DSAS) Part 2—the country’s biggest and most prestigious gun show—at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City on November 15.

World shooting champion Jethro Dionisio, president of the Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers Inc. (Afad), said Albayalde will be joined by other top PNP officials in the opening ceremonies in joining forces with Afad in the promotion of responsible gun ownership.

Besides the wide array of latest firearms, ammunition and shooting apparel made available at the events venue, DSAS offers free lectures on “Crime Prevention and Skill Enhancement Orientation” initiated by the National Capital Region Police Office and “Basic Rescue Training, Disaster Preparedness and Crisis Management” by the PNP Academy.

Martial arts experts will also give free seminars on basic self-defense techniques from MMA Jiu Jitsu and Krav Maga.

Ernie Claudio, a veteran sport shooting coach, leads the Gun Safety and Responsible Gun Ownership Seminar during

GO FOR GOLD CYCLIST SHINES

PNP CHIEF OPENS GUN SHOW

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POLICE chief Oscar D. Albayalde will open the 26th Defense and Sporting Arms Show Part 2.

the five-day event. Claudio’s lecture is from 1 to 1:50 p.m. and is free-of-charge to gun show visitors.

Dionisio also invited owners of firearms with delinquent license to avail [themselves] of the “Firearms Caravan,” a joint undertaking by the Afad and PNP to help in the swift processing of gun documents.

Applicants for License to Own and Possess

Firearms (LTOPF), gun registration and Permit to Carry Firearms Outside of Residence are advised to visit the Defense and Sporting Arms Show Facebook page for the list of requirements and details on the PNP Firearms online registration system.

Also, gun show visitors may register online at www.Afad.ph/dsas to avoid queueing at the entrance of the DSAS venue.

FH Chairman’s Cup draws record field

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HE Cherrylume Chairman’s Cup braces for its grand 16th staging this weekend with a record 415-player field clashing for top honors in various divisions at the Forest Hills Golf and Country Club’s Nicklaus and Palmer courses in Antipolo City.

Up from last year’s 300-player cast, the big increase in participation has forced the organizing committee, headed by Club Chairman Atty. Ferdinand Santos, to hold the annual event to two days on November 10 and 11.

“It’s a big number but, by making it

longer and utilizing both the Nicklaus and Palmer layouts, our players will be assured of a smooth staging and less traffic on the courses. We are just very happy to host this big field,” Santos said.

According to Forest Hills General Manager Raymond Bunquin, big prizes will be up for grabs on all par-3s in the twoday event presented by Escala Tagaytay, Golforce, Megaforce Security, Mizuno MasterSports and Diamond Motors.

They include a Mitsubishi Xpander and Tata Manza, a Mazda 3 (ANC Group), a Texas Eagle cart (Turf Co.), a Cobra golf set F7 (J-Ten

Sports), 100,000 cash (Taishan Insurance), Meister watch (YSA skin care) and GPS Tracker (Silicon Computer).

Fujitsu Philippines, Klio International, MRT Dev. Co., Starforce and The Turf Co./Toro and South Forbes Golf Club are the event’s Silver sponsors while Group M, AIO Global, Aqua Haus, Arcadia Realty, Asia Cargo, Ayala Land Premier, Bali Lending, Pacific Electric Wires, Danielsen Transport, East West Bank, Eastland Heights, Eurotel, Flying A International, GPMC Group, Interconnect Systems and Hydrotech Irrigation are the other supporters.

JONEL CARCUEVA rules the men’s elite category of the challenging Tour de Linggarjati in West Java, Indonesia.

PRINT specialist Jonel Carcueva and junior cycling ace Rex Luis Krog delivered a pair of rousing victories for Go For Gold Philippines in the challenging Tour de Linggarjati.

Carcueva got the needed shot in the arm from his Go For Gold teammates and ruled the men’s elite category of the three-day race held in West Java, Indonesia.

The 24-year-old Cebuano banked on a second-place performance in the road race and made sure his closest rivals won’t be a nuisance in the criterium event after finishing third in the 9.8-kilometer individual time trial (ITT) to bring home the general classification (GC) title.

Matej Drivonec of Slovenia, which topped the 119.60-kilometer road race, placed second in the GC after a mediocre output in the ITT, while Nex CNN teammate Robert Muller of Germany wound up third overall.

“I’m very proud of our team.

Even though we are still a young squad and have plenty of things to improve on, they have proven that Filipino cyclists can win in big races overseas,’’ Go For Gold Philippines godfather Jeremy Go said.

Providing the much-needed lift for Carcueva, who captured his first international race, were Go For Gold’s Ronnilan Quita (fourth overall), Ismael Grospe (seventh), Ronnel Hualda (13th), Jericho Jay Lucero (16th) and Elmer Navarro (18th).

“This is Jonel’s first GC [win]. We have seen the potential in him as early as 2015 and joined the Go For Gold program more than two years ago,’’ Go For Gold Project Director Ednalyn Hualda said.

While Carcueva pulled off a breakthrough with his first GC, the 18-year-old Krog ended up victorious in the junior division of the three-day international bikathon just three weeks after he ruled the elite race of the four-stage Tour of Matabungkay.

The only Filipino entry out of 35 riders, Krog frustrated Indonesians Ahmad Yoga Ilham Firdaus and Angga Dwi Wahyu Prahesta on their turf to seize the GC after topping the road race and placing second in the ITT behind Firdaus.

Krog impressively nosed out Firdaus in a dead heat after both clocked one hour and 51 minutes in the 65.30-km road race before the Filipino rider crossed the line ahead of his stubborn Indonesian foe in the criterium finale.

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Tuesday, November 6, 2018

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HITTING SPREE MAKES OPPONENTS EAT DUST H HITTING Spree pulls off a five-length victory in the Ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. Cup.

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and 40 SBP national referees for the QCBL headed by Executive Director BJ Manalo, a former De La Salle University star and team official in the Philippine Basketball Association.

“We believe in the fairness, honesty and high-quality of officiating of the SBP and Fiba referees. I’m sure the team owners in our league will be very happy with this development,” Manalo said.

QCBL officials will meet team owners in the three different divisions—Starters, Cadets and Open— on Tuesday.

All eight teams in the Starters have already confirmed to send their representatives. The teams are

Regalado Vet, Bendovah Bully Camp, Insignia Builders, Dr. Ds Dental, HE Photography, Gold’s Gym, Nemesis and EAs Taste of Asia.

Also confirming their attendance from the Open and Cadet are St. Clare, Emilio Aguinaldo College, One Top Medical, Shoemakers, Team Kyzox, SV Aces, SSI Metal and Hiper.

Schools will be represented by corporate sponsors.

The QCBL aims to develop a complete basketball program for the growing youth population in Quezon City, the biggest city in Metro Manila in terms of land area and population.

QCBL games will be held at the JCR gym of the Far Eastern University-NRMF in Fairview.

PSA Forum on Yulo, gymnastics

in the world meet.

The gymnastics official will also talk about the federation’s next move for Yulo, as well as plans for next year’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

The 11 a.m. sessions is presented by San Miguel Corp., Tapa King and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

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YMNASTICS Association of the Philippines (GAP) President Cynthia Carrion will serve as special guest in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday at the Tapa King Restaurant at the

Farmers Plaza in Cubao.

Carrion will talk on the bronzemedal feat of Caloy Yulo in the floor exercise apparatus final of the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Doha, Qatar. The bronze is the country’s first medal

playoffs, the Gin Kings, under esteemed Coach Tim Cone, will shoot for a “three-peat” in the season-ending conference.

But Cone wanted to blow off complacency as he reminded his wards to remain focused even against the lowly Road Warriors.

“There’s no easy way in the playoffs. It’s always a tough route no matter who you’re playing,” Cone said.

The most successful coach in the league also acknowledged his NLEX counterpart Yeng Guiao.

“Yeng Guiao is one of the coaches you want to avoid in the playoffs,” Cone said.

Barangay Ginebra is has a stacked lineup composed of import Justin Brownlee, veterans LA Tenorio and Japeth Aguilar and athletic guard Scottie Thompson.

Also backing up the crowd darlings are Greg Slaughter, Sol Mercado and Art de la Cruz, who are all coming from injuries and are eager to get back on their old selves.

Import Aaron Fuller will anchor the Road Warriors along with Alex Mallari, JR Quiñahan, Larry Fonacier and Cyrus Baguio.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Blaze Spikers take on Lifesavers

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QCBL to use SBP officials HE Quezon City Basketball League (QCBL) will use referees and table officials from the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas Technical Commission (SBPTC) to ensure an orderly conduct of the games for its inaugural Corporate Conference that starts this month and ends in January.

QCBL Operations Head Oliver Bunyi said officiating always play a major factor in establishing the integrity of a basketball league.

“We don’t want to take any chances in terms of officiating so we have partnered with the SBP officiating team for our first conference,” Bunyi said.

The SBP will dispatch 10 Fiba

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EFENDING champion and top seed Barangay Ginebra embarks on its first step to retain the crown as the Gin Kings take the floor against eighth seed NLEX in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With a twice-to-beat bonus, the Gin Kings, who finished the elimination round with a 9-2 won-lost record, will try to take the easy route to the semifinals when they face the Road Warriors (5-6) in the main game at 7 p.m.

Fourth place Magnolia (8-3), on the other hand, meets fifth seed Blackwater (8-3) also with a twice-to-beat advantage at 4:30 p.m.

In their elimination round encounter early last month, Barangay Ginebra took a 106-92 victory over NLEX in a historic night when Mark Caguiao became the 16th member of the elite 10,000-point club.

Obviously the heavy favorites entering the

advantage to hilt in the Final Four and set up the rematch with its 83-71 conquest of University of Perpetual Help.

Without Perez, the Marcelino twins Jayvee and Jaycee, import Mike Nzeusseu and old reliables MJ Ayaay and Spencer Pretta will have extra loads on their shoulders against the Red Lions.

San Beda, on the other hand, is expected to lean on Robert Bolick, Donald Tankoua, Javee Mocon and streak shooter AC Soberano.

Game Two is on November 12 and if

necessary, Game Three will be on November 15.

La Salle Greenhills and Mapua also open their juniors title rematch as the two face off at 2 p.m.

way to the finish of the stakes race put up by Philippine Racing Commission in honor of the San Miguel Corp. chairman, a stalwart in the horseracing industry.

Abobo was in sync with Hitting Spree as they stuck to their game plan of conserving their strength before going all out in the stretch to seal the win in their much-awaited rematch against Cool Summer Farm’s Tin Drum.

“I reserved her strength until the last 400 [meters]. Although she’s quite heavy now, she’s in top condition,” said Abobo, who thought Tin Drum and rider RG Fernandez were their biggest threat in the race.

Hitting Spree took home P1.2 million, while Tin Drum settled for the runner-up purse of P450,000, with Pangalusian Island (jockey JP Guce, owner Wilbert Tan) taking third spot and the P250,000 cash prize and Und Kantar (RO Niu Jr., Melanie Habla) landing fourth and the P100,000 prize.

BARANGAY GINEBRA TARGETS EASY ROUTE IN QUARTERFINALS

CJ PEREZ SUSPENDED! AN Beda University opens its title-retention bid minus one major headache—top Pirate CJ Perez.

Perez was suspended for Game One of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Season 94 men’s basketball Finals on Tuesday for his failure to officially inform his school and league officials about his application for the Philippine Basketball Association Rookie Draft. All NCAA players wishing to turn pro are required to formalize their intention.

Lyceum of the Philippines University officials appealed Most Valuable Player Perez’s suspension to the NCAA Management Committee but were turned down.

Yet the Pirates and Red Lions looked firm at playing Game One set at 4 p.m. at the Mall of Asia Arena with or without the Lyceum ace.

“We have a title to defend against Lyceum. It will be tough but we are ready,” San Beda Head Coach Boyet Fernandez said. “And we hope we can achieve what the community wants us to do and that is by winning.”

“It’s just really a blessing to be in the Finals. We don’t say this is vengeance or this is payback it’s not in our vocabulary,” Lyceum Coach Topex Robinson said.

“It’s just setting the stage for an opportunity for us to inspire a lot of people. It will never change us,” he added.

Perez, a fiery guard, averages a leaguehigh 18.7 points on top of 8.4 rebounds, four assists and 3.3 steals—numbers the Pirates would surely sorely miss.

The Finals is a repeat of last year’s championship won by the Red Lions in two games—spoiling the Pirates unbeaten run to the title series.

Lyceum advanced to the Finals by beating Letran, 10985, in the semifinals. San Beda also used its twice-to-beat

ITTING Spree pushed the turbo button in the final 400 meters and left fierce rival Tin Drum scrambling in its dust to deliver an emphatic five-length victory in the Ambassador Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. Cup at the Saddle and Clubs Leisure Park Racetrack in Naic, Cavite, on Sunday.

The defending Cojuangco Jr. Cup champion Hitting Spree lost to Tin Drum in the Henry Cojuangco Cup early this year and that setback proved to be the extra motivation for the SC Stockfarm-owned five-year-old filly and her jockey Kelvin Abobo.

Hitting Spree stayed on the outside in the early goings and allowed the elite eighthorse cast to fight for the lead of the long 2000-meter race.

And halfway through, Hitting Spree and Tin Drum found themselves in a heated race until the last 400 meters where the reigning champion unleashed her final burst all the

CJ PEREZ fails to officially inform the league and his school of his intention to turn pro.

EIGNING champion Petron tries to sustain its sizzling start when it battles dangerous Generika-Ayala when the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference rolls back to Filoil Flying V Centre on Tuesday.

Action fires off at 6 p.m. following the collisions between Foton and Cignal at 2 p.m. and F2 Logistics and Sta. Lucia in the 4:15 p.m. match of the club tourney bankrolled by Isuzu, Sogo, Senoh, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller, UCPB Gen and Bizooku.

After a solid buildup in the off-season, the Blaze Spikers were off to a roaring start as they crushed the young Cocolife squad, 25-18,

25-15, 25-18, in the opener of the league that has ESPN5, Hyper HD and Aksyon TV as broadcast partners.

Veteran Aiza Maizo-Pontillas made her presence felt, while Frances Molina displayed her deadly form to underscore her full recovery from the injury that sidelined her in the Asian Games and AVC Asian Women’s Cup a couple of months ago.

Pontillas tallied 14 points, while Molina had 10 hits for the Blaze Spikers, who took full control of the match from start to finish.

Molina said they may be the reigning titlists, but they are marching into the games without any pressure.

The Emmanuel Santos-owned Pride of Laguna and jockey JD Juco controlled the race from the middle to rule the 2018 Philracom 3YO Open Challenge.

Pride of Laguna, one of the top three-yearold horses in the country, received P900,000 for the victory including awards for its team, all sponsored by Philracom.

Other winners for the day were Fire Dancer in the Uratex Foam Special Trophy Race; Huckleberry in the 2YO Juvenile Colts and Fillies; Niccole Girl in the Bingson Tecson Special Trophy Race; Ava’s Dream in the 3YO Colt and Filly Mile; Water Mania in the Pagcor Special Trophy; Lakan in the 23rd MARHO’s Breeder’s Championship; I Love Jane in the SC Stockfarm Inc. Special Trophy; Wessfacckol in the Shelltex Bed Special Trophy Race; Salt and Pepper in the 23rd MARHO’s Breeder’s Championship and Smash Consolidator in the Esicor Incorporated Special Trophy.

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Torre keeps lead in Asian Seniors

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SIA’S first Grandmaster Eugene Torre outwitted Rosendo Bandal in a battle between two veteran players with rich Olympiad experience to keep the lead in the Ninth Asian Seniors Chess Championships at the Tagaytay International Convention Center in Tagaytay City.

Torre, at 67 still the country’s mostrecognizable player after more than four decades, defeated Bandal in 49 moves of the Bogo Indian to share the lead with International Masters (IMs) Chito Garna Garma and Angelo Young and Than Khin of Myanmar with two wins in as many rounds.

Facing an opponent three years his senior, Torre went on the attack and exchanged a rook for a bishop to break the board open and force Bandal to struggle for the right continuation.

Bandal, a retired judge from a family with a strong chess tradition, resigned in an inferior endgame where he only had a rook and seven pawns against Torre’s rook, knight and six pawns.

Impressive as it was, the victory forced Torre to work a little harder.

“I spent a lot of time against him,” said Torre, referring to the 70-year-old Law graduate from Dumaguete City who finished runnerup to Renato Naranja in the 1967 National Championship.

Veteran chess journalist Ignacio Dee said Bandal played solidly against Torre.

“Bandal, a fine counterattacker during his time, held position but played passively perhaps due to time pressure,” said Dee in his commentary for popular social-media group Chess Philippines.

Sports

Ethiopian, Kenyan top NYC Marathon

BusinessMirror

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EW YORK—By the time Mary Keitany was pacing her way up Manhattan’s First Avenue, she had no reason to look back for challengers. The Kenyan’s lead was growing over the strong women’s field with every stride, and all she thought about was the finish line.

Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia didn’t break out into a big grin until he pulled away from two opponents late in the race.

In perfect crisp autumn weather for distance runners, Keitany and Desisa won the New York City Marathon on Sunday in near record times.

Keitany, 36, became the second woman to win the marathon four times. She ran the race in two hours and 22 minutes, 48 seconds, the secondfastest time for the course in history. Margaret Okayo of Kenya set the record of 2:22:31 in 2003.

“I can say the course record was not in my mind,” Keitany said. “For me, winning was the most important.”

Desisa, 28, held off countryman Shura Kitata by 1.99 seconds for his first win in New York, joining victories at the Boston Marathon in 2013 and 2015. He finished second in New York in 2014 and third in 2015 and 2017.

“This is my dream,” Desisa said. “To be a champion.”

Desisa finished in two hours, five minutes and 59 seconds, the second-fastest time for the course. Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya set the record of 2:05:05 in 2011. Last year’s winner, Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya, finished third.

“I’m pretty happy to finish on the podium,” Kamworor said. “I came out the best that I could in the race. I tried my best, and I’m happy to be third.”

Keitany won in 2014, 2015 and 2016 before coming in second last year to Shalane Flanagan, the first American woman in 40 years to win the New York City Marathon. She joined Grete Waitz, the Norwegian who won the marathon nine times between 1978 and 1988, as the only women to win the marathon four times.

She and Ethiopians Rahma Tusa and Gudeta turned their race to a three-woman field at the 15-mile mark.

Keitany pulled away from Tusa and Gudeta at the 19mile mark, leading Tusa by 26.58 seconds and Gudeta by 43.98 seconds. She extended her lead over Tusa to 1:27.83 at the 21-mile mark.

From that point, the question was not whether Keitany would win. Rather, it was by how much.

She beat countrywoman Vivian Cheruiyot by three minutes and 13 seconds.

Flanagan finished third.

“You have to find motivation, things to focus on,” Flanagan said. “When I finally got to third place, I got another level of excitement because I was fighting.” AP

C4

NOVAK DJOKOVIC (left) looks out of energy and yields to Karen Khachanov. AP

| Tuesday, November 6, 2018

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

KAREN STUNS NOVAK

P

ARIS—Karen Khachanov upset a tired-looking Novak Djokovic, 7-5, 6-4, to win the Paris Masters title and deprive Djokovic of the chance on Sunday to match Rafael Nadal’s record of 33 Masters titles.

Djokovic, a record four-time champion at the indoor event, looked out of energy after an epic three-hour semifinal win against Roger Federer on Saturday.

After also being taken to three sets by Marin Cilic in Friday’s quarterfinals, Djokovic’s semifinal finished at around 8 p.m. local time and he felt he was unable to recover sufficiently from that

draining encounter.

“I didn’t unfortunately. But I don’t want to talk about that,” Djokovic said. “I want to talk about how well [Khachanov] played all week and absolutely deserved to win today.”

Asked again whether it was a case of emotional fatigue, after such an intense tussle with Federer, Djokovic repeated his praise for Khachanov.

“Karen played really well, and he deserved to win,” Djokovic said. “All the credit to him.”

Although Djokovic broke in the fourth game to move 3-1 up and then led 30-0 on serve, the unseeded Khachanov broke him

straight back, and the momentum abruptly shifted away from Djokovic.

“I stepped in more inside the court,” Khachanov said. “I started to move him, and maybe he didn’t expect that I could do it after being down 3-1 with a break.”

Djokovic seemed agitated at times and twice turned to his box to remonstrate about an unspecified issue during the first set.

Khachanov broke for 6-5 when he hit a powerful shot down the line that Djokovic could only scoop back into the net. The Russian won the first set with a big first serve that Djokovic could not return, stretching out his racket in vain as the fizzing ball clipped the frame.

Djokovic struggled to handle Khachanov’s brutal two-handed, cross-court backhands from the baseline, which often landed near his ankles,

and dropped his serve again to trail 2-1 in the second set. He had to save three more break points in the seventh game to hold for 4-3 down.

“He was playing big from the back of the court, flat backhands and forehand. He can really hurt you,” Djokovic said. “His serve is really, really strong and precise.”

After both players held to love, Khachanov showed no nerves—even though he was in his first Masters final—and served out the match.

He secured victory on his first match point when Djokovic chopped a backhand return wide.

The imposing Khachanov thrust both his arms in the air and, moments later, knelt down to kiss the court.

“It’s a breakthrough season. And this title, it’s a good year-end I would say,” Khachanov said.

“Maybe I’m not crying, but still I’m really happy.”

Djokovic will return to No. 1 in the rankings for the first time in two years on Monday, but the Serb will be disappointed at missing out on a 73rd career title, having withstood the best of Federer on Saturday.

Still, the Wimbledon and US Open champion has plenty to feel good about after a 22-match winning streak, and he remains favorite for the season-ending ATP Finals in London, beginning November 11.

“I’m satisfied of course, and I’m going to be No. 1 tomorrow. What more can I ask for? I mean, I won 20-plus matches in a row and had a most amazing last five months,” he said. “I’m getting into [the] season finale feeling good about my game.”

The 22-year-old Khachanov, ranked 18th, is the first Russian to win here since Nikolay Davydenko in 2006. Marat Safin won it three times before that. AP

M

Mighty God

IGHTY God, You are our salvation and joy. We lift our hearts to You and pray: Lead us by Your Spirit, Oh God. Make Your Church a place of hospitality and refuge, and welcome all Your people. Prosper efforts toward peace, reconciliation, forgiveness in the Middle East and elsewhere. Heal wounds of racism, discrimination and hateful speech. Encourage positive and friendly attitudes of people around the world. May the love of God permeate our world so that all may acknowledge each other as brothers and sisters in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

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

Life BusinessMirror

BOX OFFICE: WITH $50-MILLION DEBUT, ‘BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY’ IS NO POOR BOY D3

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

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Recycle that: Many household items find surprising new lives THIS photo provided by the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum shows an installation view of Tables and Seating, Concentric and Decentric, a piece featured in the exhibit Tablescapes: Designs for Dining, which runs through April 2019 at the museum in New York. From cigarette butts to old pens, all kinds of waste that formerly was destined for landfills is now being recycled or “upcycled,” finding its way onto runways and into museums and homes. AP

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By katHerine rotH The Associated Press

ROM packaging to clothing to cigarette butts, more and more everyday items that once were destined for landfills are being recycled, composted or upcycled in creative ways. Many of the new products made from waste are finding their way onto runways and into design museums and households.

The company TerraCycle, for example, has devised ways of collecting waste like ocean plastics, cigarette butts, chewing gum and even dirty diapers, and then processing it so it can have a new life.

“Waste is way more than figuring out how we can deal with a negative. It’s really rather exciting,” says TerraCycle’s CEO, Tom Szaky, who loves to put surprising trash items to use. Some of the company’s upcycled products, like tote bags made from juice pouches and laptop cases made out of retired US Mail bags, are sold online, by the retailer Dwellsmart.com.

Pittsburgh, New Orleans, San Francisco and dozens of other cities, partnering with TerraCycle, are finding it worthwhile to collect and process old cigarette butts and packaging, which is shredded, separating the ash, tobacco and paper from the plastic filters, Szaky says. The ash, tobacco and paper are then composted, and the plastic filters (made from cellulose acetate) are shredded, compounded and turned into plastic pellets to make a variety of products like park benches. The cigarette recycling program in the US is financially supported by The Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., he says.

Kiehl’s, Nespresso, Colgate, Tide, Brita and a host of other brands, meanwhile, are finding it advantageous to offer clients ways to recycle their packaging so that it doesn’t have to end up in landfills, an eco-friendly effort which gives them cachet among eco-minded consumers. And a new program about to be launched in Europe, partly paid for by a diaper company there, will distribute publicly accessible odor-proof bins to collect dirty diapers, which will then be recycled into their various components and reprocessed, Szaky says.

Many firms are finding uses for recycled materials at the beginning of the design process. The company ReWall, for example, makes high-performance wall board, exterior and other architectural products out of unwanted packaging materials. ReWall recently worked with the architecture and design firm Bureau V and designer Mary Ping to come up with a futuristic

tabletop as part of a commissioned artwork.

“This was one of our first projects using upcycled materials, but it certainly won’t be our last,” says Peter Zuspan, founding principal at Bureau V. “It’s definitely the type of thing we’ll see more of in the future.”

The tabletop was featured in one of two recent exhibits at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum that looked at ways in which items many people assume cannot be recycled are transformed. It includes Starbucks packaging, with the famous green logos barely visible in the swirls of pattern, and is part of the museum’s new exhibit, Tablescapes: Designs for

Dining. Another show that originated at the Cooper Hewitt, Scraps: Fashion, Textiles and Creative Reuse, is on view at the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center in California through January 14, 2019. It includes an array of textile works from three designers who give new life to waste materials that might otherwise have been thrown away. One of the designers, Christina Kim, cut up handwoven sari fabric to create a new clothing line. She then utilized every bit of the scraps in other products. The tiniest bits at the end of the process were turned into amulets to be used for necklaces.

And interest in eco-friendly textiles is hardly limited to lesser-known designers. Big clothing labels like Everlane are making fashionable clothing out of recyclables (in their case a new line of jackets made from recycled PET bottles).

“Designers are looking for alternative ways to produce things, and are paying more attention to what they produce them from,” says Matilda McQuaid, who organized the Scraps exhibit and heads the textiles department at Cooper Hewitt. “People in general are looking at materials in a very new way, with a much greater focus on sustainability.” n

‘Dangerous ideas challenge creative default’

By Pauline Joy m. GutierreZ IN Oscar Wilde’s highly celebrated essay, “The Critic as Artist,” leading voices Gilbert and Ernest engage in Socratic dialogue discussing the need of the world for artistic expression. Gilbert, in one of his interchanges with the latter, said: “An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”

This piece of literature was published back in 1891.

In a not-so-distant 21st-century future, features on The Economist and Bloomberg, prove that this literary point is still relevant as corporations from different industries gradually shift from their procedural thinking methods to out-of-the-box approaches in building the core of their business models.

Held recently at the SM Aura Premier in Taguig, the annual International Design Conference (IDC) thought leadership forum explored the possibilities that this global movement will bring. The gathering of local and international design leaders shared how a “dangerous” kind of creative thinking propelled their business on top.

“When we say dangerous, we do not mean hazard or peril. It is a description of the kind of thinking that forces us out of our comfort zones,” Rhea Matute, executive director of Design Center of the Philippines, explained. She added, “Creativity can get locked away in a safe default, which puts us at risk of complacency and can harm our potential for growth. But turn creative thinking around in a different direction and you end up with a provocative thinking that creates tension and challenges at the precipice of our ‘creative’ default.” The IDC 2018 began with the premise that a creative thinking process was central

SPEAKERS at the 2018 International Design Conference: (from left) Ibba Bernardo, Christian San Jose, Michael Barry, Lenise Logan and Mikiharu Yabe.

to design leadership to develop decision-makers who find innovative solutions to real-world challenges.

Arch. Abelardo Tolentino, who headlined the keynote discussions this year, said that a step to becoming one is by challenging the status quo.

Tolentino is the founder, chief executive officer and president of Aidea Inc., which ranked 47th in the Building Design UK’s World Architecture 100 list, a survey of the top 100 design firms in the world. His company grew from a 20-man team to a powerhouse firm of 200 designers in the last two decades.

Tolentino’s talks were followed by few others from the likes of Michael Barry, the founder of Quotient Design Research and Innovation, and a Design Thinking professor in Stanford. He discussed the dichotomy between crafts and digitized fabrication

to address the craft innovation gap, and how it can contribute to economic growth in the Philippines.

Door To Asia designer coordinator Mikiharu Yabe, on the other hand, showed how collaborative programs like DTA transform the perception of design as a tool for change and designers as change agents. SoFA Design Institute dean Tobias Guggenheimer, Makerspace Manila founder Gino Cariño and Curiosity cofounder Pamela Cajilig discussed learning from education in academic programs. The panel underlined the need for continuous learning beyond the university walls, emphasizing how creativity and complex problemsolving, combined with entrepreneurship skills can prepare students for work.

Meanwhile, Department of Trade and Industry

(DTI) Trade and Investments Promotions Group Head Nora K. Terrado led the media panel interview.

The trade undersecretary, who also served as an IDC keynote speaker, talked about how the creative economy creates an impact on the growth of national economy. She said, “The audiovisual segment of the market gets us approximately $1 billion in terms of revenue. But what we need to understand is when we add the media and performing arts and the entire creative-related segment, it could even go as high as contributing to 7 percent of the services export market.”

According to Terrado, the DTI is already in works to further support the growth of the creative economy.

“What you will expect as early as the first quarter for 2019 will be an indication of a baseline—to create an industry just like the IT-BPM [information-technology and business-process management], which took us 15 years [to maximize its potential.]”

Currently, the Philippines’s IT-BPM sector’s voicebased services is the largest contributor in the local BPO industry, comprising 64 percent (493,000) of generated direct employment and 67 percent ($ 7.4 billion) of total revenues in 2011.

The undersecretary added, “Part of the ITBPM already includes the animation and game development and the software sectors. We believe that collectively, these would add about 20-30 percent into creative-design centric solution population.” This implies higher job opportunities and employment.

“The good thing about the creative industry is not dependent on hard equity,” concluded Terrado. “When we remove the limits to what the industry can do, we can create new and emerging industries.”

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Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Pages BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The coming of age of transgender literature ANDREA LAWLOR (left) and Jordy Rosenberg in Northampton, Massachusetts.

A number of first novels from transgender authors with purely literary designs— including playing with genre—are getting attention. TONY LUONG/THE NEW YORK TIMES

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By Peter Haldeman New York Times News Service

ORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts—The Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts is a cradle of social progress—a place where LGBTQ is often followed by IA (for intersex and asexual), there’s a Stonewall Center (now 33 years old), and gender-nonconforming parents have a nickname of choice (it’s “Baba”).

On a Maple-lined street here in Northampton, in a white gablefront house, lives one such Baba, aka Andrea Lawlor, a gender queer novelist and visiting lecturer at Mount Holyoke College; Lawlor, who uses the pronoun “they,” shares the first floor rooms with their girlfriend, their 5-year-old child, and their child’s sprawling Lego constructions.

The second floor is occupied by Lawlor’s best friend of 25 years, Jordy Rosenberg, a transgender novelist who teaches 18th-century literature, gender and sexuality studies, and critical theory at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Sometimes they call their home a “queer commune.”

Lawlor’s debut novel, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, set in the 1990s and featuring a shape-shifting (and sex-obsessed) protagonist, was published last year by Rescue Press—and received enough attention that Vintage/Anchor and Picador will reissue the book next spring. Rosenberg’s first novel, Confessions of the Fox, which reimagines the legend of 18th-century English thief and jailbreaker Jack Sheppard as that of a transgender man, was put out this summer by One World—a recently relaunched Random House imprint dedicated to diversity—and promptly heaped with praise. (The New Yorker called it “a cunning metafiction of vulpine versatility.”)

This also represents progress.

Fictional gender-benders may be as old as Ovid’s Metamorphoses. But recent years have seen a boomlet in transgender literature. In a field previously dominated by memoir and genre fiction (sci-fi, young adult), a number of first novels with more purely literary designs—including playing with genre—are getting attention. “It’s really exciting to see an emerging crop of trans-related fiction by trans people,” said Meredith Talusan, a journalist who writes about LGBTQ issues. “It takes a lot of mettle to tread narrative terrain without a real tradition and without a lot of cultural support.”

On a rainy August afternoon, perched on a hardback chair in his upstairs quarters, wearing jeans and a loose flannel shirt revealing a dark plexus of tattoos on his chest and arms, Rosenberg intently fielded questions about Confessions of the Fox. “I was doing research for a monograph on religious enthusiasm in the 18th century and became interested in these accounts of Sheppard,” he said, glancing at some densely scrawled notes in his lap. “On one level he represented resistance to the development of capitalism and new kinds of legislation around stealing. But also a lot of the material describes Sheppard as this legendary sexy figure and kind of what we would now describe as gender queer—as effeminate and small, which was key to his ability to break out of prison.”

The book is narrated by one R. Voth, a contemporary transgender scholar who is given to lengthy and unusually personal footnotes—and who, the author stressed, is not an alter ego. It tracks the academic’s efforts to authenticate a “mashed and mildewed” manuscript chronicling the adventures of Sheppard and his lover, Edgeworth Bess, here a Spinoza-spouting prostitute, as they move through the queer subcultures of 18th-century London and

z

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Emma Stone, 30; Ethan Hawke, 48; Maria Shriver, 63; Sally Field, 72.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Share information and work alongside others in order to get ahead. Having a positive and helpful attitude will make a difference to the outcome of whatever you are working toward. Change should be welcomed, and the desire to help implement whatever comes your way will ensure that there is a spot for you moving forward. Your destiny depends on your willingness to participate. Your lucky numbers are 7, 15, 24, 27, 33, 38, 46.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Look at every detail, and don’t take shortcuts. A risk can leave you in a vulnerable position. Be clear about what you want and what you are willing to do.

Take control instead of letting someone else determine your fate. HHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Embrace change. You can get ahead if you size up, evaluate and make a move. Don’t let what others do hold you back. Look at the possibilities and act. What you decide to do will make a difference.

HHHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Speak up and ask questions if you want to find out the truth. Do your due diligence if something doesn’t add up. Go directly to the source and question every detail.

A partnership should be reevaluated if you question its fairness. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Don’t hesitate to join in. If you don’t voice your opinion, you cannot bring about positive change. Get involved in events that are sponsored by a group you know and trust. An opportunity will develop based on the information you share. HHHHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Keep an open mind and look at all the possibilities. Maintain simplicity, moderation and doing what you can to get the most for the least. Your ability to negotiate will be key in getting what you want. HH

f clash with its corrupt police force. If the novel is a cunning metafiction, it’s also a lusty picaresque and, ultimately, as the author braids Sheppard’s and Voth’s stories, an impassioned political proof.

Regarding its mash-up of genres and influences, Rosenberg said he was primarily interested in writing a “faux 18th-century thriller.” But he cited literary touchstones as diverse as Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, Marquis de Sade’s Philosophy in the Bedroom, and the novels of Thomas Pynchon. The book, whittled in half from an original draft of 800 pages, also happens to be steeped in queer theory—as popular on campuses today as deconstruction (from which it evolved) was a generation ago.

“It’s impossible to talk about trans or queerness or sexuality in a vacuum,” said Rosenberg, whose Facebook profile reads “Marxist. Worrywart. Author.”

“We’re also talking about the history of racialization, the history of class formation, the history of the ways capitalist forms of the law impinge upon the body.”

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl literally embodies the notion that gender is fluid rather than binary (an idea with enough currency that two acclaimed television series—Pose and Billions—feature gender nonspecific characters). In the novel, Paul Polydoris changes his body and sex organs at will to attract “only the sorts of attention he desired” as he cruises a “womyn’s festival” in Michigan, Iowa City’s punk scene, or offseason Provincetown in the age of mixtapes and Doc Martens.

As fanciful as it is—and as difficult to quote in a family newspaper—the narrative is rooted in the author’s experience. “I came of age in the 1990s,” Lawlor said. “Everyone was dying” of AIDS. “So people were like, wait a minute, what about play and pleasure and performance?”

Like Confessions of the Fox, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, which took Lawlor 15 years to write, bends genre as well as gender. Short fables are sprinkled among the chapters, and the author makes use of pastiche, footnotes and other moves from the postmodern playbook. “For queer artists of a certain age we just assumed that to write was to experiment,” Lawlor said.

The two novelists are not unique among transgender writers in their magpie approach to literary tropes and genres. Kai Cheng Thom, a 27-year-old Chinese-Canadian transgender writer and performance artist, is the author of a recent “fictional memoir” titled Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir—a novel that turns the memoir form on its head.

“There’s a long tradition of trans people being confined to memoir,” said Thom in a recent interview.

(The list of transgender memoirs stretches from Lili Elbe’s 1933 autobiography, Man Into Woman, to Caitlyn Jenner’s The Secrets of My Life, published in 2017—and beyond). “This idea that we have to narrate our lives for the titillation of cis-gender readers—‘When I was a child I never fit in and then I wanted this other genitalia’—I thought it would be fun to take that on.”

Her novel, which follows the exploits of an Asian transgender girl who runs away from home and finds her true family in a vigilante gang of “fierce, fabulous femmes” known as the Lipstick Laceraters, blends fiction and nonfiction with dashes of magical realism, poetry and fairy tale. There’s violence, too, but it’s of the Tarantino variety—stylized and, in the context of real-life conditions for transgender women on the street, cathartic.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Don’t speak out of turn or trust or believe everything you are told. Proper protocol will be necessary if you want to reach an understanding with those you deal with today. A change someone suggests should be considered. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Emotional matters will surface regarding personal situations you face with a partner or those you live with. Consider the best way to calm the situation in order to move forward. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Take a step forward and voice your opinion. Listen to what’s said and determine whether you are heading in the same direction as those you associate with. Make a choice that will lead to personal change, a healthier lifestyle and new beginnings. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Stick to your script. If you reveal private information or fabricate a story or situation, you will end up looking bad in front of someone you respect. Be cautious when faced with change. HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Get ready to make a change. Consider your options and strike while the iron is hot. You can improve your work relationships or change them altogether. Don’t sit still when you should be pushing for new beginnings.

HHHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t overreact, regardless of what others do or say. Emotions will flare up easily, and if expressed to the wrong people, will end up leaving you in a vulnerable position. HH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Take hold of whatever situation you face, and make the necessary changes to bring about positive change. Double-check any shared information for mistakes before you repeat what’s transpired. Truth comes first and foremost. HHHHH

Continued on D4

BIRTHDAY BABY: You are charismatic, engaging and adaptable.

You are intuitive and passionate.

‘11 on sunday’ BY TIMOTHY E. PARKER The Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker

ACROSS 1 Caffeine nut 5 Burial constructions 10 Burned bit 13 Neglect to say 14 Escherich’s bacterium 15 General vicinity 16 Six in Baltimore 19 U-turn from WSW 20 Make joyful 21 Is soothing 22 Featherbrain kin 24 Author Horatio 25 Horrific events 26 North American flycatcher 28 Nose stimulator 30 Carpenter or Gillan 31 X-ray unit 34 Two in Arizona 38 It can be explosive 39 Famed painter of water lilies 40 The very top 41 Dalmatian features 42 The Simpsons character

4 Breakfast serving 4 46 Replace on a schedule 49 Insistent pusher 50 ___ wrench 52 Letters indicating pressure 53 Three in New York 56 Use soap and water 57 Many North Africans 58 Tropical vacation locale 59 Anger 60 Bad’s successor?

61 All birthstones DOWN 1 M.A.S.H. setting 2 A Sultanate citizen 3 Seaweedlike plant 4 Absorbed, as a cost 5 Some modern cars 6 Rowing team quorum 7 No longer in question 8 NYPD shade 9 Attack dog’s signal 10 Got up 11 Under-city flower

2 Brinker in literature 1 15 “Waste not, want not,” for one 17 Not even once, poetically 18 Montana city 23 Difficult 24 Blows away 26 ___ in comparison 27 Before, once 28 10 on calendars, briefly 29 Actor Aykroyd 30 Philosophical Immanuel 31 Form anew 32 Cash dispenser 33 Colorful product 35 Bring into the country 36 U-turn from midnight 37 Predetermined outcome 41 Messy public to-do 42 Words ending a threat 43 Work the bar 44 Sticky patch?

45 Margarita plant 46 Roman commoners 47 Biblical song

8 Floor pieces 4 49 Not-cute fruit 50 Roundish hairdo 51 Untrustworthy sort 54 Lumber mill fixture 55 Band job

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

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Tuesday, November 6, 2018

D3

With $50-million debut, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is no poor boy Danish Film Festival on its 4th consecutive year THE Embassy of Denmark brings the fourth installment of the annual Danish Film Festival.

The festival will open on November 8 at Cinema 7 of the Robinsons Movieworld, Robinsons Galleria.

This year’s lineup is composed of nine films holding an earnest collection of contemporary and awardwinning entries.

From November 8 to 11, nine carefully chosen fulllength films will be hitting the screens, four of which for the first time ever in the Philippines. This gives the public a chance to partake into the peculiar yet realistic, and uncharacteristically influential realm of Danish cinema Opening night on November 8 will be held at the cinema lobby of Robinsons Galleria Movieworld, with Under Sandet/Land of Mine as the opening film. It is a best non-English Oscar nominee starring Roland Møller and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, and directed by Martin Pieter Zandvliet. As part of strengthening Danish-Philippine cultural ties, a special screening of Dagsin will be played over the course of the festival.

Dagsin is a multi-awarded indie movie by Filipino filmmaker Atom Magadia, inspired by the ideas of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and French existentialist Albert Camus. The festival brings not only some fine Danish-produced films, but also an opportunity to watch films inspired by Danish ideals.

“We are very happy to continue developing our social and cultural links to the Philippines. Films, literature, music—cultural events create common ground between people beyond institutionalized politics. Now again, Filipinos get another chance— through our Fourth Danish Film Festival—to learn about some of social, political and cultural characteristics of Danes and Denmark. We believe by engaging with each other, we can inspire each other and develop our relations. I look forward to seeing an even bigger crowd than last year at our film screenings,” says Ambassador of Denmark to the Philippines Jan Top Christensen.

The films to be shown are all for FREE and on a first-come, first-serve basis. The selection and screening of films are made possible by the Embassy of Denmark Manila, the Danish Film Institute, Robinsons Movieworld and the Film Development Council of the Philippines through their Film Cultural Exchange Program.

Screening schedules are available at bit.ly/2F25esN.

By Jake Coyle | The Associated Press

N

EW YORK—The Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and 20th Century Fox are—for now, at least—champions of the world.

Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek as the late Queen frontman, shrugged off production troubles and mediocre reviews to debut with $50 million in weekend ticket sales in US and Canada, and another $72.5 million internationally, according to studio estimates on Sunday. That was well beyond expectations, which had pegged the film closer to $35 million to $40 million in its opening weekend.

But audiences rushed to theaters to see the widely praised performance by Malek, the Mr. Robot star, and to hear Queen’s foot-stomping anthems like “We are the Champions,” “Another One Bites the Dust” and the operatic title song. The movie, which Bryan Singer directed before being replaced by Dexter Fletcher, at times has an almost concert-like feel, including a lengthy recreation of the band’s 1985 Live Aid performance.

“It really is a celebration of Queen and their music, and I think we did a really good job of letting people know that that’s what this is,” said Chris Aronson, distribution chief for Fox. In soaring to No. 1, the Fox release trounced one from Disney, which will soon own the studio. Despite a production budget of $125 million, the Walt Disney Co.’s lavish, big-budget The Nutcracker and the Four Realms opened with just $20 million. Disney is set to merge with Fox in the coming months, effectively ending the 103-year-old Fox, one of Hollywood’s six major studios. “We were hoping for a stronger start, but we do think it’s a film that people will find as we head into the holidays,” said Cathleen Taff, head of theatrical distribution for Disney.

Though Disney’s record of success is the envy of Hollywood, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms marks the studio’s third misfire this year following the underperforming A Wrinkle in Time and Solo. The studio’s CGI-stuffed resurrection of E.T.A. Hoffmann story was positioned as an early holiday season release, but flopped with critics (34 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) and sparked only modest interest from audiences. It grossed $38.5 million overseas.

Bohemian Rhapsody, made for $52 million, was largely dismissed by critics as an overly conventional rock biopic (60 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes).

But the film proved more popular with moviegoers, who gave the PG-13 release, produced by Graham King, an “A” CinemaScore and 4 1/2 stars out of 5 on

comScore’s PostTrak audience survey.

“Even in the negativity that came out of critics, there was always a ‘but,’ almost universally: ‘But Rami is great,’” noted Aronson. “I’m very happy for Graham and Rami and the entire filmmaking team. And I’m happy for the home team. This is a big win for Fox.” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, praised Fox’s rollout of the film as “pitch perfect.” Dergarabedian also cited Malek’s breakout big-screen performance and the sustained interest in all things musical at the box office. Musically based films have lately been major draws in theaters, from Fox’s own The Greatest Showman earlier in the year to Warner Bros.’s Oscar favorite A Star Is Born, which collected another $11.1 million in its fifth weekend for $165.6 million overall.

“It seems that audiences can’t get enough of movies that have music baked into their DNA,” Dergarabedian said. “That’s proving to be a very successful formula.”

Another winning formula—Tiffany Haddish plus anything—came up short over the weekend.

Nobody’s Fool, which paired Haddish with another box-office force in writer-director-producer Tyler Perry, opened in third with a so-so $14 million. While far from disastrous for a movie that cost $19 million to make, the muted performance of Nobody’s Fool seemed likely a result of oversaturation. Two films starring Haddish—Night School and The Oath—have opened in the past six weeks, and Night School is still No. 12 at the box office.

In limited release, Joel Edgerton’s acclaimed gay conversion therapy drama Boy Erased, starring Lucas Hedges, opened with a strong per-theater average of $44,000 in five theaters. Matthew Heineman’s A Private War, starring Rosamund Pike as war

correspondent Marie Colvin, opened in four theaters with a per-theater average of $18,000.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to comScore.

Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday also are included.

1. Bohemian Rhapsody, $50 million ($72.5 million international) 2. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, $20 million ($38.5 million international) 3. Nobody’s Fool, $14 million ($265,000 international) 4. A Star Is Born, $11.1 million ($13.9 million international) 5. Halloween, $11 million ($18.3 million international) 6. Venom, $7.9 million ($15.6 million international) 7. Smallfoot, $3.8 million ($12.1 million international) 8. Goosebumps 2, $3.7 million ($9 million international) 9. Hunter Killer, $3.5 million ($3.3 million international) 10. The Hate U Give, $3.4 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the US and Canada), according to comScore: 1. Bohemian Rhapsody, $72.5 million 2. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, $38.5 million 3. Halloween, $18.3 million 4. Venom, $15.6 million 5. A Star Is Born, $13.9 million 6. Smallfoot, $12.1 million 7. Intimate Strangers, $10.1 million 8. Goosebumps 2, $9 million 9. Le Grand Bain, $7.4 million 10. The House With a Clock in its Walls, $7.2 million. n

Witching hour starts with ‘Suspiria’ IN this August 12, 2012, file photo, British band Spice Girls perform during the Closing Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. AP

Spice Girls to reunite for tour, but without Beckham LONDON—A report says the Spice Girls are about to give fans what they really, really want: a reunion.

The Sun newspaper said on Saturday that the 1990s girl group is about to announce a new tour, but without original member Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham. The newspaper says the band has recorded a message that will be broadcast on Monday announcing a 2019 UK stadium tour.

Apart from Beckham, now a successful fashion designer, the lineup includes Melanie “Sporty Spice” Chisholm, Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton, Melanie “Scary Spice” Brown and Geri “Ginger Spice” Horner.

The band was a 1990s phenomenon with hits including “Wannabe” and “Viva Forever.” They performed as a four-piece for two years after Horner quit the band in 1998, split in 2000 and last reunited at the 2012 London Olympics. AP

A BALLET company secretly houses witches in the latest horror movie Suspiria, distributed locally by OctoArts Films.

Starring an all-women ensemble that includes Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Grace Moretz and Mia Goth, the film introduces the audience to the coven of a world-renowned dance company engulfed in darkness where there are only two options: succumb in darkness or wake up from the trap of a nightmare they’re in. It is now in theaters everywhere around these parts.

American dancer Susie Bannion (Johnson) arrives in 1970s Berlin hoping to join the world-renowned Helena Markos Dance Co. In her very first rehearsal, Susie stuns the company’s famed choreographer, Madame Blanc (Swinton), with her talent, vaulting to the position of lead dancer. Olga (Goth), the previous lead, breaks down and accuses the “Mothers” who run the company of being witches. But before she can flee, she is captured and tortured by a mysterious force somehow connected to Susie’s dancing.

Despite these early warning signs, Susie continues her rise to the top of the dance academy at all costs. As rehearsals continue for the final performance of the company’s signature piece, “Volk,” Susie and Madame Blanc grow strangely close, suggesting that Susie’s purpose in the dance company goes beyond dancing.

Meanwhile, psychotherapist Dr. Klemperer discovers a disturbing diary from his patient, a former Markos dancer named Patricia (Moretz), outlining an ancient demonic religion practiced by the Mothers.

After Patricia mysteriously disappears, the doctor tries to alert the police but gets nowhere. Taking matters into his own hands, he approaches a dancer named Sara for help.

Following their meeting, Sara ventures into the depths of the dance studio’s hidden chambers, where strange and horrific discoveries await.

The emotional demands aside, Johnson says the experience of filming Suspiria was remarkable, in part because of the film’s predominantly female cast and its lack of a conventional romantic storyline.

“It was the most nurturing, loving environment,” she says. “You go in thinking, ‘Okay, I’m going to film this psychotic story in an abandoned hotel with a cast of 40 women. It’s going to be mayhem!’ And yeah, everyone was on the same menstrual cycle—the whole thing was so witchy—but there was such a foundation of support and love and true, deep connections with one another. It was so liberating, and it made me feel proud to show this way of filmmaking to the world: there doesn’t have to be a leading man, or a male-female story to get the point of love across.”

The dance sequences in Suspiria are crucial: They must cast a spell on the audience to such a degree that we believe the dancers’ movements are imbued with a primal, powerful force. For Guadagnino, finding the right choreographer and aesthetic was paramount.

Johnson began dance training while she was still filming Fifty Shades Freed in Vancouver. After Jalet joined the project, she spent three weeks in Varese, Italy, working eight hours a day with the other dancers.

“I danced when I was younger for about 10 years, so luckily I had a bit of a background

and my body has muscle memory,” she says. “And I can understand choreography, so that was an incredible plus for me.”

Director Guadagnino calls the story “a fable of a very specific time and place, where the past was so dark that it goes hand in hand with digging into the darkness of the self.” He adds that the film reflects the feminism that swept Europe in the 1970s “in the way we describe the archetypical figure of the witch and the way the movie showcases a variety of female characters and empowers and de-victimizes the women.”

BOHEMIAN Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek as the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, shrugged off production troubles and mediocre reviews to debut as the No. 1 film with $50 million in weekend ticket sales in US and Canada.

D4

Art

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

THE COMING OF AGE OF TRANSGENDER LITERATURE

ANDY WARHOL sits in his favorite chair in New York, in February 1968. Warhol’s decision to turn the spreadsheet and the publicity machine into artistic mediums has touched artists from Damien Hirst to Banksy.

Continued from D2 Thom, a self-described anarchist and “drag-dance sensation” who comes across as rather low-key online (oversized horn rim glasses, ruminative pauses), said that as a storyteller she found straight-up realism limiting. “When you start out as one thing in life and become another you have to overcome this sort of real-life hero’s journey to get there,” she said. “That does lend itself to heightened narratives.”

If transgender fiction leans to heightened narratives, it doesn’t exclude kitchen-sink realism.

“It’s important to acknowledge the writers engaging in the specificities of actual trans experience,” said Talusan, if only to counter a long cultural tradition of transgender people “cast as the other or the villain” (think Silence of the Lambs).

Imogen Binnie, Casey Plett and Torrey Peters are three novelists whose slice-of-trans-life fiction is published by small presses.

This year Plett, a Canadian writer who is the author of the story collection A Safe Girl to Love, came out with her first novel, Little Fish. The book opens with the discovery by a young Winnipeg transgender woman, Wendy Reimer, that her Mennonite grandfather may also have been transgender. But the novel’s primary focus is the day-to-day struggles of Wendy and her circle of friends—with unemployment, with alcoholism, with sexual violence. Plett knows alienated transgender millennials the way Ann Beattie knows alienated cis-gender boomers. n

‘ZOBEL Y SUS CONTEMPORANEOS’ AT HIRAYA

HIRAYA Gallery presents the exhibit Zobel y sus Contemporaneos at the Makati Shangri-La, on view until November 12. This show introduces to the local art scene the works of Fernando Zobel de Ayala and his peers Adrian Moya, Miguel Angel Moset, Bonifacio Alfonso and Luis Buendia.

These artists were entranced by the charms of Cuenca, Spain.

Zobel was born in Manila on August 27, 1924. In 1933 his family traveled to Europe and settled in Madrid. His studies in Spain and Switzerland were interrupted by the Spanish Civil War when the family moved to San Juan de Luz. The family returned to the Philippines in 1936. In 1941 he pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree and studied Medicine at the University of Santo Tomas during the Japanese Occupation, World War II. In 1946 he entered Harvard University as a student of Philosophy and Letters.

His first solo exhibition took place at the Philippine Art Gallery in 1952. His presence and participation invigorated the local art scene during the postwar period. He was a catalyst in Philippine contemporary art and in Spain, Zobel was a catalyst of Spanish abstraction.

More information is available at www.hiraya.com.

THE LATEST IN MARIA CRUZ’S ‘ONE MILLION DOLLAR’ SERIES

THE new paintings to be shown in “six hundred and fifteen thousand four hundred and eighty eight” are a continuation of the project one million dollars, which was exhibited at Artspace following her residency there in 2006.

Maria Cruz’s abstraction is an aesthetic remembrance on the valuation and devaluation of coins, the intuitive process of putting color to the elements continuously and the modulation of documenting day-to-day works. Her process of tracing the outline of coins then rendering them with a transparent wash of color is exorbitantly a trademark of the artist.

The power of the circular element of coins is what we may call a ubiquitous concept of “having,” an existential challenge of acquiring properties to prove permanence, of making recollections to prove works eternal.

A recipient of several exhibition and residency grants— among them, the Institut fuer Auslandsbeziehungen in Germany; MOMA PS1 in New York City; Visual Arts and Crafts Board in Australia—and joining over more than 50 solo and group exhibitions in Europe, the Philippines and Australia.

Maria Cruz stages her next exhibition at Galleria Duemila adding to her one million dollar series. The exhibition will run from Noveber 10 to December 29 at Galleria Duemila (www. galleriaduemila.com) at 210 Loring Street in Pasay City.

BARTON SILVERMAN/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Andy Warhol Inc.: How he made business his art I

By Blake Gopnik New York Times News Service

N the fall of 1968, still aching from an assassin’s attack, Andy Warhol returned to work in the bright new offices he’d rented on Union Square.

After years of stardom in pop art, he pondered his future. “I was confused because I wasn’t painting and I wasn’t filming there,” he recalled.

Instead, he watched his minions taking care of business. They were shooting movies under his name, selling his prints and finding him portrait commissions—one way or another, making money with art. “I knew that work was going on, even if I didn’t have any idea what the work would come to.”

That corporate work, Warhol soon came to realize, was actually some of the most important art he ever made. Business Art, he came to call it, “the step that comes after art.” It established that everything this artist had done or would do, as head of Andy Warhol Enterprises Inc.—as portraitist, publisher, publicist or salesman—counted as components in one boundless work: part performance art, part conceptual art and part picture of the market world he lived in and that we all still inhabit.

Now the Whitney Museum of American Art is about to open a major new Warhol survey. Titled “Andy Warhol—From A to B and Back Again,” it stars a full cross-section of his epochal creations: The Soup Cans and Marilyns of the early-1960s, which held up a mirror to American commodity culture; the experimental films of his Factory years; the society portraits, homoerotica and almost-abstractions of his last two decades. All treasures, without a doubt, but maybe just as significant for the times we now live in as aspects of his Business Art project.

The heart of Warhol’s idea—that by playing the role of businessman, an artist could turn himself into the latest, living example of a commodification he believed none of us can avoid—was perhaps as revolutionary in its time as Marcel Duchamp presenting a humble urinal as sculpture had been in 1917. Duchamp’s gesture declared that artists alone get to define what is art; five decades later, Warhol took that as permission to treat the spreadsheet, news release and launch party as creative endeavors. This set an example for some of his most notable heirs in our current century.

“I’ve wrestled with money—in an art sense—all through my career,” Damien Hirst, the longtime British art star and entrepreneur, said. “And I saw through Andy Warhol that it was possible to do that, that it was acceptable. Even though it raises questions, it’s not something to be afraid of.”

In a recent interview, writer and curator Jack Bankowsky said, “Business Art remains as important as it ever was, because Andy Warhol is as important as he ever was.”

In 2009 he organized a landmark exhibition called Pop Life for the Tate Modern museum in London that was about how Warhol’s decision to turn the marketplace and the publicity machine into artistic mediums has touched today’s major figures.

Alongside Warhol the show presented Jeff Koons, and the hardcore images of sex with his wife that catapulted him to tabloid fame and to a corporatescaled practice that even Warhol would envy.

Hirst was also central to Pop Life, not because of famous art objects like his shark-in-a-tank, but for the blockbuster auction he staged of his own works in

2008, an artistic “performance” most important for the more than $200 million it brought in. Although, as Hirst said, it would still have counted as an artistic win regardless of sales, “I knew I was pushing something to the breaking point, whether it succeeded or failed.”

The purest example of post-Warhol Business Art may be the work of the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. At the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, Murakami is currently showing collaborations with fashion designer and music producer Virgil Abloh, now in charge of the menswear line at Louis Vuitton; the art on display involves mash-ups of the duo’s brand names and trademarks.

In a pioneering 2007 essay on Murakami, Scott Rothkopf, the chief curator at the Whitney Museum, wrote about how capitalist business models are at “the very core” of everything that artist has done.

Rothkopf, who did not organize the museum’s Warhol show, said that by infiltrating the market systems that shape our society, artists can help us see them more clearly. Part of Warhol’s greatness, he said, lay in his “prescient understanding” of how art would come to play such a role.

But the effects of Warhol’s corporate model may run so deep that they aren’t always obvious. In the decade since his Pop Life show, said Bankowsky, Business Art has penetrated ever more deeply, as “the back story” behind of any sophisticated artistic practice. A show of paintings that look like straightforward aesthetic objects may just as easily be intended to address how art circulates and sells.

“I think it’s impossible to make art today without somehow taking that on board,” Hirst said. “I think business in art is more important than politics.”

Last month right after a work by the street artist Banksy sold for a record price of $1.4 million, the painting was destroyed by a remote-control shredder the artist had built into its frame. The art world, reared on Warhol and Hirst, immediately entered into a debate about whether Banksy was critiquing the art market or was complicit with it. His act might have simply been intended to increase the work’s value.

Today money has flooded the art world in ways Warhol could not have imagined. A handful of megagalleries, and their oligarch-artists, hold the pursestrings and power, making price tags matter more than profundity. Artists not in the big-money game have been left on the margins. In the auction houses, Warhol himself, although three decades dead, is a linchpin in a $25-billion market whose oft-proclaimed bubble refuses to burst. Days after his art goes on view at the Whitney, at least half a dozen Warhol works will go under the hammer at New York’s three major auction houses.

In that context, attaching the word “art” to Warhol’s commercial ventures, or to those of his heirs, can seem like special pleading for artists who simply seek profits. But in the late-1960s, when Warhol came up with his notion, he was actually latching onto a larger art trend on the cultural cutting edge.

Traditional museum-worthy objects—including, by Warhol’s own admission, all of pop art—seemed to have hit a dead end, and many artists turned instead to purely conceptual projects that aped businesses.

Many of Warhol’s own capitalist schemes were in fact so goofy that they could never have got off the ground. Selling movie stars’ used underwear? A leasing service that would rent out Warhol’s so-called Superstars at $5,000 a piece? Even Interview magazine

rarely if ever recorded a profit.

Yes, Warhol made good money off some of his projects. When he died in 1987, he was rich. But unlike any real commercial enterprise—including the making and selling of paintings—Warhol’s Business Art would have been a success if it had never brought in a penny. It was the performance that mattered, not its results, the way Marina Abramovic didn’t scrub blood from piles of cow bones because she truly wanted them cleaner.

To many eyes today, Warhol must look like more of a sellout than ever. His iconic imagery can now be seen on moneymaking products including baby buggies and $14 “limited-edition” socks. But those don’t necessarily cancel out the artistry in Warhol’s Business Art. They are more like posthumous reperformances of it, or maybe they are this art’s latest “exhibition”—the way Warhol’s Marilyns and Brillo boxes are being put on view at the Whitney so we can come to grips with them once again.

If the branded goods make us anxious about the buying and selling of art’s imagery, they have done their job. It’s a job they couldn’t do without bearing both Warhol’s name and a price tag. n

MIT JAI INN, NICOLE COSON AND ADITYA NOVALI AT SILVERLENS

SILVERLENS presents a show that brings together artists who are using paint/ pigment as material laid onto a surface. The colors and markings are not representative of anything particular but are statements of medium. The statement is one of labor and repetition. The surfaces are variable, from plexi-glass to jute sack. The gathering of these three artists from different generations and different cities—Mit Jai Inn, Nicole Coson and Aditya Novali—highlight a connection to deep studio practices of painting, differently. n MIT JAI INN (b. 1960, Chiang Mai, Thailand) is considered a pioneer of Thai contemporary art. Defying the conventional boundaries of painting, both physically and conceptually, Mit Jai Inn investigates the materiality of the medium through a rigorous cycle of labor in which he adds, augments, overlays and erases pigment.

Mit Jai Inn’s practice is a meditation on light and time, each painting closely related to the site where it was made. His large open-air studio in Changmai is filled with colorful, densely layered canvases spanning tables, hanging from rafters and draped over frameworks resting on the floor. n NICOLE COSON (b. 1992, Manila, the Philippines) is an artist raised in Manila and currently based in London. Coson works on a variety of media with a focus on analogue printmaking methods and techniques. Recently, she has been working mostly with monoprints that explore nature vis-à-vis camouflage, a conversation between sign and signifier. n ADITYA NOVALI (b. 1978, Solo, Indonesia) is an artist based in Solo, Indonesia.

Trained as an architect, with further studies in conceptual design, Novali has an idea-based artistic practice. All his art, whether they be three-dimensional rotating dollhouses, abstractions of historical paintings, or geometric renderings of cultural practices, point toward finding the right form and material the work will take.

They make an unlikely trio that results in a very strong show. Titled Painting, Differently, the exhibit will be on view until November 17 at Silverlens Manila (www. silverlensgalleries.com) on Chino Roces Avenue in Makati City.