NO RAILROADING TRAIN 2 BY CHRISTMAS By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM
S SENATE employees watch the newly unveiled Gallery of Legacy, a double-sided exhibit of short biographies and action photos of incumbent senators. The exhibit located on the second floor hallway is part of a monthlong celebration of the Senate’s 102nd anniversary. FILE PHOTO
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ENATORS said on Tuesday Congress is not likely to wrap up plenary deliberations and approve the Duterte administration’s second package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion, also known as TRAIN 2, before lawmakers adjourn for their traditional Christmas recess from December 15 to January 13. “I doubt it,” Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III said on Tuesday when asked if the senators can fulfill expectations for Congress to pass the measure, dubbed the “Trabaho” bill in the House of Representatives, before their year-end break.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto also voiced doubts shared by his peers that the controversial tax package—which mainly aims to cut corporate income tax but at the same time rationalize fiscal incentives—can muster enough votes to be approved within the year. “I am not even sure if it is Duterte’s wish,”Recto told the BusinessMirror, adding: “The President has not conveyed [such] request to Congress.” Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, expecting lengthy plenary debates when lawmakers tackle the proposed 2019 budget bill targetted to be passed before year-end, also ruled out passing the Duterte administration’s second ma-
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Wednesday, November 7, 2018 Vol. 14 No. 28
Oct inflation flat at 6.7%, but analysts flag risks
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By Bianca Cuaresma
@BcuaresmaBM
HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Tuesday said although the growth of consumer goods’ prices remained elevated in October, the unchanged inflation print for the month proves their assessment that price growth will start going down in the coming months. This, as some analysts warned of the risk of second-round price effects, since the push from impending wage and fare hikes, and of the latest strong typhoon’s im-
pact, were not yet factored into the October inflation data. Speaking to reporters following the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) announcement of an un-
changed 6.7 percent inflation rate in October, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said the print supports their view that inflation pressures are finally moderating.
“It’s a significant deceleration, although the headline figure remains elevated. Second-round effects are also muted so far,” Espenilla said. “That augurs well for a return to inflation target by 2019,” he added. ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Mapa backed the BSP’s assessment, saying the 6.7 percent print in October “validates the earlier expectation that inflation was close to or had peaked for the year and is now expected to taper off slowly going into the year-end.” “Measures undertaken by the government to address supply chain bottlenecks appear to have found their way to tag prices, alleviating some pressure on food See “Oct inflation,” A3
Inflation forces Pinoys to spend P17 more for every P100 By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm
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UE to high inflation, Filipinos need to shell out an additional P17 today for every P100 they used to spend buying various goods and services six years ago, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Data showed inflation reached 6.7 percent in October 2018, higher than the 3.1 percent posted in October 2017 and the same rate posted in September 2018. Month-on-month inflation was flat at 0.3 percent in October, slower than the 0.8 percent posted in September. This also means that the Filipino’s P10,000 in 2012 is now only worth P8,300 due to the rise in inflation. This means the value lost due to high prices is P1,700 in six years. “You need an additional P17 to buy the same goods and services [you bought in 2012 with your P100],” PSA Price Statistics Division Chief Statistical Specialist Elena G. Varona told the BusinessMirror on the sidelines of the See “Inflation,” A2
jor revenue-raising measure before the Christmas recess. “It [TRAIN 2] is still in the Committee on Ways and Means,” said Drilon. “I expect the debates on the 2019 GAB [General Appropriations Bill] to start week of November 19 until the December recess.” Sen. Francis G. Escudero also held a dim view of the notion that Congress can pass TRAIN 2 this year. “I don’t think so. It will be very difficult and, to my mind, close to impossible.” Opposition Sen. Francis N. Pangilinan, in a text message, also saw a slim chance for passage before Congress breaks for Christmas recess. “That is highly unlikely,” Pangilinan said. See “Train 2,” A8
MEAT vendors arrange their goods at a market in Quezon City in this file photo. The Philippine Statistics Authority on Tuesday reported inflation had stayed at 6.7 percent in October, and analysts said measures undertaken by the government to address supply chain bottlenecks appear to have eased some pressure on food prices. NONOY LACZA
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 53.2690
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PHL abhors terrorism in all its manifestations Teddy Locsin Jr.
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TATEMENT by H.E. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., Permanent Representative, Item 111: Measures to eliminate international terrorism, Sixth Committee, 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, October 4, 2018, Trusteeship Council Chamber, UN Headquarters, New York. Continued on A6
Hurry up on EODB IRR, business tells govt By Elijah Felice E. Rosales
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@alyasjah
HE Philippines may have a law on ease of doing business (EODB), but business leaders find this is useless almost half a year it was passed. President Duterte in May signed Republic Act 11032, or the EODB and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act, which is intended to reduce processing time for permits, transactions and applications. The law is also heavily relied on to improve the country’s rating in competitiveness surveys. However, almost half a year after it was enacted, the law is still toothless, according to business leaders interviewed by the BusinessMirror. Without the implementing rules and regulation (IRR), consider the EODB law futile, they added. “The ease of doing business law must come out with the IRR. Business is anxiously awaiting the implementation,” said Maria Alegria Sibal-Limjoco, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The IRR, according to Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez, has been transmitted to the Office of the
President already. It will be issued to the public once the Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta), to be headed by a director general, is established. The President has yet to appoint an Arta chief, and this is hindering the issuance of the IRR, Trade Undersecretary Rowel S. Barba told the BusinessMirror in October. “However, there is a view that the IRR cannot be issued without the Arta or the director general at the very least. Hence, we have emphasized the need to appoint a director general before October 22 [deadline of crafting the IRR],” Barba explained. The implementation of the EODB law must be started soon, according to a former official of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC). The next round of review for the World Bank’s Doing Business report is just around the corner, and the EODB law has to be enforced now to impact the country’s score on the survey. The Philippines—for the second consecutive year—fell doubledigit notches in the World Bank’s report on EODB. The 2019 edition put Manila at 124th among 190 economies, down 11 notches from
n JAPAN 0.4706 n UK 69.4628 n HK 6.8026 n CHINA 7.6909 n SINGAPORE 38.7580 n AUSTRALIA 38.4123 n EU 60.7799 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.2020
See “EODB,” A3
Source: BSP (6 November 2018 )
A2 Wednesday, November 7, 2018
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DOT urged to take lead in crafting Boracay reopening rules By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
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@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
HE Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) has called on the Department of Tourism (DOT) to take over the issuance of regulations governing the reopening of Boracay Island and help local tourism stakeholders get back on their feet. It was anything but a solemn All Saints’ Day holiday weekend in the island paradise, as reports of abusive police and government officials arose over disagreements with tourism stakeholders due to ambiguous government guidelines implemented since it reopened on October 26. Netizens were recently treated to a viral video of policemen stomping on a sandcastle built by a tourist on the main white beach, while some Halloween
parties were told to shut down due to noise issues. On Monday an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) almost came to blows with a Singaporean tour operator over a new rule that required tourists to book their water-sports activities with hotels and resorts. In a Facebook message to the BusinessMirror, TCP President Jose Clemente III, said: “In light of the seeming confusion
regarding tourism-related rules and regulations during the reopening of Boracay, it would be wise for the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) to let the DOT take the lead, which is only natural. We are concerned with reported overlaps by other task-force agencies as far as the tourism aspect of the reopening is concerned.” This developed as DOT Undersecretary for Tourism Regulation Coordination and Resource Generation Arturo P. Boncato Jr. clarified that tourists can book their watersports activities either through “accredited tour operators and licensed agents,” or their hotels. “The travel trade remains an important contributor to the tourism economy in the Philippines, especially in destinations like Boracay. DOT-accredited tour operators and travel agencies are indispensable allies of the various segments in the industry, such as accommodation, tourist transport, tour guides, restaurants, recreational centers and souvenir shops, among others,” he said in a Viber message. “The Department has recently renewed accreditation of these
establishments, including the travel trade in light of the no-compliance, no-opening policy of the BIATF to ensure that goods and services accorded to guests are of accepted global standards,” he stressed. The DENR on Saturday allowed paraw sailing and paddleboarding, and will implement in phases other water-sports activities such as helmet diving, island hopping, scuba diving, kite boarding, etc. It also assigned zones for said activities. However, Singaporean businessman Peter Tay, a long-time resident of Boracay, said he was verbally and physically assaulted at Casa Pilar on Monday by Environment Undersecretary for Solid Waste and Local Government Concerns Benny D. Antiporda. In an interview, Tay, who is general manager of Boracay Adventures Travel and Tours Inc., said during the meeting of travel agencies with the DENR on November 5, Antiporda “publicly humiliated” him by confronting him about his letter to the DOT’s Boncato asking for clarification on the new watersports guidelines, then accused him of “maligning the DENR.”
Telco rivals told to answer suit vs ‘co-use’ deal By Joel R. San Juan
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@jrsanjuan1573
HE Supreme (SC) Court has ordered the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and several other
concerned parties to comment on the petition filed by two lawyers seeking to declare as invalid the “co-use agreement” between telecommunications giants PLDT Inc./ Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecoms. The rivals’ deal
covered the 700-megahertz (MHz) broadcast frequency and several sets of telecom frequencies previously awarded to San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) telecommunications unit, Liberty Broadcasting Network. The court at its en banc ses-
sion on Tuesday issued the order to comment within 10 days on the petition filed by lawyers Joseph Lemuel Baligod Baquiran and Ferdinand Tecson. The court also deferred its ruling on the plea of the petitioners for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) seeking to enjoin PLDT/Smart and Globe from further using the 700-MHz broadcast frequency and the following telecom frequencies: 2540-2545 MHz, 2580-2595 MHz, 2535-2540 and 2565-2580 MHz. Instead, the magistrates told the respondents—NTC, Philippine Competition Commission, Liberty Broadcasting Network Inc. (now known as Tori Spectrum Telecom Inc.), Bell Telecommunications Inc., Globe Telecoms Inc., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart Communications Inc.—to submit their respective comments on the TRO plea. In their petition, the lawyers also asked the court to order the NTC to revoke the agreement and to make the frequencies available to other players, as they insisted that their assignment to PLDT/ Smart and Globe was invalid and unconstitutional. The petitioners also asked the SC to prohibit the NTC from bidding out or awarding some frequencies returned by the two telecom giants “in consideration of the approval of the “co-use agreement” to any entity until the SC resolves with finality the constitutional and legal issues raised by the petitioners in this case. The frequencies were acquired by PLDT/Smart and Globe last year after purchasing, on 50-50 basis, all the issued and outstanding shares of stock of SMC’s Vega Telecom for about P70 billion. The petitioners noted, however, that under the legislative franchise given to Liberty Broadcasting Network Inc. in 2012, the frequency was intended for television broadcasting and not for telecommunications. Thus, they added, the acquisition by the two giant telco players in the country of Liberty’s frequencies should be declared illegal and unconstitutional. “At the time of the said assignment of the broadcast frequency to BellTel in early-2015, it is a telecommunications entity authorized to engage solely in telecommunication business, and not broadcasting business and it had substantial foreign equity,” the petitioners noted.
Tay also alleged that Antiporda grabbed him by his shirt collar and shouted at him, “Give respect to the Filipino! Don’t f__k around with me!” The businessman said he then walked out of the conference room, but Antiporda followed him and continued to harangue him. Tay, a board member of the Boracay Foundation Inc., said he sent a letter to DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, asking him to investigate the matter, and filed a police report against Antiporda. In a separate interview, Antiporda denied he had assaulted Tay: “He is a big man. I wouldn’t be able to grab him by the collar. Binalya ko lang siya. [I strongly tapped him on the shoulder].” He explained, “I was disappointed that he seemed to be pitting us [DENR] with the DOT, and saying that we had not been consulting the DOT on these matters. In fact, I spoke with Mr. Boncato, and we agreed that accredited tour operators and agents could still accept bookings for water sports directly from tourists.” The DENR official added, “The reason we had mentioned that bookings of these activities should be done with hotels was to take
Inflation. . . Continued from A1
agency’s press briefing on inflation on Tuesday. The PSA explained that the Consumer Price Index “is an indicator of the change in the average retail prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year.” In October the CPI is 119.8, since the base year used is 2012. Using a base year of 2012 means the CPI for all items is at 100.
Wage, fare hikes MEANWHILE, economists estimate that the increase in commodity prices may continue in the last two months of the year on the back of the wage and transport-fare hikes. Emilio S. Neri Jr., lead economist of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, said the recent transport fare and wage hikes will cause a second round of commodity price increases in the last quarter of the year. These price hikes, as well as the impact of Typhoon Rosita, have not been factored into in the computation of the PSA. Only the impact of Typhoon Ompong was inputed in the inflation estimates of October 2018. “The 6.7-percent October inflation means the fourth quarter, not the third quarter, is the likely peak for quarterly inflation in 2018, as both November and December are likely to remain above 6 percent,” Neri said. “[However], we agree that nonmonetary measures are gaining traction, but BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] needs to be vigilant against additional second-round inflation risks, including the impact of the recent transport fare and wage hikes,” he added. Neri said the Monetary Board should also raise interest rates in their meeting in November 15 to keep inflation in check, given the possible increase in prices due to the recent fare and wage hikes. He said full-year inflation could likely average 5.3 percent and high inflation could continue until the first half of 2019. “Additional policy tightening will be necessary to keep inflationary expectations well anchored, as the 4-percent inflation target will remain elusive until around the middle of 2019,” Neri said.
Core inflation UNIONBANK Chief Economist Ruben Carlo Asuncion said while headline inflation was at 6.7 percent, the same rate posted in October 2017, core inflation was at 4.9 percent. This was higher than the 4.7- percent core inflation rate in September 2018 and 2.6 percent in October 2017. The PSA explained that core inflation measures the change in average consumer prices after excluding from the CPI certain items with volatile price movements. It is often used as an indicator of long-term inflation trends and
out the unlicensed middlemen, or the ‘commissioners’ who approach tourists on the beach, offering the tourist activities.” This plan was outlined during a meeting called by the Compliant Association of Boracay on November 2, which was attended by representatives of hotels and resorts, as well as DENR and the Department of the Interior and Local Government officials. “It was a police matter, that’s why DILG attended,” Antiporda said. The meeting called by DENR on Monday was to clarify the same guidelines with the tour operators, and was attended by a DOT representative. Regarding the building of sandcastles, the BIATF rule says: “Regulate sandcastle making and stabilize the natural sand formation/ nourishment.” As for the Halloween parties, which numbered only three according to separate sources, they stressed, “these parties were not on the beach, but within the respective premises of the establishments. Also, when their attention was called regarding the alleged loud music, the establishments turned down the music.” future inflation. “It’s interesting how October 2018 core inflation is higher at 4.9 percent. This is indicative that headline inflation may still actually trend upward,” Asuncion said. Nonetheless, Asuncion said headline inflation rate in Metro Manila or the National Capital Region has eased while inflation in Areas Outside NCR has remained the same. He said this could indicate that inflation has already peaked. Asuncion noted there has been a slowdown in food and nonalcoholic beverages index, which was considered the biggest factor driving high inflation. PSA data showed year-on-year inflation in food and nonalcoholic beverages slowed to 9.4 in October 2018, from 9.7 percent in September 2018. There was also a slowdown in the inflation of alcoholic beverages and tobacco to 21.6 percent in October 2018, from 21.8 percent in September 2018. However, data showed that rice inflation continued to increase and reached 10.7 percent in October 2018, from 10.4 percent in September 2018. Fish prices also increased, and inflation reached 13.8 percent in October 2018, from 13.4 percent in September 2018. He said full-year inflation may average 5.4 percent because he estimates that inflation will remain high in the last two months of the year but will not rise further. “Although there has been a slight easing, inflation may remain elevated because of second-round effects coming from recent transport fare and wage hikes,” Asuncion said.
Worst over? HOWEVER, University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics Dean Cid Terosa and Senior Economist Victor A. Abola believe the worst may be over with regard to high commodity prices. Terosa said this may be largely due to the slowdown in food and petroleum prices. The lower prices of these commodities can easily offset any impact that the recent transportation and wage hike will have on prices. With inflation peaking in October, Terosa estimates that full-year inflation will range anywhere from 5.1 percent to 5.3 percent this year. Abola, for his part, agreed that inflation has already peaked even if the full impact of food/ rice price and oil price movements have not been completely reflected. It may be noted that the national government imposed suggested retail prices toward the end of October. This adjustment is expected to be reflected in the coming months. “A bigger slowdown will, thus, ensue in November. I expect inflation then to be just 6.2 percent in November,” Abola said. “Crude oil prices abroad have dropped by some 15 percent from their highs in early-October. Rice prices will go down significantly only with the release of more imported rice,” he added.
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Just a ‘one peso a year job,’ Malacañang says on Yang’s appointment By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM
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RESIDENTIAL Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo defended on Tuesday the controversial appointment of Chinese businessman Michael Yang as a Palace consultant. Panelo said Yang’s appointment as a consultant is allowed, even if he is a foreigner, adding that such an appointment is considered as a “one peso a year job.” “Yeah, [Yang is] one of the consultants of the President. He consults him every now and then. You know Mr. Yang is a wealthy man; he rose from poor origins to being a wealthy man. And he has a technical know-how to run a business, and also because he is Chinese, he knows a lot of people in the Chinese government—and he knows the psychology of Chinese. On that aspect, the President needs people like him,” Panelo said during a briefing. The controversy arose after reports showed records from Malacañang confirming that the Palace entered two contracts with Yang as the “economic adviser to the President.” Asked what technical services or expertise does Yang have that no Filipino consultant can provide, Panelo refused to answer, saying it is a matter between the President and Yang “which cannot be disclosed.” He was also mum on whether Yang’s services has benefited the Philippine government. Under the Government Procurement Act, government agencies are allowed to hire foreign consultant but there should be public bidding. T he Gover nment Proc u re ment Policy Board guidelines in the determination of eligibility of foreign suppliers, contractors and consultants to participate in government procurement projects state that: “In the procurement of consulting services, foreign consultants may be hired if local consultants do not have the sufficient expertise, capability, and capacity to render the services required under the project, as determined by the head of the procuring entity.” On fears of Yang using his role to influence Philippine policies, especially the President’s promise of an independent foreign policy, Panelo
said: “One, economic adviser cannot create policy. It’s the President who creates policies.” Duterte has also previously said in a speech that Yang had close ties with Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua, with the envoy even sleeping at Yang’s home in Davao. Detained administration critic and Sen. Leila de Lima has sought a Senate probe on Yang’s appointment as adviser to also determine the extent of Yang’s official engagement under the present administration. The Palace, meanwhile, said the President has appointed new heads of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) and the Philippine Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) in separate appointment papers dated October 31. Former PCUP Chairman Noel K. Felongco was transferred to another position as lead convener of NAPC. Replacing Felongco will be Alvin S. Feliciano, who is one of the directors general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. Felongco will be assuming the post vacated by Liza Maza last August. Maza resigned from her post, citing peace talks cancellation as the last straw. Meanwhile, Davao City lawyer Charmalou D. Aldevera, who was reported to take over the Special Assistant to the President previously performed by Christopher Lawrence T. Go, was appointed as assistant secretary under the Office of the President. Aldevera was also the lawyer of Duterte’s friend Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, who founded the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Retired Gen. Eduardo M. Año, former chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, has also formally taken his oath as interior secretary. Prior to assumption as the Department of the Interior and Local Government chief Año served as officer in charge of the department. The new appointments came following the President’s executive order to transfer some of the offices that were previously under the Office of the President. Among other offices, PCUP and NAPC were recently transferred under the supervision of the Department of Social Welfare and Department, according to the Executive Order 67.
Davao eyed as next steel pipe manufacturing hub By Manuel T. Cayon
@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief
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AVAO CITY—The robust construction sector across the Mindanao fueled mainly by the government’s massive infrastructure program has attracted steel pipe manufacturers to make this city its hub for distribution across the island. The regional Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) here disclosed the increasing frequency of inquiry among Chinese businessmen and traders on the market profitability of the product after they found out that there was no production of steel pipes anywhere in Mindanao. “We have two steel manufacturers here, especially on corrugated and deformed bars, but [there’s] none in Mindanao manufacturing steel pipes,” said Engr. Edwin Banquerigo, deputy regional director of the DTI. Steel pipes are mainly used for water and gas distribution, and in many cases, also used as scaffolding in building construction. Government infrastructures have been conspicuous in the road widening of national highways and major urban thoroughfares to as
wide as six-lane roads, speeding up the transport of goods to and from the countryside. Vertical constructions by private contractors in the cities have also been robust this decade, but the lack of steel pipes have become an interest for traders from the National Capital Region, Banquerigo said. Meanwhile, the DTI disclosed that associations and private groups within their respective industries have engaged in periodic product monitoring here by peers and competitors, an action that Banquerigo said may help police their own ranks. But he cautioned the groups and associations to observe the standard processes and protocols used by the DTI and other government regulatory agencies. “While we see these self-monitoring within the industry as helpful for the consumers, we hope that the groups and associations should ensure that they observe the standard process in monitoring the products and to use only the monitoring gadgets and tools that are calibrated by the government,” Banquerigo said. He pointed out measuring devices and instruments are calibrated by the Department of Science and Technology.
Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, November 7, 2018 A3
Zambo cops kill police official linked to illegal-drugs trade in sting operation
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By Rene Acosta
@reneacostaBM
POLICE official allegedly involved in the illegal-drugs trade was killed on Monday by his own colleagues during a buy-bust operation in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte. A report from the Camp Cramebased Counter Intelligence Task Force (CITF) identified the fatality as Supt. Santiago Rapiz, logistics officer of the Zamboanga del Norte
Provincial Police Office. Rapiz, the police report claimed, was listed on the narcotics list of President Duterte, which also include the names of other police officials
and even politicians. The CITF, in its report to Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar D. Albayalde, said Rapiz was subjected to a joint operations by the CITF, the Police Regional Office 9 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency at past 7 p.m. on Monday. The report said that, while the team was transacting with Rapiz during a buy-bust operation inside the compound of Andres Bonifacio College in Dipolog City, he sensed that he was actually dealing with a poseur-cop buyer. Rapiz jumped to escape but was cornered by arresting policemen. However, instead of surrendering, he reportedly opted to draw
his firearm and fired toward the arresting policemen, prompting them to retaliate. Rapiz sustained gunshot wounds in the body and was rushed to the Corazon Aquino Hospital but was pronounced dead upon his arrival by an attending physician. Albayalde, who was in Davao City, said the case of Rapiz should be a lesson for policemen to mend their ways. “I am saddened that up to now, we still encounter members of the PNP who are involved in illegal drugs,” he said. “By this time, I think our members in the PNP should know that we are really serious in our campaign against illegal drugs,” he added.
Who’s not afraid of Sen. Leila de Lima? Ask the judge By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
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NOTHER trial court has decided to recuse herself from the illegal-drugs case filed against detained Sen. Leila de Lima in connection with her alleged involvement in the illegal-drugs operations inside the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) during her term as secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ). In a five-page resolution, Regional Trial Court in Muntinlupa City Branch 206 Acting Presiding Judge Lorna Navarro-Domingo said that de Lima’s camp failed to raise sufficient grounds to warrant her inhibition. But Navarro said she decided to abandon the case “in order to show
good faith to all parties concerned.” She added that it is also within her discretionary power to decide whether to proceed with the case or grant the inhibition. In her motion seeking Judge Domingo’s inhibition, de Lima accused the judge of prematurely ruling on her notion to disqualify prosecution witnesses, despite her order giving the senator five days to file her reply to the prosecution’s comment. “There is no mistake to correct. So the court merely reiterated the order dated September 24, 2018,” the resolution read. Domingo was referring to her previous ruling that junked de Lima’s plea on prosecution’s witnesses. De Lima also accused Domingo of
EODB. . . continued from a1
the 2018 cycle. The DTI and the Department of Finance have jointly issued a strongly worded letter to World Bank, protesting what they called its flawed methodology in data gathering in one survey area, getting credit. Without such alleged flaw, the Philippines would not have fallen do many rungs as it did, the government added. Meanwhile, that protest aside, other officials are more worried about the delay in the EODB law’s implementation. Former NCC Private Sector Cochairman Guillermo M. Luz argued the government has to act fast and be mindful of its deadlines. He, likewise, said the appointments must be made for the IRR to be rolled out—after all, who will implement the rules after it was crafted? “Once the new appointments have been made to the new authority which the EODB law created, I suppose they will need to analyze the EODB report and develop a strategy for addressing the issues for each of the 10 indicators,” Luz said. “They will need to be mindful that there is a deadline for the improvements to be put in place,” he added. John D. Forbes, senior advisor for the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, noted the Philippines has been falling in the rankings. This is especially alarming for him given that other Southeast Asian economies have been in the upper to middle quartile of the World Bank report. “The report applies mostly to procedures a domestic firm based in Quezon City encounters, but it measures the heavy burden of bureaucratic red tape in the Philippines and is always a wake-up call to reduce this burden. The rating has been falling since improving to 86th in 2014,” Forbes said. “Vietnam was 69th and Indonesia was 73rd, while Thailand was 27th and Malaysia was 15th this year. A reinvigorated effort is required in the next eight months in order to reverse the decline of the Philippines this year to 124th rank,” he added. The country placed seventh among the 10 Southeast Asian economies in the study, as Singapore (second), Malaysia (15th), Thailand (27th), Brunei Darussalam (55th), Vietnam (69th) and Indonesia (73rd) took the lead once again for the region. “Implementing the new law would help, so would maximum digitization of approvals and payments. But all the changes have to be made by June 30, 2019, to be included in the next report,” Forbes said. The Philippines got its lowest scores in getting credit (184th), starting a business (166th) and enforcing (151st). On the other hand, its highest score was in getting electricity (29th).
showing manifest bias and partiality against the accused when she disallowed questions propounded by her counsel to a prosecution witness intended to impeach his credibility on the grounds recognized and allowed by the rules. But the judge said the cross examination of the defense counsel was allowed by the court except those that were not taken up during the direct examination. The senator also raised that the judge barred members of the media from covering the trial. While media men were barred from covering the trial, the judge said, other parties, including foreign observers, were allowed to watch the proceedings. “Only media men were not al-
lowed inside the courtroom to cover the proceedings since it would distract the parties, as well as the lawyers inside. The court observes subjudice rule,” the judge pointed out. Domingo is already the fourth judge to inhibit from the cases filed against de Lima. Judge Patria Manalastas-de Leon, also of Muntinlupa Branch’s 206, opted for early retirement last February, while Judges Antonietta-Medina, Juanita Guerrero and Myra Bayot-Quiambao from other courts also inhibited from the de Lima cases. The senator has been detained since February last year after being charged by the DOJ with conspiracy to commit illegal-drugs trading.
Oct inflation. . . continued from a1
pricesbutinflationremainsstickygivensupplyconstraints,”Mapasaid. “We hope nonmonetary-policy measures will continue to be deployed to help limit price gains ahead of the Christmas season. On risks to the upside, oil prices remain elevated despite trending lower in recent weeks while second-round effects are scheduled for November with minimum wages adjusted in the metropolis and transport fares increased,” he added. Other analysts have warned, however, of secondround inflation risks, given that the wage and fare hikes, as well as Typhoon Rosita’s impact, were not factored into the October inflation estimates. “The 6.7-percent October inflation means the fourth quarter, not the third quarter, is the likely peak for quarterly inflation in 2018, as both November and December are likely to remain above 6-percent,” said Emilio S. Neri Jr., lead economist of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI). See related story on front page, “Inflation forces Pinoys to spend P17 more for every P100.”
Monetary policy
THIS is the first time for 2018 that inflation did not accelerate from its previous months’ rate. As such, after several rate hikes and hawkish statements, Espenilla said the new print will be reviewed in their next monetary-policy meeting. “The MB will take into account these and other incoming data, including GDP, at its next policy meeting when it determines if there’s still need for further policy rate adjustments,” Espenilla said. Mapa said that while inflation did remain steady for the month, another policy rate hike is still seen before the year ends, if only to anchor inflation expectations for next year. “Given that inflation has not been able to show a substantial deceleration trend, the likelihood of that “moderate” rate hike at the November 15 meeting has increased,” Mapa said, pertaining to a 25-basis-point rate increase. “The peso should continue to benefit from structural as well as capital flows in the coming week coupled with the BSP’s hawkish bias of late,” he added. The BSP will hold its next monetary-policy meeting on November 15.
QC WASTE-TO-ENERGY PROJECT The local government of Quezon City (QC) recently linked up with a consortium led
by the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), Covanta Energy Llc and Macquarie Group Ltd. to build an integrated solid waste management facility (ISWMF). The facility will be capable of processing up to 3,000 metric tons a day of the city’s solid waste, and convert this into some 42 megawatts of renewable energy, enough to power between 60,000 and 90,000 households. The project will be undertaken through a joint venture between City Hall and the consortium in accordance with QC ordinance SP-2336, s. 2014 (QC PPP code). Shown in photo are Jose Ma. K. Lim (left), president and chief executive officer of MPIC, and QC Mayor Herbert Bautista, who jointly signed the certification of successful negotiations. The project will undergo a competitive challenge, consistent with government regulations, wherein the original proponent of the project will have the right to match bids.
A4 Wednesday, November 7, 2018 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug
Economy BusinessMirror
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PHL’s bid to import 203,000 MT of rice hits snag on TOR issues By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
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@jearcalas
ANILA’S 203,000-metricton (MT) rice tender on Tuesday failed after Bangkok and Hanoi opted not to participate in the government-to-government (G2G) bidding due to concerns over the approved importation guidelines. Notwithstanding this development, the National Food Authority (NFA) expressed confidence that the retail price of rice would remain stable and even go down further sans the arrival of the 203,000 MT. NFA Assistant Administrator Maria Mercedes G. Yacapin said the NFA has ample supply to sustain the volume of rice it sells in the market, which is currently pegged around 15 percent to 20 percent of the total market requirement. Nonetheless, Yacapin still expressed dismay that the G2G bidding failed, as the agency is seeking to fur-
ther beef up its present rice inventory. “With all the need and the appeal, somehow you are expecting to award some volumes. We we’re ready,” Yacapin, who chairs the NFA Committee on Government-to-Government Procurement, said in an interview with reporters after the bidding. “But personally, I’m not worried because we have the stocks in our warehouses, and we are able to purchase palay as the harvest is ongoing. And the retail prices are going down, which means lesser pressure on the part of the NFA,” Yacapin added. The NFA currently has a stock-
pile that is good to last for 68 days based on its present market participation rate. Hanoi did not participate in the bidding, citing concerns over Manila’s “terms of reference [TOR] regulations.” In a letter to the NFA, Vietnam Southern Food Corp. II Deputy Director General Bach Ngoc Van said his country “could not meet” the NFA’s “terms of reference regulations.” Thailand, on the other hand, said it is “concerned” with present TOR and pointed out that it would be “difficult” for Bangkok to comply with the guidelines. Thailand cited various provisions of the TOR that did not sit well with them, such as reassignment of discharge ports, fumigation conditions and penalty for short delivery, among others. Bangkok’s concerns were submitted to the NFA through a letter signed by Department of Foreign Trade Ministry of Commerce Director-General Adul Chotinisakorn on the day of the bidding.
Safe
AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanu-
el F. Piñol said he is not worried over the G2G bidding failure as the NFA has ample stockpile and the government has put in place measures to stabilize retail prices of rice. However, Piñol said, he still maintains that the 203,000-MT volume should be bidded out before the year ends to ensure that the government has sufficient buffer stock in times of calamity. “My only concern is that the volume should arrive by December. While we have enough rice right now, I am not worried. We have an SRP [suggested retail price] so traders could not speculate,” he said in an interview with reporters on Tuesday afternoon. “But I still would not want to repeat the situation wherein the NFA stocks are depleted. We are still expecting six typhoons before the year ends and that it means we would need another requirement for rice,” he added. Piñol said that, with the arrival of the NFA’s 47,000-MT rice imports, as well as the trade department’s importation program, the country has enough rice to meet its demand. “We are safe, but we are playing
RFINL seen to further boost manufacturing sector–Neda By Cai U. Ordinario
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@cuo_bm
HE implementation of the recently approved 11th Regular Foreign Investment Negative List (RFINL) will further boost the performance of the manufacturing sector, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). The Neda also expects the manufacturing sector to sustain its positive growth in the remaining months of the year, supported by strong domestic demand, an optimistic business outlook, and accelerated public investments in infrastructure and social sectors. “We hope to sustain this growth momentum through the effectivity of the 11th RFINL, which allows increased foreign participation in certain areas and activities. This could help facilitate the expansion of production capacity in the manufacturing sector,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.
The country’s manufacturing output rebounded in September on the back of double-digit growth production of textiles and petroleum products, among others, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Based on the results of PSA’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (Missi), the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) posted a growth of 4 percent in September 2018, from a contraction of 5.7 percent in the same period in 2017. Other industry groups that contributed to the VoPI growth were machinery, except electrical, miscellaneous manufactures, transport equipment and nonmetallic mineral products. Similarly, the manufacturing sector’s Value of Production Index (VaPI) also turned around with a growth of 3.7 percent in September this year, from a negative growth of 6.2 percent in September last year. The recovery of the VaPI in September 2018 was largely due to the double-digit growth of textiles, petroleum products, miscellaneous manufactures, machiner y except electrical, transport equipment, electrical machinery, paper and paper products, and beverages. Per n i a a l so noted t h at foreig n pa r t ic ipat ion of up to 10 0 percent i n t ra i n i ng centers for shor tterm high-level s k i l l s d e v e l o p me nt can ensure sufficienc y of sk i l ls needed b y i ndu st r ies a nd boost t he cou nt r y ’s compet it iveness. “We hope that these spec i a l i zed i nst it u-
tions can upgrade the industries’ knowledge in robotics, engineering design and additive manufacturing, among others. This will scale up the local work force as we get ready to align local manufacturing processes with the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0,” Pernia added. He said that foreign participation of up to 40 percent in contracts for construction and repair of locally funded public works will help improve public infrastructure projects that promote connectivity. Pernia added that good infrastructure would support the smooth flow of raw materials and intermediate goods from production to processing areas, and link processing areas to markets. Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector’s Average Capacity Utilization Rate grew 84.2 percent in September 2018 due to higher production of petroleum products. Some 55 percent or 11 of the 20 major industries operated at least 80-percent capacity utilization rates. These include basic metals, nonmetallic mineral products, machiner y except electrical and chemical products. “The proportion of establishments that operated at full capacity [90 percent to 100 percent] was more than one-fourth of the total number of establishments [26.6 percent] in September 2018,” the PSA said. “About 55.1 percent of the tota l establishments operated at 70 percent to 89 percent capacit y while a lmost onefifth of the tota l establishments [18.3 percent] operated below 70 -percent capacit y,” it added. The Missi is a monthly report that monitors the production, net sales, inventories and capacity utilization of selected manufacturing establishments to provide flash indicators on the performance of the manufacturing sector. The earliest version of the Missi is the SKEM (Survey of Key Enterprises in Manufacturing), which was created in 1981 as a project of the Neda.
it safer,” he said. “I want to hold on the physical stocks. This is what the President wants to happen that there is more than enough inventory.”
Changes
NFA OIC Administrator Tomas R. Escarez said they are currently reviewing the concerns of Thailand and Vietnam and would submit their recommendations to Piñol and the NFA Council. Escarez disclosed that both Vietnam and Thailand sought for an extension of the import arrival until December 31 as they could not meet the December 15 deadline set by the TOR. Piñol said he is amenable to move the deadline as the NFA is still expecting more imports from its previous tenders. Fur ther more, Escarez said
they are also looking into the concerns of Thailand over the new stricter sanitary and phytosanitary measure under the TOR, as well as the penalties imposed on short shipment. The NFA set new guidelines to ensure the food safety of the rice imports, particularly to avoid the issues of weevil infestation that happened in the past, according to Escarez. Furthermore, the approved TOR has put in place penalties for short shipment as suppliers tend to abuse it, he added. “Before, there was no penalty and we did not pay attention to it. But they abuse the deliveries, wherein for example shipments lack 1,000 bags or 2,000 bags,” he said. “So, the tendency is that we expect this amount of inventory but it would not fully arrive.”
My only concern is that the volume should arrive by December. While we have enough rice right now, I am not worried. We have an SRP so traders could not speculate.”–Piñol
DA chief and sugar farmers’ appeal to Senate: Don’t slash Sida budget
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GRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol and sugar planters are appealing to the Senate to scrap plans to slash the Sugar Industry Development Act (Sida) fund next year by 75 percent to P500 million from P2 billion this year. Piñol confirmed that the Sida fund of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) would be slashed by three-fourths due to underspending. The SRA is an attached governmentowned and -controlled corporation of the Department of Agriculture (DA). “I am appealing that the SRA be given a chance to retain the P2-billion [funding],” he said in an interview with reporters on Tuesday afternoon. “We are already addressing [the issue],” he added. Sen. Cynthia A. Villar disclosed to sugar planters in her visit to San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, last Monday that the Sida fund would be cut by 75 percent. Piñol said one of the problems of the SRA was the implementation of its socialized loans, as farmers had a hard time in complying with the requirements needed to avail themselves of the credit portfolio. Furthermore, the SRA also had problems with its farm machineries program, according to Piñol. “We are addressing that, in fact the bidding of the SRA’s farm machineries will be conducted by the DA Central Office. I do not know if they are afraid to bid out but I told them to give it to a more experienced office,” he said. The Confederation of Sugar Producers (Confed) urged lawmakers to rectify the Sida fund cut and revert it to the original P2 billion mandated by the law. Confed Chairman Nicholas Ledesma said the SRA was not only able to
fully utilize the Sida funds allocated for socialized credit. However, Ledesma echoed Piñol’s statement that the “stringent” process in availing the credit fund was “diffcult for small famers to access.” “With the recent abolition of Philsucor [Philippine Sugar Corp.], we are pressed to appeal that socialized credit availability must be made more simpler for small farmers and agrarian-reform beneficiaries that comprise almost 90 percent of sugar producers and for whom the Sida law was intended to make the sugar industry more competitive,” Ledesma said in a news statement issued on Tuesday. Ledesma said slashing the Sida fund would have a “drastic” effect on the sugar industry as it could slow down the government’s plan to mechanize the sector. Ledesma added that the budget for the research and development “must be kept intact as this is necessary for the industry’s sustainability.” “We appeal as well to SRA to be more aggressive in program implementations and to create a desk that will solely work on Sida and how to make this more accessible to our industry stakeholders. In addition, we see the need for the creation of an oversight committee to see to it that programs are indeed workable and addressing the present needs of the farmers,” he said. “We have suffered enough in the past two years and this move will further dampen our situation. We strongly appeal to our solons to seek a review of the budget and give the industry our due to make it globally competitive and sustainable,” he added. The budget cut will have a drastic effect on the industry’s tract to hasten mechanization as a priority for this year, as well. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
PSALM allots ₧22.66 million for IPP contracted capacity study
T SOLAR, LED LIGHTS FACTORY RISES AT C.E.Z.A. Secretary Raul L. Lambino (first row, second from right), Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) administrator and chief executive officer; Safe Zone Philko Trading Corp. Chairman Jung Hwan-soon (right) and GL Tech Chairman Kang Byung-gi (second from left) pose for a souvenir shop after the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a Korean solar and super power saving LED lights manufacturing facility at the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport in Santa Ana, Cagayan. Also in photo are Ceza’s Deputy Administrator Raymundo T. Roquero (left) and other officers of both parties. JOSEPH MUEGO
HE Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is soliciting bids for the conduct of a study on the contracted capacities with independent power producer (IPP) plants. With an outlay of P22.66 million, the study is provided in PSALM’s 2019 Corporate Operating Budget. The study will cover PSALM’s contracted capacities with IPP plants, namely: Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan Hydroelectric Power Plants, Mindanao Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant, Casecnan Multi-Purpose Project, Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plant and the Mindanao I and II Geothermal Power Plants. PSALM will evaluate the most beneficial and feasible privatization options and structures for its remaining IPP contracts through the assistance of a third-party consultant. Interested bidders who submitted eligibility documents and have paid the applicable fee amounting to P25,000 will be shortlisted. However, only those who passed PSALM’s criteria and rating system will be entitled to participate in the bid opening on December 4. Lenie Lectura
The World BusinessMirror
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Africa enjoys oil boom as drilling spreads across the continent
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FRICA is finally seeing the benefits from the recovery in crude prices as companies ramp up drilling from Algeria to Namibia. The rigs are returning and wildcatters are getting excited again after a years-long hiatus during the oil-price slump. From majors like Total SA to independents like Tullow Oil Plc., companies are snapping up exploration rights and doing deals. “W hen you go for business development, trying to acquire licenses or make partnerships in West Africa, you can sense the competition,” Gilbert Yevi, senior vice president of exploration and production for Sasol Ltd., said in an interview in Cape Town. “It’s like a new California gold rush.” Just a year ago Africa’s upstream was a very different story. At the continent’s biggest oil and gas conference, crude seemed like it may just hold at $50 a barrel over the long term. Beyond the activity of Africa-focused explorers like Tullow in Ghana, exploration activity in most countries was in a rut. But as Africa Oil Week returns to Cape Town on Tuesday, nations throughout the continent are planning to sell exploration licenses or move ahead w ith major projects. And the prize—for both companies and countries—could be huge. There could be at least 41 billion barrels of oil and 319 trillion cubic feet of gas yet to be discovered in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a 2016 US Geological Survey report.
Exploration ramp-up
IN 2018 the number of oil and gas rigs in Africa reached a three-year high, according to Baker Hughes. There are more prospects to come as the Republic of Congo, the newest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, offers both onshore and onshore blocks. Cairn Energy Plc. is moving forward with its project in Senegal, the largest offshore oil find of 2014, which is expected to produce 100,000 barrels a day. “It has completely changed the potential for Senegal in a very positive way,” CEO Simon Thomson said in an interview. “It shows what can happen through the drillbit, through exploration.” Exxon Mobil Corp. is targeting western and southern Africa for the world’s next big bonanza, recently bought a stake in a frontier exploration block offshore Namibia. The company is also expected to spend hundreds of millions in Mozambique with partner Rosneft Oil Co. PJSC and other explorers on blocks won in 2015. Mozambique will see $156 billion in tax revenue from Exxon’s onshore liquefied natural gas project, according to the company. Bloomberg News
China’s trade olive branch can’t dispel fears of clash with US
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TOP Chinese official’s offer of trade talks with the United States on Tuesday did little to assuage concerns that the world’s two largest economies were headed for a confrontation that could disrupt the global order. Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan—a longtime ally of President Xi Jinping—told Bloomberg’s New Economy Forum (NEF) in Singapore that Beijing remained ready to discuss solutions to its trade war with the US. But Wang also warned that China wouldn’t again be “bullied and oppressed by imperialist powers,” underscoring fears by business and political leaders on hand that rising nationalism in both countries would be harder to manage. “We’re going to see these two sides continue to dig in their heels— both sides still think they have the upper hand,” Scott Kennedy, deputy director of China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said on the sidelines of the event. “They’ll con-
tinue to do this dance, and all of us will continue to watch.” Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the Communist Party leadership was coming to terms with a “fundamental shift” toward a more assertive China policy in Washington. Henry Kissinger—who helped broker the US’s 1970s rapprochement with China—said he was “fairly optimistic” a wider clash could be avoided, but warned that failure would “destroy hope for world order.” Such remarks showed the apprehension among the world’s financial and political elite if President Donald J. Trump attempts to follow through on US calls to check China’s rise as a global superpower. Trump’s move to put tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods in a bid to rebal-
ance global trade has led to retaliation from Beijing and exacerbated a raft of disputes, from human rights to US military support for the democratically run island of Taiwan. The tensions were apparent in Wang’s keynote address to the more than 400 attendees gathered at the Capella Hotel, including former Trump chief economic adviser Gary Cohn and ex-Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. On one hand, the Chinese vice president pledged that China would “stay calm and soberminded” and reaffirmed his country’s desire to “work for a solution on trade acceptable to both sides.” On the other, he reminded the crowd that China must “blaze its own trail” and warned of the dangers of rising “unilateralism,” echoing Xi’s veiled swipes at Trump’s policies at a trade expo Monday in Shanghai. “Such rapid changes have split some countries and societies,” Wang said. “The polarization of right-leaning populism has manifested itself in political demands, which has led to unilateral policies against globalization and seriously affected the international political ecosystem.”
Envoy calls US sanctions on Iran unwise, dangerous
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OKYO—Turkey’s top diplomat on Tuesday criticized the US resumption of sanctions on Iran as unilateral, not wise and dangerous, calling for a dialogue and engagement instead. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Tokyo for talks with Japanese leaders, told reporters that Turkey opposes sanctions because they don’t achieve results. “As a principle, Turkey is against sanctions, and we don’t believe that any result can be achieved through sanctions,” he said. “Cornering is not wise, isolating Iran is dangerous and punishing the Iranian people is not fair.” President Donald J. Trump’s administration’s resumption of sanctions on Iran took effect on Monday. Turkey is an ally of the United States and one of eight major importers of Iranian oil spared temporarily from immediate penalties. Still, Turkey has to be frank with the US about its opposition. The US “unilateral” measure affects the world, including Turkey, one-third of whose gas imports come from Iran, he said, and urged Washington to find other reasonable solutions. “I think, instead of sanctions, meaningful dialogue and engagement is much more useful, and this is our principle.” Cavusoglu also urged Saudi Arabia to fully cooperate in the investigation of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month, demanding the country locate his missing body and hand over suspected collaborators. Turkey is determined to get to the bottom of the case, and Saudi Arabia hasn’t answered
TURKEY’S Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a press conference on Tuesday in Tokyo. Turkey’s top diplomat has criticized the US resumption of sanctions on Iran as unilateral, not wise and dangerous, calling for a dialogue and compromise. Foreign Minister Cavusoglu, in Tokyo for talks with Japanese leaders, told reporters on Tuesday that Turkey opposes sanctions because they don’t achieve results. AP PHOTO/EUGENE HOSHIKO
the key questions, he said. “We have to find out how it happened, who did it and who gave the instructions, and we also have to find the body of the journalist Khashoggi.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said in a recent op-ed in The Washington Post that the order for the journalist killing came from the highest level of the Saudi government but not King Salman. Erdogan knows the king well and is convinced he was not involved in the murder, Cavusoglu said. He added that other evidence not made public suggested the king was not involved. AP
Voting officials under scrutiny amid heavy election turnout
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Editor: Angel R. Calso • Wednesday, November 7, 2018 A5
TLANTA—Federal and state officials have been working for nearly two years to shore up the nation’s election infrastructure from cyber attacks by Russians or others seeking to disrupt the voting process. It turns out that many of the problems are closer to home. Early voting leading up to Tuesday’s midterm election revealed a wide variety of concerns with voting and registration systems around the country—from machines that changed voter selections to registration forms tossed out because of clerical errors. Election officials and voting rights groups fear that voter confidence in the results could be undermined if such problems become even more widespread on Election
Day, as millions of Americans head to the polls to decide pivotal races for Congress and governor. Already there is concern that last-minute court rulings on voter ID requirements, the handling of absentee ballots and other issues in a handful of states will sow confusion among voters and poll workers. “We expect poll workers will be overwhelmed, just as voters are overwhelmed, and there will be lots of provisional ballots,” said Sara Henderson, head of Common Cause in Georgia, where voting-rights groups have been raising numerous concerns about election security and voter access. The problems come amid a surge of interest, with registrations and early-voting turnout running well ahead of what is typi-
cally seen during a midterm election. The election marks the first nationwide voting since Russia targeted state election systems in the 2016 presidential race. Federal, state and local officials have been working to make the nation’s myriad election systems more secure. They have beefed up their cybersecurity protections and improved communications and intelligence-sharing. The US Department of Homeland Security, FBI and other federal agencies have opened a command center to help state and local election offices with any major problems that arise. “We want them to be as informed as possible,” said Matt Masterson, senior cybersecurity adviser with the Department of Homeland Security. AP
Wang was introduced on Tuesday by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP. The company owns both Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Media Group, which organized the NEF. While Trump has asked cabinet officials to outline the terms of a possible deal, Bloomberg News reported Friday, Chinese officials have given no indication they’re ready to meet key US demands, such as halting forced technology transfers or rolling back support for state-owned enterprises. Such requests would undermine China’s “socialist market economy,” in which the Communist Party has used its control over key industries to close its technological gap with the West. Trump has vacillated between optimistic and cautious assessments in the final days of a midterm election campaign in which the trade war has clouded an otherwise clear economic outlook. Trump told a campaign rally Monday in Fort
Wayne, Indiana, that he believed he would reach a deal with Xi, “but a fair deal—fair deal. There’s a difference. No bad deals.” “For President Trump, even though he’s signaling that it’s possible they want a deal, there’s actually no monster benefit to him economically or politically,” said Kennedy of CSIS. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced on Monday that they would host their Chinese counterparts on Friday in Washington for a regular diplomatic and security dialogue. Still, many in China are already preparing for a protracted fight. “There is a deep realization in Beijing that there is a fundamental shift in the American take on China,” Rudd, who’s now president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, told an NEF panel discussion. “They see China no longer as a status quo power, but as changing the international realities.” Bloomberg News
A6 Wednesday, November 7, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso
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editorial
Christmas spoiler
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N recent years processed food products—such as hot dogs, luncheon meat and chicken nuggets— have gained popularity in the Philippines, particularly among the poor. This was largely due to the fact that compared to fresh food items, processed food products are cheaper and readily available. Supermarkets and even the friendly sari-sari stores are stocked with these food products during Christmas. The primary raw materials in manufacturing these products, such as mechanically deboned meat and mechanically separated meat, are mostly imported. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, MSM is a paste-like and batter-like meat product produced by forcing bones with attached edible meat under high pressure through a sieve or similar device to separate the bone from the edible meat tissue. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said MDM and MSM can be used for variety meats, canned meat specialties and sausages. Processed meat products are affordable because traders pay low tariffs for imported MDM, MSM and offal. Lowering tariffs on these raw materials was a concession made by the Philippines to foreign producers in exchange for retaining its caps on rice imports. In a few months, however, these tariffs may soon go back to previous levels. A higher tariff would not really hurt manufacturers because they can always pass on the additional cost to consumers. Any increase in the production cost of processed food will be reflected in their retail prices. Producers say they cannot abruptly jack up the cost of their products, but manufacturers are not in business to operate at a loss. Unfortunately, in the end, the poor would suffer the brunt of more expensive processed food products. And the price increase would not be minimal considering the jump in tariff, as prescribed in Executive Order 23 issued by President Duterte in April 2017. Under EO 23, tariffs on offal, MDM and MSM would revert to 40 percent once Congress enacts a law that would lift rice import caps. In peso terms, this means huge additional cost that would be incurred by manufacturers, which will be ultimately shouldered by poor consumers. The government, specifically the Tariff Commission, has started deliberations on the petition to retain the existing duty on MDM, MSM and offal. Of course, meat importers and meat processors are seeking the retention of the existing tariff. On the other hand, poultry and hog raisers want the tariff to go back to its previous level, arguing that the entry of imported food items tends to pull down the farm-gate price of their products. If the government’s intent is to reduce consumption of processed meat products (tagged “unhealthy” by the World Health Organization), then reinstating the previous tariff of 40 percent makes sense. But until and unless the government can find a way to make fresh farm produce more accessible and affordable, a high tariff would only hurt millions of consumers, and this could also fuel inflation. As it is, profiteers are already making a killing by invoking the first tranche of the government’s comprehensive tax-reform program, dubbed as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law, to raise prices. A high tariff would only give them an additional excuse to make certain food items more expensive. Sadly, this would dampen the merriment in poor households this Christmas. Since 2005
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PHL abhors terrorism in all its manifestations Teddy Locsin Jr.
FREE FIRE Continued from A1
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HANK you, Mr. Chair. “At last year’s debate on this item, we spoke about Marawi. It was the most destructive act of terrorism in our history. If Marawi fell and stayed in their hands, other cities would be taken by terrorist groups that included foreign fighters espousing violent extremist beliefs that are alien to our race, to our Christian and Muslim religions, to our country and democracy, and abhorrent to the rest of the civilized world. I don’t know about the enablers of ISIS in the Middle East; they have irreligious reasons of state we cannot accept. “Our armed forces and police liberated Marawi from Daesh-inspired terrorists after five months of nonstop fighting in a textbook perfect battle with an admirable ratio of 165 of our young soldiers killed to over a thousand enemy dead. We had effective assistance from the United States and Australia for which we are eternally grateful. Addressing root causes “The Philippines condemns terrorism anywhere in the world however inspired—by religion or the natural propensity to use religion for sex, for homicide or anything else that scum do to get themselves off. There are no deep philosophical or religious reasons that need detain us on that score. It is a people problem—specifically a bad people problem; and the solution is to get rid of them first—and then study why they turned out so badly from such
nice little boys. “We abhor terrorism in all its manifestations wherever, by whomever, and against whomsoever committed—and whatever the excuse. We reject poverty as an excuse and condemn it as lazy thinking by the usual suspects whose brains have hemorrhaged. “Sure, we recognize the long-term need to search for the roots of terrorism. It is an academically promising field of study. But once terrorism has taken root, grown and started to bear militant fruit—then addressing the roots of terrorism must take a back seat, and pulling out the growth must take first priority before it scatters its seeds farther afield to take root, grow and flourish in more places. This must be done with the strictest regard for human rights; with no hurt to the innocent. For the blood of the innocent fertilizes the ground for terrorism to take root and spread.
“But, and this is a big but, when dealing with terrorism one must never err on the side of giving it the benefit of the doubt. If it talks like it; walks like it; and is armed like it; and invokes some grievance as its murderous motivation—you must take it out.
‘Whole-of-nation’ approach “The Philippines addresses terrorism and violent extremism through a ‘whole-of-nation’ approach. That is to say we throw everything at it to destroy it—never to accommodate it in our society. We throw its potential targets at it by alerting our communities to their approach. We educate our communities to resist its allure; not least by showing what happens when you buy into terrorism. Terrorism and transnational organized crime “Marawi illustrates the deep and symbiotic relationship between terrorism and the illegal-drug trade. With drug money, terrorists were able to gather a motley assortment of well-armed extremists, criminals, mercenaries and foreign terrorist fighters to take control of Marawi and reestablish in our part of the world their shattered caliphate in the Middle East. Our answer was not an appeal to conscience or to the better angels of the terrorist nature. But force. It works. International cooperation “Marawi spoke to the transnational nature of terrorism. Terrorism is a global problem no country can tackle alone. The fight against terrorism should unite us all. Foreign terrorist operations do not recognize borders. The complexity and reach of the threat they pose have expanded.
Scrutinize PNP’s provident fund Florante S. Solmerin
FACT IS MIGHT!
I
THINK it’s a good idea to scrutinize the financial department of all government agencies, like the scrutiny being given to the revenues from the gun licensing of the Firearms and Explosives Office (FEO) of the Philippine National Police (PNP). The leadership of PNP chief Director General Oscar D. Albayalde should look into this matter seriously because President Duterte expects him to police corrupt PNP officials. One of the things Albayalde should scrutinize is the provident fund of his own organization. If he can do it now, kudos to him! This is also a challenge to the
Commission on Audit (COA), to look into this matter and be transparent to the public about the PNP’s provident fund. The fund was sourced from the service fees of the different departments of the PNP (http://pnppf.org. ph/) that can be loaned to employees in times of need, especially for their families.
The President appointed Albayalde because he is known for being strict. But, of all the presidential appointees, Albayalde was one of the very few people that the President knows nothing about personally. He was appointed because of his good reputation and excellent service record. So, PNP chief General Albayalde, Sir, it would be your great accomplishment if you can give an overall audit report through the help of the COA regarding the provident fund of your organization. And we are talking about the billions of provident fund of the PNP. Meanwhile, it seems like the people behind the “demolition job” against FEO Director Valeriano de Leon have finally disappeared because their true intention has been revealed. At first, de Leon was being grilled by the “media ops” against him, but
Every civilized society they destroy becomes a platform for the destruction of another; we saw that in the Middle East. “To put a stop to terrorism requires the widest and most sincere cooperation because one state’s terrorist is a foreign interventionist’s way to weaken and subjugate it. The global fight against terrorism—but only by states that scorn the use of terrorism to advance foreign policy—must cover the whole range of the counterterrorism spectrum: from border control to countering the false narratives of extremism by piercing and countering propaganda with truth on the Internet—and always and ever by fighting it. To that end we subscribed to Kazakhstan’s initiative for a Code of Conduct calling for a united front against terrorism until all that’s left of it is a painful memory like fascism in the past. “At the global level, the United Nations—through the Global Strategy on Counter-Terrorism—has primacy. For the strategy to be effective, the United Nations and its institutional architecture must be, not just comprehensive but coherent, coordinated, but not waste its time talking and wringing its hands about the roots of terrorism. The sapling is there; indeed it is growing into a tree, and soon there will be an orchard of it. The solution is clear: uproot it. “The UNOCT [United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism] must work closely with CTED [CounterTerrorism Committee Executive Directorate] and the Global CounterTerrorism Coordination Compact but always with respect for national ownership and national priorities— or be thrown out by sovereign states for its presumption. No one can know See “Locsin,” A7
in the end, people behind it were shamed, including the media men who carried the demolition job stories. I’ve been in this industry long enough to know these types of people in the media. I heard that de Leon once tried to scrutinize the provident fund when he was the PNP comptroller, and it scared the hell out of these officials, but the wishes of the “influential” people still prevailed. Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMs) was right in saying “you’ve got to have balls” to stop corrupt people in the profession. Continue doing what you are doing because I believe change is still possible for people who want to see change for the benefit of all. E-mail: fetad@yahoo.com.
Opinion BusinessMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph
₧2 fare hike is unfair, tricycles can do better absorbing costs Michael Makabenta Alunan
ON THE CONTRARY
T
HE government’s recent P2 minimum fare hike mainly for jeepneys is grossly unfair to commuters as jeepneys are not improving efficiency in return, in total contrast to the 350,000-strong tricycle NCR Toda Coalition that experimented on finding solutions to modernize demo tricycles and be clean aircompliant with no government support. Fare hikes are inflationary? Before fares were increased, alternative measures should have been explored first because next to food, transport accounts for the biggest share of the poor man’s budget, and fare hikes will definitely make more poor people poorer. This is bad news for many urbanpoor residents that have been relocated to the city outskirts like Pandi and San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, and in Cavite and Laguna towns, thus making commuting a costly ordeal. Fare hikes will also bite into the pockets of the lower middle class, who could also slide into poverty. They also trigger pressures for higher wages, spiraling prices and unrest. Assuming there are 10 million daily commuters nationwide, a P2 fare hike amounts to P20 million a day in additional expenses for commuters, or as much as P6 billion for 300 days, said Dave Garcia, a consultant of NCR Toda Coalition. n Tricycles can show the way? Jeepneys can learn from the 350,000-strong NCR (tricycle) Toda Coalition, headed by Ace Sevilla, from its own experiments on tricycle demo models to modernize, be cleanair-compliant, and fuel-efficient, without government support. Although tricycles are the poorest among transport groups, with operators earning only P150-P350 per day and drivers taking home about the same amount, they pay for higherpriced gasoline as they are often ignored by the government, as they are excluded from the “Pantawid Pasada” fuel subsidy for jeepneys granting P5,000 per jeepney, or about P1 billion for 179,000 jeepneys in 2018, and another P20,000/jeepney or P3.58 billion for 2019. Sevilla said these experiments called Tricyclean have reduced hydrocarbon (HC) emissions from 10,043 parts per million (ppm) to 120ppm, or a hefty 98.8-percent drop. At 120 ppm, this is 880 percent better than the 1,000 ppm emission standards beyond July 1, 2017, under DENR Administrative Order 4 of 2015. Carbon monoxide was also reduced by 99.967 percent from 6.09 percent to 0.002 percent, or 124,900 percent better than emission standards of 2.5 percent.Shifting to much-improved four-stroke engines with super maintenance could double mileage, resulting in fuel savings by 50 percent, which means if gasoline is at P58/liter, the effective price is half or P29/liter. n Maintenance can absorb fuel prices. What’s lacking in the jeepney modernization is proper “maintenance,” which can prevent toxic emissions and achieve fuel savings by 10 percent to 30 percent, thus diesel at P48/liter can mean savings of P4.8-P14.40/liter, more than enough to absorb rising fuel prices. If tricycle experiments can do it, jeepneys can also do the same with proper education. Vehicles need maintenance like proper lubrication, filters, etc. If the government can give subsidies to jeepneys, tricycles deserve something similar, not necessarily in cash but in kind. Warranties for jeepney modernization are only for three years, leaving the remaining four-year amortization unprotected. This can be solved with maintenance, keeping engines good as brand new till the n
Compared to jeepneys, tricycles do not rally against the government, but are still continuously ignored. They were also bullied into poverty and absorbed the dumping of technologies, like Retrofit technology of Colorado, LPG conversion kits, shift from two-stroke to four-stroke engines, and now the e-trikes costing P350,000-P450,000 each, raising amortizations to P480/day, more than their boundary incomes. end of amortization. n Clean air is priority. Many jeepney groups oppose modernization owing to the high costs of vehicle replacement from P1.4 million to P2.4 million, particularly for small jeepneys in less-lucrative routes. As banks, vehicle suppliers and operators themselves are not ready to replace 200,000 jeepneys instantly, perhaps this can be done in phases, starting with lucrative routes plied by big jeepneys. But what must not be compromised is clean air. A joint study by Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research headed by Alfred Wiedensohler, PhD, and Researchers for Clean Air (RESCueAIR) Philippines involving local university experts led by Dr. Mylene Cayetano, showed that black carbon emissions taken from Katipunan-Ateneo and Manila Taft-LaSalle areas average about 94 micrograms (μg) per day, about 2,250 percent to 9,300 percent more than the 1-4 μg levels in Leipzig, Germany. One jeepney, therefore, emits black carbon 2,250 to 9,300 times emissions of a German Euro-standard vehicle. If there are 200,000 jeepneys nationwide, their BC-emissions are equivalent to the BC-emissions of 450 million to 1.86 billion German vehicles. n Fair demand, not fare demand. With fuel prices rolling back, the government should rethink the fare hike demands, which please only one sector but have serious repercussions. Instead, support should be channeled to where it will count most. Apparently, it is neither fare-hikes nor costly cash-subsidies that dissipate fast without impact that will make a difference, but funding meaningful programs like Tricyclean, a clean-air education program blending theory with actual training materials, which is a fair demand. Moreover, education highlights the importance of maintenance, which can evolve into maintenance service centers as supplemental livelihoods. n Tricycles deserve all the support. Compared to jeepneys, tricycles do not rally against the government, but are still continuously ignored. They were also bullied into poverty and absorbed the dumping of technologies, like Retrofit technology of Colorado, LPG conversion kits, shift from two-stroke to fourstroke engines, and now the e-trikes, costing P350,000-P450,000 each, raising amortizations to P480/day, more than their boundary incomes. Without government support, and being blamed often for being most pollutive, tricycles were forced to launch “Tricyclean” to experiment and seek solutions on their own. Jeepneys can indeed learn a lot from tricycles.
E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 A7
Financial Reporting Framework Dennis B. Funa
INSURANCE FORUM
S
ECTION 189 of the Amended Insurance Code defines Financial Reporting Framework as “a set of accounting and reporting principles, standards, interpretations and pronouncements that must be adopted in the preparation and submission of the statutory financial statements and reports required by the commission”. The framework gives the commissioner the authority to adopt internationally accepted accounting standards in the reporting of the financial condition of insurers. Financial reporting, on the other hand, is defined as the “recording and presentation of financial statements, such as the Annual Statement, by the insurance company. Financial reporting statements are use by the State Insurance Commissioner in regulating the adequacy of company reserves for benefit liabilities, assets availability and worth.” With the enactment of the Amended Insurance Code, there was a need to clarify certain provisions with respect to financial reporting, capitalization, reserving (liabilities) and solvency requirements. The Insurance Commission formed various technical working committees to draft the circulars on these concerns.
Nature of the framework
THE resulting circular with respect
to financial reporting (Section 189) was Circular Letter (CL) 2015-29, dated June 10, 2015. This resulted from the Regulatory Alignment Project undertaken from 2014 to 2016 with the participation of the PLIA and PIRA. Surveys and consultations were conducted. The principal task was to identify the differences or gaps between the accounting standards, i.e. the Philippine Financial Reporting
Standards (PFRS), and the Amended Insurance Code, and to align the differences. For example, with respect to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), under Section 214 (c,1) of the Amended Insurance Code and CL 2014-30, they shall be valued at market value and periodically adjusted to reflect market changes through a special valuation account to reflect their realizable value when sold. However, under accounting practices, they are valued at fair value. With respect to purchase money mortgage, under Section 214 (f) of the Code, they shall be valued in an amount equivalent to 90 percent of the value of such real property. Under accounting practices, they are measured at amortized cost. This circular expressly provides that “this financial reporting framework is not the same as the financial reporting framework used for general purpose financial statements for the public and filed [with] other regulators” specifically the Securities and Exchange Commission. In other words, the financial reporting framework for insurance companies is entirely distinct. The “statutory financial statements and reports referred to are the quarterly and annual reporting.” Moreover, “the financial reporting framework
includes the economic valuation of assets and liabilities based on internationally accepted accounting, actuarial and insurance core principles.” CL 2015-29 would eventually be superseded by CL 2016-65, dated December 28, 2016.
Accounting standards
THERE are three standards setting and interpretation organizations in the Philippines that recommend the standards, rules and interpretative pronouncements on accountancy and auditing. These three organizations are: a) the Financial Reporting Standards Council; b) the Auditing and Assurance Standards Council; and c) the Philippine Interpretations Committee. These three are mandated under the accountancy law and the implementing rules to recommend to the Board of Accountancy the standards and interpretations, for BOA approval. As of 2018, the chairmen of the councils are Roberto G. Manabat for the AASC, David L. Balangue for the FRSC and Wilson P. Tan for the PIC. Dennis B. Funa is the current insurance commissioner. Funa was appointed by President Duterte as the new insurance commissioner in December 2016. E-mail: dennisfuna@yahoo.com.
Their soybeans piling up, farmers hope trade war ends before beans rot
A
By Binyamin Appelbaum | New York Times News Service
produced in Kentucky, the home state of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and on HarleyDavidson motorcycles, from Wisconsin, the home state of House Speaker Paul Ryan. China’s decision to impose tariffs on soybeans squeezes some of Trump’s staunchest supporters across the Midwestern farm belt. Both Trump and President Xi Jinping of China have declared their desire to reduce trade barriers. “Openness has become a trademark of China,” Xi said on Monday at a trade fair in Shanghai that the Chinese government described as an opportunity for foreign companies to display their wares. Trump, for his part, said last week that “we’re much closer” to striking a deal with China, though administration officials have said the two sides remain far apart, and no deal is imminent. Like most successful American exports, soybeans are produced at high efficiency by a small number of workers using cutting-edge technologies, like tractors connected to satellites so the optimal mix of fertilizers can be spread on each square foot of farmland. The United States exported $26 billion in soybeans last year and more than half went to China. Some farmers in North Dakota say they trust Trump to negotiate in the nation’s interest. Karel said many of his customers wear red “Make America Great Again” caps and insist that the pain of lost business and lower profits is worthwhile. They say they will suffer now so their children benefit later—echoing the argument Trump has made. Others are less enthused. Greg Gebeke, who farms 5,000 acres outside Arthur with two of his brothers, said he struggled to understand the administration’s goals. “I’m trying to follow and figure out who the winners are in this tariff war,” Gebeke said. “I know who one of the losers are and that’s us. And
that’s painful.” North Dakota’s soybean industry was created by Chinese demand for the beans, which are crushed to make feed for animals and oil for human consumption. China is by far the world’s largest importer of soybeans. The country consumed 110 million tons of soybeans in 2017, and 87 percent of those beans were imported—the vast majority from either Brazil or the United States. While soybeans are grown throughout the Midwest, the soybean fields of North Dakota are the part of soybean country that is closest to the Pacific Ocean, and so its beans are mostly sent to China. In the mid-1990s there were 450,000 acres of soybeans in the state. Last year there were 6.4 million. As the state’s production of soybeans increased, companies spent millions of dollars on larger grain elevators, on the 110-car trains that carry the soybeans west to the Pacific Coast, on bigger terminals at the ports. A few years ago, Gebeke traded his grain drill, used to plant wheat, for a second machine to plant soybeans. The Arthur Companies in 2016 opened a shiny drying, storage and loading facility that can hold 2.7 million bushels of beans waiting for the next train. Soybean farmers also spent millions of dollars cultivating the Chinese market. Farmers in North Dakota and other states contribute a fixed percentage of revenue to a federal fund called the “soybean checkoff” that pays for marketing programs like trade missions to China and research intended to convince Chinese farmers that pigs raised on American soybeans grow faster and fatter. In 2015 North Dakota soybean farmers footed the bill for an event in Shanghai honoring the 10 “most loyal” buyers of American soybeans. The soybean industry’s sales pitch emphasized the reliability of American infrastructure and the political stability of the United States. The message was that the Chinese could be confident that American farmers would deliver high-quality soybeans. “I’ve been to China 25 times in the last decade talking about the dependability of US soybeans,” said
Kirk Leeds, the chief executive of the Iowa Soybean Association. By undermining that reputation, he said, “We have done long-term damage to the industry.” As China swallows the world’s supply of non-American soybeans, other countries are buying more beans from the United States, especially European nations that usually import beans from Brazil. Some nations that grow soybeans, like Canada, are shipping their own beans to China at high prices and then buying American beans at lower prices to meet domestic demand. Taiwan, seeking to curry favor, signed a deal to buy more American soybeans over the next two years. None of this is nearly enough. During the first six weeks of the current export year, which began in September, American soybean exports to China are down by about 6 million tons from last year, while soybean exports to the rest of the world are up by only 3 million tons. Some analysts predict China will be forced to buy more American beans after it exhausts other sources. Others are hopeful that China and the United States will reach a deal to remove the tariffs. But waiting carries risks. Soybeans can spoil and Brazil harvests its crop in the spring, creating fresh competition for American beans. “Hope is unfortunately a terrible marketing plan,” said Nancy Johnson, executive director of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association. The industry continues to seek new markets. Jim Sutter, chief executive of the US Soybean Export Council, said he was focused on persuading Indians to eat more chicken. The council, which already provides funding to Indian trade groups, is planning to back an advertising campaign. “People in India will eat more protein as the economy grows, but our job is to speed that up,” Sutter said. The Trump administration said in August that it would distribute $3.6 billion to soybean farmers to offset the decline in market prices. The subsidy rate of 82.5 cents per bushel, however, covers less than half the losses facing North Dakota farmers at current market prices.
“Our country has adopted measures in line with the strategy but they are too many to enumerate here. I will skip them. “Beyond the strategy is the urgent need for a Comprehensive Convention for Combating International Terrorism. This has been discussed to exhaustion by the UN
for over 20 years now. Fortunately, we states have been combating terrorism while our diplomats exhaust patience discussing it. Let us resolve the outstanding issues now; particularly on having a common definition of ‘terrorism’—if that is even necessary. Like pornography, terrorism is hard to define; at
times it is indistinguishable from freedom fighting. But like pornography, we know terrorism when we see it. And finally, one thing is true; terrorism takes advantage of the chaos created by big powers interfering with small powers in a region of the world they want to control. Thank you.”
RTHUR, North Dakota—This is harvest season in the rich farmlands of the eastern Dakotas, the time of year Kevin Karel checks his computer first thing in the morning to see how many of his soybeans Chinese companies have purchased while he was sleeping. Farmers here in Cass County have prospered over the last two decades by growing more soybeans than any other county in the United States, and by shipping most of those beans across the Pacific Ocean to feed Chinese pigs and chickens. But this year, the Chinese have all but stopped buying. The largest market for one of America’s largest exports has shut its doors. The Chinese government imposed a tariff on American soybeans in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese goods. The latest federal data, through mid-October, shows American soybean sales to China have declined by 94 percent from last year’s harvest. Karel, the general manager of the Arthur Companies, which operates six grain elevators in eastern North Dakota, has started to pile 1 million bushels of soybeans on a clear patch of ground behind some of his grain silos. The big mound of yellowishwhite beans, already one of the taller hills in this flat part of the world, will then be covered with tarps. The hope is that prices will rise before the beans rot. “We’re sitting on the edge of our seat,” Karel said. President Donald J. Trump sees tariffs as a tool to force changes in the United States’s economic relationships with China and other major trading partners. His tough approach, he says, will revive American industries like steel and auto manufacturing that have lost ground to foreign rivals. But that is coming at a steep cost for some industries, like farming, that have thrived in the era of globalization by exporting goods to foreign markets. China and other trading partners hit with the tariffs, including the European Union, have sought to maximize the political impact of their reprisals. The European Union imposed tariffs on bourbon,
Locsin. . .
continued from A6
better than a state how its country’s particular terrorist threat must be addressed. This is one area where there are no experts outside of those fighting it in-country.
2nd Front Page BusinessMirror
A8 Wednesday, November 7, 2018
NIA insists it gave timely warning before releasing wall of water from Magat Dam
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ISPUTING complaints it did not give timely warnings to low-lying communities, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said on Tuesday it had warned residents in the low-lying areas near the Magat River that the Magat Dam would release water to ease pressure on the reservoir in anticipation of Typhoon Rosita’s expected rainfall. NIA-Magat River Integrated Irrigation System Department Manager Wilfredo Gloria told the BusinessMirror that the agency followed the necessary protocols prior to releasing water from the dam. “Six hours prior to the release of the water, we have already informed the concerned people that the dam would be releasing water. That’s already a built-in protocol between the NIA and the concerned local government units,” Gloria said in an interview on Tuesday. Before then, the NIA had not responded to queries from BusinessMirror’s Isabela correspondent, who documented the release of the huge wall of water that swamped
some low-lying villages in at least three Isabela towns: San Mateo, Aurora and Roxas. On Tuesday, however, Gloria claimed that prior to the release of the water, they had told the Office of Civil Defense, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, provincial government, municipal government and barangay officials. People are informed through text messages, radio broadcast, television and even via print, he added. Furthermore, the NIA also includes, as part of protocols, the sounding of sirens along the Magat River. Gloria said this could be heard by residents in the largest
tributary of the Cagayan river. “This has been our protocol ever since. Six hours before releasing water, especially when there is additional volume, we ring the siren,” he said. “We always look after the welfare of our downstream residents,” he added. Gloria explained that the they opened one spillway gate of the Magat Dam on October 29 to maintain the reservoir’s storing capacity and preempt the inflow of water due to Typhoon Rosita. “Prior to arrival [of Typhoon Rosita], we opened one unit just to draw it down. Just to bring it to safe level to accommodate the volume of rainfall,” he said. Since then, the NIA decided to open one gate after another as the inbound water kept rising until Magat Dam peaked at seven open spillway gates on the morning of October 31. After Typhoon Rosita exited the Philippine area of responsibility, Magat Dam shut down its spillway gates one after the other as well, according to Gloria. “We slowly terminated the gates until only one spillway gate was left
By Recto Mercene
Duterte administration’s efforts to improve mobile and Internet com mu n ic at ion s se r v ices i n the country. The Filipino League of Advocates for Good Governance (FLAG) filed the case against Ramon
“ R J ” Jac i nto, P resident i a l Adviser on Economic Affairs and Infor mation Technolog y, and might affect the bidding process for the third telco player. FLAG Founder Ed Cordevilla filed the complaint against Un-
open at 0.5 meters for standby purposes,” he said. Magat Dam closed all its spillway gates on November 4 at 11 p.m., according to Gloria. Water level at the Magat Dam has returned below its spilling level of 193 meters. Magat Dam had a peak reservoir inf low of about 5,859 cubic meters per second on October 30 while it had a maximum outf low of 4,392 cubic meters per second on October 31 noon, according to Gloria. Magat Dam’s water volume peaked on November 1 at 5 p.m. at 193.24 meters, which is above its spilling level, Gloria added. From October 30 until November 4, Magat Dam had a total water inflow of about 639.43 million cubic meter, while it recorded a total outflow of 368.725 million cubic meter, Gloria said. Reports received by the BusinessMirror indicated that 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.
dersecretary Jacinto before the Presidentia l A nti- Cor r uption Com m i ssion for “con f l ic t of interest and for illegally pushing for a duopoly in the tower construction of an estimated 50,000 cell towers to serve around 113 m i l l ion te lco subsc r ibers i n the country.” Various stakeholders have been assailing Jacinto’s insistence that the government limit the construction of the cell site towers to just two companies—a matter that, critics said, undermines the very purpose of speeding up the rollout of telco services. The acting secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, Eliseo M. Rio Jr., had been quoted as saying the limitation to just two tower builders was just raised by Jacinto but is not yet policy. According to Cordevilla, “Usec. Jacinto’s proposal runs counter against the spirit of Republic Act 10667, also known as the Philippine Competition Act, and violates its Section 14 , which states that ‘Agreements…. which have the object or effect of substantially preventing, restricting or lessening competition shall [also] be prohibited.’” “Usec. Jacinto is also violating RA 6713, also known as the ‘Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, specifically Section 7a, which states that public officials and employees shall not, directly or indirectly, have any financial or material interest in any transaction requiring the approval of their office.’” FLAG noted that Jacinto’s family is into steel manufacturing, and that tower construction is 100 percent a steel-based project. The question of Jacinto’s moral fitness, therefore, also violates RA 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Section 3, according to Cordevilla. Another key violation seen in the Jacinto proposal is its alleged infringement on the congressional grant of franchises to telcos, which includes their rights to build, operate and maintain their own cell towers. A copy of the complaint was furnished to the Office of the President, Malacañang, Manila.
www.businessmirror.com.ph
‘BM’REPORTER AWARDED FOR CLIMATE COVERAGE
climate with pic MARIA ELENA M. ESTARES from The Climate Reality Project Philippines is seen with BusinessMirror Science Editor Lyn Resurreccion at the Climate Reality Leadership Awards at the National Museum in Manila on Monday night. Resurreccion received the Luntiang Aligato award on behalf of Jonathan L. Mayuga (inset), who is abroad on a training grant. NONOY LACZA
Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
B Palace adviser Jacinto sued over tower duopoly A
@rectomercene
CASE filed against one of the presidential advisers on November 5 is the latest complication in the
EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE COUNTRY as of 4:00 pm - November 6, 2018
usinessMirror’s award-winning editorial staff just added another feather to their cap. The paper’s Environment reporter Jonathan L. Mayuga was bestowed the Luntiang Aligato award by the Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit organization founded by Nobel Laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore. Mayuga was among those honored at the 2018 Climate Reality Leadership Awards on Monday night. The citation said Mayuga was being recognized “for maximizing your influence as a member of the media to promote the Filipino people’s awareness of the realities, and solutions of the climate crisis.” The award was received in Mayuga’s behalf by BusinessMirror Senior Editor Lyn Resurreccion, the paper’s multiawarded editor for Science, Green and Biodiversity. Mayuga is out of the country on a training grant. Climate Reality Project Country Manager Rodne R. Galicha describes the NGO led by Mr. Gore as being “driven by passionate individuals from all over the world who have come together to solve the greatest challenge of our time.” For its second year, The Climate Reality Project Philippines is again recognizing outstanding Filipino individuals, organizations, networks, initiatives and local government units who and which have been catalyzing global solutions to the climate crisis by making urgent action a necessity across every level of society, according to Galicha. The awards were held on Monday (November 5) night at the National Museum of Natural History, Teodoro F. Valencia Circle in Ermita, Manila City.
TRAIN 2. . . Continued from A1
The House had passed its version of the Trabaho bill on third and final reading, but Senate deliberations even just at the committee level were overtaken by mounting concern from various sectors that railroading TRAIN 2, at a time that the impact of the original TRAIN law on inflation was still being assessed, was not a good idea. Concern about stalling TRAIN 2 had been rooted in the possible impact on the programs and services meant to be funded by the billions in additional revenue it was meant to bring, but senators said earlier they were responsible for ensuring constituents received the safety nets promised under the TRAIN law before even considering passage of TRAIN 2. Asked about the prospects of TRAIN 2, Sen. Joel Villanueva indicated that senators have a full agenda prior to adjourning for their Christmas recess and will likely be tied up with other equally urgent measures. “In this Congress, I highly doubt it,” said Villanueva, who, as labor committee chairman, is on the receiving end of workers’ complaints about inflation gouging their bottom line. “We are about to tackle the budget on the floor, and by next year we all know about the election fever. Time is not on TRAIN 2’s side; plus [there are] a number of issues [and] we still have yet to hear a clear explanation on why we really have to do it.”
Villanueva told reporters that as it is, the administration’s TRAIN 2 bill is “dead in the water,” adding that many questions are being raised on the administration’s tax measure. In separate interviews, other senators signalled a desire to also seek guarantees from TRAIN 2’s Executive branch endorsers that they will do everything to avoid a repeat of TRAIN 1’s “blindsiding the nation.” The senators had earlier said economic managers who made inflation impact assessments underestimated external factors, such as the global oil price hike and rice supply shortage, which compounded the inflation impact of TRAIN. Over the weekend, Sotto admitted that fellow lawmakers are hesitant to sponsor TRAIN 2, even as several senators signalled their intent to raise questions when the administration’s revenue measure is submitted for plenary deliberations. According to Villanueva, “the TRAIN 2 bill is too radical, it caused panic” in affected sectors, including semiconductor and electronics, prompting investors to consider “going elsewhere.” In an interview, Villanueva suggested the need to “rationalize provisions” of the money measure, raising doubts that there may not be enough votes to pass TRAIN 2 if onerous provisions are not amended. “We are also calling on economic managers to suspend new tax impositions and let the people feel the growth first,” the senator said, adding: “We are still hoping that the second round of the TRAIN law will be suspended.”
Editor: Efleda P. Campos
Companies BusinessMirror
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Ayala Land income jumps 17% to ₧20.78B in Jan-Sept By VG Cabuag
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@villygc
ROPERTY developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) said its net income grew 17 percent for the first three quarters of the year to P20.78 billion, from last year’s P17.8 billion. The company’s consolidated revenues rose 21 percent to P119.7 billion, from last year’s P98.92 billion as it continued to generate robust results from its property development and commercial leasing businesses. The third quarter saw the company marking its 30th anniversary. “We sustained our growth momentum in the third quarter as residential demand remained strong and our commercial assets registered double-digit increase in revenues,” said Bernard Vincent O. Dy, the company’s president and CEO. For the third quarter alone, its income rose 15 percent to P7.2 billion, from last year’s P6.3 billion.
Revenues also grew, but at a slower pace at 14 percent to P39.3 billion, from the previous P34.4 billion. For the first three quarters, its property development revenues amounted to P82.8 billion, 23 percent higher than the P67.2 billion it posted last year. Revenues from sales under the company’s five residential brands— Ayala Land Premier, Alveo, Avida, Amaia and Bellavita—and from the operations of MCT Bhd in Malaysia, increased by 26 percent to P70.3 billion from P55.7 billion. Revenues from the sale of office spaces reached P6.9 billion, 2 percent higher than the previous
year. Lot sales in Arca South, Taguig, fueled the sales of commercial and industrial lots, which reached P5.6 billion, 16 percent higher than last year. Reservation sales jumped 15 percent to a total of P108.4 billion, translating to an average monthly take-up of P12 billion. The company aunched P81.8 billion worth of residential and office for sale projects from January to September 2018. Meanwhile, the company’s commercial leasing business composed of shopping centers, offices, and hotels and resorts, generated total revenues of P25.3 billion, 14 percent higher than the previous year. The strong performance of Greenbelt in Makati and UP Town Center in Quezon City, the opening of Ayala Malls Circuit Makati, as well as higher contributions from newer malls such as Ayala Malls The 30th, Ayala Malls Vertis North, and Ayala Malls Cloverleaf, contributed to a 13-percent growth in shopping center revenues to P14.3 billion.
In October 2018 the company opened One Bonifacio Highstreet in Bonifacio Global City, bringing ALI’s total shopping center portfolio to 1.83 million square meters of gross leasable space. Revenues from office leasing reached P5.4 billion, 13 percent higher than last year, as occupancy stabilized in its newly opened corporate centers in Vertis North in Quezon City, Circuit Makati and The 30th in Pasig. Ayala Land opened Bacolod Capitol Corporate Center in September 2018, bringing the company’s total office leasable space to 1.03 million square meters. The company’s hotels and resorts business continued to grow with 2,618 rooms in operation as of end of September 2018. Revenues from the unit reached P5.7 billion, 17 percent higher than the previous year due to the higher occupancy and average room rate of Seda Vertis North in Quezon City and Seda Capitol Central in Bacolod, as well as the improved performance of El Nido Resorts.
Globe nets ₧15.16B in 1st 9 mos
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ROFITS of Globe Telecom Inc. climbed by more than a tenth during the first nine months of 2018 fueled by higher earnings from its mobile data, home broadband, and corporate data businesses, disclosures to the stock exchange showed. As of end-September, its net income settled at P15.16 billion, a 13-percent increase from P12.98 billion a year prior, while its core net income rose by 32 percent to P15.29 billion, from P11.21 billion. In the same comparative periods, the company’s gross service revenues grew by 9 percent to P101.87 billion, from P95.14 billion, while its operating expenses and subsidy remained almost unchanged at P52.1 billion.
Revenues from its mobile-data business recorded the fastest growth of all the business verticals at 26 percent to P39.5 billion, followed by its home broadband business at P13.5 billion, a 15-percent increase, and corporate date that expanded by 11 percent to P8.4 billion. “Overall, I am pleased with our third-quarter results, and we are optimistic we can sustain this momentum moving forward. We are happy that more and more Filipinos will now enjoy faster and reliable Internet connection as we draw closer to achieving a 95-percent LTE national coverage,” Globe President Ernest L. Cu said. He added that Globe has so far spent about P32.5 billion of its capi-
tal expenditures for 2018 to “support the growing subscriber base and address its rapidly changing and rising demand for data.“ Its total customer base grew by 10 percent to 65.4 million subscribers from 59.3 million a year prior, with mobile-data traffic surging by 49 percent to 641 petabytes from 430 petabytes. Globe’s home broadband subscriber base also rose by 23 percent to 1.5 million homes. “We will remain aggressive with our network investments, which is now nearly 32 percent of our revenues to be able to support the growing demand for bandwidth-intensive applications and content,” Cu said. Lorenz S. Marasigan
Petron net income up 3% to ₧12.1B in 1st 9 mos By Lenie Lectura @llectura
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ETRON Corp. on Tuesday posted a modest growth of 3 percent in net income at end-September this year to P12.1 billion from P11.8 billion in the same period a year ago. The country’s largest oil refiner said fuel demand declined due to higher pump prices. Total Philippine volumes slightly increased by 1 percent to 47.2 million barrels in the first three quarters of 2018 despite high local-pump prices. “Despite a challenging environment that brought pump prices to new highs and resulted in weaker demand, Petron continued to thrive and delivered above expectations,” Petron Chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. said. Despite the industry-wide decline in fuel demand, Petron’s income was supported by the robust performance of its Malaysian operations, sustained volumes growth in its home country and contributions from its petrochemical business. Total consolidated volumes in Malaysia and the Philippines reached another record with combined sales of 81.4 million barrels over the period, nearly 1.2 million higher than last year.
Petron Malaysia continued to gain ground fueled by a 10-percent jump in retail sales. This was backed by innovative and premium product offerings namely Blaze 100 and Turbo Diesel Euro 5, substantial membership increase in its loyalty card program P-Miles, and the increase in its retail network now numbering 630 stations. Combined revenues from the Philippine and Malaysia grew by 34 percent to P419.9 billion from 2017’s P313.5 billion, reflecting higher international oil prices and the increase in volumes. Bellwether Dubai crude increased by 25 percent, from December 2017 to average $77.25 per barrel in September 2018. Operating income for the first nine months slightly went up by 1 percent to P22.3 billion. Petron’s Bataan refinery continued to run at 95-percent capacity over the period to support local sales and produce high-value petrochemicals. Petrochemical volumes increased by 3 percent, while polypropylene sales surged by 20 percent. “We remain the undisputed industry leader and will continue to pursue our long-term strategies namely optimizing our regional refining assets, increasing our market share in the Philippines
and Malaysia, and the rollout of new products for our customers,” Petron President Ramon Ang said. Recently, the company introduced its top-of-the-line lubricants providing unparalleled engine protection against extreme operating temperatures. Petron’s High Temperature Protection uses polyalphaolefin base oil and is suited for heavy traffic, stop and go conditions and heavy loads. Petron HTP is the latest addition to Petron’s portfolio of world-class products, which include Petron Blaze 100 Euro 6. A total of 209 rooms were added into the portfolio in the third quarter some 114 rooms in Seda Ayala Center Cebu, 53 rooms in Seda Lio Palawan and 42 rooms in Lio Dormitel. On October 10 ALI inaugurated the first direct commercial flight via AirSWIFT to Sicogon Island in Western Visayas where it is offering 45 bed and breakfast-type accommodations under two resorts, Balay Kogon and Huni. “The company spent a total of P77.9 billion in capital expenditures in the first nine months of the year as it continues to build on its residential and commercial leasing projects and sustainable mixed-use estates nationwide,” the company said.
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PT&T asks Makati RTC to declare it as active telco player for past decade By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
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DAY before the deadline for the submission of bids for the selection of the third telco player in the Philippines, an aspirant sought declaratory relief from a local court to allow its bid to be accepted given alleged discrepancies in the definition of one of the auction’s top requirements—a proven track record of providing telco services on a national scale. Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) submitted before a Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City a petition that involves the “proper application and interoperation of the term national scale” under the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) Memorandum Circular 09-09-2018, which pertains to the terms of reference for the auction. James G. Velasquez, the company’s president, said his group is seeking this relief from the court, as the telco regulator failed to issue the company a certification that it has been in operation on an national scale for the last decade. He noted is group was in close coordination with the regulator for the said issuance, but failed to receive the said certification on Monday night, hence prayer for relief submitted to the local court on Tuesday, a day before the deadline for the submission
of bids for the third telco spot. “We want the bidding to proceed. We just wanted to make sure they will look at our technical track record. We will qualify for all the other requirements,” Velasquez said in a press briefing. He claimed the bidding documents his group purchased on September 20 defined the national scale provision as experience in the telco space referring to “particular regions thereof.” This, he said, was amended through bid bulletins dated October 11 and October 29, which limited the provision on “regional” experience to foreign telcos. “I believe it’s discriminatory in a sense that you are limiting a local telco company,” Velasquez said. “I’d absolutely it’s discriminatory.” The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the NTC will determine the winningest bidder through a so-called beauty contest, where contenders will get points for exceeding the minimum for the following categories: speed, coverage and financial capability. To qualify as a participant, a group must have a proven track record of providing telco services on a national scale for at least the last decade, a congressional franchise, and should have no ties with the existing two major players in the arena, among others.
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Companies BusinessMirror
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS
November 6, 2018
Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS
ASIA UNITED 59.5 59.7 59.7 59.7 57.85 59.5 11530 687178.5 BDO UNIBANK 121.4 121.6 122.3 124 120.5 121.6 1170550 143497831 BANK PH ISLANDS 82.6 82.65 82.55 83.35 82.55 82.65 2300250 190385655.5 CHINABANK 28 28.1 28 28.1 27.95 28 93400 2618640 EAST WEST BANK 11.24 11.26 11.3 11.5 11.26 11.26 906400 10257322 METROBANK 66.15 66.25 65.95 67.9 65.85 66.25 3869590 256435235 PB BANK 10.84 11.1 10.86 10.86 10.86 10.86 9300 100998 PBCOM 18.62 19.98 19 19 19 19 300 5700 PHIL NATL BANK 39.4 39.55 39.55 39.7 39.4 39.4 146500 5795545 PSBANK 72.3 75.7 72.3 72.3 72 72.3 1180 85285 PHILTRUST 106.5 117 105.6 105.7 105.6 105.7 960 101422 RCBC 28 28.15 28.05 28.4 28 28 148700 4167590 SECURITY BANK 145.5 145.9 146.2 149 145.3 145.9 321360 46940796 UNION BANK 65.9 67 66 66 65.9 65.9 4040 266241 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.34 1.43 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 40000 56000 BDO LEASING 2.3 2.31 2.31 2.31 2.3 2.31 5000 11540 COL FINANCIAL 15.5 15.7 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 100 1550 FERRONOUX HLDG 3.86 4 3.85 4 3.85 4 7000 27100 IREMIT 1.51 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 2000 3060 MEDCO HLDG 0.46 0.47 0.45 0.47 0.44 0.47 40000 18100 MANULIFE 830 835 825 830 825 830 670 556000 NTL REINSURANCE 0.85 0.86 0.87 0.89 0.85 0.86 538000 458370 PHIL STOCK EXCH 186 188 190 190 186 188 320 60060 INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS 1.26 1.29 1.27 1.29 1.26 1.26 170000 215120 ABOITIZ POWER 33.7 34 34.3 34.35 33.45 34 1667900 56764520 BASIC ENERGY 0.21 0.22 0.222 0.222 0.21 0.22 1200000 256300 FIRST GEN 16.02 16.2 15.8 16.2 15.78 16.2 1233900 19833464 FIRST PHIL HLDG 63.7 64.45 64.1 64.45 63.7 64.45 37630 2413476 PHIL H2O 4.39 4.64 4.57 4.65 4.3 4.65 111000 501930 MERALCO 365.2 367 367.6 369 365 365.2 102370 37534772 MANILA WATER 25.75 25.85 25.4 25.95 25.4 25.85 660700 16997035 PETRON 8.18 8.23 8.12 8.25 8.12 8.18 1303500 10,672,202( PETROENERGY 4.05 4.18 4.03 4.05 4.03 4.05 7000 28310 PHINMA ENERGY 0.97 0.99 0.98 0.98 0.98 0.98 293000 287140 PHX PETROLEUM 10.88 11 11 11 10.88 11 24500 269352 PILIPINAS SHELL 49.5 50 50 50 49.5 49.5 337800 16820575 SPC POWER 5.19 5.2 5.2 5.58 5.2 5.2 1111700 5799350 AGRINURTURE 17.8 17.9 17.94 18 17.8 17.9 488900 8762326 CNTRL AZUCARERA 15.32 16.1 16.1 16.1 16.1 16.1 27700 445970 CENTURY FOOD 13.08 13.2 13.24 13.24 13.2 13.2 68900 910300 DEL MONTE 6.8 6.9 6.8 6.9 6.8 6.8 1900 12930 DNL INDUS 11.1 11.18 11.24 11.4 11.06 11.18 2034400 22745674 EMPERADOR 6.95 6.96 6.96 6.98 6.94 6.95 118600 824321 SMC FOODANDBEV 83.9 84.85 84.95 84.95 83 84.85 589530 49897786 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.03 1.04 1 1.05 0.99 1.03 12987000 13347890 GINEBRA 23.6 25 24.7 25 23.6 25 13000 311880 JOLLIBEE 278 278.6 280 282 276.8 278.6 646700 180519952 LIBERTY FLOUR 50 53 54 54 49.95 53 1030 53008.5 MAXS GROUP 10.64 10.66 10.7 10.9 10.5 10.66 270300 2886764 MG HLDG 0.174 0.18 0.174 0.179 0.173 0.175 560000 97960 PEPSI COLA 1.61 1.63 1.68 1.68 1.62 1.62 93000 151380 SHAKEYS PIZZA 10.34 10.36 10.4 10.44 10.32 10.32 44300 460230 ROXAS AND CO 2.13 2.21 2.12 2.27 2.12 2.13 260000 561380 RFM CORP 4.79 4.8 4.79 4.79 4.79 4.79 32000 153280 ROXAS HLDG 2.91 3.22 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 50000 162500 UNIV ROBINA 133.9 134 134 138 132.2 134 898710 120709089 VITARICH 1.52 1.56 1.59 1.63 1.52 1.52 8369000 13273560 VICTORIAS 2.36 2.39 2.36 2.36 2.36 2.36 9000 21240 CONCRETE A 61.35 66.85 61.35 61.35 61.35 61.35 20 1227 CEMEX HLDG 2.1 2.12 2.13 2.16 2.1 2.12 5053000 10685500 EAGLE CEMENT 14.78 14.96 14.78 14.78 14.78 14.78 3600 53208 EEI CORP 8.8 8.9 8.91 9 8.8 8.8 2481600 21911060 HOLCIM 6.3 6.39 6.29 6.3 6.29 6.3 6000 37750 MEGAWIDE 18.26 18.28 18.34 18.8 18.18 18.28 4645300 86259748 PHINMA 9 9.02 8.9 9.02 8.9 9.02 6000 53520 TKC METALS 0.9 0.95 0.9 0.95 0.9 0.95 6000 5450 CROWN ASIA 1.56 1.57 1.55 1.56 1.54 1.56 323000 500690 LMG CHEMICALS 4.77 4.97 4.79 4.79 4.78 4.78 75000 358850 CONCEPCION 36 36.85 37.5 37.5 36 36 30300 1096070 GREENERGY 1.46 1.48 1.55 1.63 1.45 1.48 34670000 52831440 INTEGRATED MICR 10.28 10.3 10.5 10.88 10.26 10.3 553400 5745092 IONICS 1.65 1.66 1.69 1.71 1.65 1.66 142000 237150 SFA SEMICON 1.5 1.58 1.52 1.58 1.49 1.58 39000 58780 CIRTEK HLDG 36.8 37 38.25 38.5 36.9 37 209500 7863020 HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.47 0.475 0.455 0.47 0.45 0.47 17050000 7883350 ASIABEST GROUP 24.45 24.75 25.4 25.5 24.5 24.75 9800 244655 AYALA CORP 933 940 935 942.5 925 940 230010 215505195 ABOITIZ EQUITY 47 47.4 46.8 47.9 45.95 47.4 561900 26632615 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 11.58 11.64 11.7 12.02 11.52 11.64 5203900 61323914 ANSCOR 6.11 6.21 6.2 6.21 6.2 6.21 110700 686389 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.78 0.87 0.85 0.87 0.85 0.87 6000 5120 ATN HLDG A 1.37 1.38 1.36 1.41 1.35 1.37 26821000 37052320 ATN HLDG B 1.37 1.38 1.37 1.41 1.35 1.37 5865000 8132430 COSCO CAPITAL 7 7.08 6.9 7.1 6.9 7.08 2248200 15779208 DMCI HLDG 13 13.04 12.8 13.04 12.8 13.04 6144200 79672064 FILINVEST DEV 7.28 7.3 7.23 7.28 7.23 7.28 98300 712663 FJ PRINCE A 4.03 5.47 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 3000 17100 FORUM PACIFIC 0.192 0.22 0.225 0.225 0.225 0.225 250000 56250 GT CAPITAL 754 758 759 785 740 758 161160 122472235 JG SUMMIT 48.5 48.9 48.6 49.3 48.3 48.9 1500700 73350125 LODESTAR 0.5 0.53 0.53 0.53 0.5 0.53 86000 43740 LOPEZ HLDG 4.19 4.2 4.2 4.22 4.18 4.19 1104000 4617020 LT GROUP 15.06 15.1 14.82 15.2 14.66 15.1 11299600 170667646 MABUHAY HLDG 0.53 0.54 0.52 0.55 0.52 0.54 1245000 671590 METRO PAC INV 4.87 4.9 4.95 5.03 4.81 4.9 14551000 71767470 PACIFICA 0.036 0.037 0.037 0.037 0.036 0.036 10100000 371700 PRIME ORION 2.32 2.33 2.3 2.35 2.29 2.32 621000 1445550 PRIME MEDIA 1.17 1.21 1.17 1.2 1.17 1.17 127000 149010 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.58 2.69 2.56 2.65 2.56 2.65 4000 10510 SOLID GROUP 1.35 1.39 1.35 1.35 1.35 1.35 130000 175500 SYNERGY GRID 288.2 409.4 288.2 288.2 288.2 288.2 20 5764 SM INVESTMENTS 915 920 910 925 910 920 173090 158872715 SAN MIGUEL CORP 166.3 167.9 167.2 168 166 167.9 149980 25084910 SOC RESOURCES 0.76 0.8 0.77 0.77 0.76 0.76 50000 38120 TOP FRONTIER 265 279.6 279.6 279.6 279.6 279.6 160 44736 WELLEX INDUS 0.238 0.242 0.238 0.247 0.231 0.238 3030000 725230 ZEUS HLDG 0.218 0.219 0.218 0.218 0.218 0.218 180000 39240 PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.58 0.59 0.59 0.6 0.58 0.59 33000 19480 ANCHOR LAND 11.26 11.28 11.28 11.28 11.28 11.28 5000 56400 AYALA LAND 38 38.15 40 40.1 38 38 14767300 570995270 ARANETA PROP 1.93 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 8000 15600 BELLE CORP 2.37 2.38 2.41 2.41 2.37 2.37 815000 1944350 A BROWN 0.77 0.78 0.77 0.79 0.75 0.78 1135000 883280 CITYLAND DEVT 0.87 0.89 0.89 0.89 0.88 0.88 173000 152510 CROWN EQUITIES 0.211 0.215 0.217 0.217 0.21 0.215 3100000 653030 CEBU HLDG 5.77 6.08 6 6.27 5.9 6.08 175500 1080276 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.31 4.42 4.35 4.42 4.29 4.42 269000 1173470 CENTURY PROP 0.405 0.415 0.415 0.415 0.405 0.41 1140000 467750 CYBER BAY 0.36 0.385 0.375 0.385 0.36 0.385 880000 323800 DOUBLEDRAGON 19.38 19.48 19.34 19.98 19.34 19.48 98900 1931478 DM WENCESLAO 7.85 7.86 7.89 8 7.84 7.85 123000 970070 EMPIRE EAST 0.52 0.53 0.52 0.52 0.51 0.52 192000 99320 EVER GOTESCO 0.104 0.108 0.104 0.104 0.104 0.104 20000 2080 FILINVEST LAND 1.44 1.45 1.46 1.46 1.43 1.45 4618000 6686530 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.01 1.03 1.03 1.05 1.01 1.01 2100000 2155250 8990 HLDG 7.34 7.35 7.2 7.38 7.18 7.35 987100 7226374 IRC PROP 2.42 2.43 2.6 2.61 2.36 2.43 19889000 49,472,590( MEGAWORLD 4.47 4.48 4.45 4.5 4.44 4.47 9713000 43450740 MRC ALLIED 0.425 0.43 0.56 0.57 0.42 0.425 467195000 221578230 PHIL ESTATES 0.435 0.44 0.425 0.435 0.42 0.435 3840000 1658750 PRIMEX CORP 3.63 3.64 3.59 3.64 3.53 3.63 1040000 3727110 ROBINSONS LAND 21.2 21.25 20.8 21.3 20.8 21.2 2636900 55928270 PHIL REALTY 0.41 0.425 0.42 0.42 0.41 0.41 1300000 541000 ROCKWELL 1.93 1.94 1.94 1.94 1.93 1.94 33000 63870 SHANG PROP 3.13 3.18 3.19 3.19 3.19 3.19 7000 22330 STA LUCIA LAND 1.13 1.16 1.16 1.16 1.13 1.16 395000 453050 SM PRIME HLDG 33 33.2 33.65 33.95 33 33 13985200 468014105 STARMALLS 4.85 4.89 5.06 5.06 4.81 4.85 790600 3903493 SUNTRUST HOME 0.68 0.7 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.68 149000 101320 VISTA LAND 5.25 5.26 5.27 5.28 5.15 5.26 3182700 16,708,288( SERVICES ABS CBN 21.7 21.8 21.5 21.9 21.5 21.7 64000 1394645 GMA NETWORK 5.3 5.33 5.23 5.34 5.2 5.33 131400 695833 MANILA BULLETIN 0.39 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 20000 8000 GLOBE TELECOM 2098 2108 2108 2120 2066 2108 31235 65652470 PLDT 1396 1400 1419 1420 1375 1400 84730 119066520 DFNN INC 7.26 8.45 7.31 7.31 7.31 7.31 10000 73100 IMPERIAL 1.82 1.99 1.85 1.85 1.82 1.85 50000 91810 ISLAND INFO 0.102 0.103 0.104 0.104 0.103 0.103 1610000 166650 ISM COMM 4.1 4.11 3.28 4.35 3.28 4.11 83964000 326831850 JACKSTONES 3.04 3.21 3.05 3.21 3.05 3.21 4000 12360 NOW CORP 3.26 3.28 4 4.01 3.1 3.28 10575000 38133980 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.5 0.51 0.51 0.54 0.5 0.5 38843000 20218140 PHILWEB 3.7 3.71 3.5 3.7 3.42 3.7 663000 2380240 2GO GROUP 11.04 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.1 11.2 20100 225450 ASIAN TERMINALS 13.22 13.48 13.48 13.48 13.48 13.48 500 6740 CEBU AIR 68.9 69.15 68.15 69.4 68 69.15 372580 25710428.5 CHELSEA 6.61 6.62 6.4 6.65 6.4 6.61 4811200 31611804 INTL CONTAINER 91.4 92.45 93.8 94.9 91.4 91.4 422320 39229772.5 LBC EXPRESS 13.76 14.36 13.76 14.4 13.76 14.38 2400 33460 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.78 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.78 0.78 113000 89260 MACROASIA 17.2 17.22 17.04 17.26 17.04 17.2 870800 14972510 METROALLIANCE A 1.26 1.3 1.39 1.52 1.3 1.3 226000 319980 METROALLIANCE B 1.3 1.5 1.48 1.53 1.48 1.53 75000 112750 PAL HLDG 7.63 8.28 8.29 8.29 7.6 7.63 13100 100832 HARBOR STAR 2.86 2.9 2.82 2.91 2.82 2.9 2390000 6882570 DISCOVERY WORLD 2.01 2.19 2.19 2.19 2.19 2.19 50000 109500 GRAND PLAZA 9.21 11.3 8 8 8 8 1000 8000 WATERFRONT 0.55 0.56 0.58 0.59 0.56 0.56 2816000 1591350 IPEOPLE 11.24 11.86 11.24 11.98 11.24 11.98 8600 96778 STI HLDG 0.66 0.67 0.69 0.69 0.65 0.66 12133000 8064020 BERJAYA 1.64 1.68 1.7 1.7 1.64 1.68 1503000 2501050 BLOOMBERRY 8.16 8.2 8.28 8.37 8.07 8.2 4466300 36738093 PACIFIC ONLINE 10.68 10.76 10.7 10.98 10.66 10.66 22700 247542 LEISURE AND RES 3.4 3.41 3.36 3.48 3.33 3.41 756000 2545380 MANILA JOCKEY 5.25 5.33 5.43 5.44 5.25 5.33 149900 798739 MELCO RESORTS 7.11 7.12 7.11 7.14 7.1 7.11 49237500 350089760 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.74 0.75 0.77 0.77 0.74 0.74 1004000 752080 TRAVELLERS 5.17 5.19 5.16 5.19 5.16 5.19 259900 1342453 METRO RETAIL 2.19 2.2 2.2 2.23 2.2 2.2 1989000 4376080 PUREGOLD 41.8 41.85 41.9 41.95 41.1 41.8 251900 10525600 ROBINSONS RTL 76.8 77 76 77 76 77 125420 9650266 PHIL SEVEN CORP 104 106 107.4 108.5 104 104 90430 9651541 SSI GROUP 2.72 2.73 2.78 2.78 2.7 2.73 9734000 26563800 WILCON DEPOT 11.32 11.4 11.4 11.4 11.3 11.4 1263500 14379110 APC GROUP 0.435 0.44 0.43 0.435 0.43 0.435 3150000 1357950 EASYCALL 8.3 8.4 8.5 9.59 8.2 8.4 280400 2431288 GOLDEN BRIA 305 320 306.2 320 305.4 320 7400 2356646 IPM HLDG 7.6 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 12500 97500 PAXYS 3.05 3.39 3.36 3.41 3.36 3.41 3000 10130 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.335 0.34 0.34 0.345 0.34 0.34 400000 136500 SBS PHIL CORP 6.81 7.19 6.73 7.2 6.73 6.81 76400 542931 MINING & OIL ATOK 14.02 14.8 14.48 15 14.4 14.8 22700 335682 APEX MINING 1.84 1.85 1.8 1.87 1.8 1.84 11179000 20627770 ABRA MINING 0.0022 0.0023 0.0023 0.0024 0.0023 0.0023 43000000 99100 ATLAS MINING 2.7 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.7 6000 16200 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.3 0.305 0.3 0.3 0.295 0.3 630000 188950 CENTURY PEAK 1.92 1.93 1.9 1.94 1.89 1.94 568000 1089320 DIZON MINES 6.1 6.8 6.98 7.15 6.8 6.8 31300 217354 FERRONICKEL 1.78 1.79 1.8 1.83 1.77 1.79 1316000 2349480 GEOGRACE 0.201 0.205 0.205 0.209 0.201 0.205 700000 142010 LEPANTO A 0.106 0.108 0.106 0.108 0.106 0.106 430000 45670 MANILA MINING A 0.0067 0.0071 0.0066 0.0071 0.0066 0.0067 4000000 27100 MARCVENTURES 1.14 1.21 1.15 1.17 1.15 1.15 135000 155350 NIHAO 0.97 1 0.99 1.03 0.98 1 305000 300110 NICKEL ASIA 2.57 2.61 2.59 2.62 2.56 2.57 1534000 3972310 OMICO CORP 0.58 0.61 0.62 0.62 0.61 0.61 2000 1230 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.91 0.93 0.92 0.96 0.91 0.91 1001000 924100 PX MINING 3.38 3.39 3.31 3.46 3.3 3.39 1486000 5058990 SEMIRARA MINING 29 29.05 29.1 29.3 28.75 29 1014800 29403105 UNITED PARAGON 0.0061 0.0065 0.0061 0.0061 0.0061 0.0061 3000000 18300 ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 15800000 200000 PHILODRILL 0.011 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 2700000 35100 PHINMA PETRO 4.03 4.16 4 4.19 3.98 4.18 111000 454900 PXP ENERGY 18.84 18.86 17.8 18.96 17.72 18.86 7308600 135571126
PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B DD PREF FGEN PREF G GLO PREF P MWIDE PREF PNX PREF 3B PCOR PREF 2B SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H
97 463 490 98.6 95.15 100.5 425 100.1 103 1002 75 76.5 74.1 73.6 73.85
PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR
21.4 5.03 2.2
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98.8 465 492 101.8 96.45 102 489 101 105 1020 75.9 76.6 75 75 74.85
98.8 465 492 100 96 102 485 101.9 105 1006 75.9 76.6 75 75 74.8
98.8 465 492 100 97 102 485 101.9 105 1006 75.9 76.6 75 75 74.85
98.8 463 492 100 96 102 485 100.1 105 1006 75.9 76.5 75 75 74.8
98.8 465 492 100 96 102 485 100.1 105 1006 75.9 76.6 75 75 74.85
510 190 30 30000 73980 15100 70 3030 1010 1600 80 1630 1050 300 20300
50388 88310 14760 3000000 7102099 1540200 33950 303357 106050 1609600 6072 124708 78750 22500 1518490
-9260 24960 -
21.8 5.44
21.45 5.42
21.5 5.49
21.4 5.36
21.4 5.44
16900 203200
362665 1103620
-29970 1103620
WARRANTS LR WARRANT
595421.5 31887090 20609852.5 84300 -2228278 -123131576 5430 -3656775 56000 12383224.9999 -65900 56000 -0 20680
2.22
2.27
2.27
2.2
2.22
660000
1468440
-
ITALPINAS 4.39 XURPAS 1.53
4.43 1.54
4.52 1.6
4.59 1.6
4.35 1.46
4.38 1.53
331000 7799000
1470510 11903040
31740 -3991520
FIRST METRO ETF
108
SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS 107.8
108
108.9
108
108
5530
600740
10825
Editor: Efleda P. Campos
PMFTC opens $3.1-million solar-power plant in Batangas
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By Lenie Lectura
@llectura
HILIP Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC), a joint venture between Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. and Fortune Tobacco Corp., on Tuesday inaugurated its $3.1-million solar-power plant inside its 25-hectare manufacturing facility at the First Philippine Industrial Park in Tanauan City, Batangas. PMFTC tapped Spectrum, the renewable-energy unit of Manila Electric Co., in putting up the former’s 2.5-megawatt (MW) groundmounted own-use solar plant. With the installation, PMFTC Inc. has become the third affiliate of Philip Morris International (PMI) in Asia to have its own solar- power plant, next to Pakistan and Indonesia. PMI manager for environment Carlos Sanchez said the solar-pow-
er facility’s capacity “will cover 10 percent of the actual needs of the factory.” “This is just the first phase and we are watching. We want to see, test how the production works. But it’s really easy to expand. We have space to do it. We want to make sure we invested in the right one,” Sanchez said when asked if there is a plan to expand the ground-mounted own-use solar-power facility.
This is also Spectrum’s singlelargest project, said Spectrum commercial services head Robet Marlon Pereja, who added that the company has so far installed a total of 10 MW. “It depends on PMFTC. I’m very confident the plant will achieve and even surpass the expected results. I think there’s room for expansion. This is a very large plant,” said Pereja when asked if there are discussions with PMFTC to expand the facility soon. The solar facility can withstand a Category 5 typhoon and 8-magnitude earthquake. The electricity produced through this process is considered clean energy that does not create any additional carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions. “The new solar-energy project also hopes to achieve PMI’s target of at least 40-percent reduction in its carbon footprint across its whole value chain by 2030. With the Batangas factory now partially powered by solar energy, the initiative is expected to reduce more than 2,000 tons of CO 2 annually,” PMFTC operations
director Joao Brigido said. The solar plant was constructed in support of the Philippine government’s Renewable Energy Roadmap 2017-2040 that seeks to establish at least 20,000 MW of renewableenergy sources by 2040. PMFTC external affairs director Varinia Elero-Tinga said the company hopes to contribute to the Philippine Government’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2030 through this project. Since the inauguration of the Batangas factory in 2003, PMI has grown its investments in the Philippines to include the renovation and rehabilitation of the PMFTC Inc. Marikina manufacturing facility, the establishment of a PMI regional leaf warehouse in Subic and the construction of a leaf-facility and buying station in Claveria, Misamis Oriental. PMI is a leading international tobacco company, with a diverse work force of around 81,000 people. It manufactures six of the world’s top international 15 brands, spanning more than 180 markets.
TV ratings war rages, rivals both claim to be ‘No. 1’ By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
C
OMPETITORS GMA Network Inc. and ABS-CBN Corp. claimed on separate statements that they led the ratings war last month, citing data from two different sources. The Gozon-led network claimed to have dominated the National Urban Television Audience Measurement (Nutam) with a 41.1-percent average household audience share in October, ahead of ABS-CBN’s 37.2 percent by just a few percentage points, based on data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement. It also claimed to have led Nutam’s morning block with 39.9-percent audience share versus its rival’s 32 percent, and the afternoon block with 41.7 percent versus the competitor’s 37.4 percent. GMA also took the lead in the evening block with 41.3-percent audience share against the 39.3-percent average that its competitor netted. It also furthered its leadership position in Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, which account for 72 per-
cent and 59 percent of all urban households in the country. In Urban Luzon GMA won across all day parts and registered an average household share of 46.9 percent, while ABS-CBN posted only 30.9 percent; in Mega Manila, it posted an audience share of 49.1 percent, while its rival booked 28.1 percent. Lopez-led entertainment and multimedia conglomerate ABSCBN, on the other hand, claimed to have posted a higher nationalaverage audience share in October. Citing data from Kantar Media, ABS-CBN said it recorded a solid 44-percent audience share nationwide, a 13-point lead over GMA’s 31 percent. ABS-CBN also claimed it fared better against GMA in the primetime block, after it registered a 48-percent audience share, significantly higher than its rival’s 31 percent. The prime-time block is the most important part of the day when most Filipinos watch TV and advertisers put a larger chunk of their investment in to reach more consumers effectively.
Globe launches eSIM in PHL
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LOBE Telecom launched the embedded Subscriber Identification Module (eSIM) in the Philippine market to enhance the mobile experience of its subscribers. The eSIM is a virtual SIM that can be an alternative to the physical, plastic SIM cards that are currently being used by smartphone users. “With the introduction of eSIM, Globe further strengthens its position as the country's mobile innovation leader. This new technology enhances our customers' experience and the way they live their digital lifestyle. The eSIM is also consistent with our initiative to reduce plastic use as part of our sustainability commitments,” Issa Guevarra-Cabreira, Globe senior vice president and head of the Consumer Mobile Business, said in a statement late Monday. The SIM is preinstalled in mo-
bile and wearable devices and is equipped with automatic activation without the need for a physical SIM. Its digital management capability and automatic syncing feature also enable customers to use and manage multiple devices. Globe is currently conducting its tests of the eSIM technology with selected mobile devices, such as iPhone Xs, Xs Max and XR; Apple Watch; and Huawei Watch. Postpaid subscribers can avail themselves of iPhone Xs, Xs Max and XR this month while Apple Watch and Huawei Watch will be available soon. Globe customers with eSIMenabled devices can get QR cards at Globe Stores and scan it using their phones to activate their SIM before the end of this year. The eSIM is currently available in 10 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore. PNA
MUTUAL FUNDS
November 6, 2018
NAV ONE YEAR THREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 245.23 -14.88% -1.11% 0.19% -16.36% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.3817 -14.56% 2.72% 1.5% -13.47% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 3.8104 -15.5% -0.59% -0.67% -17.03% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.8727 -13.47% N.A. N.A. -14.19% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. * ********* 0.8068 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 5.039 -14.64% -3.12% -0.41% -16.2% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * ****** 109.31 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.8053 -16.89% N.A. N.A. -18.88% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 47.6515 -13.98% -0.22% N.A. -15.5% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 495.75 -14.62% -1.62% -0.64% -15.75% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.2255 -11.83% 0.55% N.A. -12.73% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 35.6576 -11.65% 0.89% 2.26% -13.23% PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 4.7938 -13.74% 0.48% 2.24% -15.51% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 800.52 -13.63% 0.23% 1.97% -15.35% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.8316 -12.95% -2.06% N.A. -14.01% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 3.9523 -12.11% 0.13% 0.63% -13.71% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 0.9228 -13.89% 0.31% N.A. -15.59% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.398 -11.08% 1.32% 0.82% -12.74% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* ***107.0099 -13.21% 1.4% N.A. -15.04% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $0.9211 -16.19% 0.08% -1.16% -16.89% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.2109 -1.77% N.A. N.A. -4.29% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.6237 -11.65% -2.99% -2.29% -12.87% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.1705 -10.78% -0.78% -0.19% -11.66% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.4659 -10.15% -4.01% -2.82% -10.98% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* **** 1.2827 -11.39% N.A. N.A. -11.84% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.8015 -8.19% -0.28% -0.15% -9.59% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.425 -11.89% -2.08% -1.18% -12.59% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 15.4071 -11.7% -1.99% -1.22% -12.25% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* ******** 2.0232 -9.27% -0.19% 1.29% -9.76% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.5772 -9.39% -0.82% -0.37% -10.49% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.9078 -9.57% -1.26% N.A. -11.03% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.03462 -4.07% -0.78% 1.42% -4.1% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9217 -12.02% 0.18% -2.06% -11.97% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.516 -1.82% 3.47% 2.3% -3.74% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0432 -5.32% N.A. N.A. -6.2% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 341.67 1.56% 1.82% 1.59% 1.35% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ******* 1.8598 -2.14% -1.01% -0.66% -1.72% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.9511 5.52% 5.32% 5.24% 4.57% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1214 0.49% 1.09% 0.98% 0.91% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.2131 -0.12% -0.05% 0.24% -0.14% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP.* P 1.5632 -3.18% -1.19% -1.58% -2.88% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.8047 -6.59% -1.94% -1.31% -6.06% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.4612 -0.92% -0.51% -0.43% -1.24% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.875 -5.53% -2.11% N.A. -5.22% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.7442 -1.32% 0.01% -0.06% -1.18% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.525 -1.78% -0.52% -0.4% -1.59% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $446.17 0.29% 2.2% 2.91% 0.05% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є213.03 -0.17% 1.16% 1.55% -0.32% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.1208 -1.2% 0.74% 1.61% -1.17% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $0.0248 - 0.8% 0.54% N.A. -0.8% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP.* $1.6883 -4.8% -0.61% 1.04% -4.7% 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* $1.0222 -5.61% -1.07% -2.83% -4.78% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.1285 -5.17% 0.05% 2.18% -5.44% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.056873 -1.07% 0.8% 1.75% -0.57% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.8735 -4.57% 0.38% 1.53% -4.62% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 120.15 2.47% 1.72% 1.47% 2.16% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1745 1.69% 0.36% 0.38% 1.48% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.2125 2.5% 2.18% 1.46% 2.28% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC.* ***** $1.0131 N.A. N.A. N.A. 1.44% * - 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
www.businessmirror.com.ph
Banking&Finance BusinessMirror
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
B3
Anwar: Malaysia probing more deals by former Goldman partner Leissner
M
ALAYSIA’S leaderin-waiting said the government is looking into more Goldman Sachs Group Inc. deals carried out by Tim Leissner, the former partner whose work on 1MDB’s fundraising dragged the Wall Street firm into one of Asia’s biggest corruption scandals. Anwar Ibrahim, speaking in an interview at the New Economy Forum (NEF) in Singapore, didn’t identify any specific transactions. He also said it would be “inexcusable” if Goldman were complicit in the scandal surrounding the state investment company known as 1Malaysia Develop-
ment Bhd., levying among the harshest and most direct criticism of the US bank so far by a Malaysian politician. “We are looking at other earlier involvements, other deals in the country, whether they’re transparent,” Anwar said. “Although the focus is on 1MDB,”
A
Recovery efforts
THERE are ongoing discussions about recovering money from financial institutions including Goldman, Anwar said. He is expected to replace 93-year-old Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister in a year or two. “They must understand that to be complicit to the excesses and crime is inexcusable and in the process, the country and the people suffer,” Anwar said in response to a question on whether
he plans to meet with Goldman executives who are also attending the NEF forum. “We must get hold of every cent that has been taken out of the country by either the leaders or those complicit in this action.” A Gold ma n representat ive couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Anwar’s remarks. The New Economy Forum is being organized by Bloomberg Media Group, a division of Bloomberg Lp, the parent company of Bloomberg News. Goldman’s Chief Executive Officer David Solomon and former President Gary Cohn are among those attending the forum. Fallout from working with 1MDB had led to a wider collapse in Goldman’s once-thriving business in Malaysia in recent year, which it once said offered “very positive” prospects. Work advising Malaysian clients on mergers and acquisitions, share offerings and bond issues also all but evaporated, and senior bankers involved in Malaysian deal-making left.
Goldman arranged two separate $1.75-billion bond placements for 1MDB in 2012, and a $3-billion debt sale in 2013. It has for years said it believed the money it was raising for 1MDB would be used for development projects, and that fees and commissions “reflected the underwriting risks” it had assumed. Authorities have said cash instead went into yachts, luxury real estate, paintings and jewelry, as well as into private bank accounts. “We need to go to due process, but if they are prepared to negotiate, they have to return” about $600 million of the fees and commissions, Anwar said, adding that he has no plans to meet with Goldman executives in the city-state as investigations are ongoing.
Bribing officials
IN the first charges against individuals by US prosecutors made public last week, at least three senior current or former Goldman executives, including Leissner, were implicated. Leissner,
once Goldman’s Southeast Asia chairman, pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money and confessed that he bribed officials in two countries—Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates—to get bond deals for Goldman. He a l so ad m it ted t h at he and others arranged the 1MDB fundraising as bond offerings because it would generate higher fees for the bank. As part of his settlement, he will forfeit almost $44 million. Former Malaysian Premier Najib Razak, who once chaired 1MDB’s advisory board, is facing several charges of wrongdoing in Malaysia related to the fund, and has pleaded not guilty. Leissner was a fixture in Malaysian deal making in the late 2000s. The bank led the league tables for arranging dollar bond sales by Malaysian companies from 2011 to 2013, bolstered by the 1MDB debt offerings. Around 2011 and 2012, it raised $1.6 billion in two offerings on behalf of the Sarawak state government. Bloomberg News
Treasury makes full award for T-bonds as rates fall within market estimates
Governance and agency theory GENCY theory is part of the topic of corporate governance. It involves the problem of directors controlling a company while the shareholders own the company. From this arises the problem whereby directors may not always act in the best interest of the shareholders and stakeholders. In a corporation there is a web of contractual relations among different interest groups with a stake in the company, with a third group such as the creditors, which may also be involved. Shareholders may have conflicts with the managers (the directors) and also with the bank creditors since their individual priorities vary. Managers seek profits that increase their own wealth, power and reputation, while shareholders are more interested in a slow and steady growth of the company over time, providing them with dividends. Creditors want to ensure that the loans they extend are paid. A genc y t heor y ident if ies points of conflict among corporate interest groups. Banks wish to reduce risk, while shareholders want to reasonably maximize profits. Managers are concerned with their ability to turn profits to show to their directors. These relationships create costs in that each group tries to control the others. One of the major insights of agency theory is the concept of costs of maintaining the division of labor among shareholders, managers and creditors. Managers have the advantage of information since they know the firm up close, and thus can use this to enhance their own reputations at the expense of the shareholders. Profit-seeking in risky ventures may alienate banks and other sources of finance. Monitoring and limiting managers sometimes entail costs to the firm. Corporate governance holds that firms are basically units of conflict rather than unitary profit-seeking machines. This conflict is directly built into the structure of the corporation. If one accepts the premise of agency theory, i.e., that corporations are actually
investigators in Malaysia and the U.S. are probing earlier deals in which Leissner was involved in the Southeast Asian nation, he said. Goldman has been under scrutiny for years for its role in raising $6.5 billion for 1MDB and for the nearly $600 million in fees and commissions it earned from the bonds. 1MDB is at the center of a global scandal involving claims of embezzlement and money laundering, which have triggered investigations in the US, Singapore, Switzerland and beyond.
FINEX FREE ENTERPRISE Mercedes B. Suleik groups of connected fiefs, each fief having its own interest and culture and view the firm differently, one can assume that managers will behave in such a way as to maximize their own profit and reputation, even at the expense of shareholders. Agency theory holds that problems arise because of differences of goals of the principal and agent. Agency theory, in relation to corporate governance, explains the actions of the various interest groups. Historically, companies used to be owned and managed by the same people. Expansion and growth, however, necessitated a larger number of investors to provide the necessary finance leading to the concept of limited liability and the development of stock markets where people could buy and sell shares. In the stock market, people who bought and sold shares did not need to take any interest in running the firm. This job was delegated to the managers (agent), resulting in separation of goals. The separation between ownership and control and the resulting conflict of interest, known as the “principal-agent problem,” is the key area of corporate governance focus. The principal needs to find ways of ensuring that the agent acts in their best interest. As a result of several high-profile corporate collapses (Enron, et al.) there has been a great debate about the power of the board of directors and how shareholders and stakeholders can ensure that the board does not abuse their power. This led to the enactment of legislations to improve the control that shareholders and stakeholders can exercise over the board of directors, and the current emphasis on good corporate governance. merci.suleik@gmail.com
By Rea Cu
@ReaCuBM
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HE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) awa rded t he f u l l P15 billion on offer for the reissued 10-year Treasury bond (T-bond) placed on auction on Tuesday. National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the auction committee decided to award the full P15 billion on offer as bid rates for the security fell within market estimates at 8.004 percent based on the Bloomberg Valuation Service (BVAL) rate that closed earlier in the day. The reissued 10 -year security received bids amounting to P28.306 billion at an average an-
nual rate of 8.035 percent. This showed an increase of 168.5 basis points compared to the previous auction rate of 6.350 percent at an awarded P4 billion from the P10 billion on offer. “In terms of the bids tendered, it was a very good volume given that [it’s] almost twice in the subscription. And then also it’s within the BVAL range so we accepted. It’s just showing that the market, more or less, [has] seen that inflation is stabilizing in terms of the inflation print this morning,” de Leon said. The BVAL was launched last month, with the platform allowing for a more streamlined processing in line with trading and
₧13.5-B retail bonds seen to boost govt campaign to rebuild Marawi By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
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HE Department of Finance (DOF) will issue P13.5 billion worth of Marawi Bonds Series 1 for the Bangon Marawi rehabilitation program, a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Economic Affairs said on Tuesday. Iligan City Rep. Frederick Siao, who commended the DOF on its decision, said the bonds is a big help to the effort to rebuild Marawi, which in 2016 was laid siege to for five months by Islamic State-inspired homegrown terrorists. “Using the online retail Treasury bond format for the Marawi bonds will enable wide and international participation of ordinary Filipinos and other citizens in the recovery of Marawi,” according to Siao. “Given the global awareness about the plight of Marawi and its surrounding areas, including Iligan City, I am confident the demand for Marawi bonds will be high and there could very well be oversubscriptions,” the lawmaker added. Siao also expressed hope that the Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank “will have an active role in the promotion of the Marawi bonds and that Islamic banks that will open up in the future will be invited to participate in the
follow-up bond series.” In September Task Force Bangon Marawi head Eduardo del Rosario said the government is eyeing to issue some P50 billion in Marawi bonds in support of rehabilitation efforts for the once progressive Islamic city. Del Rosario said the rehabilitation of areas outside of ground zero would entail a budgetary requirement of about P47.2 billion, while the total cost of rebuilding ground zero itself would be around P15 billion. The timetable for the rehabilitation of the most affected areas in Marawi City was seen to take three years, while the reconstruction of areas outside ground zero would take until the end of President Duterte’s term, or in June 2022. The DOF earlier said the Philippine government has, so far, identified 902 priority projects and activities for the rehabilitation and recovery of Marawi City and its surrounding areas, with close to half of the funding to be drawn from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Project Fund. In May this year the Philippine government, with officials from Japan, signed a ¥2-billion grant agreement to support ongoing efforts for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the war-torn capital of the province of Lanao del Sur.
settlement operations for government securities. “What’s more important is the month on month, from 0.9 percent to 0.3 percent, so it just shows that inflation momentum is decelerating. That’s also sending a signal to the market that we would expect that inflation would already trend downward,” she added. On Tuesday the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that, while the year-on-year headline inflation in October 2018 was steady at 6.7 percent, seasonally adjusted month-on-month inflation eased further to 0.3 percent. The country also registered a 6.7-percent inflation rate for September this year.
“So we see a very good participation and I think it’s really coming from the institutional investors because it’s already the end of the year, so they would really have to be doing the placements on their funds.... If they expect inflation to really trend downward, then they will lock in at this rate,” she said. Realizing the spike in the prices of basic commodities, 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 s p e c i f ic a l l y on a g r ic u lt u r a l commodities.
BSP rates to climb further–ANZ Research
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CONOMIC think tank ANZ Research still forecasts another increase in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) key policy rates, by 25 basis points, in December 2018 even if it turns out that domestic inflation has hit its peak in October. In a study released on Tuesday, the Australia, New Zealand and Asia-focused research firm noted the flat year-on-year movement of domestic rate of price increases in the 10th month this 2018 at 6.7 percent. “We now think that inflation has peaked,” it said. The report said the latest inflation figure is higher than market expectations of 6.6 percent, but the month-on-month change posted the slowest in four months at 0.3 percent. Even with the flat inflation rate in October, average inflation in the first 10 months this year rose to 5.1 percent, from end-September’s 5 percent. The government’s inflation target until 2020 is a range between 2 and 4 percent. ANZ also noted that inflation of rice in October slowed to 6.3 percent year-on-year, the first time in 11 months. A spike in the staple’s price became a major driver of
domestic inflation in past months. The report, meanwhile, cited that although rice inflation has slowed core inflation, with excludes volatile oil and food, posted the highest level since April 2009 at 4.9 percent in October from the previous month’s 4.7 percent. Despite the possible peaking of inflation, the report said bringing the level within the government’s target band “will nonetheless, require more policy response in our view.” “We expect a final rate hike of 25 bps to 4.75 percent at their December meeting,” it added. The Monetary Board will have its last rate setting meet this year on December 13. To date, it has increased the BSP’s key policy rates by a total of 150 basis points due to sustained rise of the inflation rate. PNA
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SAVE THE DATE: ‘11.11’ IS LAZADA’S NATIONAL SHOPPING FESTIVAL
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RACE yourselves for it has been declared November 11 a s L a z ad a’s n at ion a l shopping festival day! Dubbed as 11.11 Shopping Festival, Southeast Asia’s biggest e-commerce platform will boast more than 70 million local and international products to choose from, definitely making it the biggest day to shop online! Now on its seventh year, Lazada’s 11.11 Shopping Festival is a move to follow Alibaba’s footsteps where customers can take advantage of jaw-dropping deals, exclusive bundles and f lash sales. Simply inv ite your friends to “Slash It!”, a feature t hat allows customers to lower the pr ice of a product through a referral link sent to friends to slash the price. Vouchers and discount codes are also up for grabs via Wonderland and “Shake It!”,
where customers can snag additional discounts by simply shaking one’s mobile phone at designated time slots. Watch out for the Top 11 products that will go on sale during the 11.11 Shopping Festival. Stay tuned by following our official social-media accounts, by simply logging on to www.lazada. com.ph or downloading the Lazada mobile app via App Store or Google Play.
HERO EMPLOYEES HELP WOMAN GIVE BIRTH AT HOTEL SOGO
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HEN Maria Estanislao and Elain Matalote clocked in for their shifts as chambermaids at a Hotel Sogo on September 9, they thought it would be just like any other night. Little did they know that, in a few of hours, they will be getting the surprise of their lives: A pregnant woman unexpectedly giving birth and them delivering the baby in the hotel. The said woman checked in with her husband around 5 a.m. early Sunday morning at Hotel Sogo Recto Avenue. Af ter checking in at Room 205, they called on to the front desk for room ser vice. Shortly af ter, room attendant Kenneth Cornejo, who was on his way to deliver the couple’s order, saw the panicked husband asking for help because his wife was amid labor contractions. Housekeeping Supervisor Andronico Sy, along with Estanislao and Matalote, rushed to the aid of the couple. Sy tried
his best to calm the husband down, while the chambermaids attended to the wife. Estanislao, a former volunteer midwife, assessed the situation while front desk personnel phoned emergency hotlines. Upon realizing that the woman was about to give birth and the emergency medical team still on their way, Estanislao requested for hot water and clean towels so that she can assist the wife in delivering the baby right inside the hotel’s guestroom. At around 8:20 a.m., the baby was out of the womb. The ambulance arrived after a few minutes to take mother and her baby girl to the nearest hospital. As of press time, both the mother and daughter are doing well. Estanislao and the rest of her colleagues were all presented letters of recommendation courtesy of hotel manager Paul John Teope, for their kindness and action beyond the call of duty.
Sports
DJOKOVIC BACK AT NO. 1
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| Wednesday, November 7, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao
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FIRST IN WORLDS! Carlos Edriel Yulo shows the form that bagged him the men’s floor exercise bronze medal for the Philippines’s first-ever medal in the Gymnastics World Championships at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. AP
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NUCLEAR OPTION T
By Eddie Pells The Associated Press
HE US Olympic Committee (USOC) took steps Monday to decertify USA Gymnastics as the governing body for the sport at the Olympic level, choosing to pursue the nuclear option for an organization that botched its own rebuilding attempt in the wake of a sex-abuse scandal involving former team doctor Larry Nassar. In an open letter to the gymnastics community, USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland said “you deserve better,” and that the challenges facing USA Gymnastics are more than it is capable of overcoming as currently constructed. The USOC itself also has faced criticism for not responding quickly and appropriately to sex-abuse cases, and though the move was cheered by the gymnast whose own revelations helped propel Nassar’s years of abuse to the fore—”THANK YOU,” tweeted Rachel Denhollander—others viewed it as a ploy to shift blame for the scandal. “Today’s announcement by USOC seeks only to deflect from their total failure over decades to protect the gymnasts in their care,” said a statement from attorneys Michelle Simpson Tuegel and Mo Aziz, who represent Olympian Tasha Schwikert and her sister, Jordan, in their lawsuit against USAG and the USOC. Earlier this year, the USOC said it was seeking to remove itself as a defendant from a number of lawsuits—including those filed by gold medalists McKayla Maroney, Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman—
claiming Nassar never worked for the federation, nor were his crimes foreseeable by the USOC. The lawsuits claim the USOC, as the umbrella organization that oversees USA Gymnastics, should have done more when it learned of the abuse. It did push for new leadership at USA Gymnastics, but even with a new board of directors that started in June, the organization made repeated mistakes while dealing with the aftermath of revelations that the now-imprisoned Nassar molested Olympians while working as a volunteer. Those included the botched hiring of a program coordinator and an interim CEO to replace Kerry Perry, who lasted barely nine months THE US team scoops nine medals from the World Championships and five of those are individual medals won by Olympic champion Simone Biles. AP
on the job after the USOC forced out Steve Penny. The announcement comes only days after the US team brought home nine medals from the World Championships in the first major meet in the lead-up to Tokyo in 2020. Five of those were individual medals won by Olympic champion Simone Biles, who is among the athletes who have not hesitated to criticize the organization. By moving to decertify USA Gymnastics, the USOC is taking major action against an organization that never grasped control over its own rebuilding. But the move could also leave a void that cannot be easily filled. In addition to supporting elite and Olympic athletes, and selecting teams and coaches for international competitions, USA Gymnastics serves more than 150,000 athletes in 3,000 clubs around the country. There is no other organization standing by to fill that need. “Seeking to revoke recognition is not a decision that we have come to easily, but I believe it is the right action,” Hirshland said. “In the short term, we will work to ensure that America’s gymnasts have the support necessary to excel on and off the field of play. We are building plans to do just that no matter the outcome of the revocation process.” The federal law that governs the USOC gives the federation final say on which organizations represent each sport at the Olympics, and also establishes a process to decertify the organizations. But that process is used only under the most
extreme circumstances. One example came in 1994 when the USOC recommended decertifying the NRA as the governing body for shooting, and the NRA accepted the decision. The USOC also has dictated changes and placed its own administrators in charge of smaller NGBs in need of overhauls. The USOC could take a major role in shaping, even possibly running, whatever
agency takes USA Gymnastics’ place. Hirshland said she has given USA Gymnastics the option of surrendering its recognition voluntarily, though there was no indication of which direction USAG would go. It issued a statement saying it was looking at the USOC letter “and is evaluating the best path forward for our athletes, professional members, the organization and staff.” The statement detailed the challenges the new board has faced since taking over in June. It is in search of its fourth president and CEO in the last 19 months thanks to a series of resignations, all of them under pressure from the USOC or the gymnastics’ community at large. Penny—named as a co-defendant in several civil lawsuits filed by former elite gymnasts—stepped down in March 2017. He was arrested last month and charged with destroying or hiding documents related to Nassar’s activities at the Karolyi Ranch, the ex-national training center near Huntsville, Texas, where a number of gymnasts said Nassar abused them.
OVAK DJOKOVIC returned to No. 1 on Monday after a two-year absence and is assured of becoming the first man in the history of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings to finish a season at the top spot after being outside the top 20 during that season. That’s because the man he overtook, Rafael Nadal, is done for 2018. Nadal withdrew from the ATP Finals on Monday, citing an abdominal injury, and announced he was having arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle. Djokovic will be the ATP’s year-ending No. 1 for the fifth time, pulling even with Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors for the second most since the computer rankings began in 1973. Pete Sampras holds the record of six. “Reflecting on what I’ve been through in the last year, it’s quite a phenomenal achievement,” said Djokovic, who was No. 2 last week and hadn’t been No. 1 since November 2016. “And, of course, I’m very, very happy and proud about it. Five months ago, if you told me that...it was highly improbable at that time, considering my ranking and the way I played and felt on the court.” The 31-year-old from Serbia fell to No. 22 in May after beginning the year with a 6-6 record while recovering from surgery on his right elbow. He hadn’t been ranked that low since he was 22nd in 2006 as a teenager. But Djokovic has gone 43-5 since, including Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the US Open after reuniting with Marian Vajda, the longtime coach with whom he had split. Djokovic raised his haul of major trophies to 14, tied with Sampras for third most in men’s tennis history behind Federer with 20 and Nadal with 17. The last man to go from outside the top 20 to No. 1 within a single season was Marat Safin, who was No. 38 and No. 1 in 2000, before ending that year at No. 2. “What Novak has achieved this season has to go down as one of the great sporting comebacks,” ATP Executive Chairman Chris Kerned said. “It’s been a phenomenal return to form that would have been hard to imagine just six months ago.” Nadal said on Twitter on Monday that he was still bothered by the stomach muscle issue that forced him to withdraw from last week’s Paris Masters. Because he wouldn’t be competing at the seasonending tournament in London next week, he opted to have ankle surgery now. He hasn’t competed since he retired from his US Open semifinal against Juan Martin del Potro because of a painful right knee. The 32-year-old Spaniard ends 2018 with a 45-4 record and five titles, including an 11th French Open championship in June. John Isner replaces Nadal in the ATP Finals field. World No. 8 Karolina Pliskova, meanwhile, has been ruled out of the Czech Republic team in the Fed Cup final against the defending champion United States this weekend due to calf muscle and wrist injuries. The Czech team says Pliskova was injured last week during the Women’s Tennis Association Finals in Singapore, where she lost to Sloane Stephens of the United States in the semifinals. She was replaced by rookie Barbora Krejcikova. Krejcikova and the already selected Katerina Siniakova form the world No. 1-ranked doubles team. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Barbora Strycova are also on the team for the final on an indoor hard court in Prague on November 10 and 11. It’s the sixth final for the Czechs in eight years. AP
The organization named Perry as Penny’s replacement but her tenure lasted barely nine months. She was criticized by several high-profile gymnasts, Biles included, for failing to offer a clear vision on the way forward and quit in September. Her resignation came shortly after the hiring, then quick removal, of Mary Lee Tracy as elite development coordinator; Tracy had been supportive of Nassar when the allegations first surfaced. USA Gymnastics brought on former US Representative Mary Bono to serve as interim president and CEO last month. Bono didn’t last a week, stepping away after drawing criticism for an Instagram post she made shortly before she was hired that was critical of Nike placing former National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick at the forefront of a marketing campaign. All these moves simply added fuel to those who were seeking the total dismantling of USAG. Olympian Jamie Dantzscher, the first gymnast to sue USAG, said she grew tired of USAG’s
“cynical PR statements about how much they care about athletes.” “It is time for this organization to be replaced,” she said. “My only regret is that it has taken the US Olympic Committee so long to act.”
NOVAK DJOKOVIC will be the year-ending No. 1 for the fifth time. AP
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DIAZ’S BID STALLED H IDILYN DIAZ calls for patience after she finished 11th out of 40 competitors in the introduction of the women’s 55-kg category in the International Weightlifting Federation World Championships in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Diaz, the Asian Games champion in the 53-kg division, had a tough campaign in the new weight class. Considered as the initial qualifying tournament to gain points for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Diaz lifted 203 kilograms—93 kgs in snatch and 110 kgs in clean and jerk. Thailand’s Srisurat Sukanya won the gold medal with a total lift of 232 kgs.
Diaz felt that she poured all her strength but the competition was a lot tougher compared to her comfort zone—the 53-kg territory. “I gave my best but it was not enough,” Diaz said in a video posted online. “But this doesn’t mean that I will give up. This will require more sacrifice but I will do everything to compete in Tokyo.” Diaz ranked first in the world rankings in the 53-kg category last month with her season-best 207 kgs that won her gold in the Jakarta 18th Asian Games emerging as the best for women lifters. Diaz must land inside the world top 56 to qualify for Tokyo. Ramon Rafael Bonilla
Amateur golf championship set Friday at Riviera’s Langer course
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HE country’s leading amateurs and rising stars set out for another fierce battle for golf supremacy as they slug it out in the Riviera MVP Sports Foundation (MVPSF) Amateur Championship, which gets going on Friday at Riviera’s Langer course in Silang, Cavite. Aidric Chan and Sean Ramos banner the men’s Championship division that also features the likes of Leandro Bagtas, Aldo Barro, Paolo Barro, Carl Corpus, Dan Cruz, Josh Jorge, Miguel Olivarez-Ilas, Rald Sarmiento, Paolo Uy and Paolo Wong. Sofia Legaspi, meanwhile, gears up for a repeat of her title feat last year but expects a tough outing against last year’s runner-up Kayla Nocum and a slew of talented players out to stamp their mark in the 54-hole tournament presented by the MVPSF and held as part of PLDT Group National Amateur Tour. Also tipped to contend for the women’s crown are Sofia Chabon, Sunshine Baraquiel, Nicole Abelar, Laia Barro, Sam Dizon, Laurea Duque, Kristine Fleetwood, Bernice Olivarez-Ilas, Rafaela Singson, Kristine
Torralba and young Eagle Ace Superal in one of the strongest casts in a local amateur championship. Koreans Lee Sang-min (men’s), and Gi-soon Choi and Kang Da-yun (women’s) also go all out to spoil the locals’ title drive in the event conducted and organized by the National Golf Association of the Philippines. Registration is ongoing with deadline set on Thursday at 12 noon. Other titles to be disputed are the MidAmateur and Seniors to be disputed over 36 holes. Also on tap is the Special Division for boys’ and girls’ 12 years old and below as part of NGAP’s grassroots program, also to be played over 36 holes. Fees are pegged at P2,500 (local) and P3,500 (foreign) for elite amateur division, P2,000 (local) and P3,000 (foreign) for mid-am and seniors divisions and P1,000 for Riviera members. Leading the Mid-Am cast are Erik Escalona, Jeff Razon, Don Padilla, Raymond Co and Eric Gozo, while Butch Bakunawa and Mike Besa head the Seniors division field that includes Alex Escalona, Bobby Iñigo and Jose Alvarez Jr.
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HE road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics continues for Filipino gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo following his bronzemedal performance in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend. Gymnastics Association of the Philippines President Cynthia Carrion said that from Doha, the 18-year-old Yulo is hoping to vie in the Cottbus World Cup in Germany from November 22 to 25. “It’s not easy to qualify for the Olympics especially in gymnastics. That’s why he has to compete in all these tournaments,” Carrion told the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday at the Tapa King Restaurant in Farmers Plaza, Cubao. Yulo, the first Filipino gymnast to clinch a medal in the gymnastics world championships, is working on his German visa. Only the top 24 gymnasts in the Doha worlds were invited to the Cottbus World Cup. “That’s why we’re working on his German visa only now,” said Carrion of Yulo, who’s been training in Japan under Coach Munehiro Kugimiya the past two years. Yulo plans to spend Christmas with his family in Leveriza in Manila. He will arrive in the country on December 23.
YULO’S GOAL: TOKYO 2020
“Then he’ll be off to more tournaments in 2019, including the next world championships in Stuttgart [Germany]. If he wins a medal there, he qualifies for the Tokyo Olympics,” Carrion said. “Let’s hope he wins a medal of any color in Stuttgart so then he can focus on Tokyo.” Yulo will also lead the Philippine campaign in the gymnastics competition of the 30th Southeast Asian Games in Manila. “We don’t want to put too much pressure on him but we are very hopeful,” said Carrion during the sports forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Tapa King and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. Men’s all-around champion Artur Dalaloyan won the floor exercise gold with a score of 14.900, with Japan’s Kenzo Shirai settling for the silver. Yulo was third, just ahead of American Yul Moldauer in fourth. GYMNASTICS Association Head Cynthia Carrion shows the Plaque of Appreciation given by Philippine Ambassador to Qatar Alan Timbayan to Carlos Edriel Yulo.
S.M.B. TACKLES ACES’ PLAYOFFS BONUS S AN Miguel Beer is in an unfamiliar territory in the quarterfinals of the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup. The Beermen have their backs against the wall as they try to topple the the Alaska Aces’ twice-tobeat advantage in the playoffs on Wednesday at the Cuneta Astrodome. The match is set at 7 p.m. with the sixth seed San Miguel Beer (6-5 won-lost) hoping to spoil the fun for the third seed Alaska (8-3). Phoenix also brandishes the same incentive when the Fuel Masters (8-3) take on the Meralco Bolts (5-6) in their own quarterfinals duel starting at 4:30 p.m. The playoffs kicked off on Tuesday night
with the games between top seed Barangay Ginebra against eighth seed NLEX and No. 4 Magnolia opposite No. 5 Blackwater (8-3). San Miguel Beer Head Coach Leo Austria said they have to put up a gallant stand against the Aces as he expressed confidence with June Mar Fajardo back from injury bay. “We need to win twice and I think it’s achievable,” Austria said. Fajardo, the league’s four-time Most Valuable Player, has recovered from a right shin injury. Without the 6-foot-10 center, the Beermen absorbed a 119-127 loss to the Aces in the elimination round. Austria stressed that their championship experience would mean them a lot especially in terms of getting the right composure. “It’s our edge over them, psychologically,” Austria added. In 2016 the Beer men overcame a 0-3 deficit to win the Philippine Cup over the Aces. The year prior, San Miguel beat Alaska
in the All-Filipino and Governors’ Cup Finals. With Fajardo still finding his peak form, San Miguel Beer would be relying heavily on import Kevin Murphy and locals Alex Cabagnot, Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter and Christian Standhardinger. Holding fort for the Aces are reinforcement Mike Harris, Chris Banchero, Jvee Casio, Vic Manuel and Simon Enciso.
Ramon Rafael Bonilla
NBA RESULTS Houston 98, Indiana 94 Miami 120, Detroit 115, OT Orlando 102, Cleveland 100 Chicago 116, New York 115, 2OT Oklahoma City 122, New Orleans 116 Denver 115, Boston 107 Toronto 124, Utah 111 Golden State 117, Memphis 101 LA Clippers 120, Minnesota 109
Badminton body holds national juniors, open meets this month
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HE Philippine Badminton Association (PBA) will run two tournaments in a span of eight days—the MVP National Juniors Championships from November 10 to 14 and the Fifth Smart National Open Badminton Tournament from November 14 to 17. The juniors tournament for players aged nine to 17 will be played at the Powersmash Badminton Center in Makati City, while the National Open will have its preliminaries at the Powersmash and the finals at the Ayala Malls at South Park. “This is a program where we want to identify new talents,” PBA SecretaryGeneral Christopher Quimpo told a press conference in San Juan City on Tuesday. “We want the kids to compete among the best in the country.” “The National Open intends to identify
talent. We want to see the level of the current players and to see the potential players for the national team,” Quimpo added. Leading the stacked men’s division are top-ranked players Lance Zafra and Solomon Padiz of Philippines Women’s University-JASMS and the tandems of Ariel Magnaye-Alvin Morada and Joper Escueta-John Paul Pantig. Top singles player Sarah Joy Barredo leads the women’s division that includes Ateneo’s Samantha Ramos and Geva de Vera, National University’s Thea Pomar, College of Saint Benilde’s Nicole Salas and De La Salle’s Isay Leonardo. Quimpo said registration has reached 853 players with dozens still hoping to compete.
Arcilla bags open crown in Negros
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OHNNY ARCILLA added another Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) Open crown to his growing trophy collection, beating Vicente Anasta with a hot start and a late charge in the second set, 6-4, 6-4, to nail the Pintaflores Festival title in San Carlos, Negros Occidental, last Monday. Arcilla broke Anasta right in the first game and kept the edge by trading serves, clinching the set in love fashion before a big crowd at the San Carlos Sports Center. The multi-titled Davis Cupper then surged ahead with a break in the seventh game in the second frame to complete the title romp worth P40,000 in the weeklong event presented by Dunlop and backed by TJ’s Clear Art. On the road to the finals, the top-seeded Arcilla, who topped this event in 2016 to cap a sweep of the four Open titles on the annual PPS-PEPP calendar, trounced Athan Arejola, 6-0, 6-3, scored a 6-2, 2-1(ret.) win over Mari Altiche, crushed Rodolfo Barquin, 6-1, 6-2, and dominated the fourth-ranked Fritz Verdad, 6-2, 6-3, in the semifinals of the event held as part of the host city’s Pintaflores Festival celebrations and organized by Criston Carmona. “Arcilla has time and again proved that discipline is key to victory, which our young players should emulate. By staying fit and in shape all yearlong, he continues to dominate the Open tournaments,” Palawan Pawnshop President and CEO Bobby Castro said. Anasta, on the other hand, survived Bryan Saarenas, 3-6, 6-4, 10-6, held off Joseph Arcilla, 6-4, 6-2, rapped Leander Lazaro, 6-2, 6-4, and dethroned last year’s winner Bryan Otico, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(8). He settled for P20,000. But Anasta bounced back in doubles play, teaming up with Mark Alcoseba to turn back Saarenas and Alberto Villamor, 2-6, 7-5, 10-6, and nail the crown in the event sponsored by Mayor Gerardo Valmayor, Vice Mayor Renato Gustilo, Vice Gov. Eugenio Lacson and Julio Ledesma.
PHILIPPINE Badminton Association Secretary-General Christopher Quimpo (seated, fourth from left) joins PBA officials and national athletes during the federation’s launch of two tournaments this month.
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sMirror
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
TORNADOES SURVIVE CIGNAL GALS IN 5 SETS F OTON unleashed its attacking prowess to dominate Cignal, 25-15, 18-25, 25-22, 25-20, in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference on Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan. CJ Rosario and Mina Aganon were the stars of the show as they pulled the Tornadoes from a sluggish second set en route to their second
straight victory in the women’s club tourney bankrolled by Isuzu, Sogo, Senoh, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller, UCPB Gen and Bizooku. Rosario delivered 13 kills, two blocks and two aces to finish with 17 points while Aganon tallied 14 hits for Foton, which hardly missed towering frontliners Jaja Santiago and Dindin Manabat.
Santiago and Manabat opted to sit out the season-ending conference to see action in the prestigious V. Premier League of Japan. Foton Head Coach Aaron Velez stressed that they remain a work in progress. “I think we were able to get back to our system,” said Velez, who took the helm from John Abella in the off-season. “We’re still trying to figure out how to be consistent. But, I also think were able to tap our energy and momentum down the stretch.” Velez said they made some changes in their position to thwart the vaunted defense of the HD Spikers. “We were always trailing in the match,”
said Velez, who also drew solid performance from new recruits Arianne Layug and Shaya Adorador that gave Ateneo de Manila ace blocker Bea de Leon the luxury of seeing limited minutes. “We wanted to win this one very badly so I thought of a plan in which we can take advantage of our positions and turn the game around. Fortunately, it worked.” Rachel Anne Daquis, the newly crowned league ambassador, sizzled with game-high 21 points laced with 13 digs, while national team stalwart Mylene Paat added 17 hits for the HD Spikers, who suffered their second setback in three games.
RED LIONS IN GAME 1 By Ramon Rafael Bonilla
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FOTON’S Shaya Adorador is challenged at the net by Cignal’s Rachel Anne Daquis.
Lady Warriors vs Angels in PVL tilt
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ETROGAZZ and Pocari-Air Force tangle on Wednesday in a key duel of teams fighting it out for the last semifinal berth even as Creamline tries to recover lost grounds against a skidding Tacloban in the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Open Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan. The Angels bucked a long layoff and blasted the Iriga-Navy Lady Oragons in three last Saturday to firm up their hold of the No. 4 spot at 5-3. But they gear up for a fierce showdown with the Lady Warriors, who are out not to only to snap a two-game skid but stay in the semis hunt heading to the last stretch of the doubleround eliminations. Gametime is at 4 p.m. Relegated to fifth at 4-5, the Lady Warriors need to hurdle the Angels again to keep their Final Four hopes alive in the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision and backed by Mikasa and Asics. Pocari edged PetroGazz in five in their first-round encounter on September 26, but after romping past the Lady Oragons and the Adamson Lady Falcons, the Lady Warriors dropped a pair of five setters to the Cool Smashers and the Tacloban Fighting Warays then absorbed a stinging 0-3 beating from the surging Ateneo Lady Eagles on October 27. But the long rest should give the Myla Pablo-led squad the chance to figure things out as they brace for a pair of tough games—against the Cool Smashers in Legazpi City on Sunday and versus the BanKo-Perlas Spikers on November 14.
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IGERIAN Prince Eze bested all comers to snatch the Most Valuable Player award in the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament. The University of Perpetual Help big man Eze garnered a Player All-Around Value (PAV) of 61.89, way ahead of second-placer Bong Quinto of Letran, He was the second Perpetual Help player after Earl Scottie Thompson in 2014 to win the award. Lyceum of the Philippines University’s CJ Perez was dropped from the Mythical Five because of his suspension for failing to inform the league of his intention to turn pro. San Beda’s Donald Tankoua replaced Perez with his 46.56 PAV, joining teammates
SAN Beda’s James Kwekuteye tries to stop a driving MJ Ayaay of Lyceum. NONOY LACZA
Perpetual’s Eze lifts MVP trophy Robert Bolick (48.39) and Javee Mocon (47.89). Eze capped his strong season by also claiming the Defensive Player of the Year title. Letran’s Larry Muyang was named Rookie of the Year while Arellano University’s Archie Concepcion was the Most Improved Player. College of Saint Benilde-La SalleGreenhills’s Joel Cagulangan took the juniors MVP honors with 52.24 PAV after Arellano University’s Aaron Fermin, who had the highest PAV with 53.56, became ineligible because his team failed to make it to the Final Four. Fermin settled for a Mythical Five slot along with LSGH’s Inand Fornilos and Joshua David and Mapua’s Clint Escamis.
Soaring Falcons try again to grab F4 berth in match against Tigers
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DAMSON University takes another shot at a semifinals berth when it battles Final Four hopeful University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Season 81 University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. The second running Soaring Falcons (8-3 won-lost) had the golden opportunity to seal a semifinals spot but the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles (10-2) had other plans and absorbed a 62-48 loss last Sunday. The Falcons face the sixth-place Growling Tigers (5-6) at 2 p.m. De La Salle (7-4), meanwhile, tries to solidify its hold of third spot when it collides with National University (3-8) at 4 p.m. Adamson University took down UST, 79-71, in the first round and Head Coach Franz Pumaren has the same goal in mind
on Wednesday. “We have to do our job. We cannot rely on other teams beating the other school for us to be assured [of advancing],” Pumaren said. Coach Aldin Ayo and Growling Tigers suffered a 69-110 blowout loss to his former team, De La Salle Green Archers, last Saturday. It was Ayo’s second loss to the Green Archers this season and the setback sent the España-based squad to a dangerous spot at No. 6. De La Salle, on the other hand, will shoot for a playoff for a semifinals spot when it takes on lowly NU. Green Archers Coach Louie Gonzales remained hopeful that his team will extend its winning streak to three. “We must not stop and we must keep on improving,” Gonzales said. A loss would eliminate the Bulldogs.
Ramon Rafael Bonilla
YCEUM of the Philippines University showed heart, but San Beda University was just too tough as the defending champion Red Lions survived a shaky fourth quarter to beat the CJ Perez-less Pirates, 73-60, in Game One of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Season 94 men’s basketball Finals on Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena. The Red Lions were dominant force in the first three quarters until the Pirates roared for a last-ditch effort that fell short, allowing the Mendiola-based dribblers to move a win shy of their 11th title in 13 years. Mythical Five member Javee Mocon paced San Beda with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Robert Bolick took care of running the offense and had 12 points and nine assists. Head Coach Boyet Fernandez believed that the absence of Perez, last season’s Most Valuable Player, was a big factor. “I think without CJ, their effort was not enough. That’s why we really had to control the tempo because they are a good running team,” Fernandez said. San Beda had a sizzling start for 19-9 first-
quarter lead, thanks to the combined productions of Mocon, Bolick and Clint Doliguez. It looked like the game was over when Red Lion Calvin Oftana drained a jumper that hiked their lead to 66-39 early in the final period. But the Pirates showed resistance and made the game exciting. Jayvee Marcelino hit a triple then stole ball for an easy bucket to put the Pirates to within 12, 54-68, with 3:25 minutes remaining. The legion of Lyceum fans regained consciousness when Mike Nzeusseu made an emphatic putback slam off a Reymar Caduyac miss, then Jaycee Marcelino converted a jumper to make it 60-70 with 1:11 to go. But the cushion was too big to handle and the comeback was just too late, with Jomari Presbitero burying the dagger from the threepoint line with 16.4 seconds to go. Doliguez and Donald Tankoua finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Red Lions. Nzeusseu led Lyceum with his 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Jaycee Marcelino added 13 points, five boards and three assists. MVP Joel Cagulangan scored nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter as La SalleGreenhills beat Mapua, 74-69, in Game One of the juniors Finals.
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THAT’S ALL AL MENDOZA alsol47@yahoo.com
PCC Class ’67’s Sydney swing SYDNEY—Time capsule once again. I arrived here last week—my sixth visit since I first flew to Deep Down in 1985. My last one was in 2015, when I covered the BMW World Golf Cup; before that was my coverage of the 2000 Sydney Olympics while I was the Inquirer’s sports editor. Time flies, indeed. I covered the Asia-Pacific Golf Championship in 1985 in Adelaide while I was a Bulletin sportswriter. Our Philippine Team got there from Manila via Melbourne. Our warriors in Adelaide included Ramon Brobio, Antolin Fernando, Carito Villaroman and Robert Pactolerin. I guess they finished in the top 5m but what I distinctly remember from that trip was Secretary Simplicio Taguiam’s unmatched generosity. In a bid to extract good scores from our squad, Taguiam, the team captain/manager, offered $100 each to anyone who could score a birdie in the first round on the layout’s lone par-5 on No. 16. After the round, Taguiam, himself a singledigit handicapper, gathered the players in his room and asked each and everyone this: “Brobio, did you birdie No. 16?” “No sir,” Brobio replied. “Villaroman?” “No sir,” Villaroman replied. “Fernando?” “No sir,” Fernando replied. “Pactolerin?” “No sir,” Pactolerin replied. Pactolerin’s reply disappointed Taguiam the most. “You are the team’s longest hitter and you didn’t birdie No. 16?” barked Taguiam. “Easily, you could get to that green in two.” “Sorry sir,” said Pactolerin. “I only made eagle.” “You sonafabitch,” said Taguiam to Pactolerin. “Here’s $500 for you!” In a separate tournament among sportswriters Ernie Gonzales of the then Daily Express, Roger Flores of Times Journal and me, Taguiam staked $500 to the winner, $300 runner-up and $200 third placer. I placed second behind Ernie. Roger (rest in peace, lakay) was DNF (did not finish) as he succumbed to the biting cold of the winter’s tail end. Guess what followed next? “Because you are all winners to me,” Taguiam said to us, “here’s $500 each for everybody.” That’s Taguiam, the pride and joy of Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija. Generous to a fault. And I must have captured his heart, too. Upon learning of my fondness for farm animals, Taguiam gave me a live goat as a Christmas gift that year. After the 1986 Edsa Revolt, I never saw him again. I pray all’s well with him. THAT’S IT I am in Sydney primarily to serve as bodyguard/escort of my wife for their grand high-school reunion held for the first time outside of the Philippines. Many of the graduates of Class 1967 of the Philippine College of Commerce Laboratory High School converged here for a one-week bonanza of merry-making, punctuated by a dinner-dance, trips to the marble-laced Australian Parliament House in Canberra and the iconic Blue Mountain, and spiked by shop-till-you drop forays at Paddy’s Market, Market City and Westfield Center and eating binges at Darling Harbour but mostly at the city’s famed Chinatown. The Australia-based alumni included main leaders/organizers Maripet Ripoll-Alvez and Offie Alejandrino O’Sullivan with her hubby, Eugene; Emma Umhang (hubby, Armin), Grace Esquillon (hubby, Tony), Edith Johnson (hubby, Bill), Cynthia Summers (hubby, Phil), Jopen Lotho Tedja and Becky de LeonAcebes (hubby, Ramon). From the US were Ernie Garcia (Chicago), Ramon Flores (San Francisco) and Russel Montoya with his wife, Malou (Las Vegas). From Manila were Mara Basa-Sanglay, Nanie de Gracia, Margarita Apostol-Villar, Nitz Eblamo, Susan Terrado-Fragante, Ester Taban, Nilo Mercado with his wife, Lou; Aurora Albano-Garcia (hubby, the ever-jolly Lito); and, Sol F. Juvida. Distinguished guests during the riotous November 3 dinner-dance-testimony party included Jun (Becky’s brother) and Ochie de Leon. Jun it was who unselfishly lent his hi-tech party music components and minus-one system as well for use by Nilo, Russel, Ramon, Ernie and yours truly to belt the hits of the Sixties by the Beatles, DC 5 and Searchers, among others. Indeed, November 3 was a night of fun and reminiscing, making it a most momentous occasion worth remembering for years and years to come for the PCC Class ’67 “Labras.” Cheers!
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God of grace and glory
OD of grace and glory, You heed our prayer and show us mercy. In faith, we pray: Steer us toward Your truth, Oh God. Bless parents and guardians, mentors and godparents, both living and deceased. Comfort those who suffer because of the thoughtlessness and insensitivity of others. Support and uphold those who are recently released from prison. May God show us mercy and care and strengthen our desire to revere the name of the Lord. 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
JUST THAT: AN ANCIENT DETOXIFICATION FROM MODERN-DAY STRESS D3
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
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Tech elite stages a Revolt of the Haves against employers A WORKER protests against Google’s handling of sexualmisconduct claims at the company’s Mountain View, California, headquarters on November 1. Hundreds of employees gathered in the campus’s main quad to rally against sexual harassment. AP
By matt o’Brien & mae anderSon The Associated Press
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EW YORK—When Google employees staged a global walkout on Thursday to protest the company’s treatment of women, they made themselves the most visible example of a surprising trend: high-paid engineers emerging from their comfortable bubbles to speak out. For much of the past two years, elite technology employees have been stirring and in some cases organizing—first in internal workplace meetings and messaging boards, then in signed protest letters and ultimately in company walkouts such as Thursday’s street demonstrations. Among the issues they’ve championed: Better handling of workplace sexual harassment and discrimination, opposition to the Trump administration’s travel ban and avoiding harmful uses of the products they’re helping to build and sell. “For tech workers, I think the dreams about what it means to work in Silicon Valley—to disrupt, to innovate, to connect people and make the world
a better place—have crashed up against a much bleaker reality,” said Kade Crockford, who tracks how new technology affects civil rights for the ACLU of Massachusetts. Worker unrest helped scuttle Google’s Maven project to help the US military scan battlefields using drones and artificial intelligence. Workers have also protested Google’s plans to launch a censored search engine in China, and work by Amazon and Microsoft to assist police agencies and federal immigration agents with facial recognition and other tools. It is, in many ways, a Revolt of the Haves. One that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago at cheery corporate campuses best known for flexible work schedules, free meals and snacks, and Wi-Fi equipped shuttle buses, where software engineers can earn $125,000 or more right out of school. “These people are not easily replaceable and as a result they have a significant amount of power,” Crockford said. Much of their “political awakening,” she said, stems from President Donald J. Trump’s election, including concerns that his administration
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Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Personal Tech BusinessMirror
Tech elite stages a Revolt of the Haves against employers Continued from D1 will misuse tools built by the tech industry. Microsoft executives, who have sought to position their company as a moral leader, have defended the company’s immigration contract despite a protest letter that circulated through the company over the summer and tough questions for CEO Satya Nadella at an employee meeting. “We don’t see unplugging government agencies in America from e-mail as a step that’s likely to make the country better,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this fall. Hundreds of Google workers marched on a mild Thursday in New York to a nearby park to hear speeches, hold signs and show solidarity, joining
similar office walkouts from Tokyo to Europe to the San Francisco Bay Area. Signs reading “90 million reasons for change” expressed discontent about a New York Times report that Executive Andy Rubin received a $90-million severance package in 2014 after Google concluded that sexual-misconduct allegations against him were credible. Organizers noted that, while many of the protesters are privileged, they walked out in solidarity with contract employees and others with less influence. Walkout coorganizer Meredith Whittaker, who researches artificial intelligence for Google, said in an interview that workers’ demands for better treatment at the company are intertwined with their larger concerns about a “general abuse of power” that includes how Google’s business ventures affect society.
“This is part of a pattern of unethical decision-making,” she said. Tom Kochan, professor of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the protests were a “sign of the times,” pointing out that the walkout was globally coordinated. “Workers are saying they want a voice over this broad range of issues, not just wages and compensation, but protections against harassment and discrimination and getting rid of sham arbitration agreements they’re forced to sign,” he said. Because of the size of the protests, there is no way that Google management could have been anything but understanding, he said. While workers at companies from Amazon to Wal-mart protest all the time, usually over wages, the Google
walkout was the “biggest, broadest and most encompassing of multiple issues that I’ve ever seen,” Kochan said. Which is not to say that it will necessarily lead to lasting change such as unionization or an advisory body of Google employees. One reason the protest was so big and well-coordinated, he said, is that Google largely employs white-collar technical and support workers. That’s a more homogenous work force than, say, Amazon, which employs both high-paid engineers and warehouse and grocery workers who earn much, much less. “But I think American management in particular is being sent a message that workers are ready to stand up for their rights and each other in a way we haven’t seen in a long time in this country,” he said. n
iPHONE XS AND XS MAX SUCCESS IN POSTPAID LANDSCAPE HINGES ON CONSUMER LOYALTY, SMART EXEC SAYS By Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez PLDT-SMART FVP and Consumer Marketing Head Andrew Santos says that consumer loyalty remains Apple’s strongest sustainable competitive advantage in the consumer tech market, attributing the iPhone XS and XS Max’s success in the postpaid segment of the country to the brand’s consumer base’s purchasing power. Apple is the most valuable global brand of 2017, according to Forbes, weighing in at $170 billion. This represents over 20 percent of the overall market value of the company. “iPhone users are very loyal, so there’s that particular segment that won’t let go of their Apple products. I believe that’s what fuels the increase of the demands we’re getting,” said Santos at the highly anticipated launch of the US multinational technology company’s newest smartphone, the iPhone XS and XS Max, at the PLDT-Smart Store in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Continuing, Santos added, “The initial demand for XS and XS Max’s postpaid plans is very new, but it’s very strong. The growth is well-built as compared to last year’s [iPhone X launch].” The high-end phones are an addition to Apple’s lineup of premium devices, alongside more incremental updates to the iOS 12 hardware. Currently, the XS flagship range is the company’s wager in the battle of smartphone supremacy over competitors. “Smart makes it a lot easier for Filipinos to get hold of the latest iPhones and optimize the phones’ breakthrough features powered by Smart LTE,” said Oscar Reyes, the telecom giant’s head of Consumer Business Market Development. For the iPhone XS and XS Max, Apple has brought in, respectively, a more vivid Super Retina Display in a 5.8-inch 19.5:9 aspect ratio, True Tone OLED, 2436 x 1125 pixels (458 ppi), and 82.9-percent screen-to-body ratio; and a 6.5-inch 19.5:9 aspect ratio, True Tone OLED, 2688 x 1242 pixels (458 ppi), and 84.4-percent screen-to-body ratio models. The bigger screen real estate minus the bezels and the Home button, a staple since the original iPhone in 2007, offers enhanced brightness and true blacks while showing 60-percent greater dynamic range
in HDR photos. The two devices have the same pixel density (the higher the pixel density, the higher the sharpness of images), support for Dolby Vision and HDR10 and 3D Touch. However, the XS Max offers a more immersive experience as compared to its virtually identical little brother courtesy of the built-in 3 million-pixel resolution for videos, movies and games. Both iPhones are equipped with the Apple 64-bit A12 Bionic chip 7 nm processor with 6.9 billion transistors. This means a 4-core GPU, 6-core CPU, and 8-core design of Apple’s next-generation Neural Engine. It performs 5 trillion operations per second
versus the 600 billion operations per second of the A11 Bionic chip, which powered the original iPhone X. With 4GB RAM, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max come in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB storage. Both handsets carry over the stereo speaker configuration seen on past iPhone models, with the ear speaker and down-firing loudspeaker acting as discrete units when holding the phone in a landscape orientation. Apple, however, claims its has enhanced the stereo separation of the dual speakers for both the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Nonetheless, these features are merely exciting add-ons for consumers using the “trademark” iPhone cameras to capture their day-to-day lives. The Apple iPhone XS and XS Max sports a dual rear camera setup of 12MP wide and 12MP telephoto shooters paired with the improved quad flash, with 1.4µm pixel size up from 1.22µm on the iPhone X. This means better shooting in low-light conditions. Apple also lets the user adjust the aperture size to change the depth effect of the photo through the after-shot Bokeh-adjustment feature. More exciting is the addition of what Apple calls the “Smart HDR,” which combines multiple photos taken at different exposures, bringing together their best elements into a single shot. The “zero shutter lag” combined with the A12 Bionic chip bring more highlight and shadow detail for photos. For the front camera, there is still the 7MP lens just like with the iPhone X, but it is now optimized with Smart HDR technology. Smart is offering the new iPhones under the GigaX plans, which gives postpaid users 10GB more data for streaming videos on YouTube, iflix, Fox+ and iWant TV. “We made the plans that we have right now very affordable for our loyal subscribers considering these are premium phones,” said Santos. Santos added that Smart Communications considers the patronage of both Apple and their own loyal subscribers as a “big moment that needs to be celebrated.” At the event, the wireless communications provider gave 512GB iPhone XS Max to 15 Smart users that have preordered 64GB and 256GB models. Eighty-five other Smart costumers would also get their surprise phone upgrade. The celebration was hosted by Smart-PLDT endorser Kris Aquino.
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Today’s Horoscope By Eugenia Last
CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Lorde, 22; Adam DeVine, 35; David Guetta, 51; Joni Mitchell, 75. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Learn as you go and rely on what you know and have experienced to help pull things together. Bring about positive change by drawing on your ability to see the possibilities. Changes at home will help ease stress and give you greater leeway to focus on what’s most important to you. Curb anger and focus on physical fitness and good health. Your lucky numbers are 5, 12, 19, 24, 30, 37, 43.
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ARIES (March 21-April 19): Be receptive to suggestions and ready to act on short notice. Your ability to recognize what needs to be done and your willingness to work alongside others will make a difference to the outcome of a crucial situation that can determine your future. HHH
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TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Share information; it will help you get ahead. A physical change you make will bring greater security as well as add to your experience and proficiency. A partnership can be renegotiated and changes put in place. HHH
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GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Concentrate on personal change that will make you feel and look your best. Ask questions that will help you decipher exactly what you want to do in order to complete unfinished tasks. A passionate attitude will draw attention. HHH
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CANCER (June 21-July 22): Don’t look for excuses. Evaluate what needs to be done and get busy. Take the lead and make your position clear. Set a high standard and strive to reach your goal. HHHHH
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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): An even temperament will help you stay out of trouble. If you let someone’s anecdotes get to you, problems will arise. Focus on personal change and being your very best. Let your accomplishments and success be your revenge. HH
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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Initiate your plans. Change will do you good. Business trips or meetings will lead to interesting prospects. What you learn will encourage you to expand your knowledge and skills. Share your feelings; the response you get will lead to new developments. HHHH
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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take your time. Look at all your options and consider the best scenario. Don’t let someone else make decisions for you. It’s up to you to decide what’s in your best interest. Personal changes and protecting your assets are encouraged. HHH
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SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Take on a physical challenge to change the way you do things in the future. Strength coupled with ingenuity and creativity will lead to advantages that will outmatch any competition you face. HHH
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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’ll find yourself in a difficult situation if you have taken someone’s word as truth or have shared information that isn’t accurate. Choose your words wisely; observe and ask questions if something doesn’t appear to make sense to you. HHH
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Bring something unique to whatever job you are given. Doing things with a twist will draw attention and give others a better idea of what your capabilities are. It’s your turn to shine, so don’t hold back. HHHH
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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Take a moment to relive past experiences before you jump into something that could turn into a repeat performance. Don’t trust anyone who has a habit of overreacting or being excessive. HH
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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Don’t let someone’s uncertainty make you angry. Be fully prepared to move forward with or without others by your side. Trust in your ability to create the base you need to build a successful future; eventually others will jump on board. HHHHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are affectionate, caring and kind. You are original and ambitious.
‘kick me’ BY TIMOTHY E. PARKER The Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker
ACROSS 1 VHS and cassette 6 Oily grp. 10 Rose stabilizer 14 Very flexible 15 “Faster, driver, faster!” 16 Lay asphalt 17 One who is easy to predict 20 Home plate cover 21 Instant member of the family 22 Schoolmaster’s rod 23 Galahad and Mix-A-Lot 25 Office helper 26 Calm as can be 29 Mug filler, big-time 30 Ferocious sound 34 “...___ he drove out of sight...” 35 Satyr relatives 37 Grocery shopper’s path 38 Thing enjoyed in Wisconsin 41 Shaking awake 42 Some female deer 43 “Gosh!” kin 44 Nuevo ___ (Mexico)
5 Go all-in? 4 46 Mechanical catch 48 Fashionable Christian 50 Slightly open 51 Officially record an arrival 54 Paid player 55 Is inquisitive 59 Source of water around a well? 62 Mayberry man 63 Words with “the ground floor” 64 Catcher in the Rhone? 65 Things on office folders 66 Italian volcano 67 Max the painter/sculptor DOWN 1 Diplomats have it 2 Indian tourist spot 3 Fishing platform 4 Pass by, as time 5 Confirmed, as a date 6 Some fairy-tale villains 7 Rhymer at a coffeehouse 8 Conceit source 9 Thing to lie in a long time
0 Barbecue treat 1 11 Forbidden perfume? 12 Like the devil 13 Distribute 18 Raise or elevate, old-style 19 “...him an inch, ___ take a mile” 24 “Finer” anagram 25 Crime with lighting? 26 Flower part 27 Eliminate from a board 28 One side of a page 29 Not suitable 31 August: ___ County 32 Wrench variety 33 Fill a flat? 36 Show to seats 37 Sailing the briny 39 Act that’s appreciated 40 Character in Goldfinger 45 Parker who was packing 47 Lost package inquiry 49 Sequel number 50 Place for wrestling events 51 Exhausted to death
2 Greek letter 5 53 Marked by ease 54 Loudness unit 56 It covers you 57 Some male dolls 58 “Hands off,” editorially 60 Razer 61 Deplete (with “up”) Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:
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Show BusinessMirror
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Finding uplift and comfort in the familiar
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By Kathryn Shattuck New York Times News Service
VEN actors get the blues, be it ordinary malaise or that proverbial holiday funk. Here, a few of the stars from this season’s films talk about the movies that pick them up when life gets them down. “The thing that makes me happy is getting home and watching The Lion King with my kids. I love that movie. That was the first movie they’d ever seen. I have fond memories of taking them to the theaters. It’s just something that holds a lot of weight for me, that’s very close to my kids. They play the games and reenact all the things in the movie. My son will be 10 this Christmas, and my daughter is 11. And my son is just obsessed with it. He gets to be Simba and Nala, and I’m Mufasa. Singing “Hakuna Matata” and being Pumbaa and doing fart jokes—that’s what makes it fun.”—Jason Momoa “That would be The Lion King. That’s my favorite movie growing up—I mean, the music, the everything. “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” is my favorite song. I love Simba and Nala, especially the moment when they’re in the elephant graveyard, and they’re wrestling and Nala is dominating, just like: “Pinned you! Pinned you again!” I would have only been three when it came out. But my dad said I used to make him watch it with me every single day when he would get off work. Like, that was also a part of his job. And I would of course know all the words, all the songs, just living my entire best life. My dad didn’t have a part that I remember—maybe he was just my favorite audience member, because I, too, am performing this entire film. So I need someone to appreciate my interpretation of these moments, as well.”—KiKi Layne “If it’s going to be a pick-me-up, it’s probably going
to have to be comedy, and for me it’s tied between Step Brothers or Year One. Those movies have unlimited quotables as far as lines that I thought were hilarious. And I tend to use them in everyday life. One from Step Brothers would be when Will Ferrell’s character says, “Did we just become best friends?” And John C. Reilly’s character is like, “Yep!” Or, when they first decide they’re going to be partners in crime, and (Reilly) is like, “You have to call me Dragon.” And (Ferrell) is like, “You have to call me Nighthawk.” And literally, it’s like 12-year-olds but it’s one of the funniest movies that I’ve ever seen. “In Year One, when Jack Black’s character [bites into a shiny gold apple from the Tree of Knowledge] and Michael Cera’s character is telling him not to eat it [but asking], ‘How does it taste?’ And Jack Black is like: ‘I don’t know. It kind of has sort of a knowledge-y taste.’ And Michael Cera says: ‘Oh, is that right? Does it have a forbidden taste as well? Because that’s what it is—forbidden.’” “Anybody who knows me will tell you that is a passion of mine and a horror in their lives because in any circumstance you can find a quote to fit. And I will go to the ends of the Earth to find that quote.”
executive played by Albert Brooks dies and discovers in the afterlife that he has to prove he has conquered his fears or get sent back to Earth for a do-over]. I always cry at the end. Happy tears.”
—Sarah Silverman
“The movies which make me happiest are the ones I watched when I was a kid over and over on video. When my mom first bought a VHS machine, she bought two videos, and we only had those two videos for a really long time. Like years. Luckily, those two videos were Harold and Maude and the Lou Gossett Jr. Boot Camp Workout video. Harold and Maude for my mind and Lou Gossett Jr. for my body. When I wasn’t working out to that, I was watching Harold and Maude [about a suicidal young man and an elderly woman who is an optimist] over and over again. I can’t really explain the hold it had over me. It was the first movie I watched which felt like my sense of humor. I continue to watch it year after year, and my relationship to it changes as I age. When I was a kid, I related to the angst of Harold. When I became a mother, I related to his concerned mother. Now, I am beginning to relate to Maude. I think I love it because it isn’t one thing, it is everything. It is very real and very broad simultaneously. It is romantic and heartbreaking. It is sad and uplifting. I used to watch it in my Lanz nightgown that my grandma Sadie gave me for Christmas. Now, my daughters watch it, and sometimes they wear that same nightgown. All I know is whenever and wherever I watch it, I feel like I’m home.”—Leslie Mann
—Jovan Adepo
“When in despair I’m not so interested in humor, but in watching how loneliness and isolation are overcome. My go-to film therefore is Crumb, Terry Zwigoff’s documentary about the cartoonist and artist of the same name. In spite of a family whose level of dysfunction honestly cannot be described in words—making the film all the more essential— and a welter of his own debilitating social issues, R. Crumb remains resolutely true to who and what he is. His resilience and perseverance result in drawings as lacerating as Daumier’s, as distinct as ToulouseLautrec’s, and as beautifully, tragically human as Schiele’s—mostly in the milieu of underground countercultural cartoons and illustrations. The movie ultimately provides great hope in its depiction
FELICITY JONES
of an artist who simply won’t compromise, and who furnishes a way of seeing the culture that has impacted popular aesthetics to this day. As sad as it is, this makes Crumb one of the more strangely uplifting films I can name.”—Tim Blake Nelson “Defending Your Life [in which an advertising
“A film I always come back to that I’ve adored for years is Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. I love the atmosphere Coppola creates, the melancholy of the two lead characters [lonely hearts in a Tokyo hotel, played by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson] and their feelings of connection in a world that they feel so disconnected from. And it’s beautifully shot. A real pleasure to watch.”—Felicity Jones
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BLISS awaits inside this hammam in Discovery Primea, where today’s toxicity will be steamed and kneaded away.
Cohen’s celebrates ninth anniversary COHEN’S Lifestyle Centre Philippines (www.cohenlifestyle. com.ph) stressed the importance of losing weight the healthy way, as it marked its ninth anniversary at the Milky Way Café in Makati City. Cohen’s Lifestyle Program is a safe and rapid weightloss and wellness program through nutrition. Using “food as medicine,” the Cohen program delivers fast results, with clients usually losing 8 to 10 pounds a month without skipping meals, exercise, injection, artificial food and drinks, or intake of weight-loss pills and supplements. The program also helps alleviate serious health conditions such as hypertension, prediabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome and other obesity-related diseases. Photo shows Cohen’s Lifestyle Centre CEO Barbara Young (from left) with clients Dr. Ianne Tangcangco, Marian Romero, Ian Montenegro and host Kevin Lapeña. The center has branches at the Medical Plaza Makati and Davao.
An ancient detoxification from modern-day stress JUST THAT JT NISAY
jtnisay@gmail.com
HOW TO LOOK YOUR BEST THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
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IT is that time of the year again for festive reunions and yuletide celebrations. How to chase away the stress of the holiday hustle and bustle? Makati Medical Center is offering a Holiday Face Contour and Lift Promo, which should allow one to look their best for all the parties. The Aesthetic Center, at Tower 2 of MakatiMed, offers up to 20-percent discount on skin lifting procedures depending on the body part. Patients can avail themselves of lift and firm procedures, and contour and lift procedures for the face, neck, double chin and eye area from now until December 29. All procedures must be scheduled in advance. A dermatologist on-deck will be assigned for the initial consultation of walk-in and new patients who wish to undergo the procedures. The promo, however, may not be availed in conjunction with existing packages such as standard packaged procedures. The Aesthetic Center of MakatiMed (www.makatimed. net.ph) is home to dermatologists certified by the Philippine Dermatological Society. The facility features the most advanced medical equipment to provide a full range of aesthetic procedures, from body contouring to laser-assisted skin treatments of medical-dermatologic conditions.
NE escape from the toxicity of today’s news cycles and other stressors have been staring us in the face for thousand of years. Also known as Turkish bath, the hammam is the Middle Eastern variant of a steam bath and traces its origins to the Ottoman period that began in the 13th century. The ancient practice made its way to the country in 2015 with the opening of Discovery Primea through its Terazi Spa, which is named after the Turkish word for “calm.” Three years into its launch, Discovery Primea Gym and Spa Manager Camille Santos said the offering continues to grow strong: “We get a lot of positive feedback and mostly, guests say it’s the best spa experience they’ve ever had.” Based on a trip to Terazi Spa earlier this week, it’s hard to disagree. The experience starts with a selection of two drinks: lemon water or tamarind-pineapple juice? The concoctions are offered at the tea lounge, past the reception area’s sliding doors, after the guest fills out a form about basic personal information, medical history and massage pressure preference. The Discovery Leisure Co. Inc. has some of the best welcome drinks in the industry, and the tamarindpineapple juice is a testament to this excellence. It’s the perfect drink for what’s to come, especially under the mix of Terazi Spa’s serene music, balmy scent and
dark-wood interiors. When ready, guests are led to the massage room to undress. Disposable underwear is provided for the conservative; otherwise, it’s all skin and thin cloth throughout. It is, after all, a sauna experience, and the star of that equation is what’s next. The Terazi Spa has the only marble-line steamheated room in Makati. The unique facility doesn’t reveal its entirety at the instance of the guest’s entry, as the steam’s brume befogs everything in sight, save for whatever’s within arm’s distance: marble walls, marble sink, or the heated marble slab at the center of the room, called the göbek tasi. Guests are guided to a corner where they can stay for the duration of the steaming, which lasts up to 15 minutes and the temperature can rise to 38 degrees Celsius. Within reach is a bronze bowl that guests can use to scoop water from the sink for dousing, a towel drenched in ice for damping and a pitcher of lemon water for hydration. After the sauna comes the hammam treatment itself. Guests are asked to lay face down at the heated marble bed, as therapists prepare to start the exfoliation process using traditional kese mitts from Dubai. The scrubbing begins at the foot, around the ankles, up to the legs, then to the hips and buttocks. Next is the torso, starting from back and then to the arms. The sequence is repeated at a supine position, with each gentle scrub of the rough mitt scraping away impurities from sweaty skin. Then comes the signature wash. Therapists dunk a Turkish-style sarong onto a bubbly bowl of water with castile soap, an olive oil-based bar known for its nourishing and moisturizing properties. The soapy cloth cut like a pillowcase is spread and swayed from side to side to catch air, an ancient ritual of a movement where the therapist appears to dance with the cloth. It is then held from one end and squeezed to the other, producing clouds of bubbles
that are directed to fall onto a specific area of the guest’s body. The first target is the back. The drop of foam on that area produces little sensation at initial contact, but proceeds to grow like a thousand massaging hands with the slow and gentle bursting of the bubbles. And then the foam is dropped onto the extremities, where the nerves create a more pronounced feeling. I felt my legs and arms melt at the weight of the foamy clouds, until only my head, and my relaxed thoughts, were left—an out-of-body experience, if there’s ever one. After letting the foam work its wonders, the therapist washed it away with a splash of water, and suddenly, I’m more than a thinking head again. That experience alone is worth the look, but Terazi Spa rounds out the unique bath treatment with a signature massage. The Terazi Signature Massage is a mixture of eastern and western techniques, including Hawaii’s Lomi Lomi movements that involve forearm rubs and elbow presses, acupressure points, as well as Swedish massage. “The treatment is designed exclusively for Terazi Spa, so you won’t get that same sequence elsewhere,” Santos said, adding that they even send their therapists to yoga classes to sharpen their flexibility and body mechanics. To go with the unique massage, guests are given the freedom to select the oil to be used for the session. Each choice has its own therapeutic properties, such as deep healing and calming. This season, Terazi Spa (955-8888, terazispa@ discovery.com.ph) offers a “Holistic Holidays Spa Package” that includes 45-minute Citrus Body Glow scrub, followed by a 45-minute Terazi Signature Massage and concluded with a 45-minute Natural Facial for a special rate of P6,000 net per person. The ongoing offer is available until January 31, 2019. n
Health and supplement brand now ‘bigger, better and stronger’ By dinna Chan vaSQuez GENERAL Nutrition Centers (GNC Philippines), a leading nutrition and wellness brand, is now operated by new franchisee, Singaporebased ONI Global Pte. Ltd. ONI Global also holds the franchise for GNC Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The four countries have a combined total of 4,000 stores, and there are plans to open more. ONI Global CEO and Executive Director Cynthia Poa said they want to bring the number of stores in the Philippines from 40 to 100 in the next five years. Speaking at the recent relaunch of GNC in the Philippines, which had US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim as guest of honor, Poa said the brand is now “bigger, better and stronger.” A pioneer in the health and supplement industry, GNC has been in the Philippines since 1994, ONI being the third franchisee of the Pittsburgh-based brand. All stores in the Philippines now offer a premium shopping experience and will be updated to align with those in GNC Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan.
The changes bring a wider selection of new, exciting and innovative products that will cater to every member of the family; extensive training of store staff about the products offered; excellent customer service; and door-to-door delivery through the company’s online marketplaces and logistics partners in the region. GNC believes in connecting its customers to their best selves via a premium assortment of health, wellness and performance products, including sports nutrition supplements, weight management supplements, vitamins, herbs and greens, wellness supplements, health and beauty, food and drink and other general merchandise. This includes proprietary GNC and recognized third-party brands that cater to every individual in the family. GNC is known for its range of multis, which are scientifically formulated, clinically studied lifestyle, gender- and age-specific multivitamins. The Mega Men and Women’s Ultra Mega variants contain up to 56 vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and herbs that provide gradual release of nutrients for maximum absorption. “Some people believe that as
long as they eat well, they don’t need multis. Multis are like insurance for the body. They address deficiencies in our bodies. Who has the time to cook? Or eat a proper and balanced meal? Honestly, not everyone eats meals with nutrients intact,” said Poa. GNC’s Triple Strength Fish Oil contains the highest potency of EPA and DHA. Its fish
oils and omega products undergo multiple purification processes to concentrate essential omega-3 fatty acids while removing unwanted contaminants, such as mercury, PCBs, dioxins, lead and cadmium. Ultra Probiotic 25 has 16 unique strains, including clinically studied probiotics, for digestive and immune support.
The store also carries a wide range of weight management supplements, from fat burners and meal replacements such as bars and shakes, to appetite control. GNC Burn 60 has a clinically proven thermogenic formula that helps to enhance metabolism, burn calories and boost energy levels. Burn 60 works best with a healthy diet and exercise program. GNC is no longer a store for just body builders and athletes. Other products now available include GNC Women’s Hair, Skin and Nails Formula; antiaging StemC derived from the placenta of thoroughbred horses; and GNC Milestones for children of all ages to help ensure healthy growth and development. But they’re still the go-to destination for sports nutrition products. From GNC Pro Performance and AMP Gold, to Optimum Nutrition, Cellucor, Muscletech and more, GNC can meet workout needs with an extensive range of preworkout, endurance, muscleboosting and post-workout recovery products to support performance goals. More information is available at www.gnc. com.ph.
ONI Global Group CEO Cynthia Poa and US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim
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Sports BusinessMirror
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| Wednesday, November 7, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao
ELBOURNE, Australia—English stayer Cross Counter, ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, gave Dubai-based Godolphin stable its first Melbourne Cup with victory in Australia’s largest and most prestigious horse race on Tuesday. The race was marred when the Aidan O’Brien-trained The Cliffsofmoher broke down at the winning post the first time around, breaking its right shoulder. The horse was euthanized after the race at Flemington. The Cliffsofmoher was an Irish horse ridden by English jockey Ryan Moore. “It is with sadness that we confirm that The Cliffsofmoher had to be humanely euthanized after sustaining a fractured right shoulder,” race track Executive General Manager Jamie Stier said. “The horse received immediate veterinary care, however it was unable to be saved due to the nature of the injury sustained.” The RSPCA in Australia later tweeted that the horse
was the sixth to die in the Melbourne Cup since 2013, and “highlights the very real risks to horses from racing.” Cross Counter, a four-year-old bay gelding trained by Charlie Appleby and based at Newmarket, England, was quoted early at 10 to 1. It was only Cross Counter’s eighth start, but he had missed a top-2 finish only once. Marmelo was second and A Prince of Arran two lengths behind in third. An English-trained horse had never won the Melbourne Cup, but Tuesday’s result gave England a 1-2-3 finish. The winner stormed down from the outside in the final several hundred meters for a length victory. Cross Counter was third-last on the first turn “We were lucky to get through, said McEvoy, who won the Melbourne Cup for the third time. “What a field to do it in. They [Godolphin] have been striving to win this race for a long time.” “Charlie and myself used to travel to Doncaster and Chester and all of the tracks up north in England, back when
CROSS COUNTER, ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, wins the Melbourne Cup. AP
I was over there riding, and all of those miles meant this, winning the Melbourne Cup.” During the trophy presentation, rain which had affected the lead-up to the race again started to fall at Flemington. “I’m getting wet here but I don’t give a stuff because I’m enjoying winning my third Melbourne Cup,” McEvoy said. Appleby said the Melbourne Cup had been on his “bucket list for a long time.” It was the 158th running of the 3,200-meter (2-mile) race and had a purse of A$7.3 million ($5.3 million). The forecasted rain arrived early on the day of the Cup, with more than 50 millimeters falling in the hours leading up to the race. Another Aidan O’Brien horse, Yucatan, had gone off as early favorite, but finished 11th. Magic Circle, a stayer which had won its last two starts by a combined margin of 12 lengths, was well-backed at 9-1 but finished 16th in the 24-horse field. Japan-based Chestnut Coat, trained by Yoshito Yahagi, was 14th. AP
BusinessMirror E1 | Wednesday, November 7, 2018 • Editor : Tet Andolong
MANILA Bay City of Pearl Project THE URBAN ROAMER
MOA SIGNED FOR MANILA BAY
RECLAMATION PROJECT By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio
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Contributor
N a bid to be on a par with or perhaps surpass other cities in terms of economic development, the local government units of Pasay City and Manila tapped the private sector to help boost their march to progress. The two cities led by Manila Mayor Joseph E. Estrada and Pasay City Mayor Antonino Calixto recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to pursue together with “utmost effort to cooperate with each other and extend mutual assistance” to their separate partnerships with private groups to reclaim huge swathes of the Manila Bay to develop a valuable coastal real estate, as well as generate employment and other economic opportunities in the
two premier coastal cities in Metro Manila. Aside from Estrada and Calixto, representatives of the three groups with respective reclamation proposals in the Manila Bay area, namely Manila Goldcoast Development Corp. (MGDC), SM Prime Holdings Inc.; and the Pasay Harbor City consortium, signed the agreement. The MOA clears the way for the three reclamation projects to go full speed and move forward by the different
CHARLIE GONZALES (from left), president of Ulticon Builders and Pasay Harbor City consortium; Wilson Tieng, president of Manila Goldcoast Development Corp.; Pasay Mayor Antonino Calixto and Noel Sanchez, senior assistant vice president for external affairs, commercial properties of SM Prime Holdings Inc.
project proponents. Estrada expressed optimism in the project not only enhancing Manila’s coffers but also generating employment. “Not only will these reclamation projects substantially increase the revenues of our city, it will also generate approximately 500,000 new jobs for our residents,” Estrada said in his speech the recently concluded Manila City Development Council Convention. He also pointed out that the 148-hectare Manila Solar City Reclamation Project will soon start in early-2019, the biggest reclamation project between the Manila-Pasay border in the south and Roxas Boulevard in the east. The project would occupy around 3.5 kilometers of Manila Bay’s shoreline. As laid down in the MOA, the three “Manila and Pasay Reclamation Projects” were identified as the MGDC’s 148-hectare reclamation project in joint venture with the Manila Local Government Unit “involving the southern parcel of the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road and
MANILA Solar City Project THE URBAN ROAMER
Reclamation Project-North Sector, otherwise known as ‘Solar City’ Project”; the SM Prime Holdings Inc.’s 300-hectare and 60-hectare projects in joint venture with the Pasay LGU; and the Pasay Harbor City consortium’s 265-hectare reclamation project in joint venture with the Pasay LGU, otherwise known as the “Pasay Harbor City project.” Estrada said Manila needs more investments from the private sector to lift the nation’s capital from economic doldrums. According to the 2016 Commission on Audit report, Manila ranked thirdrichest city in the country with assets worth P36.102 billion, from P33.104 billion in 2015. Quezon City led the pack with P59.556 billion assets in 2016, from P51.648 billion the year before, while Makati was at second spot with P54.85 billion assets, from P49.494 billion in 2015. At fourth place was Cebu City with P32.623 billion assets in 2016, a slight increase from P32.41
billion in 2015. Pasig was fifth with P29.899 billion, from P24.945 billion in 2015; Taguig placed sixth with P16.268 billion, from P14.291 billion in 2015; and Pasay with P14.954 billion, from P13.487 billion in 2015. Caloocan with P14.702 billion, from P12.943 billion in 2015, placed eight. Moreover, he cited a recent research conducted by professors from the University of the Philippines indicating the need for Manila to attract huge investments from the private sector to generate more growth. The study said Manila has the highest poverty incidence in the national capital region because many of them are jobless. “So in a sense, these reclamation projects are the answer to our prayers. We will be able to provide decent jobs opportunities to our citizens,” Estrada said. “With this milestone project, we are getting close to achieving our dream of regaining the City of
Manila’s old title, the Pearl of the Orient. This will mean a lot to us in terms of revenues, and employment and business opportunities,” Estrada said. The project involves the construction of three 140-hectare islands in Manila Bay, and expected to start with the initial construction and dredging work next year. “As a positive consequence, the RPT share of barangays will increase accordingly. In the first year, expected additional share will amount to P5 million and P15 million per barangay after five more years,” Estrada said. He said this will also enable the city government to expand social services, state-of-the-art medical equipment, increase salary of city employees and build more parks as well as playgrounds for children. Manila stands to earn about P10 billion in real estate taxes and create 200,000 jobs from the P12-billion reclamation in Manila Bay.
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THE OPENING UP OF MINDANAO: DAVAO REAL-ESTATE STUDY TOUR
THE New City Commercial Corp.
Amor Maclang
FIRST DIBS IN REAL ESTATE
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Part One
INDANAO is like New York. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.
The same cannot be said of Manila, unfortunately. We have seen many brands that have done well in Manila but have failed to conquer the hearts and minds of the equally lucrative Visayas and Mindanao market. Having been adopted Tboli by the last remaining chieftain Mayor Dibu Tuan has, perhaps, sealed
my being a Mindanao advocate for good. I can only truly say that I am not truly Filipino having traveled to some of the most beautiful places in the Philippines, which happen to be in Mindanao. It is not just in tourism where this is confirmed to be so, quietly, some of the movers and shakers in the Philippines have hailed from
Mindanao and I am not just referring to the incumbent president who has done so much in promoting this understated region. Davao City is one of the major metropolitan areas in the Philippines, serving as the center of commerce, trade, tourism, investments and finance in the south. Its dynamic economy, favorable business environment, responsive local government, and high quality of life make the city a preferred destination for both investment and leisure. Davao region has the fifth-biggest economy in the country and the second fastest-growing economy next to Cordillera Autonomous Region. Today, November 7, ULI Philippines will be hosting the very first ULI Davao Study Tour. Members will have the chance to travel to the regional capital of Southern Philippines, which has been consistently cited as among the top cities in the Philippines and Asia that has a business environment, investment opportunities and governance favorable to investors. The tour will include stops at premier local developments, hosted panel talks and a chance for attendees to meet with local public officials over intimate sessions. This two-day tour will be focusing on several key areas, such as commercial and office opportunities in Davao region and City, Understanding the Davao and Mindanao consumer, emerging
townships and mixed-use developments in the Davao region and the future of investing in Davao. Panelist speakers and tour guides will come from Davao developers, local government representatives and internationally recognized architects. A chance for a special intimate session with Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio is included for the attendees of the tour, who will speak on the investment options in the Mindanao region and Davao. Mindanao has been enjoying economic dynamism over the last five years with its gross regional domestic product (GRDP), exports and investments consistently growing at an average of 6 percent. Davao City, the capital of the southern region, is home to 22 million people, a majority of which are young, talented and highly dynamic. Owning to its geographic advantage, the city has become a test bed for Asean programs and policies, particularly in trade, transport, tourism and investment linkages. Many investors see the city and region as a whole as a location ripe for investment. The tour, hosted in partnership with New City Commercial Corp. (NCCC) and Damosa Land Inc. (DLI), has been carefully curated to highlight the impressive growth of Davao in various aspects of real estate, including residential, commercial, industrial and agriculture. Some of the stops included are the following: DLI’s Anflo Industrial Estate, a
63-hectare self-sustaining ecozone with complete facilities for manufacturing, cottage industries, warehousing and agro-industrial operations. The industrial park’s facilities are world class and strategically near an international logistics hub. Through the years, Damosa Land Inc. (DLI) has been at the forefront of the real estate and property development industry of Mindanao. It has remained steadfast in developing innovative and quality projects for the Anflo Group of Cos., while upholding its key value of being part of Mindanao’s growth and development. The company is known as an innovator in the region being among the first to introduce a mixed-use development, the first Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) accredited IT Park, the first and largest coworking facility, and the first fully operational industrial Park in Damosa Complex. Rounding the tour lineup is NCCC’s recently opened Buhangin Mall, 8,100-square-meter upscale retail and commercial development featuring over 85 tenants. As the undisputed retail leader in the Davao and Mindanao area, this local, this homegrown company’s growth and success is the success of every employee, and the success of Davao City. NCCC’s continued growth expansion was not limited to Davao City, and is also the pioneering retailer in Palawan. They will also be talking about
the emerging areas of developments all over Mindanao, specifically in the Cotabato, Tagum, Panacan, Ma-A and Buhangin. After the tours there will be talks from various facets of the industry to provide a full perspective of Davao as a region, with the theme “Opening Up Mindanao”: Partners, Locators, Investors, and Retailers. Speakers include Chairman Emeritus Armando Bartolome of Association of the Filipino Franchisers Inc. (AFFI) who will speak about the untapped opportunities in Davao FB Mindanao; Elements Habitare who was part of the team who built Marina Bay Sands and will be working on the new integrated mixed-use community of NCCC in Panacan, the new home of the University of Asia and the Pacific Business School in Mindanao; and Angeline Tham, founder of Angkas who will talk about how technology is changing the way we move and build cities. The tour will culminate in a debrief dinner session for sharing of all the attendees. The Urban Land Institute is an international, membership-based nonprofit research and education organization. Founded in 1936, the Institute now has more than 40,000 members worldwide representing the entire spectrum of land use and real-estate development disciplines, working in private enterprise and public service. As the preeminent, multidisciplinary real-estate forum, ULI facilitates the open exchange of ideas, information, and experience among local, national, and international industry leaders and policymakers dedicated to creating better places. The mission of the ULI is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Across Asia Pacific, the institute has more than 2,100 members, with a particularly strong presence in Australia (Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney), China Mainland (Beijing and Shanghai), Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Singapore and South Korea. The regional office is headquartered in Hong Kong. The local chapter of ULI in the Philippines is in Manila and hosts various events, such as study tours, talks, conferences and panels that allow both members and nonmembers alike who are real-estate industry practitioners to connect and share knowledge in line with their mission and vison.
Corporates and millennials choose MyTown
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HE largest rental housing provider in the country, Philippines Urban Living Solutions (PULS) and its co-living dormitory brand “MyTown,” proves the success of their unique market approach with the launch of their 14th building to date—MyTown Auckland. Named after the city of sails, the newly opened MyTown Auckland houses 325 beds—bringing MyTown’s portfolio to over 3,300 beds by yearend, and focuses on providing a relaxing atmosphere with a fully equipped gym, canteen, open air cinema, and yoga area overlooking the green of the Manila Golf Club. It will also soon open a laundromat and supermarket at its ground floor. Aside from these amenities, it is strategically along Harvard Street in Makati, adjacent to Bonifacio Global City and approximately 1.5 kilometers away from Makati CBD.
Understanding the market
MYTOWN was launched in 2012 due to the market gap in affordable urban housing. With a projected housing backlog of about 5.7 million housing
to get into the mind of our target public by asking them what they wanted and needed in a housing solution. As a result, we can now offer the young professionals a co-living solution that is healthy for their work-life balance as well as their wallet.”
Beyond accommodation
units, young professionals are hardpressed for options that are both functional and affordable for their complex lifestyles and limited income. Recognizing this gap in the dynamic Philippine market, MyTown developed the first demand-driven real-estate concept in the Philippines. From a survey of 1,200 respondents, MyTown learned that a huge amount of
young professionals’ income goes to transportation. On top of the costs, they spend between three to nine full days per month on their daily commute, simply to get to work and earn an income. PULS’s CCEO Mark Kooijman, highlighted the importance of listening to what their customers wanted, “Before we even built the first MyTown building, we made it a point as a first mover
IN building their strategy to reach out to the elusive millennial market, PULS’s Group Director Jelmer Ikink stated that the young look for more than just a bed. "Young professionals don't simply need a place to sleep,” said Ikink, “they work hard to live a lifestyle they enjoy, and have a home away from home. From developing top of the line amenities, to providing convenient retail options and an engaging tenant activity program, MyTown is the young professional’s partner when you want to thrive in the city. At MyTown, you won’t just sleep, but also play, learn, meet new friends and walk to work.” Millennials value work-life balance and want to maximize their time doing other activities outside of work, such as working out, socializing and learn-
ing new skills. While MyTown provides them the space where they can do these activities, the leading dormitory goes beyond accommodations by providing its tenants with after-work programs that encourage health, fun, and personal and professional development.
Corporate benefits
THIS unique approach to co-living spaces also provides a unique opportunity to corporates with offices in the business districts. “We have dozens of corporate part-
ners who recognize the value of worklife balance in nurturing a productive work force,” said Kooijman. “We’ve built corporate programs where our partners offer our accommodations as part of their employee benefit package, as trainee staff housing or as part of their business continuity planning. We provide corporate partners a unique solution in engaging and retaining their diverse and highly talented work force.” As testament to the company’s success, MyTown dormitories enjoy an average occupancy rate of 94 percent.
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Wednesday, November 7, 2018 E3
Megaworld brings Capital Town to Pampanga
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N the same way that the upbeat communities of McKinley Hill, Uptown Bonifacio, Eastwood City and Newport City light up Metro Manila’s skyline, the iconic horizon of the city of San Fernando in Pampanga is set to experience the same kind of reinvigoration as property giant Megaworld brings its signature live-work-play township lifestyle experience to Northern Luzon for the very first time.
neoclassical architecture with Art Deco details.
A rewarding township lifestyle comes to Pampanga
Amid the tapestry of the province’s rich history and culture, Megaworld is weaving a thread of modernity into the landscapes of the North as it unravels its 35.6-hectare township Capital Town. Through this development, themed residences, diverse commercial and retail outlets, and towering offices will soon rise in the city. With its multifaceted residential, office, institutional and commercial components, Capital Town Pampanga will become a platform for everyone to experience the signature township lifestyle that Megaworld has been proudly known for.
BELL HOTEL BACOLOD IS NOW OPEN
The next business, lifestyle and leisure frontier
WITH the company now bringing its township expertise to Northern Luzon, Capital Town is poised to rise as the premier business district of the North. It takes cues from the company’s impressive track record of building vibrant township communities across various key cities of the country. “Just like how Megaworld transformed townships to vibrant lifestyle destinations as we know them today, Megaworld will rise in the North through Capital Town. Through this development, we are bringing
the same world-class vision and lifestyle in Mckinley, Eastwood and Uptown Bonifacio, among others, to Pampanga, where one can experience the live-work-play lifestyle that only Megaworld can offer,” said Eugene Em Lozano, first vice president for sales and marketing, Megaworld Makati and Pampanga. Within the township will be a 6-hectare Shophouse District set to become the center of the city’s entrepreneurial ventures. This portion of the township, which offers a place where people can come into their own and cultivate their business prowess, will be donned in
OFFERING stunning views of the Capital Town Pampanga’s very own Casa de Emperador, Central Square, Museum & Mall, and the beautiful Shophouse District, Chelsea Parkplace exudes a dynamic vibe that perfectly blends with history and modernity all over the township. “We’re launching Chelsea Parkplace as the flagship condominium project to pioneer the integrated township experience in the North. Its ideal location in the middle of the township will give future residents the front-row seat advantage of seeing the growth and development in the area,” Lozano added. Other than being in a progressive community, a home at Chelsea Parkplace also offers unparalleled access to much-needed institutions, including offices and shopping centers, as well as delis, markets, coffee shops, theaters and restaurants. Units are available in Studio (up to 31 square meter), one-bedroom (up to 45.5 sq m), and two-bedroom (up to 88 sq m). All 193 units of the project will have balconies offering varied township views. Living in a township brings the convenience of having well-suited amenities, recreational spaces, unique dining destinations, worldclass retail establishments, prime working hubs, and an overall safe and dynamic neighborhood within reach.
First CGSP in Bohol
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M OR I TA R e s o r t , t h e multi-award-winning luxury destination in Panglao Island, has been recognized by the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) as a Certified Guest Service Property, becoming the first hotel in Bohol to receive this prestigious institution award. In line with its continuous efforts to enhance customer service, Amorita Resort provided thirty of its frontline staff with a Certified Guest Service Professional (CGSP) training from AHLEI. The CGSP training program is designed to enhance the employees’ skills in guest services, which include exceeding customer expectations and provid-
ing personalized service. Guest service professional and trainer June Lucero-Antonio, CGSP, and Asia World Hospitality Executive Director Matchi Borja, CGSP, facilitated this hospitality service training recently at Amorita. All of the participants passed the certification examination with flying colors. “Being named a Certified Guest Service Property is a testament of our continued drive for excellence, and in delivering the highest quality of service and guest experience,” said Atty. Lucas Niccolo “Nikki” Cauton III, CEO of One-Of Collection, the boutique hotel management group that operates Amorita Resort. Amorita has been known to pro-
CEO Atty. Nikki Cauton and COO Lyba Godio
vide excellent personalized service to its guests. The resort won Conde Nast Best in Service in the past and
has consistently been nominated in other awards for its signature worldclass hospitality.
COMMUNITY
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ELL Hotel was recently awarded as the Best Standard Hotel in the Bacolod City Tourism and Hospitality Awards 2018 held in September. It has also received praise for its contribution in helping local tourism. The hotel is colorful and modern but is teeming with history and is steeped deeply in the city’s heritage. Appealing to young, budgetconscious travelers, Bell Hotel has 54 brightly painted rooms, which makes it a unique hotel in Bacolod City. Each is guaranteed clean, cozy and secure to make you feel right at home. “We want to make travel affordable and accessible to discerning guests,” said Laurence Peña, chief operating officer of the Global Comfort Group, adding, “We’ve opened Bell Hotel to offer affordable rates and exciting tour packages to entice travelers to visit Bacolod again and again. We have an abundance of heritage and cultural sites that speak of our city’s rich history.” Bell Hotel is managed by Icon Hotel, owned and managed by the Global Comfort Group Corp. They run the historic Apo View Hotel
in Davao, as well as the chain of Eurotel Hotels across the country and Icon Hotels in Metro Manila.
REX Book Store supports 1,500 students
Modern facilities meet old-world charm
THIS is an assurance that Bell Hotel follows only the best industry standards and practices. Besides the 54 well-appointed rooms, Bell Hotel also has a dining area and function room, which can accommodate up to 100 guests. Bell Hotel is also an ideal choice for functions, conventions or events because of its accessibility. Conveniently located at San Juan Street, Barangay 13, Bell Hotel is easy to get to from the airport. Besides public transport, guests can also arrange for a shuttle pickup to and from the airport. Bell Hotel is excited to welcome the public to its doors and showcase its remarkable hospitality service. This boutique hotel has all the modest yet necessary comforts every traveler is looking for. There’s complimentary wireless Internet access and cable programming. Private bathrooms with showers feature complimentary toiletries.
REX Book Store COO Timothy Buhain (from left), Chairman Atty. Dominador Buhain and World Vision Executive Director Eduardo Cabral Jimenez
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T its annual thanksgiving dinner held at Sofitel Philippine Plaza’s Harbor Garden Tent recently, one of the country’s leading learning solutions provider surprised attendees composed of partners in education with an announcement: They will all become instruments of wholeness and transform lives of vulnerable children through a new initiative with World Vision Philippines.
World Vision Philippines, a global humanitarian organization helping improve the lives of thousands of families and communities around the country by providing support through education, child protection, health, economic development, as well as disaster-preparedness programs. With the aim of building a better world for children together, World Vision Philippines partnered with REX Book Store
to help spread awareness about the conditions of children living in poverty, without access to education and uplifting learning environments. The two organizations are working together in their shared commitment, with REX Book Store pledging support for 1,500 students for three months, connecting the thread of hope by enticing guests at the banquet to continue supporting the children for a meaningful sponsor-
ship experience. World Vision Executive Director Eduardo Cabral Jimenez shared, “These children are from the poorest of the poor, impoverished communities, and REX’s support is a meaningful contribution to their lives.” The program was graced by World Vision’s celebrity ambassador Joyce Pring, as well as former World Vision child and now Coast Guard Spokesman Capt. Armand Balilo, who shared their own experiences about the organization’s advocacy and how it has created a huge impact in their lives and the lives of over a million children in the country. Held in conjunction with the Catholic Educator’s Association of the Philippines’s Annual National Convention, Buhain noted that the idea behind the partnership with World Vision was also done in light of CEAP’s theme, “from brokenness to blessedness.” A believer in the limitless potential of young learners to make the world a better place, REX taps the work of World Vision to further its mission of creating and providing 21st-century learning solutions, which are designed to create learning environments and foster holistic education “Para Sa Bata, Para Sa Bayan.”
Entrepreneur BusinessMirror
E4 Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Bistro Group brings back Hard Rock Café to Manila
ANIBAL FERNANDEZ (from left), Hard Rock vice president for Franchise Operations and Development; Jean-Paul Manuud, The Bistro Group president and chief operating officer; and Steve Yang, Hard Rock area vice president, Asia-Pacific Franchise Development and Operations
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By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes
@brownindio
Contributor
OWERHOUSE Bistro Group has added another stellar member to its franchise group after Hard Rock International recently tapped the group as its exclusive franchisee in the Philippines. Steve Yang, area vice president for Asia-Pacific Franchise Development and Operations, said bringing back Hard Rock after a year of absence in the Philippines is a logical move because the country is one of the Western-driven markets in the region. Moreover, The Hard Rock group expressed optimism in the partnership because of The Bistro Group’s sterling performance in the local market. “The Bistro Group is a strong industry player and with its robust portfolio of brands as well as its track record for more than 20 years, we are confident that they will be a strong partner to help us take Hard Rock to the next level in the Philippines,” said Yang. “Hard Rock has been in the market for 48 years and we are thrilled to continue to grow our business in the Philippines,” said Anibal Fernandez, Hard Rock’s vice
president for Franchise Operations and Development. “Exciting things are happening at Hard Rock Café and we want to expand our presence in highgrowth markets frequented by locals and tourists. In 2017 alone, we launched cafés in Spain, Austria, South Africa, Andorra, Bolivia, India, Cambodia, Myanmar, Argentina and Nicaragua. In 2018 we are developing in Africa, Middle East, Europe, North and South America, South Asia and China, among others,” Fernandez added. Yang and Fernandez recently visited Manila to check the site and meet with The Bistro Group executives. The new Hard Rock Café is scheduled to open next month at the Conrad S Maison in Pasay City. “Putting Hard Rock inside a mall is in response to the current lifestyle trend and is one of the best locations we’ve seen in our
57 Filipino exhibitors sell wares in China import expo
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TOTAL of 57 Filipino exhibitors are taking part in the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, in hopes of striking deals with Chinese buyers. Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez is leading the Philippine delegation in the CIIE. According to Lopez, the Philippines was provided one national pavilion and close to 50 booths. Thirty-six Philippine exhibitors presented their goods and services in the CIIE Enterprise Zone including 28 food exhibitors, five consumer goods exhibitors, and three from tourism and service outsourcing exhibitors. Eleven universities, as well as 10 partner agencies and companies are also conducting their own exhibitions at the Philippine pavilion. “The Philippine National Pavilion will showcase the country’s initiatives in the area of trade, investments and tourism,” the Department of Trade and Industry said. During the opening ceremony of the CIIE on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said 172 countries, 3,600 companies, and more than 400,000 Chinese and foreign buyers have participated in the first import expo. The CIIE only hosts foreign enterprises that are seeking to sell to the Chinese market, and no Chinese manufacturers are permitted to take part in the expo. “This is a concrete action taken by China to advance and open world economy and support economic globalization. Under the theme of ‘New Era, Shared Future,’ the first CIIE will help friends from around the world to seize opportunities presented by China in the new era,” Xi said. PNA
operations,” Yang said. Being a brand with a diverse market, Yang said Hard Rock will also cater to generations Y and Z by introducing a new generation of culinary recipe and, at the same time, maintain traditional offerings which have been supported by its clients. As far as expansion is concerned, Yang said they plan to establish four to five branches in the future. Potential sites are Cebu and Bonifacio Global City. “We’ll take up from there,” he pointed out. Meanwhile, Jean-Paul Manuud, president and chief operating officer of The Bistro Group, said the partnership will be beneficial to both companies. “We believe that this collaboration will spark growth for both The Bistro Group and Hard Rock Café. Having the brand in our family is indeed an achievement for us and Hard Rock is an iconic institution that is recognized widely. Its logo alone is easily the most recognizable in the world, “ he said. The Bistro Group is a trailblazer in the local casual dining segment, developing and managing local and
global restaurants for over two decades. With preparations for the new café in full swing, the 653square-meter 223-seater Manila branch, Manuud said, will carry the trademarks of Hard Rock Cafe that made it one of the most exciting, sophisticated and energetic brands in the world. “Music, memorabilia, merchandise, food and service—all these things make Hard Rock Café unique,” Fernandez said. The new café also plans to launch a new menu following the opening. “We are eager to offer guests new menus that tap into consumer demands and trends. Hard Rock Cafe at S Maison will have lighter items, shareable dishes, and big portions while maintaining the quality and fresh ingredients that our guests have come to expect from Hard Rock. In the end, our global philosophy is about taking care of our guests and taking care of our people who are most important for us,” Fernandez added. The Bistro Group is a collection of international hospitality casual dining brands and homegrown concepts unified by a people-focused philosophy that is the backbone of their success. With the entry of Hard Rock into the family, The Bistro Group has now a total of 12 franchisees With venues in 74 countries, including 185 cafés, 27 hotels, and 12 casinos, Hard Rock International (HRI) is one of the most globally recognized companies. Beginning with an Eric Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns the world’s most valuable collection of music memorabilia displayed at its locations around the globe. Hard Rock is also known for its collectible fashion and music-related merchandise, Hard Rock Live performance venues and an award-winning web site. HRI owns the global trademark for all Hard Rock brands. The company owns, operates and franchises cafés in iconic cities including London, New York, San Francisco, Sydney and Dubai.
Exciting things are happening at Hard Rock Café and we want to expand our presence in high-growth markets frequented by locals and tourists.” —Fernandez
www.businessmirror.com.ph
DOT eyes farm, ecotourism for inclusive, sustainable devt
TOURISM Undersecretary Marco M. Bautista discusses the benefits of the department’s agritourism project on the sidelines of the 21st year celebration of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997 in Baguio City on Tuesday last week. The project will benefit small farmers and indigenous peoples communities in the country. PAMELA MARIZ GEMINIANO
By Pamela Mariz Geminiano Philippines News Agency
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AGUIO CITY—The Department of Tourism (DOT) is setting its sights on the development of farm and ecotourism sites in the region to provide income for small farmers and indigenous peoples (IP). “The tourism industry provides great opportunities for diversification of income for small-scale farmers and IP organizations,” Tourism Undersecretary Marco M. Bautista said in an interview with the media on the sidelines of the 21st year celebration of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997, here on October 30. Bautista, a native of Abra province, said that farm and ecotourism open up a new perspective of livelihood, especially for IP groups, toward an inclusive and sustainable economic development. He lamented that, despite its bountiful natural resources and diverse cultures, the Philippines still lags behind its neighboring countries in terms of farm and ecotourism sites. Bautista said the Cordillera region is rich in natural resources that can be used to the fullest. “Farm and ecotourism are very important here in the region, since Cordillera has a lot of natural resources, especially for the IP community, who are the ones who will really benefit from this,” he explained. “This is why we envision farm tourism as a community rejuvenation. This is what we are pushing for, really beneficial for the IP community.” Bautista said the convergence program among the DOT, Department of Agriculture, and local government units should be intensified so that
IP communities and small farmers would help develop the agritourism program. In the past years, he said, the DOT and the Department of Public Works and Highways had been implementing the tourism-road convergence project, constructing a tourism road network that leads to tourism sites in the various localities, including barangays with tourist spots. Earlier, Sen. Cynthia A. Villar encouraged farmers in the region to venture into farm tourism, as this would benefit them hugely, such as in terms of higher income and free education, and ultimately give the country food security. The DOT-Cordillera has acquainted highland farmers with the new concept of farm tourism, which officials described as actually fun. Jovita Ganongan, officer in charge of DOT-Cordillera, defined “fun farm tourism” as an activity that allows tourists to have an experiential activity on farming by providing orientation, which encourages farmers to venture into an activity more than just producing, but also sharing the experience. Ganongan said the farmers will not just focus on productivity, but they will also come up with tourism activities in their farms, providing tours for their tourists and educating them on how to do farming. Despite the farm tourism concept being new to the IP community, the DOT has accredited two farm tourism sites—the Cosmic Farm in Benguet, and the Layug farm in the Mountain Province. “There are so many things to be done. Everyone should work hand in hand to achieve sustainable development for our IP community and small-scale farmers,” Bautista said.
Grab rolls out premium tricycle services in the Philippines
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IDE-SHARING firm Grab Philippines will be rolling out its premium tricycle services nationwide through its partnership with AutoItalia Philippines, which is the local distributor of three-wheeled Piaggio Apé vehicles. In a news statement issued on Monday, Grab Philippines Country Head Brian Cu said their GrabTrike Premium service is an upgrade to GrabTrike and will serve as an additional transportation mode for shortdistance commuting. “Transport modernization has always been in Grab’s core. Our goal is to provide a full spectrum of transportation solutions with localized and modernized services for everyday needs, no matter what vehicle they prefer or how short their journey is,” Cu said. “Through our combined efforts with AutoItalia Philippines, we hope to work with LGUs [local government units] to improve short-distance commute in more cities in the Philippines while improving driver welfare and passenger experience,” he added. The municipality of Binalonan in Pangasinan province will be the first local
cycles, to adopt the use of Piaggio Apé units either by increasing the number of franchises or by using them as a replacement option for older tricycles. The fare scheme for GrabTrike Premium will depend on the rates approved by LGUs on top of a P10 booking fee, which will go directly to the driver. With its low acquisition cost, Piaggo Apé is envisioned to facilitate the modernization of the country’s transportation sector, particularly in marginalized areas without access to bigger modes of transport. Driver partners will be able to receive smartphones preloaded with the Grab GRAB Philippines launches its premium tricycle services, which will serve as a mode of transportation for short-distance app, free Grab merchandise commuting. PHOTO COURTESY OF GRAB and additional income from booking fees. government in the country to adopt in the country, according to the ridePassengers can also look forward to the premium tricycle services with 24 hailing firm. the GrabTrike Premium Apé vehicles, Piaggo Apé units. Grab and AutoItalia Philippines will as they provide safety and convenience Around 2,000 Euro 4-compliant be coordinating with LGUs, which have through their integration into the Grab Piaggo Apé vehicles will be deployed jurisdiction over the franchises of triapp. PNA